Stuffed Pepper Soup
This easy Stuffed Pepper Soup has all the flavors of stuffed peppers but in a soup. Ground beef, peppers, rice, broth and seasonings!
ALL THE FLAVORS OF STUFFED PEPPERS IN A SOUP!
One of my absolute favorite comfort foods is Stuffed Peppers. They can be a bit tedious to make though, right? This Stuffed Pepper Soup is an easy way to get all that delicious stuffed pepper flavor without all the work. This soup is ridiculously yummy!! It is a hearty, filling soup made with ground beef, bell peppers, and rice that is all simmered in a seasoned tomato-based broth. You just can’t go wrong!
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
One cup of uncooked long grain rice will make about 3 cups of cooked rice.
Yes, you can make a vegetarian version of stuffed pepper soup by substituting the ground beef with a plant-based protein like lentils or chickpeas. You can also add more vegetables, such as zucchini, eggplant, and mushrooms.
Yes, you can make stuffed pepper soup in a slow cooker. To do this, brown the ground beef and sauté the vegetables in a skillet before transferring them to a 4 quart slow cooker. Add the remaining ingredients (minus the rice) to the slow cooker and stir to combine. Cover and cook on low heat for 4-6 hours or on high heat for 2-3 hours, until the vegetables are tender. Add the rice in the last 1/2 hour of cooking (so it doesn’t absorb too much broth.)
It doesn’t matter if you’re looking to cut carbs, choose “healthier” options, or just out of rice, there are tons of other options to try to use than traditional white rice if needed. You can try cauliflower rice, quinoa, orzo, or other options. You can try traditional white rice or brown rice too.
There are all sorts of ideas to try. You can try adding some crushed red pepper flakes, banana peppers, or hot sauce. Whatever your taste buds prefer and you have on hand. You can even try a can of Rotel.
Yes, you can make this soup ahead of time. Store as usual and then reheat when you’re ready to eat it.
Stuffed pepper soup will last about 2-3 days in the refrigerator. Keep in mind thought that the rice will continue to absorb liquid. If you are wanting to make stuffed pepper soup to have for the week, I would suggest making the soup without adding any rice. Store that in the refrigerator and add a bit of the cooked rice to the soup for each serving before reheating. This will keep the rice from being mushy.
Yes, stuffed pepper soup can be frozen for up to 3 months. To freeze the soup, let it cool completely, then transfer it to airtight containers or Ziploc bags and place it in the freezer. To serve, thaw the soup in the refrigerator and reheat it on the stove or in the microwave. However, keep in mind rice can become mushy when re-heated and it also continues to absorb the liquid it is in.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED (SEE RECIPE CARD BELOW FOR THE FULL RECIPE)
- ground beef– I recommend sticking to a leaner ground beef. If you choose a fattier ground beef, make sure to drain off any excess grease when cooking it. You could swap the ground beef out for ground chicken, ground turkey, or ground sausage. Over the years, I’ve even had readers share that they used venison and bison!
- onion – I use a sweet yellow onion here. I don’t know why they call them sweet since they aren’t sweet. I guess it just means they are slightly less pungent than your standard yellow onion.
- green pepper– if you prefer a sweeter profile, try this with red bell pepper.
- canned diced tomatoes – if you want to step up the flavor you can use fire roasted tomatoes.
- tomato soup– many of my readers have shared that they used V8 or other tomato juices instead of tomato soup. Also, some readers have shared using tomato sauce instead of soup to make this a rich soup. That’s something else you could try sometime.
- chicken broth – can be swapped for beef broth or vegetable broth.
- cooked rice– it really is important that it is COOKED rice! Otherwise the rice will absorb the liquid as it’s cooking and make this more of a thick stew.
- sugar – the sugar is there just to offset the acidity in the diced tomatoes. If you’ve ever meet an Italian grandmother you know she always puts a bit of sugar in her tomato sauces. This does not give it any sweetness at all. However, feel free to leave it out although I do feel you lose some of the balance of flavor when you do so.
- garlic powder – you could use fresh garlic or jarred garlic for this as well. I always say you measure garlic with your heart. Add a little in and taste and go from there.
- salt and pepper
- shredded cheddar cheese – this is optional. We all like to top ours with cheese but that is definitely a personal preference.
HOW TO MAKE STUFFED PEPPER SOUP:
Dice up the onion and green pepper. In a large pot, brown and crumble ground beef along with diced green peppers and onion over medium-high heat. When cooked, drain excess grease from beef mixture.
Put beef back into pot. Add in diced tomatoes, tomato soup and chicken broth (or beef broth). Give it all a good stir. Then add in rice. Stir in seasonings; sugar, garlic powder, salt & pepper (to taste).
Cover and let soup simmer on low heat for about 30 minutes to let all the flavors blend. The longer it simmers – the thicker it will get as the rice continues to absorb the liquids. And serve! Optional: serve this soup with shredded cheddar cheese on top.
CRAVING MORE RECIPES?
- Stuffed Pepper Casserole
- Crock Pot Stuffed Peppers
- Chicken Stuffed Peppers
- Crock Pot Taco Soup
- Crock Pot Chicken Parmesan Soup
- Instant Pot Stuffed Peppers
- Cabbage Roll Soup
- Crock Pot White Lasagna Soup
- Hamburger Vegetable Soup
- Lasagna Soup
- Sausage Corn Chowder
- 100 Ground Beef Recipes
- 25 Fall Soup Recipes
Originally published: November 2012
Updated photos and republished: November 2024
Stuffed Pepper Soup (with Video)
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 small onion, diced
- 1 large bell pepper, diced
- 29 ounce can diced tomatoes
- 10 ounce can tomato soup (or tomato sauce)
- 14 ounce can chicken broth (or beef broth)
- 2 cups cooked rice
- 1 Tablespoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- salt and pepper, to taste
- shredded cheddar cheese (for topping, optional)
Instructions
- In a large pot, brown and crumble 1 pound ground beef along with 1 small onion, diced and 1 large bell pepper, diced over medium-high heat.
- When meat is thoroughly cooked, drain excess grease from beef mixture. Put beef mixture back into the pot.
- Add in 29 ounce can diced tomatoes, 10 ounce can tomato soup and 14 ounce can chicken broth.
- Give it all a good stir. Then add in 2 cups cooked rice. Stir again.
- Then stir in 1 Tablespoon sugar, 1 teaspoon garlic powder and salt and pepper, to taste.
- Cover and let soup simmer on low heat for about 30 minutes to let all the flavors blend. (The longer it simmers, the thicker it will get.)
- Serve with shredded cheddar cheese on top of each serving (optional.)
Video
Notes
- Please refer to my FAQ’s (Frequently Asked Questions) and ingredient list above for other substitutions or for the answers to the most common questions.
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
“The Country Cook” is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and other nutritional values can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
I can't wait to try this! Looks delicious!
This is a great recipe for a quick, tasty meal. I've been experimenting with it a little bit. I have a recipe for stuffed cabbage and it uses a sauce with ketchup (yes, ketchup. Don't laugh) and brown sugar. It is used as a topping for the cooked peppers and adds to the flavor profile in an unbelievable way. I'm trying to get the exact amounts of both of those ingredients to add to the soup. Hopefully, I can capture that flavor in the soup.
Thanks for posting this. I have a friend who shares a lot of your recipes with me and I've used quite a few of them with excellent results. Thanks again.
Thanks Dan, hope you are able to capture that flavor you are looking for.
Delicious! I made this for dinner last night. No complaints from the kids and my husband took the leftovers to work. Next time i will double the recipe. Thank you.
I made this and doubled the condiments and it tasted much better the next day.. will make it again thank you
Made this soup last Saturday. It was delicious and my family loved it! The only thing I did differently was adding a 1/4 tsp of cumin (or to your liking). Recipe is now added to my scrapbook for safe keeping. Thanks for the recipe! It's a keeper!
Gonna have to try this… we love stuffed peppers and normally when I am feeding more than just the two of us, I make it into a casserole. Soup sounds great!
I made this today, it is delicious! I made a double batch and used 20 Oz of the diced tomatoes with green chillis. Also added a lil Frank's Red Hot sauce. It was a hit with the family as well. Will definitely make again! Thank you!
So glad it was a hit!
I just found this last night, so I made it tonight. Will definitely be making again. I add a LOT more garlic and just a touch of itallian seasoning (because that's just how I roll). Yum! I love stuffed peppers, don't know why I never thought to chop the peppers up and make it into a soup. I made an apple cinnamon cake for dessert. Winner!
So glad it was a winner for you. It is one of our favorites any time of the year.
This recipe is awesome. I made it for my family and everybody loved it. I added some corn bread to go with this and it was even better. Delicious
This is one of our favorites. So glad you enjoyed it too and that cornbread sounded like a great compliment.
I make something like this but I use minute rice and tomato juice
It is thick. And very good and easy.
Sounds GOOD to me! 🙂
Great soup…..I added Oregano, black beans, switched out the white rice for brown. Added celery leaves and about four or five celery stalks from the fridge, used marinara sauce because I didn't have tomato sauce. This is such a great recipe to add anything you might want. Thanks for a wonderful meal!
This is my second all time favorite soup. The recipe I've used in the past makes 3X this much. I am eager to try your version. The recipe looks like it will make a delicious soup. Thanks
Brandie..I may have posted before BUTT (lol)..Danara found this and turned me onto it..ITS THE BEST! Like my Gumbo's….I serve the rice onna side…for those watching the waistline a lil….I am also a type 2..and this has not caused a spike..once! A great soup-everyone. Everyone I have shared this with–that made it–LOVES IT…Even my former Mrs. Flagg-the Sequel!! (She hates me..lol) Love ya Brandie..Martini…
I made this in my crockpot leaving the rice to the very end. It seems to swallow up all my liquid. Next time I will add more broth and less rice. I loved it! My husband is a meat and potato guy but I'm trying this again! He can eat a hot dog!
lOVE STUFFED PEPPERS AND THIS SEEMS SO MUCH FASTER. WILL BE TRYING IT SOON AND WILL MAKE VARIATIONS LIKE SOME OF YOUR READERS SUGGEST. THANKS
I don't like rice so i make this with Orzo.The pasta is also a to more filling.
Hi I have been making this soup a long time since I was a kid and that was 50 years ago, but I leave out the cheese and add a teaspoon of ground cumin for flavor.I use tomato juice for my base liquid as well. Fine recipe though! Bob
I've been making this over and over for the past year and I just thought today to comment. I use ground turkey, 2 peppers and only 1 cup of cooked rice to lighten the calories a bit. It is SO GOOD!! Thanks for the yummy recipe =)
I just came across this recipe and made it last night. I only used 1/2 lb. ground beef, because that's how we are, but loved the soup. Next time for us I will add an extra green pepper just so it has more of that stuffed pepper flavor. 🙂
Came across this yesterday & made it last night. The whole family loved it & it will now be added to the fall/winter soup rotation. Thank you!
I'm making this for myself now since the hubs is working nights and is picky anyways (more for me!). It smells like I have a pan of stuffed peppers in my oven! Taste tested it and I am so excited to dish it up! Very quick and very easy to pull together..perfect for the winter months coming up!! Thanks so much!!! 🙂
Can I do this with jalapeno peppers instead?
One of the "PA Dutch" local buffets have this, and I have made it every so often. It is REALLY good! For those of you who don't like the green peppers, I use the red bell peppers, much less acidic and easier on the stomach, AND they are sweeter! (I use them for my stuffed peppers also!). My 84 years-young Mom can't eat the green ones but can eat the red ones 🙂 If you like stuffed peppers, you have to try this! YuM! It also freezes well, great for having on cold winter nights for supper with homemade cornbread!
This is a delicious soup, thanks for sharing. I just wondered if you or anyone else have a recipe for Cabbage Roll soup?
I love that your toddler is digging in too! That's awesome! So happy you loved this!
I found this recipe on pinterest and just finished making it. It's suppose to be for dinner but my toddler and I are having it for lunch too. I love the taste of the soup it's not bland and it doesn't have a bunch of unnecessary spices. Other soups have had added stuff. Which other people might like but for this paticular soup it is not needed. Very simple and easy to make when you're in a crunch. Can't wait for the rest of the family to try it. Thanks again will follow you on pinterest!
This is a great low calories soup. I make the rice on the side and let my husband add it to his. I also add mushroom to bulk it up a little for myself. Thank you for a savory soup that we enjoy. God Bless You.
This was ridiculously good!!! Perfect for a cooking lesson with my 6 year old & what a yummy surprise. I used tomato sauce & beef broth. I will probably double both next time, since there wasn't much "juice" in the end. I left out the sugar too, since I don't use it when making regular stuffed peppers. This is definitely going to be a regular feature at our table.
This is great!!! my whole family loved it and we are making it again tonight and my husband invited the extended family over to try it out!! im sure they will love it to!! thank you for the recipe!!!
Since I'm about to make this for the umpteenth time, thought it would've nice to pop back over and say how much we love it and thanks for sharing! We top it off with loads of crumbled queso fresco and avocado chunks, and cornbread if I have any. Delish, delish delish!
This sounds delicious! I like the taste of the peppers when their stuffed but I just can't bring myself to eat them lol. I bet this will solve my issue!
I make this stuffed pepper soup alot. its so delicious. I like to top mine with some parmesan cheese.
what a great idea. I made stuffed peppers and had to much filling so I made soup. It was great. Thanks
used V8 instead of the tomato soup gives great flavor
Thank you… very easy recipe and OMG taste great…. The family loved it!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hubster and i luvs luvs luvs stuffed peppers; but the young'un won't eat them, altho he luvs everything in a stuffed pepper (kids…need i say more?).
Saw this soup recipe around Thanksgiving, tried it and BINGO! Young'un ate 2 (that's TWO) bowls!
We are still in the age of miracles ;0)
Thank you for this recipe and for all your family-friendly and deeelish meal ideas
I made the stuff green pepper soup, and brought it to work and everybody like it. I am going to add cabbage to it instead of the green peppers next time. To see how it would tastes. Stuff cabbage soup.
I love this Brandi. My husband doesn't eat peppers so I make the soup thick and freeze it in the large muffin tins and pop it out and put in plastic bags after it's frozen. Then on a work day (night) I pop one of the servings in a bowl with a lid, add a small can of tomato sauce and by the time I get ready for lunch, if's thawed, ready to be microwaved and oh so good!
Thank you so much for sharing this– such an easy weeknight dish! The ingredients are staples in our home so should be quick and easy to pull together. Looking forward to trying it tonight!
We had this for dinner tonight and loved it!! I like the fact that it was thick and hearty but you could add an additional can of broth if you want it more "soupy". I used the tomato soup and chicken broth and think I will stick with that. I loved the fact that it's a mild soup also as I have issues with spicy foods these days. My Sweetie added hot sauce to his 🙂 This will be one of our favorite winter soups 🙂
Going to use quinoa instead of rice and stevia to replace sugar. Carb free!
If I made this in a crockpot, would I have to wait until the end to add the rice? Or do you think I could add uncooked minute rice at the beginning and it would be done at the end?
I made this a couple of days ago, since I have always loved stuffed green peppers. It turned out delicious and I followed the recipe exactly but it did seem to need a little more broth. The rice must have soaked it up. Next time I'll just add more broth. Thanks, I can't wait to try more of your recipes.
The possibilities for variations on this soup seem endless. Used what I had on hand: ground round (1.5lb), medium onion, 2 bell peppers, 40 oz jar of iimported from Italy marinara sauce, and 16 oz. of chicken stock. Seasoned with salt, pepper and Tony Chachere's creole seasoning. After making the soup part, I refrigerated it overnight WITHOUT adding the rice so the flavors could meld – you know soups and stews are always better the next day. Then when I heated it back up, instead of rice I used tiny orzo pasta. Absolutely delizioso! Thanks for the inspiration!
I made this tonight and it was Yummy. To give it a little kick I added som Red Hot Sauce and Nutmeg and I changed the Cheese to Grated Parmesan. Delicious!
Thank you for this awesome recipe! My father-in-law and I were just talking about stuffed peppers the other night. He was telling me about how my mother-in-law would make stuffed peppers for dinner but he would only eat the stuffing part and he would give her all his peppers. I got a chuckle out of that because that's exactly what I did with my mom when I was a kid. We both agree that we like the flavor the peppers give the stuffing but we don't like texture of them when they're cooked. My mother-in-law passed away about 7 years ago and after our talk the other night I was thinking of making stuffed peppers for him because I realized they were one of his favorite meals. When I read your recipe, I thought this soup would be a great alternative since it's like a bowlful of the stuffing with just enough pepper to give it that flavor he loves.
I just made your soup this morning and it is really tasty! I have always like stuffed peppers but had never thought about making it into a soup. I am so glad that you had the idea. Have a great day!
Do u know how many servings this is?
I made this tonight with ground venison and you would never know the difference (which is great because I don't generally like venison :)).
Added the rice to the mixture in my Ninja Cooking System instead of cooking separately which required some additional water as it cooked.
We will make this many times.I finally have a "go to" recipe that everyone likes to use ground venison in my freezer! Thank you.
Yay!! That is great to know. I love hearing that! I have lots of folks ask if venison will work in certain recipes so it's good to know it tasted good in this. Thank you for letting me know!
I’ve used venison as well as bison and both work great. Also they are so lean you don’t have to drain them like ground beef!
This soup was fantastic, I used fresh peppers, tomatoes, onion, wow was it good. I didn't even cook the rice first. I used brown rice and let it cook in the soup. Wow!
It's a cool rainy day here in Colorado, so I'm throwing all of the ingredients in the slow cooker on low (except the rice I'll add the last 30 min.) so I can just come home from work and enjoy!
Now that sounds like a plan! 🙂
Does that work well? Do you just cook the hamburger first, and throw it all in then?? or do you cook the veggies with the hamburger first?
Sami, you need to cook the hamburger first or else the end result would come out too greasy.