I am always on the lookout for easy dinner recipes that use ground beef. So think sweet and tangy sloppy joes stuffed in sweet bell peppers and topped with cheese. Sloppy Joe Stuffed Peppers...a major mom moment. This easy stuffed peppers recipe will be a family hit! And you don't really have to think about 'em. Just throw together, bake and eat. Plus, you've got two options to make this recipe: The Easy Way or The Easier Way.
Sloppy Joe Stuffed Peppers may be the greatest. thing. ever.
I love stuffed peppers. Ever since I was a kid, they have been one of my favorite things to eat. I mean, they are like little yummy meatloaf in sweet bell peppers. How can you go wrong?
My other favorite childhood meal? Sloppy Joes!! So let's combine the two classic recipes into something new!
This easy stuffed pepper recipe has two options to get that sweet & tangy sloppy joe flavor.
Option #1 THE EASY WAY - using some basic pantry ingredients, create your own sloppy joe sauce. (This is my favorite way to make these stuffed peppers because I like to get creative in the kitchen.)
Option #2 THE EASIER WAY - grab a can of your favorite sloppy joe sauce and get to it!
(Both options are listed in the recipe at the bottom of this post.)
If you like this recipe, check out our Zesty Marinated Steak Nachos and our Spicy Cajun Pasta. Yum!
To get super tender sweet bell peppers, blanch the peppers in boiling water for a few minutes. Then salt the inside and let them rest for a few more minutes. This optional step draws out a lot of extra moisture so you don't have super soggy peppers.
While the peppers resting, time for the Sloppy Joe sauce (my favorite part!!). Brown your ground beef and add all of your sauce ingredients. Our recipe for homemade sloppy joe sauce is sweet and tangy, but to save some time you can grab a can if you prefer.
To stretch out the sloppy joe stuffing, we added ½ cup of uncooked rice. This gives this easy stuffed pepper recipe a better texture and makes them even more filling.
This is the recipe where my food blogger card is revoked. Why? See that cheese?!?! That is pure, 100% plastic-wrapped American processed cheese.
Somewhere in the food blogger handbook it said we can't use processed cheese. So I'm breaking the law. Buy This Cook That just got real. Really real. As in "no real cheese in my fridge" real.
But you know what?? The Sloppy Joe Stuffed Peppers were perfect, cheese and all. You know you love a cheesy sloppy joe, right?
This easy stuffed pepper recipe is definitely a keeper for busy nights. You can easily change up the ingredients for different flavors. Here are some suggestions
- Instead of chili sauce, use salsa and top with Monterrey Jack cheese = Mexican Stuffed Peppers
- Use half the chili sauce, use an equal amount of BBQ sauce, and top with cheddar = BBQ Stuffed Peppers
- Swap the beef for shredded chicken, use tomato sauce, and top with Parmesan = Chicken Parm Peppers
Everyone in my family loved Sloppy Joe Stuffed Peppers and went for second helpings!
Sloppy Joe Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients
- 1 lb lean ground beef
- 4 bell peppers cut in half and seeded
- 8 slices cheese
- 1 ¼ cups water
- ½ cup uncooked rice
- 1 14 oz can sloppy joe sauce OR see below for homemade sauce ingredients
- Pinch or two of salt for sprinkling on the peppers
For the Homemade Sloppy Joe Sauce
- ¾ cup tomato chili sauce
- ½ cup onion chopped
- 3 TB tomato paste
- 2 TB Worcestershire sauce
- 1 TB brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish and set aside.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Drop the bell pepper halves into the boiling water. Cook for 3 minutes, then transfer to a towel. Sprinkle the insides of the peppers with salt. Turn them cut side down onto a towel to drain.
- **If you are making this recipe using canned sloppy joe sauce : brown the meat. Stir in the sauce, water and rice and simmer for about 15 minutes until the rice is slightly cooked.
- **If you are making this recipe using homemade sloppy joe sauce : brown the ground beef with onion, garlic, salt and pepper until no longer pink. Stir in the chili sauce, tomato paste, water, Worcestershire sauce, and brown sugar. Combine well. Stir in the rice and simmer for about 15 minutes.
- Evenly spoon the sloppy joe mixture into the peppers. Top each pepper half with a slice of cheese.
- Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Remove foil during the last few minutes of cooking to brown the cheese.
Nutrition
Jean says
Everyone loves this in my family, I’ve just recently made this twice. I used 1 can manwich each time and only 1/2 pound ground beef. In order to have more filling I added 1 green pepper and 1 small onion, both chopped and some garlic. Used jasmine rice because that’s all I had and because it was so hot here in august, we cooked in the toaster oven. I didn’t boil the peppers, didn’t have time. Just cut different colored bell peppers in half, cleaned out the insides and filled them up with filling that I added some shredded cheese mixed in right before cooking. Placed a slice of haberno pepperjack and cooked.
Again, whole family loved this! I know I made changes but the base of this recipe is on point and Yummy! If there’s time next time, I’m going to try the homemade sloppy joe sauce.
Teri says
Love your changes. I like recipes like this that you can just adapt to your preference and use what you have on hand. (Also I love jasmine rice and have used it before in this.) And great call on the pepperjack. 🙂