Slow Cooker Stuffed Pepper Filling 5 Ingredients. Combine ground beef with 3 ingredients and canned tomatoes in slow cooker to make a savory meal, my standby meal when I am not sure what to make.
My default dinner when I look in the fridge and do not know what to prepare is this slow cooker stuffed pepper filling of 5 ingredients. It is all done in the slow cooker: canned tomatoes are mixed with raw ground beef along with three other items in the pantry, and thrown into the form of the slow cooker, and left to walk.
Servings: 4
Ingredients
- Lean ground beef → 1 1/2 pounds
- Diced tomatoes (with juices) → 1 can (14.5-oz.)
- Tomato sauce → 1 (8-ounce) can
- Drained green chiles (or mild, as desired) → 1 (4-ounce) can
- Italian seasoning (or dried blended herbs) → 1 tablespoon
- Salt (kosher or to taste) → 1 teaspoon
- Black pepper (THE option, to taste) → 1/2 teaspoon
Slow Cooker Stuffed Pepper Filling: Directions
- Put the raw ground beef directly into the bottom of a 4- to 6-quart slow cooker and break it up with few big pieces using your hands or a spoon.
- Add the cans of diced tomatoes including all its juices into the slow cooker containing the beef.
- Lay the tomato sauce, diced green chiles, Italian seasoning, salt, and black pepper (when desired) over the top.
- Add all together in the slow cooker with clean hands until all the canned tomatoes, seasonings, and the ground beef have been mixed. At this point it will resemble loose and chunky amalgamation.
- Pour the mixture in the slow cooker in a thin layer such that it gets cooked evenly and then put the lid on the cooker.
- Bake at LOW for 5-6 hours or at HIGH with 2 1/2-3 hours or until the beef is fully cooked through with the mixture thick and saucy. Occasionally stir in progress of cooking, dislodging any large bits of beef.
- Taste and add a little more salt or pepper (when necessary). You can cook uncovered HIGH an extra 15 to 20 minutes, but stirring every few minutes, to make it thicker.
- Spoon the stuffing of the pepper into roasted pepper halves, or rice or any other manner you choose, and preserve the remainder in a capped container in the refrigerator up to 4 days.
Variations & Tips
Adding 1 to 1 1/2 of cooked rice into the mixture in the last 30 minutes of cooking will give the impression of leaning into the classic stuffed pepper feel without making the rice mushy. To make it extra veggies, you can add an onion cut into pieces and 1 to 2 bell peppers cut into pieces directly into slow cooker with the beef and tomatoes (in that case it will be more than 5 ingredients, though the recipe is going to remain the same). Adding hot green chiles or a pinch of red pepper flakes is also a good choice in case you enjoy a hot tomato. And you can replace the ground beef with the ground turkey or a plant-based ground meat provided that you have it in your fridge; however, you should make sure to taste it and add more salt, as the leaner meats might require additional salt. A cheesy one would be to sprinkle the top during the final 10-15 minutes of cooking, with shredded mozzarella or cheddar, cover with it, and allow it to melt. One can also freeze this kind of filling- allow it to cool down and cut it into freezer bags and freeze it flat so that you can have an even easier meal in the future- up to 3 months.