Your search for the best — and easiest —dinner casserole is over! This baked unstuffed bell pepper casserole with green bell peppers, rice and ground beef is a deconstructed twist on the more classic “stuffed pepper casserole”. It’s quick to prepare, a great freezer-friendly meal, and a filling dinner. Yields 4 servings.
The Best Unstuffed bell pepper casserole
You all know I’m a casserole kinda girl, so I love easy dinner casserole ideas!
This green bell pepper recipe is based on my mom’s stuffed peppers. Growing up one of my mother’s favorite meals to make was stuffed peppers. Whenever I go back to visit my Dad I always ask him to think of a meal or two he wants me to make and he always requests this bell pepper and ground beef casserole!
What isn’t there to love about stuffed peppers? Fresh peppers, ground beef, tomato sauce, rice – all smothered in melted mozzarella cheese? Yes, please, gimme a plate!
TIP: This is a great freezer meal! When our 3rd baby arrived, we had a few of these casseroles in our freezer ready to go!
Looking for more easy dinner casserole recipes? Try my Sausage Potato and Pepper Casserole, Taco spaghetti casserole with ground beef, Cheesy Taco Casserole with Ground Beef and Potato hamburger casserole too!
Ingredients for deconstructed bell pepper casserole
Your search is over if you’re looking for a easy dinner casserole idea! You probably already have all the ingredients in your kitchen!
- ground beef
- minced garlic
- chopped onion
- green peppers (when we’re picking green peppers in the garden this is our favorite green bell pepper recipe!)
- diced tomatoes (want to make homemade diced tomatoes?)
- tomato sauce
- beef broth
- white rice
- Worcestershire sauce
- salt & pepper
- mozzarella cheese
Directions to Make unstuffed bell pepper casserole
Let’s make this bell pepper casserole bake together!
Brown your ground beef, along with 2 cloves of garlic and onion in a large frying pan until beef is browned.
Add the ground beef mixture into a baking dish. Both 11×8 baking dish and 9×9 size work well for this recipe.
Add chopped green peppers, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, beef broth, uncooked long grain rice, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper on top of the beef.
Want to add some sneaky vegetables? This is completely optional, but if you want to you can add 1/2 cup chopped spinach or kale too. This is a simple way to add some additional veggies to your family meals (I love being sneaky, hehehe)!
Mix to fully combine all the ingredients together.
Bake for 75 minutes, or until the rice is soft. Depending on the brand and variety of rice you use, sometimes you need 10-20 minutes more, so make sure to test the rice to make sure it’s soft and not still crunchy.
Remove from oven, sprinkle shredded mozzarella cheese on top and bake 10 more minutes or until the cheese is melted.
Serve and enjoy this bell pepper and hamburger casserole!
Can I make this in advance?
Here are 2 ways that you can prepare unstuffed bell pepper casserole in advance. I would not suggest preparing it completely as the rice will soak up the liquid and the texture will be a little weird.
- Bake it completely, allow to cool and then put in the refrigerator. Warm up the next day when ready to serve (either in oven or microwave).
- Prepare all the ingredients separately and store in the fridge. Don’t put the ingredients together into the dish until ready to bake it.
Can I freeze stuffed pepper casserole?
Yes you can freeze bell pepper casserole with rice! This makes such a great freezer meal! In fact, when our 3rd baby arrived, we had a couple of these casseroles ready to go in the freezer for us!
First bake the casserole as instructed, skipping the cheese on top. After it’s cooked, allow to cool and then wrap in aluminum foil and place in freezer.
When ready to eat, remove from the freezer and bake at 350 degrees F for about 60 minutes, covered with aluminum foil. You might need to add a few extra minutes after you check the middle. Remove the foil, add the shredded mozzarella cheese and bake 10 more minutes.
Pin for later:
Unstuffed Bell Pepper Casserole with Ground Beef
PrintIngredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 small onion chopped
- 2 large green peppers chopped
- 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
- 8 oz can tomato sauce
- 1/2 cup beef broth
- 1/2 cup long grain rice uncooked
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a skillet, add ground beef, minced garlic and onion and cook until beef is browned, about 10 minutes.
- Transfer the beef mixture into a 11×8 baking dish.
- Add chopped green peppers, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, beef broth, uncooked long grain rice, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper on top of the beef. Mix to fully combine the ingredients.
- Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 75 minutes, or until rice is soft and no longer crunchy.
- Take out of the oven, sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top and bake 10 more minutes. Serve and enjoy!
Thomas G.Keillor says
This is so good I make it almost weekly since the green peppers are abundant in the garden. Definitely has become a favorite
Pamela says
Hey Thomas, I love that you’re making this with fresh garden peppers! Glad you’re enjoying. Thanks for commenting!
Jane says
Made this but swapped out beef for turkey and beef stock for chicken stock. Delicious!
Pamela says
Hey Jane, glad to hear you liked this casserole! Thanks for commenting!
Jenna says
I can’t believe how easy and delicious this is. My whole family loved it and I will definitely be repeating it. Thank you!
Pamela says
Hey Jenna, I’m so happy to hear you and your family liked this casserole. Thanks for commenting! 🙂
Barb says
I have made this casserole twice now in the last month. My husband LOVES stuffed peppers, me not so much. Perfect for dividing up into lunches for him. In the oven as we speak with a portion of it going to my mom for dinner.
Pamela says
Hey Barb, thanks so much for leaving this comment. I’m so happy your husband (and hopefully Mom) is loving this casserole!
Tracey Scheklesky says
I made this tonight for my family.
My 15 year old daughter does not like peppers.
The flavors were so wonderful, she ate her entire serving!
Thank you for this recipe
Pamela says
Hah! Thanks so much for sharing that Tracey, I love that your daughter liked it! 🙂 Your comment made my day! Thanks!
Toni Bragg says
Yumzarelli!!! Can’t wait to try it!!
Pamela says
Hope you enjoy the casserole Toni!
Tom says
I made this tonight for my family of 5. I served it with boxed garlic bread. I wish I made double because everyone wanted more! Thank you!
Brooke says
My rice isn’t cooking. It’s been in for an hour and a half 🙁
Any tips?
Gloria says
I am diabetic so this was perfect for me, I made without the rice and spinach and was delicious. I also increased the amount of mozzarella cheese by adding a whole package. I think the next time I will add some Italian sausage. This is almost a pizza casserole!
Pamela says
Hey Gloria, thanks for commenting! The addition of Italian Sausage sounds delicious – yum!
Julie Levine says
Has anyone used quinoa instead of the rice?
Pamela says
Hey Julie, I have and it turned out great. Enjoy the casserole.
Kenna says
My family loves this. I make it once a week now and have for about 2 months! Never gets old.
Margaret Wolf says
I grew up enjoying Stuffed B!ell Peppers as a child and so did my husband. This version sounds wonderful so I’m going to try it tonight! I don’t have spinach right now so I’m going to try substituting corn. Can’t wait!
Pamela says
That sounds like a great substitution, enjoy the casserole Margaret!
Sarah says
I’m making this tonight for my boyfriend, thanks for sharing!!
Pamela says
Enjoy Sarah and boyfriend! 🙂
Valarie says
My family loves this recipe. I was told they need to have it at least 2 times a month if not more! Try it 😊
Pamela says
Aww that makes me so happy to hear! I’m so glad it’s a family favorite now!
Angela says
I made this a few times now it’s one of our favorites in our house 🙂 thank you for the recipe. It also helps my little one eat her veggies 🙂
Pamela says
That makes me so happy! I know how hard it is to get little ones to eat their vegetables (or really, whatever is on their plate, hah) so I’m glad she likes it too! 🙂
Connie says
Tried this and LOVE it!!!!
I wanted to make it for my daughter and son-in-law, so I doubled the recipe. After 1 hour the rice and peppers were still hard. I added more beef broth and then let it cook another 45 minutes. I cooked it in a 13x9x2 pan. It was still delicious, but what should I have done differently?
Bridgette says
It looks delicious. I’m going to make this pre meal for a girls basketball team .
Pamela says
I think the girls are going to love it! Enjoy!