30-Minute Stuffed Pepper Soup

When I was a kid, my dad made dinner very rarely and when he did there were three options — mac and cheese, sausage on the grill, or stuffed peppers. Stuffed peppers came along infrequently enough that they felt like a novelty to me and so I loved them and look back on them fondly as a favorite childhood food. (Though I recognize that stuffed peppers are not really a classic “childhood food” for most!) But to me, they mean comfort. And soup also means comfort. And that’s precisely why the two had to meet in this Stuffed Pepper Soup.

If you have leftover white rice, this is a great place to use it. You’ll need two cups. You’ll also need a pound of ground beef, a couple of bell peppers, an onion, some garlic, beef broth, and tomato sauce and diced tomatoes. Not a terribly long ingredient list and full of some nice, nourishing stuff.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
• 1 (28 oz) can fire-roasted diced tomatoes, undrained
• 3 cups beef broth
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flake, optional
• 2 cups cooked white rice
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

PREPARATION

1. Heat oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat and add onion. Sauté until soft, about 5 minutes.
2. Increase heat to medium-high, then add ground beef, season with salt and pepper, and cook until no longer pink, about 5 minutes, breaking up beef with a wooden spoon as it cooks.
3. Add garlic and cook 30 seconds.
4. Stir in bell peppers, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, beef broth, Italian seasoning, and red pepper flake, if using. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer 15 minutes.
5. Stir in cooked rice and let cook 5 minutes more. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve. Enjoy!