Sausage Rice Casserole Stuffed Peppers

Bell peppers are one of those things that add great flavor to a dish with out adding any heat. They can also serve as a wonderful presentation because they really hold their shape, even if they've been cooked.

Sausage Rice Casserole Stuffed Peppers

Growing up, my favorite casserole was always my mom's sausage rice casserole. It's s delicious and warm, filling and full of flavor, and there is something about it that is so satisfying! It's one of those dishes that just brings back memories. So while deciding what do to for my Pregnancy Foodie Project last week, I decided to take my favorite casserole, stuff it in a pepper and bake it all together.

Sausage Rice Casserole Stuffed Peppers

     makes 6 peppers

1 lb lean hot Italian turkey sausage
7 green bell peppers
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
2/3 C uncooked rice
1 10.5 oz can cream of chicken soup (98% fat free)
1 10.5 oz can cream of mushroom soup (98% fat free)
1/4 C milk (I used 2%)
1 T Salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Chop the onion, one bell pepper and the garlic and set aside. Brown the sausage in a skillet over medium heat until it's cooked. Add the chopped ingredients and simmer until they are tender. Pour sausage and veggie content in to a large bowl. Add the rice, soups and milk and stir to combine. Pour into a 9X13 baking dish and cover. Bake for 1 hour, stirring 1/2 way through. If the mixture looks a little dry, add a little more milk and stir, cover and finish baking.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to boil. Cut the top inch off of the remaining bell peppers and clean the seeds out. Add the peppers and salt to the pot and cook for 3-4 minutes. You may have to use a large spoon to keep them under the water. The peppers will become bright in color.

Drain and let cool before handling. Place in a baking dish to make sure they fit.

When the casserole is finished, spoon mixture into peppers and cover with foil again.

Bake for 20 minutes, remove from oven and serve.

If you have your own sausage rice casserole recipe, feel free to try that with my pepper stuffing method. Just make sure to take a look at the measurements because I did change them from the origional recipe. There is normally more rice and one more can of soup. Also, my mom uses pork sausage, but I wanted to lighten it up a little. Like I was explaining in the beginning, the bell peppers do not have any heat, however if you have a picky eater that does not like spicy things, you might want to use regular sausage, not hot.

I hope you give this fabulous dish a try! The casserole is a family favorite, and who doesn't like stuffed peppers? This was my first time to bake peppers like this. I have done them in a slow cooker before and they are fantastic like that as well! If you would like to give that a try, try my slow cooker southwestern stuffed peppers.