The Easiest Crockpot Stuffed Peppers

Name: Crockpot Stuffed Peppers
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 360 min
Total time: 370 min
Ingredients: 14 oz tomato puree ((use ½ of a 28-oz can)); 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning; ½ teaspoon dried garlic powder; ½ teaspoon dried onion powder; ½ teaspoon salt; 14 oz tomato puree ((use the other ½ of a 28-oz can)); 1 ½ pounds lean ground beef (at least 80% lean); 1 medium onion (finely chopped (1 cup)); 2 cloves garlic (minced); 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning; 1 teaspoon salt; 1 ¼ cups parboiled rice (uncooked!); 6-8 medium-large peppers (tops sliced off and cores removed (I used 4 large and 4 smaller ones); any color is fine); shredded mozzarella (optional)

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4.88 from 25 votes

Jump to Recipe 06/10/24 | Updated: 06/10/24 | by Nora

This easy Crockpot Stuffed Peppers recipe is going to be your new family-favorite dinner. You only need a few minutes for prep – quick to assemble, and the slow cooker does the rest!

overhead closeup view of stuffed pepper in black crockpot

Stuffed peppers are a total comfort food for my husband. His grandma and his mom used to make them when he was little, so he is picky about the way they are prepared.

I was pretty sure he would revolt if I started making his treasured family recipe in a slow cooker – but lucky me, they’re so good he would never have noticed if I hadn’t told him. My favorite part about this recipe is that it literally takes 10 minutes to put together in the morning, and then you’ll have a satisfying meal waiting for you once dinner time rolls around!

Ingredients you’ll need

Here is a visual overview of the ingredients in the recipe. Scroll down to the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post for quantities!

ingredients for crock pot stuffed peppers with text labels — Ingredients to make Crockpot Stuffed Peppers: Ground beef, parboiled rice, tomato purée, onion, garlic, onion & garlic powder, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper and bell peppers.

Remember to check the recipe card at the bottom of this post for exact quantities and cooking instructions!

Ingredient notes

Rice: It’s important to use parboiled/quick-cooking rice, NOT long-cooking rice. I previously made this recipe with instant rice, but felt the rice gets a touch too mushy. If you have previously made this with instant rice and like it, keep using instant! Parboiled rice does expand a little more during cooking, but I’ve never had issues with peppers breaking when sticking to not overstuffing them.
Tomato purée: This is not the same as tomato paste! It’s much thinner, kind of like tomato sauce. You can use seasoned pizza sauce instead, just skip the garlic/onion powder and Italian seasoning; add salt to taste.
Ground beef: Since we’re using our ground beef without browning it first, I highly recommend using at least 80% lean ground beef. Else, the dish can get quite greasy.
Bell peppers: Any color is fine! Green is classic, but my family hates green peppers (I’m the only one who likes them), so I usually throw in one or two green ones for myself and do the rest red and yellow.

Tip: How to prepare bell peppers for stuffing

It’s easy to prepare bell peppers for stuffing without making a huge mess of seeds!

Once you have washed them, slice off the top. Then, use a small paring knife to cut the white membranes attached to the pepper wall.

knife slicing off top of bell pepper — slice off top

overhead view of small paring knife cutting seeds from bell pepper — slice off top

Once you have cut through all the membranes, you can carefully pull out the seedy part. Done!

How to make stuffed peppers in the crockpot

1. Start by combining the ingredients for the sauce. Just place everything in a measuring jug and whisk!

ingredients for tomato sauce in measuring jug — sauce ingredients

tomato sauce in measuring jug with whisk — sauce ingredients

2. In a large bowl, combine the ingredients for the filling. I use a single-use rubber glove on my hand and mix it this way – it’s easiest for both the mixing and the stuffing part!

ingredients for stuffed pepper filling in large glass bowl — filling ingredients

stuffed pepper filling in large glass bowl — filling ingredients

3. Ladle a little sauce in the bottom of a 6-7 quart slow cooker. Fill the prepared peppers with the meat and rice mixture and nestle them in your crock.

overhead view of tomato sauce in crock pot — add some sauce to crock

overhead view of uncooked stuffed peppers in crockpot — add some sauce to crock

4. Evenly spread the remaining sauce over the stuffed peppers. Cook on HIGH for 2-3 hours, or on LOW for 5-6 hours. If you want, you can sprinkle each pepper with a little shredded cheese/top with a cheese slice and close the lid of your crockpot another 5 minutes, until the cheese has melted.

overhead view of cooked stuffed peppers in crockpot — cook

overhead view of cooked stuffed peppers topped with cheese in crockpot — cook

My mother-in-law lets her peppers sit for a full day before reheating and serving them… Not in my house though, they go straight from crock to plate 😉

overhead view of stuffed peppers in crockpot

Recipe tips

I’ve been making stuffed peppers in the crockpot for a while now, and I figured out a few tips to share with you. These will help you make this recipe absolutely foolproof!

1 – Make sure there is some sauce underneath the peppers

The first time I made these, I made the mistake of not adding any sauce to the bottom of the crockpot. The result: Two of the peppers totally burned and stuck to the bottom of the crock.

The simple solution is to ladle a little bit of sauce into the crockpot before you add the peppers – this will help prevent the burning from happening. If your crock is new and runs very hot, you might still experience a little blackening – but that happens in the oven too and isn’t too dramatic.

2 – Stuff the peppers the right way

To me, the secret to juicy, comforting stuffed peppers is to properly stuff them with the filling.

While you don’t want it overflowing (since the rice will expand as it cooks), you want to make sure the filling is packed without any air holes or gaps in between.

3 – If you don’t want to use raw meat

If you feel uncomfortable about adding raw ground beef to your crockpot, you can just brown the beef in a skillet on the stove before combining it with the remaining ingredients for the filling.

It will make the filling a little less juicy and it won’t hold up as well, but it’s still super delicious.

Extra tip: Stacking?

If your peppers are quite wide, you may be wondering if it’s OK to stack the peppers slightly, or if it’s OK if they’re kind of crammed into the crock and not all touching the bottom.

The answer is, kind of! As long as you can fully close the lid without touching the peppers, it’s fine if the peppers are not all touching the sauce at the bottom, or if you have some smaller peppers kind of hanging out on top/in between some larger ones.

frontal closeup view of stuffed peppers in crockpot

Storage tips

Store leftover peppers covered in the fridge for up to 3 days. Place in a casserole dish and reheat, covered, at 350°F for around 30 minutes or until steaming hot all the way through.

Freezer instructions

Yes, they can!

It’s so convenient to freeze stuffed peppers for easy meals throughout the week!

When I want to freeze these, I use two crockpots and make a double batch, so we have at least 8 stuffed peppers for the freezer.

How to freeze stuffed peppers:

Make sure the peppers are cooked all the way through.
Wait for the peppers to cool for 30-60 minutes before freezing them (otherwise your freezer could heat up too much and affect the other frozen goods in there).
Use a container that is suitable for freezing.
Label the bag or container with the contents and the use-by time (the peppers are best eaten within 3 months).
Make sure your container is fully sealed, or you’ll get freezer burn on those peppers.
To reheat, place the frozen peppers in a casserole dish and cover with foil. Reheat at 350°F for 30-60 minutes (depending on the size of your peppers), making sure the peppers are piping hot and steaming all the way through.

Serving ideas

While stuffed peppers are a pretty wholesome meal already, we do like to round out our dinners with them a little, to make them even more satisfying.

Some of our favorites side dishes for these crockpot stuffed peppers:

Sautéed green beans, roasted broccoli or roasted asparagus (don’t want to turn on your oven? Try my air fryer green beans, air fryer broccoli or air fryer asparagus!)
A nice big, green, fresh salad with white balsamic vinaigrette and some crusty, homemade bread
Cherry tomato salad or cucumber tomato salad
Mashed potatoes (or instant pot mashed potatoes), cornbread or roasted fingerling potatoes

I hope you’ll give this recipe a try – even if you have a husband who’s picky about stuffed peppers 😉

frontal view of stuffed pepper on white plate with some bites taken out

More crockpot recipes to try

PS If you try this recipe, please leave a review in the comment section and add a star rating in the recipe card – I appreciate your feedback! Follow along on Pinterest, Facebook or Instagram.

Printable recipe

Recipe first published on 8/27/2018. I updated the recipe on 06/10/2024 to make a larger batch (our family has since not only grown from 2 to 3 kids, but those kids have also grown 6 years older and eat a lot more now!), and added new photos and text.

More recipes to try

4.88 from 25 votes (19 ratings without comment)