I’ve been asked before if there are any foods that I don’t like, and the truth is that I love everything! I’m fortunate to not have any food allergies or intolerances and am happy to fill my plate with a variety of foods, some healthy and some less so. When I was younger, I was probably the least picky child of my siblings, but I still had a few things I didn’t like to eat. One of those foods was avocados, which I cannot believe now because I love avocados and can eat them every day. Another one of those foods was cooked green bell pepper. They seemed bitter to me, and whenever we had stuffed peppers, I would eat all the cooked pepper first so I enjoy the delicious filling by itself. Now, thankfully, I love cooked peppers and make stuffed peppers all the time for an easy dinner.
Stuffed peppers are a great way to repurpose leftovers. If you have leftover taco meat or enchilada filling, you can throw them into a bell pepper for an extra serving of veggies, pop it in the oven, and call it dinner. Leftover cooked grains mixed with some marinara sauce also make a great filling. If you find green bell peppers offensive like I used to, you can certainly use red, orange, or yellow bell peppers for extra sweetness.
I used a delicious filling for these bell peppers of orzo pasta and Italian sausage. I love using Italian sausage for easy meals because it already has a lot of seasoning in it, which means you don’t need to use as many ingredients when you cook. That’s a win all around! These are also great to make ahead and pop in the oven come dinnertime. I’ve shared it on the blog before, but I rarely make dinner at dinnertime. Typically I make dinner during my boys’ afternoon naps, or at least get a large bulk of the prep work done. You could even make these on a Sunday to enjoy on a weekday evening. One of my goals with this blog is to show you that eating delicious food doesn’t have to be difficult, and this is definitely one of those crowd-pleasing easy weekday meals.
I bet you already have a lot of the ingredients for these sausage and orzo stuffed peppers on hand, so grab the remaining ingredients and whip up this easy dinner in no time!
- 8 oz. orzo pasta
- 1 lb. Italian sausage
- 1 tbsp. olive oil
- ½ yellow onion, chopped
- 15 oz. tomato sauce
- 1 tsp. salt
- ¼ tsp. ground black pepper
- 1 tsp. dried oregano
- ½ tsp. dried thyme
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese + more for topping, if desired
- ¼ cup finely grated parmesan cheese
- 3 bell peppers, halved, seeds and stems removed
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and cook orzo according to package directions. Orzo cooks much more quickly than other pastas so keep an eye on it! Drain and set aside.
- Heat a large skillet and brown sausage, breaking apart as it cooks. Once browned, add oil and onion and cook a few more minutes until onions are tender.
- Add tomato sauce, salt, black pepper, oregano, and thyme. Bring to a simmer.
- Add pasta and stir to combine.
- Remove from heat and add cheeses. Stir to combine.
- Fill peppers with sausage and orzo filling and place into a baking dish.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes until peppers are tender. If topping with additional cheese, sprinkle it on top during the last 5 minutes of cooking time.
Best stuffed peppers ever!