This healthy stuffed pepper soup recipe is a one-pot dish that’s super easy to make for cold days and National Homemade Soup Day (February 4). It’s as simple as add and wait— which means you add the ingredients to a pot, allow it to simmer and finally, serve.
What Is Stuffed Bell Pepper Soup
We bet you’ve heard of stuffed peppers before— bell peppers stuffed with a filling of choice. Stuffed pepper soup, on the other hand, actually doesn’t involve any stuffing.
To make the soup, we simply chop everything and cook. It’s an easier way (and maybe a better way!) to enjoy this Mexican delight.
In terms of flavors, it has all of the familiar Mexican ingredients. There are fragrant herbs, lots of meat, tomatoes, bell peppers, and of course, mildly hot jalapeños.
Often, we serve the soup with a bowl of steaming hot rice or a slice of toasted bread to make a complete meal.
We prefer rice, but we have to admit that soup and bread make a beautiful couple too. There’s nothing quite like dunking your bread into warm, delicious soup and having it melt away on your taste buds.
Is Stuffed Pepper Soup Healthy?
Stuffed pepper soup is a healthy dish, with a vast amount of vitamins and minerals:
- Vitamin C: this nutrient is found mostly in the peppers and tomatoes. It’s known to be an antioxidant that can help boost your immune system.
- Iron: a crucial element in the body, as it helps blood cells transfer oxygen throughout the body (and more).
- Vitamin B6: may help prevent many cardiovascular diseases.
There are also a small amount of other micronutrients. They have different functions in the body, and all are essential.
How Many Calories in Stuffed Pepper Soup
Each serving of our stuffed pepper soup yields about 500 calories. About half of the calories come from proteins in meat and good fats.
How to Make Stuffed Pepper Soup Recipe
Despite the name, there is no stuffing required. Simply grab a pot and follow these steps:
First, saute the onions and garlic with butter until the onions turn translucent. Add beef and seasonings in to get a more developed flavor from the beef.
When all of the fat in the meat is melted, add tomato sauce and chicken broth. Scrape the bottom gently with a spatula to get the flavors fused into the soup broth.
Then, allow it to simmer for about 15 minutes before adding the peppers. We don’t want the beautiful colors of the peppers to fade.
1. Ingredients
To make this Mexican staple, you first need seasonings. In this pepper soup recipe, we use dried basil, dried thyme, and dried bay leaf (instead of fresh) for extra flavor.
Next comes the minced beef. We find 85% lean ground beef not only commonly available, but also super flavorful.
You can use more lean meat, but the presence of fat is a must.
Since we serve the soup with rice, it’d be convenient if you had a rice cooker to work alongside you. If you don’t, rinse your rice well and simmer it in a pot with clean water, 2:1 ratio.
And because it’s a pepper soup, you can add different kinds of peppers to crank the heat up high. We find the soup even tastier the spicier it gets, but it’s entirely up to your preference.
2. Peppers for This Soup
In terms of bell peppers, the more color there is, the better looking your soup becomes. It was our mistake for not using red bell peppers, but you can avoid the mistake.
For increased spiciness, Serano is spicier than jalapeño. You can add either or both, whatever suits your liking.
Tips to Make Stuffed Pepper Soup Better
1. Crockpot/ Slowcooker
Although not the same, crockpots and slow cookers have a similar function: cook your food all day long. Add the ingredients, choose an appropriate setting, and leave it on all day, without worrying your food will burn.
Before adding the ingredients in, you can turn on the saute setting to cook the beef and onion first. Getting the fat out before adding the stock makes it taste better.
2. Instant Pot
Most instant pots utilize the technology of cooking food using air pressure. It cooks things faster than regular cooking methods, yet the flavors are the same (sometimes better).
Similar to a crockpot/slow cooker, press the right button and your soup will be cooked in under 1 hour. Remember to choose the saute function first to cook the beef and onion before adding the broth.
3. What Can I Do If My Soup Is Too Greasy
We are confident that our stuffed pepper soup recipe won’t make greasy soup. However, if you accidentally added a lot of butter, there is still a way to fix a greasy soup.
Take a slice of bread and slowly drag it across the surface of the soup. That’s where most of the fat sits, and the piece of bread soaks it all up, leaving delicious broth behind.
What to Serve with Stuffed Pepper Soup
It’s better to enjoy this dish with a side dish that completes it. Here are some of our favorites:
1. Broccoli Salad
If you fancy fresh flavor and crispy texture, you could always have a side of green salad, like broccoli salad. We enjoyed the softer texture of blanched broccoli soaked in the sweet, mildly sour dressing with nuts and berries.
2. Sweet Potato Fries
Fried or baked, sweet potato fries are a great source of calories. They provide clean carbs, and by making the right creamy dip, you’re adding a healthy amount of fat, too.
Here’s a quick recipe for 2:
- Fry/baked 12 oz sweet potato fries cut into wedges.
- To make the dip, combine ½ cup Greek yogurt, chopped dill, ⅛ tsp salt, and pepper each, 1 tbsp lemon juice.
3. Bread
Instead of serving the soup with rice, you can serve the soup with freshly baked baguettes. To meet the caloric daily intake, serve each bowl with a 1.5-oz baguette and a glass of orange-pineapple juice.
Similarly Tasty Beef Recipes
Love stuffed pepper soup? These beef recipes are some of our most delicious picks:
Healthy Stuffed Pepper Soup Recipe
Enough said on the side info, let's get down to making this healthy stuffed pepper soup recipe.
- cook TIME 35 mins
- prep TIME 15 mins
- total TIME 50 mins
- COURSE Main Course
- CUISINE Mexican
- SERVINGS servings
- CALORIES 503 kcal
INGREDIENTS
- 1 tbspunsalted butter
- 6 ozonions (chopped)
- 2 tspHunt’s tomato paste
- 12 oz85% lean ground beef
- 1 tbspbrown gravy mix
- 1 tbspbrown sugar
- 1 tspground black pepper
- 0.5 tspbasil (dried)
- 0.5 tspsalt
- 0.3 tspthyme (dried)
- 1 cuphomemade tomato sauce
- 4 cupsunsalted chicken broth
- 2 bay leaves
- 7 ozgreen bell peppers (cut into chunks)
- 3 ozyellow bell peppers (cut into chunks)
- 1 ozjalapeños (sliced)
- 2.5 cupscooked medium-grain rice
INSTRUCTIONS
In a pot, melt 1 tbsp butter on medium-high heat. Add 6 oz onions and cook for 3 minutes.
Add 2 tsp tomato paste and stir until it coats the onions evenly.
Add 12 oz beef and stir occasionally for 7 minutes (or until the beef is just cooked). Add seasonings: 1 tbsp brown gravy mix, 1 tbsp brown sugar, 1 tsp ground black pepper, 1/2 tsp basil, dried, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp thyme. Stir to combine.
Add 1 cup tomato sauce, 4 cups chicken broth, the bay leaves and cook uncovered for 15 minutes on medium-high heat.
Add 10 oz bell peppers and 1 oz jalapeño and cook for another 10 minutes.
When it’s done, turn off the stove and serve the soup with 2 1/2 cups cooked rice.
NUTRITION
Tuyet Pham
Chef, Culinary Consultant
Luna Regina
Writer, Author
Lizzie Streit, MS, RDN, LD
Nutrition Reviewer