- This easy stuffed pepper soup
turns a dinner favorite into an even cozier one pot meal.
It's loaded with all of the flavors that you love
from my classic stuffed peppers recipe, this one right here,
including bell pepper, onion, tomatoes, ground beef, rice,
and a variety of spices.
And it's served up in one comforting bowl
that is perfect for chillier weather.
I honestly love soup recipes like this
as they're perfect for meal prepping,
and you can easily reheat just one single serving
when you want a hearty meal in just a minute or two.
So long story short, this recipe is easy,
healthy, comforting, nourishing, hearty,
and I think you're going to love it.
So let me show you how to make it.
When I first made this soup recipe,
I was truly surprised at just how similar the flavors were
between my classic stuffed peppers and this soup version.
If I'm being honest,
I thought that maybe the flavors would be watered down
or the meal wouldn't feel quite as hearty,
but that didn't happen at all.
It literally tastes like my stuffed peppers
but in soup form.
So to get started with prepping
the layers of flavor in this soup, dice one onion,
and when you're done with that,
add it to a bowl and just set it off to the side,
because there's a few more things to chop.
In the classic recipe,
bell peppers are the outside holding device
for chunky filling goodness.
But for this version, you'll dice up two bell peppers,
so that they can simmer away inside the soup,
imparting their sweet and unmistakable flavor.
You can use any color bell peppers in this recipe.
I prefer a mix of colors,
and usually find green and red bell peppers
most often in my market.
But if you want to grab yellow or orange,
feel free to do so.
I use lots of bell peppers in my recipes,
because I just love their taste,
but I'll admit that it took me way too long
to learn how to cut a bell pepper the right way,
or the easy way, however you want to look at it.
So if you're not sure if you're doing it right,
here's my tips.
Slice the top and bottom ends off the bell pepper.
Then cut through the skin lengthwise,
and slide your knife around the inside seeds,
removing them in one fell swoop.
This also saves you much mess
from those little seeds getting everywhere.
Then cut that one large piece into strips,
but make sure that you're slicing down on the inside edge,
not the outer edge,
which is harder for your knife to penetrate.
Then slice across those strips for the perfect dice.
But you're not done at this point,
because you don't want to waste those top and bottom pieces.
Just slice around the stem and then dice them up as well.
When you're done, you'll have hardly any vegetable waste,
and you can transfer your diced bell pepper
on top of your onions into the bowl.
Next up is garlic,
and I'll just go ahead and smash and peel four garlic cloves
so that they're ready to mince over by the stove.
Now side note, the papery peels of garlic
are literally the bane of my existence in the kitchen,
because they always seem to make their way to my floor.
I've been saying for years that I need to get a Roomba
just for the sole purpose of vacuuming
up my garlic peels from the floor,
and I think this year might be the year I finally do it.
All right, let's get to cooking this soup.
Add one pound of lean ground beef
to a large soup pot over medium heat,
and use your spatula to break up the meat while it browns.
Then season the beef with salt and pepper.
I'm using 90% lean ground beef,
which means that there's less fat,
and I don't have to remove any excess fat
or grease from the pot before the next step.
But if you use an 80% ground beef,
just make sure to drain off any fat
that may have accumulated in the pot.
Once it's browned, use a spatula or large skimmer
as I'm doing to remove the ground beef
to a paper towel lined plate or bowl,
and then just set this to the side.
Add a tablespoon of olive oil to the pot,
and then dump in the diced bell pepper and onion.
Saute this for three to four minutes
or until it's slightly softened.
Then add the garlic,
and you can just mince it straight into the pot.
Add the spices,
which includes half a teaspoon of dried basil,
half a teaspoon of dried oregano,
and half a teaspoon of dried thyme.
If you don't have those individual spices,
you could also add one and a half teaspoons
of Italian seasoning.
Stir the garlic and spices for another 30 seconds or so.
Then add the ground beef back to the pot,
along with two 14 and a half ounce cans
of fire roasted tomatoes, one 15 ounce can of tomato sauce,
and two cups of beef broth.
If you can't find fire roasted tomatoes,
you can also use plain diced tomatoes,
but fire roasted tomatoes add so much more flavor.
And I'm also using low sodium on all those cans
as I like to control the amount of salt.
Give that a stir so that it's fully combined,
bring it to a simmer, add the lid,
and let it simmer covered for about 20 minutes.
Now while the soup is simmering, you can make the rice,
or you can meal prep two cups of rice ahead of time.
It's up to you.
I have a separate video on how to make perfect rice,
so feel free to give that a watch.
But it's as simple as adding rinsed rice
and water to a small pot, giving that a stir,
bringing it to a boil, covering the pot,
and cooking it for 13 to 15 minutes.
I actually prefer my rice a little bit on the al dente side
for this recipe, as the rice will continue to soften
when it's added to the soup.
After 20 minutes, your soup is virtually done,
and your kitchen will smell amazing
from all those Italian spices.
Add the rice to your soup pot,
and give it one last stir to mix it all together.
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The great thing about this stuffed pepper soup recipe
is that it's a good balance of protein from the ground beef
and carbs from the vegetables and rice.
So it's definitely a full meal kind of soup
rather than a side soup.
I made this recipe for some guy friends of mine recently,
who always seem to be hungry,
and it definitely filled them up.
But of course, they then asked if I had any leftovers,
so that they could have it again the next day.
So let's talk about leftovers.
You guys know I'm all about that meal prep life,
and this is a perfect recipe to either make ahead and freeze
or store any leftovers from a weeknight meal.
Sometimes I'll get questions asking how to half recipes
for just one or two people,
and then I have to educate those people
that you never half recipes.
Well, at least not in my world.
If you're less people, you're actually super fortunate,
because you can cook less and store more.
And to store this recipe,
it's as easy as adding it to some freezer safe glass jars
or Souper Cubes.
Just remember that if you do use glass jars
that you leave space at the top for expansion
as the soup freezes.
Then you can store the soup in the fridge
for up to five days
or in the freezer for up to three months.
Now, in hindsight,
this would've been a perfect recipe
to include in my healthy meal prep cookbook,
but don't you worry, I've got plenty of other tasty soups
and stews you can freeze in the cookbook.
When you're ready to enjoy the stuffed pepper soup,
simply reheat it either in the microwave
or in a pot on the stove, add it to a bowl,
and then top it with some freshly chopped parsley
for that fresh good as new flavor.
If you do dairy,
you could also grate a little fresh Parmesan on top,
which is always tasty,
as the cheese starts to melt into the soup.
I hope you guys enjoyed this recipe today,
and if you did, give it a thumbs up,
share it with your fellow soup lovers,
and let me know in the comments below
what some of your favorite soup recipes are
that I haven't yet made before.
And with that, I will see you again in the next video.
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