Stuffed Sweet Peppers W/ Leftover Rice & Spaghetti Sauce
Leftover Rice and Spaghetti Sauce? YES. The next time you make spaghetti for dinner, remember to save about 1 1/2 cup of the spaghetti sauce, place it in a covered container and store in the fridge for a couple of days. I put ground beef in my spaghetti sauce(similar to the Baked Macaroni Sauce) so that makes it meaty and substantial. Leftover rice, well, I always have rice so that’s an easy step for me. You can always save some too the next time you have rice or cook a new batch and let it cool in the counter until ready to assemble your Stuffed Sweet Peppers.
Another important thing I want you to remember which I completely forgot is to: PRE-ROAST the peppers in the oven for 25 minutes, in 350°. This process softens and tenderizes the peppers a bit and therefore better texture once ready to eat. PLEASE PLEASE, remember to pre-roast the peppers before stuffing and baking to finish cooking.
Stuffed Sweet Peppers W/ Leftover Rice & Spaghetti Sauce
Ingredients
- 3 sweet peppers
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 1/2 cup leftover spaghetti sauce
- 1 1/2 cup leftover cooked rice
- sm onion chopped
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- sprinkle of garlic powder
- sprinkle of Italian seasoning
- sprinkle of dried oregano flakes
- salt and black pepper
- 1 cup shredded cheese (whichever you prefer)
Instructions
- Slice the sweet peppers n half. Clean the seeds and membranes out. Drizzle with olive oil, place in a sheet pan and pre-roast in the oven for 25 minutes in 350°. Set aside once done.
- Heat up the vegetable oil in a pan. Saute the sliced onions.
- Stir in the leftover rice.
- Stir in the leftover spaghetti sauce.
- Season with garlic powder, dried oregano flakes, Italian seasoning, salt and black pepper. Stir everything together to combine.
- Here's the filling.
- Make sure to pre-roast the sweet peppers as mentioned in the post and part of the the first step. Equally fill each pre-roasted peppers with the fillings.
- Place the filled sweet peppers in a foil-lined sheet pan. Sprinkle shredded cheese on top. Bake these in the oven, 355° for 15-20 minutes or until cheese has melted.
- VOILA! Cool down for 5 minutes before serving.
I consider this a budget-friendly dish since you’re using leftovers.
Because I forgot to pre-roast my sweet peppers these were a bit crunchy. FYI, becasue I didn’t pre-roast I adjusted the cooking temperature and cooking time which I did not put in the instructions since I wrote it with pre-roastng process in mind.
Slightly crunchier than I would’ve prefered but still good. Just make sure to pre-roast the peppers yourself and remember those leftovers so you can make these too. Enjoy!