When the weather gets chilly, nothing beats sitting down to a hearty soup that’s been simmering in the crockpot all day. This stuffed pepper soup’s tomato-based broth is full of flavor and warmth for a fall day, or if you’re like my family, any day of the year. Seriously, we eat this even in the dead of summer because it’s our FAVORITE! It’s similar to traditional stuffed peppers, but easier and more delicious!
Ingredients and Swaps
Beef
I have only used beef in this recipe, but if you want to reduce your red meat intake, I think it would still be delicious with ground chicken or turkey. If you want to stick with beef, you can make the soup more heart-healthy by choosing lean ground beef, like 90/10 or 93/7 over 80/20 and draining most of the fat before adding it to your crockpot.
Vegetables – Onions, Garlic and Peppers
This combination of vegetables is a perfect blend of flavor with the tomato-based broth, but there’s no such thing as too many veggies (unless you have GI issues and can’t tolerate them), so add whatever vegetable your heart desires. Some potentially tasty additions: red, yellow, or orange bell peppers, carrots, riced cauliflower or riced broccoli.
Rice
I prefer brown rice in this recipe but if you favor white rice, the two could easily be swapped.
Brown rice is a whole grain and has more fiber, vitamins and minerals than white rice. White rice has been processed to remove the germ and bran portion of the grain leaving only the starchy endosperm, and since I’m always trying to make sure that I’m eating enough fiber, I opt for brown rice over white.
Quinoa also works with this recipe.
Tomato Sauce and Beef Broth
Both of these items can be a hidden source of added sugars and sodium, so be selective in the brand you use especially if you are following a low sodium, low sugar diet or anti-inflammatory diet. I like Organic Great Value Tomato Sauce (0 g added sugar and 220 mg sodium) and Swanson Reduced Sodium Beef Broth.
Seasonings- Italian Seasoning and Ground Black Pepper
The flavor of this soup is spot on using only ground black pepper and Italian seasoning. Nothing else is needed, not even salt.
Meal Prep
Stuffed pepper soup is perfect for meal prepping because all the ingredients can be prepared in advance and then thrown into the crockpot in the morning on the day you plan to eat the soup. Meal prep might include chopping the onions, garlic and peppers and keeping them in the fridge. Or you might choose a more comprehensive meal prep that includes cooking the chopped veggies and meat as well as the rice ahead of time.
Because you only need about 2 cups of rice, and the standard cooking directions on the package will yield more rice than you need for this recipe, I often plan to include the extra rice in other meals and sometimes even double my batch to make sure I have enough rice for later in the week. This is another helpful meal prep strategy- cook once and use in multiple meals. Extra prepared rice can also be frozen. When you’re creating your meal plan, consider adding a meal that includes a grain bowl to easily use up the rest of your rice if you don’t want to freeze it.
Balanced Plate (or Bowl!)
This soup is already well balanced.
NON-STARCHY VEGETABLES: onions, garlic, green peppers, tomato sauce
STARCH: brown rice
PROTEIN: beef
FAT: beef
*One serving of this soup does not provide the recommended two fist-fulls of non-starchy vegetables, so consider serving it with a side salad or a roasted or steamed vegetable. 👊 👊
Crockpot Stuffed Pepper Soup
Equipment
- Slow Cooker
Ingredients
- 1 lb lean ground beef (93/7)
- 1 white onion, diced
- 2 green peppers, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced or more
- 1 tbsp Italian seasoning
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- 2 14.5 oz. cans tomato sauce
- 1 32 oz beef broth
- 2 cups brown rice, prepared
Instructions
- Place the ground beef in a skillet and brown over medium high heat, breaking the meat up into small pieces. Add the onion, garlic and green pepper and continue to cook until the meat is browned and the onions are beginning to soften. Add the browned meat and vegetable mixture to the crockpot.
- Season the mixture with Italian seasoning and ground black pepper. Stir the mixture.
- Add the tomato sauce and broth. Stir to combine .
- Cook on low for 7 hours. Add the cooked rice and cook for another 30 minutes until warmed through.