Peppers Stuffed With Rice, Zucchini and Herbs

Name: Peppers Stuffed With Rice, Zucchini and Herbs
Total time: 2 h
Yield: Serves 6
Ingredients: 6 medium peppers, preferably green; 2 medium zucchini (about 3/4 pound), shredded; Salt to taste; 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil; 2 garlic cloves, minced; 1/2 cup finely chopped fresh mint; 1/4 cup chopped fresh dill or parsley; 1 scant cup uncooked medium grain rice; Freshly ground pepper; 2 tablespoons tomato paste dissolved in 2/3 cup water; 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

By Martha Rose Shulman

Total Time: About 2 hours
Rating: 4(155)
Notes: Read community notes

I used a medium-grain rice that I buy at my local Iranian market for these peppers. The package says that the rice is great for stuffing vegetables because it doesn’t swell too much, and it’s right. It goes into the peppers uncooked and steams in the oven, inside the peppers (so it’s important to cook them long enough and cover the baking dish). Make sure that you spoon the sauce left in the baking dish over the rice once the peppers are done. These are good hot or at room temperature. I like to use green peppers.

Featured in: Five Fillings for Stuffed Peppers

Learn: How to Make Rice

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Ingredients

Yield:Serves 6

6medium peppers, preferably green
2medium zucchini (about ¾ pound), shredded
Salt to taste
⅓cup extra virgin olive oil
2garlic cloves, minced
½cup finely chopped fresh mint
¼cup chopped fresh dill or parsley
1scant cup uncooked medium grain rice
Freshly ground pepper
2tablespoons tomato paste dissolved in ⅔ cup water
2tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

Step 1
Prepare the peppers. With a sharp paring knife, cut away the tops, then reach in and pull out the membranes and seeds.
Step 2
Toss the shredded zucchini with salt and let drain in a colander for 20 minutes. Take up handfuls of zucchini and squeeze out as much liquid as possible. Transfer to a medium bowl and add the garlic, mint, parsley or dill, and rice. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in ¼ cup of the olive oil and let sit for 10 minutes.
Step 3
Meanwhile preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Oil a baking dish large enough to accommodate all of the peppers. Fill the peppers about ¾ of the way full with the stuffing, and replace the caps. Place in the oiled baking dish. Mix together the tomato paste and water with the remaining olive oil and the lemon juice. Season to taste. Add to the baking dish. Cover the dish with foil. Place in the oven and bake 45 minutes to an hour, until the peppers are soft. Remove from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature, or serve hot. Remove the tops of the peppers and spoon the sauce in the baking dish over the rice before serving.

Tip

Advance preparation: These can be made a day ahead. Leftovers are good for 3 or 4 days.

Ratings

4 out of 5

155 user ratings

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Cooking Notes

Chris B6 years ago

I parboil rice (even slow-cooking brown rice) about 10 minutes or so, drain, and use like that. It comes out perfectly cooked. Or you can use fully cooked rice, but the peppers will still need 45+ minutes to cook through anyway.

Rebecca6 years ago

The rice was crunchy and starchy tasting after baking for an hour (using medium grain rice, as the recipe calls for). I baked an extra half hour. In the end, the rice was just barely cooked, but the peppers tasted bland and just okay. For the effort, not a recipe I would repeat. I made these as a taco meal with a corn salad and so I added a bit of feta and avocado on top of the peppers. It made them better, but they were not really much to speak of.

sarahsw1 year ago

Good! Unlike many people we had absolutely no issues with the rice cooking through in an hour--we used jasmine rice.

Queen Caffeine1 year ago

Just added comments but not seeing that they are visible. Strange!

Queen Caffeine1 year ago

After reading the comments, I decided to try for myself. My rice & the peppers were perfectly cooked after an hour. I followed the instructions all the way through. Maybe others used bigger peppers? I left the 3/4 filling fluffy rather than compacting it so that might make a difference. I’ll make this again but will make extra tomato paste sauce to add at the end.

Zhuli2 years ago

I used 2/3 cup jasmine rice and 1/3 quinoa with 1 teaspoon of better than bouillon. And added a medium tomato to the mix. Coked for 1 hour turned out great! Was not a fan of mint with this though. Tuscan herb flavor worked better.

Valerie2 years ago

Heed all the comments, do not make this. The rice never cooks. I had mine in for two hours just to see if I could even get it there, and no. The rice is still crunchy. Unfortunately, this recipe is a waste of your food, your time, and your energy and will leave you needing to order takeout :(

Lana2 years ago

I really think you should mention the roots of the meal of the recipe, traditional Palestinian/ Middle eastern meal “ma7ashi” :)

Nicole2 years ago

I hope I don’t get kicked off the NYT cooking app for speaking of instant rice- lol - but I had similar issues with the long grain rice not cooking the first time I made this- soooo, the second time, I used minute rice and it came out better. Sorry clean food gods, sometimes weeknights call for a modern convenience hack.

Modifed Based On Comments2 years ago

We altered the recipe to match our tastes. We fully cooked long grain rice and added ground beef cooked with onion, chilli flakes, salt and pepper. It came out really well.

Rice doesnt cook3 years ago

Rice was completely uncooked. Precook your rice if you’re going to try this.

Erin3 years ago

I thought this was good. I used some leftover home-made marinara (watered-down a bit) for the sauce in the baking dish, and topped the rice filling with a little bit of the sauce to ensure the rice would fully cook. I didn't have dill or mint, so used cilantro, parsley, and some chopped scallions for the herbs. Served alongside pan-seared pork chops. This was a tasty meal and I always love a side dish that includes both a starch and a veggie.

j024464 years ago

Disaster. You MUST cook the rice first. Very annoyed.

j024464 years ago

Disaster. You MUST half cook the rice. Very annoyed.

MJane4 years ago

Think I solved the coarse rice issue. I wanted to try recipe as is, so used a short grain rice. Yup, 1 hour later crunchy. So, made a second batch of tomato paste/ water and poured some INTO the rice and baked another 30-40 minutes. Voila, rice was perfect! Also, added some tiny round slices of a spicy red pepper to start, so the dish had a kick. Thus, Next time - double tomato water, pour INTO pepper and around, add spicy red pepper.

Annie4 years ago

I don’t know how it’s possible to cook the peppers in under an hour, maybe they were much smaller than ours? We needed 1.5 hours. I precooked regular long grain rice a little under 10 minutes and it came out deliciously!

Suzy4 years ago

The rice was totally uncooked when it came out. I should've read the comments before trying. I think the flavors were pretty good but had to overcook everything just so the rice would be somewhat soft. There are so many good stuffed pepper recipes. I won't be making this one again.

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