Slow Cooker Stuffed Peppers with Meat

We had some crazy running around a few weeks ago and I decided to make use of my trusty dusty crockpot or slow cooker, which when the kids were young was nothing short of a life saver. Nowadays, it still does duty from time to time and with the New Year a comin’, this recipe both freezes well and is hearty and surprisingly delish with easy to hand ingredients and one secret one. Okay, I’ll spill, shh 🤫 it’s cinnamon. Now you may think it an odd pairing but something about the flavor truly makes this simple dish extra specially lip smacking, trust me.

So gather your ingredients

The only reason there are 4 jars there is cuz I couldn’t find my usual larger jars. This is all total 5 cups of tomato sauce (specific ounces & grams below in recipe, no worries). A note. If you use plain tomato sauce then you should probably up your seasoning and add more salt, pepper, onion powder etc. My tomato sauce is nicely seasoned so I don’t find I need any additional seasoning beyond the garlic powder and cinnamon. Next get your bell peppers on

Lop off the tops but do not discard! You will cover the little guys with the tops after stuffing. So place the chopped onion, chopped pepper (yep, in addition to the whole ones you’re chopping up one as well) and place in bowl.

Break up the ground beef with your fingers into the bowl and add the garlic powder, rice and eggs.

In a separate bowl, mix sauce (I used marinara but any good jarred sauce is fine) and cinnamon and separate 4 cups for sauce and one cup for the beef mixture.

Add one cup of the prepared tomato sauce to the meat mixture.

Gently mix all together till combined. Now stuff the peppers with the beef mixture.

Take the four cups of sauce and if you can find it, use a slow cooker liner bag (put water on bottom of ceramic crock and put bag on top of that) and place the sauce in the liner bag like so:

Now take your stuffed peppers and snugly fit them in one next to the other, covering with their tops. (Nobody will know if you mismatch the tops and I won’t tell a soul 😉 ).

You will see that the sauce comes up about three quarter of the way up the peppers and that’s correct. No worries, the top part gets soft since you’re cooking them a nice while and they give up some liquid of their own as well. K. Best part to come! Cover the slow cooker, turn on low and walk away! Yay, nothing like it. Ignore for about 6-8 hours. The reason for the time difference is different slow cookers cook at different temps. No big, take a skewer and carefully pierce a top of a pepper if you wanna be sure it’s soft enough. Wanna cook it on high cuz you’re in a hurry? About 4-6 hours. Check to be sure it’s done. What’s especially nice here is you’ve got meat, starch and veg all in one. Plate with a small pool of the sauce. Want it as an appetizer rather than a main course? You’ve just doubled your portions and cut in half lengthwise (no I don’t think the tops will survive that c’est la vie) and lay cut side down on your little pool of sauce. A lovely, hot appetizer or entree and as I said, freezes beautifully!

Slow Cooker Stuffed Peppers with Meat

9 medium bell peppers, seeded with tops cut off but save the tops 

4 cups sauce for crockpot + 1 cup sauce for meat mixture or 2 jars marinara sauce (26 ounces each) or 737 grams each

1 teaspoon cinnamon for sauce 

2 eggs

2 teaspoons garlic powder 

1 cup white rice, uncooked (basmati or jasmine or Persian are all fine)

1 kilo (2 pounds) ground beef 

1 medium onion, peeled and chopped 

1 large bell pepper, seeded and chopped

Directions:

Mix sauce together with cinnamon in bowl or measuring cup. Set aside. Place in bowl the eggs, garlic powder, rice, ground beef, chopped onion and chopped pepper and one cup of the prepared sauce. Mix till thoroughly combined. Stuff the peppers evenly with the meat mixture. Place the rest of the sauce in a slow cooker liner bag (place a cup or two of water on the slow cooker ceramic crock and then place bag on water to prevent bag getting scorched) and place stuffed peppers snugly together on top of sauce (sauce will come up about 3/4 way of peppers) and cover with their tops. Cover slow cooker and turn on low and cook between 8-10 hours or till top of pepper when pierced with skewer is soft. Can be cooked on high for 4-6 hours and checked the same way. Freezes beautifully.