Slow Cooker Beef and Rice Stuffed Peppers

These bell peppers are stuffed with lean ground beef and zesty tomato sauce mix, brown rice, topped with cheese, and then baked to perfection. This Stuffed pepper recipe is the perfect weeknight meal that can be prepared ahead of time. They are healthy, easy to make and so delicious. Makes for a perfect weeknight dinner any day of the week and they are also great for meal prepping. For a low carb and keto-friendly option make it with cauliflower rice instead!

Easy to make: It is so easy to make these stuffed peppers. Make the ground beef and rice stuffing mix and stuff your colorful peppers. Top with cheese and pop in the oven. Have dinner ready in less than an hour!
Healthy: Made with lean ground beef and brown rice, these stuffed peppers can be made even healthier by using ground turkey and cauliflower rice. Doing so will make them low carb and keto-friendly for those who are on keto.
So good!: You won’t regret making these stuffed peppers. They are so flavorful and filling. It will definitely be a winner.

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef (or turkey)
5 bell peppers tops cut off and diced for filling
1 1/2 cups cooked rice can be leftover rice
24 oz. jar marinara sauce, divided
1 small white onion diced
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. dried tarragon oregano works well too

Instructions:
Brown the ground beef in a skillet on the stove top. Drain.
Add the beef, cut up bell pepper tops, rice, 1 cup of the marinara sauce, onion, salt, garlic powder, thyme and tarragon to a medium sized bowl. Stir.
Stuff the peppers with the filling you just made. If there is any leftover filling add it to the bottom of the slow cooker.
Add remaining marinara sauce to the slow cooker.
Add the stuffed peppers in the slow cooker. I try not to let them rest on the sides of the slow cooker, but most of the time they end up falling over later.
Cover and cook on LOW for 5 hours without opening the lid during the cooking time.
Notes:
Can I add cheese to this?
Stuffed peppers often have cheese on top, though adding cheese is optional.

If you want a cheese fix, add about 2 tablespoons of shredded mozzarella cheese to each pepper 10 minutes before the cooking time is up.

Can a different type of meat be used?
Ground turkey

Ground chicken

Ground Italian sausage

Can I make this vegan?
Use soy crumbles instead of beef

Or a can of pinto beans

Or add extra veggies such as chopped squash or asparagus to the rice mixture.