Bacon Burger Stuffed Peppers- A Recipe Swap

As I mentioned in my last post, I've been a bit bacon obsessed recently! My lovely friend Becca from http://www.itsyummi.com/ is the same way, she loves it! Just a quick search of her site turned up 10 recipes with bacon, and at this rate, I'm not far behind!

These stuffed peppers caught my eye during my Bacon party on Facebook (you can find the links to all the recipes shared HERE). I've never really liked stuffed peppers at all, but I've been seeing some yummy looking one's recently, so I'd been thinking of trying to make my own. Yep, I never made them before! My mother and grandmother made them when I was younger, but I'd long ago stopped even trying them.

So, the whole point of my doing these recipe swaps is for me to make foods I normally wouldn't, and since I never made them or liked them before these were perfect. And, guess what? I liked them!

Here is Becca's exact ingredient list for her Bacon Burger Stuffed Peppers, and then I'll tell you what I had to change because I'm an idiot sometimes and don't pay attention very well 🙁 The printable recipe follows at the bottom of this post.

Bacon Burger Stuffed Peppers

• 4 to 6 large green bell peppers
• ¾ pound ground beef
• ¼ pound ground bacon
• 4 to 6 bite sized mozzarella cheese balls ( she used a local Wisconsin cheese made by BelGioioso, which is the brand I always use!)
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 can (14 oz.) Italian diced tomatoes
• 2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 to 1 ½ cups cooked rice
• 1 can (8 oz.) tomato or marinara sauce
• 2-3 slices of fresh mozzarella cheese

Ok, the part I didn't pay attention to before I planned on making them, GROUND BACON. Unfortunately, my grocery shopping normally happens at night around 7-9 PM and the only person in the meat department couldn't grind bacon, which I just knew he was going to say. So, instead I chopped up around ¼ pound of bacon as fine as I could before I cooked it. I also accidentally grabbed the smaller cheese balls, so I put around 4-5 in the bottom of each pepper. THEN, I accidentally bought Italian stewed tomatoes instead of diced. Acckkk!!! I love tomatoes and will eat them any other way, but for some reason stewed tomatoes freak me out!! Too late once I already started making them, so I diced the stewed tomatoes ( I drained them first) and hoped I wouldn't die 🙂 The mozzarella cheese I used was some that my neighbor had smoked and given to use. I loved the smoked favor of the cheese in these peppers, so I will suggest using smoked mozzarella.

How to make:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cut the tops off of each pepper and remove the seeds and membranes. Fill a large mixing bowl with ice and water. Blanch the peppers in salted, boiling water for 4 minutes, then shock in the ice water, drain and let cool.

Brown the ground beef, bacon, and onions in a skillet over medium high heat, drain off the fat. Add the tomatoes, Worcestershire, cooked rice, and salt and pepper. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer for 5 minutes.

Place a mozzarella ball ( or balls) into the bottom of each pepper and stand them up in a casserole dish. Add the meat filling to each pepper and top with some tomato sauce and ½ slice of mozzarella cheese.

Bake for around 30 minutes or until the peppers are tender, then top with some more tomato sauce and another ½ slice of cheese and bake for 5 more minutes or until the cheese is melted.

Since Becca makes terrific peppers ( and everything she makes sounds so terrific!) I would love it if you would check out her blog ( link above) and her Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/ItsYummilicious Trust me you won't be sorry!

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Bacon Burger Stuffed Peppers

Bell peppers stuffed with ground beef and bacon, then topped with cheese. Like a bacon cheeseburger in a pepper!

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time45 minutes mins

Total Time55 minutes mins

Course: Entree

Cuisine: Italian/American

Servings: 4

Calories: 535kcal

Author: Bernadette

Ingredients

• 4 large green bell peppers
• ¾ pound ground beef
• ¼ pound ground bacon
• 4 bite sized mozzarella cheese balls
• 1 small onion finely chopped
• 14 ounces Italian diced tomatoes
• 2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup cooked rice
• 8 ounces tomato or marinara sauce
• 2-3 slices of fresh mozzarella cheese

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cut the tops off of each pepper and remove the seeds and membranes. Fill a large mixing bowl with ice and water. Blanch the peppers in salted, boiling water for 4 minutes, then shock in the ice water, drain and let cool.
• Brown the ground beef, bacon, and onions in a skillet over medium high heat, drain off the fat. Add the tomatoes, Worcestershire, cooked rice, and salt and pepper. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer for 5 minutes.
• Place a mozzarella ball ( or balls) into the bottom of each pepper and stand them up in a casserole dish. Add the meat filling to each pepper and top with some tomato sauce and ½ slice of mozzarella cheese.
• Bake for around 30 minutes or until the peppers are tender, then top with some more tomato sauce and another ½ slice of cheese and bake for 5 more minutes or until the cheese is melted.

Nutrition

Calories: 535kcal | Carbohydrates: 28g | Protein: 31g | Fat: 32g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Cholesterol: 104mg | Sodium: 1172mg | Potassium: 1087mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 9g | Vitamin A: 900IU | Vitamin C: 112mg | Calcium: 210mg | Iron: 4.5mg