Easy Stuffed Bell Peppers

Peppers

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Remove the top of each pepper by slicing it off horizontally, and using a paring knife, remove the seeds and white from the inside, carefully. Tips - If you can't get all the white out, it's fine. I just like to remove any very obvious white membrane. If desired, evenly season the inside of each pepper with a pinch of salt and pepper.
3. Place the peppers in a 9x13-inch baking dish with the cut side (tops) down. Tips - I recommend using a porcelain, ceramic, or glass baking dish rather than metal for a better results.
4. Add 1 cup of water. The pepper should not tip over but if one does, make sure to stand it back up, cut side facing down.
5. Cover with foil and bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. Tips - This is calling par-baking or par-boiling the peppers and is done so that the finished peppers are soft and tender. If you don't mind or like a crunchier finished pepper, then you can omit par-baking. However, in traditional stuffed peppers recipes, the peppers are very soft and if that's your goal, then you need to par-bake and cannot skip this step. While the peppers are par-baking, you must continue on making the filling so it's ready when the peppers are. So carry on! Set a timer because your peppers will likely be done about 10 minutes before the filling is done simmering and you don't want to over-cook them. When peppers are done, take them out of the water and discard the water; set aside until you're ready to fill them

Filling

1. To a large skillet, add the ground sausage, ground beef, and cook over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, or until nearly done; crumble and stir frequently to ensure even cooking. I don't drain off any fat/water/cooking juices but if you seem to have an excessive amount, you can.
2. Add the onions, celery, and cook for about 4 minutes, or until quite soft and translucent and proteins are fully cooked; stir very frequently.
3. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute, or until fragrant; stir continuously.
4. Add the marinara sauce, beef broth, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, optional but recommended sugar, all-purpose seasoning, dried oregano, bring to a boil, then turn down the heat and simmer uncovered for about 15 minutes; stir occasionally. The goal is to have a juicy but not overly soupy/watery mixture when done simmering.
5. Add the rice, Parmesan, stir to combine, and remove from the heat. Tip - I love microwaving a packet of ready rice in 90 seconds to save lots of time rather than cooking rice from scratch for this recipe.

Stuffing the Peppers

1. If you haven't already, remove the baking pan with the peppers from the oven, carefully peel back the foil (save it), take the peppers out of the baking pan, place them on a plate or a clean countertop, discard the par-boiling water, spray the baking dish very well with cooking spray; set aside.
2. Fill each pepper with filling about 3/4 of the way full; or as dictated by the amount of filling you have so that each pepper is stuffed evenly. Place the peppers in the prepared baking dish, this time with the cut side up, so the filling stays in them.

Baking

1. Cover the peppers again with your saved sheet of foil and bake covered (do NOT add water this time) for about 25 minutes.
2. Remove the baking dish from the oven, peel back the foil, and evenly top eah pepper with the 1 cup of the shredded cheddar cheese.

Broiling

1. Place the cheese topped peppers under the broiler and broil on HIGH for about 2 minutes, or until the cheese is as lightly golden browned as desired. This is technically optional, but it's very hard to achieve golden cheese without broiling, unless you bake for much longer, at which point the peppers would turn to must. Broiling Tips - Use extreme caution when broiling because food can go from underdone to burnt in a minute flat and that would be an ultimate shame at this stage in the recipe! Be careful, don't turn your back on it or leave your kitchen!

Serving, Storage, and Make Ahead Instructions

1. Serve peppers immediately. Extra stuffed peppers will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. For Make-Ahead instructions, read the blog post section entitled "Make Ahead" for info on how to make any aspect of the peppers ahead of time and/or store and then cook and serve.