Jacques Pépin's Stuffed Peppers
Updated March 29, 2024
- Total Time
- 1 hour 45 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
Advertisement
Ingredients
- 6large green bell peppers
- 1pound Italian sausage, either mild or spicy
- ½pound mushrooms, washed and chopped (about 3½ cups)
- 8ounces fresh bread crumbs (about 4 cups)
- 2onions, peeled and coarsely chopped (about 2 cups)
- 1zucchini (6 ounces), cut into ¼-inch cubes (about ½ cup)
- ½teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
- ½teaspoon black pepper, plus more to taste
- 1½tablespoons olive oil
Preparation
- Step 1
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut around the stem ends of the green peppers and remove a "hat" from each pepper with the stem in the center. Trim these hats at the base so they are about ½-inch thick and set them aside. Remove and discard seeds and trim the ribs of the peppers. Stand the peppers upright side by side in a gratin dish.
- Step 2
In a bowl combine the sausage, mushrooms, bread crumbs, onions, zucchini, salt and pepper and mix well. Stuff the peppers with this mixture and place the hats back on top.
- Step 3
Sprinkle the olive oil on top of the peppers and pour 1 cup of water around them. Place the peppers in the oven for 1 hour 15 minutes. Serve with the surrounding juice, salt and pepper.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
Used a small can of seasoned (gr. chilis) diced tomatoes around the peppers instead of the water.
Cooked rice instead of bread
In the linked original article this came from at the bottom of page 2: More Stuffings Although I use pork sausage -- which comes in both spicy and mild varieties -- in my recipe for stuffed green peppers, I sometimes substitute leftover cooked meat, perhaps from a roast beef or a stew of lamb or rabbit. Just chop the meat coarsely and add it to the stuffing mixture, along with any leftover sauce or accompaniments from the original dish. Hamburger or cold cuts can be used in the same manner.
"Just remember to season and taste the filling as you go. If it tastes good outside of the pepper, it'll taste good inside, too." That's good advice, but I wouldn't taste raw sausage meat, so either fry up a dab of the combined filling and taste it to decide whether to adjust the seasoning or revise Step 3 to taste everything else for seasoning THEN add the sausage to the mix.
Cook to 160 degrees with instant thermometer.
This is a recipe that I have made over and over with some variations. I love the smell of the roasting peppers. Certainly add tomatoes if you have them around. Jacques Pepin has always been a favorite because he can make a simple dish like this, for the home cook, zing. So much more interesting with pork than beef. I grew up eating these in South Jersey and I still love them. Experiment with other additional veggies and I recommend sage with the pork.
I am surprised this made the cut for an NYT recipe. Bland bland. The bread crumbs seem to absorb any flavors that might have emerged through cooking. I halved the bread crumbs and they still seemed to form a not very tasty mass in the peppers. That is despite my adding hot peppers and lots of black pepper. The recipe says season and taste as you go, but raw sausage and bread crumbs are not things you taste along the way. Forget bread crumbs and stuff your peppers with rice.
Used the diced tomatoes with green chili’s and quinoa to punch up the protein. Liked it so much, immediately made it again!
Delicious! I left out the mushrooms as my husband doesn't like them. I used sweet Italian sausage, which I feel made it flavorful. I didn't make a full 6 serving recipe, so I added what looked like the right amount of each ingredient. I served it with a side of mashed potatoes. This dish will definitely be on regular rotation for us."
Delicious! I followed the recipe as instructed except I used 2 cups mushrooms instead of 3. My family was hesitant but pleasantly surprised!!
I only use 1 cup of breadcrumbs, which I find really elevates the recipe. I have made this several times and it’s delicious, but 4 cups of breadcrumbs is far too much
Use 1 cup of quinoa
I just made these with venison sausage and brown rice. I roasted peppers and tomatoes from my garden and added a clove or two of garlic they are really, really tasty.
This recipe is not for me. I had lots of filling leftover. Think about it. There are 9 1/2 cups of filling just with mushrooms, breadcrumbs and onions. That's before you add meat & zucchini. I also didn't care for stuffing the peppers with raw filling.
Browned the sausage and cooked the mushrooms and onions in the drippings before stuffing. Crushed saltines and an egg made a useful binder in place of bread crumbs. Added a bit of Dijon, Worcestershire, and a teaspoon of brine from a can of Serrano chilies in escabeche. Topped it all with a gratin made from more saltines and excellent Gruyere. Cooking time 45 minutes at 180° in a convection oven. This was a home run.
Used bulgar instead of breadcrumbs and I sautéed all ingredients together before I stuffed peppers. Added smoked paprika, cumin and fennel seeds to mix. I decided to cut pepper in half first and roast them for about 10 min before and then I “stuffed” each pepper boat and baked an additional 10-15 at 350. topped w cilantro and avocado.
In the original story, Pepin explains that he processes his bread crumbs with garlic, scallions, salt and pepper, so that would add a lot of flavor. If you're not getting the flavor you hoped for, that could be the reason!
I used half spicy pork sausage and half ground pork. I found them quite bland. I think they need cheese on top.
This was barely edible, bland even with the addition of mucho salt and pepper,fire-roasted tomatoes and oregano. There was enough filling for 10 peppers and a quart to freeze. After dinner, I chopped up the remaining peppers planning to make them into a casserole to be topped with tomato sauce and mozzarella as a Hail Mary. Won’t be making this again.
Really... not great. Used precooked (brown) rice as others suggested, added jalapenos. Used a small amount of chorizo as that's what we had on hand. Also shredded and pre-salted the zucchini to reduce water. Filling was not that tasty, onions were not fully soft, and ended up with lots of flavorless water. Maybe it would be better with garlic, spicy pork (we avoided due to kids), etc., but will just use a different recipe next time.
I was looking for advice on a method since I already had ingredients in mind from memories from my grandmother. First time I used cooked rice, ground lamb that I cooked till slightly browned, sweated onions, and spices/herbs (oregano, cumin, and mint)...all moistened with a little home made chicken stock. Worked well! Used three different colors of peppers, too. Has become a standard in our rotation. Tonight, I have in mind using leftover kasha and lamb, and will use celery and sage, too.
Looking for a close approximation of my Mom’s peppers, and this was close enough. Used leftover rice from Chinese takeout, Italian sausage, some minced raw venison. Decided I’d sauté the vegetables first, including zukes, onions, garlic, the tops of the peppers, some dying arugula, a bit of marinara sauce— you get the picture. Anything goes.
Like everyone here - I was inspired by this recipe! But didn’t necessarily follow it! Used Arborio rice - par cooked in chicken broth - carrots, onions, mushrooms, garlic, hot sausage - white wine - tomatoe Passata S&P, fennel seed, oregano, basil… made just too much filling. I am glad for the guidance on water bath and 1 1/4 hours in the oven- my peppers haven’t always been soft enough!
Advertisement