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A few weeks ago, I drove Jack’s mother (our beloved Nanny) to a family baby shower. During our ride, Nanny mentioned that she had recently given her Italian Stuffed Peppers recipe to my nephew Kevin, who had moved across the country to live in California.
Anytime there is talk about family recipes being shared – my ears perk up! And in this case – for years – I’ve heard my husband Jack talk very fondly about Nanny’s Italian Stuffed Peppers. So of course, I asked for the recipe too! Jack grew up with this wonderful recipe, and anytime he walked in the door and smelled the aroma of green bell peppers frying in the kitchen – he knew he was home, and he knew what was going to be served for dinner.
This Italian Stuffed Peppers recipe was passed down to Nanny by her Italian mother-in-law. (Jack jokes that his grandmother probably said something to Nanny along the lines of, “You wanna marry my son, then you gotta to learn how to cook my stuffed peppers for him!”) 😉
Nanny’s Italian Stuffed Peppers are unlike most other stuffed peppers recipes, where instead of a rice and beef mixture inside the bell pepper – the peppers are filled with a super flavorful bread stuffing as well as a little tomato sauce! The flavors are unique and incredibly delicious, with a slightly sweet, moist bread stuffing that has golden raisins in the mix as well as Italian bread crumbs, Romano cheese and other seasonings. The bell peppers are caramelized – first from frying them on top of the stove, then even more as they bake until soft and tender.
Even now, when these Italian Stuffed Peppers came out of the oven, Jack said to me, “Smells like home!”
But – here’s proof that you’re never too old to learn from your Mom. And like many family recipes, sometimes you need a few extra pointers from the expert! After our first attempt at recreating Nanny’s Italian Stuffed Peppers and following her recipe, Jack brought some of the peppers over to his parents’ house so Nanny could critique them. She told Jack that his peppers were too big (you want to select smaller bell peppers) and stuffed too densely (don’t over pack the stuffing in the peppers). She also told him that he didn’t fry them long enough, and gave him a few additional pointers which we’ve included in the recipe below. (But she did tell Jack, “Good first effort!”) 🙂
So taking all of the constructive criticism, Jack made batch two (photographed here in this post) which was much closer to Nanny’s version of Italian Stuffed Peppers – and it got thumbs up. Yeah!
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Nanny’s Italian Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients
- 5–6 green bell peppers, see note
- 1/2 pound Italian bread, crusts removed, cut into small pieces
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 1/2 cups golden raisins
- 2 whole eggs, slightly beaten
- 3/4 cup Romano cheese, grated, plus more for serving
- 1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs
- 2 1/2 cups tomato sauce, divided
- 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil, divided
Instructions
- Cut tops off of peppers and remove all seeds and ribs, set aside.
- Place bread in a large bowl and cover with milk, making sure the bread gets all soaked. Let sit 10 minutes.
- With your hands or a wooden spoon, mash bread and milk to form a thick wet mash.
- Add raisins, eggs, cheese, bread crumbs, ½ cup of the tomato sauce, garlic powder, Italian seasoning and black pepper and mix to combine.
- Spoon a tablespoon of oil in each pepper and swirl around, then place a tablespoon of sauce in the bottom of each cavity.
- Divide the filling between the peppers, loosely packed.
- Heat a cast iron skillet over medium heat and add all but two tablespoons of the olive oil to the pan.
- Once hot, place peppers into oil on their sides and over 25-30 minutes, cook and turn until all of the skin has been browned, including the bottoms.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a casserole dish large enough to hold the peppers, place a cup of tomato sauce on the bottom and as each pepper is browned, place face up into the prepared casserole dish.
- Drizzle about a teaspoon of olive oil over each and top with the remaining sauce.
- Cover with parchment and foil and bake for one hour.
- Serve immediately with additional tomato sauce and grated Romano cheese.
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Notes
When selecting your green bell peppers for this recipe, try to select smaller peppers with smooth sides and no large ribs. If small, the stuffing will fill six, if medium-sized, it will fill five. Try to avoid the very large bell peppers.
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These were so close to being like my Mom’s- we’ve been trying to find a recipe for a long time! Thank you!
The filling wouldn’t get firm- my Mom’s was very firm; I’m not sure if these are supposed to be, but it seems like the inside isn’t cooked nearly enough, so put them in for another 20 minutes and still not firm. When I did the frying pan part, the stuffing oozed out and it seemed like I needed to make it more solid (more egg or breadcrumbs?)
Hi Connie
I grew up watching my parents make these stuffed peppers. When I made them, I did not have any issue with loose stuffing so wondering if maybe you missed the eggs or added all of the sauce to the stuffing? Or possibly, the bread was less dense than the bread I used. Hard to say but if you make them again and the filling is loose, absolutely add more eggs or bread.
Good luck,
Jack
Hi! I’m a making these now for my Christmas Eve gathering tomorrow.
Do you think it would be okay if I left them cool, refrigerate, and then throw them in the oven to re-heat tomorrow? I figured it would be fine but then I saw- serve immediately, whoops
Hi Mandy – Yes it will be fine to reheat.
I was looking for a recipe for vegetarian stuffed peppers and all I could find were southwestern themed. Nothing wrong with that, but not what I was in the mood for. Then I found yours. The filling is similar to Italian stuffed anything! lol. (I’m not Italian but I grew up in a very Italian neighborhood in Brooklyn.) My husband and I loved the addition of raisins, which makes it Sicilian style. The frying before baking method is brilliant. I did substitute some finely chopped flat-leaf parsley, fresh basil and thyme, plus a pinch of dried oregano for the Italian seasoning and used minced fresh garlic instead if powder. Having some sauce already made in the freezer speeded up the process. Good, freshly grated Locatelli is a must! These were fabulous. Thanks so much for this recipe.
You’re very welcome Debra – so glad you enjoyed the recipe!
My wife (Italian) keeps talking about stuffed peppers but only the kind her Grand Father would make. This evening we got talking about this new Italian Restaurant that has opened locally and right away she got me looking over the menu for stuffed peppers. The only thing we could find with peppers was Veal and peppers. Now that is what brings me to your sight and stuffed peppers recipe, it exactly what she remembers except the raisins. Now I got a happy wife and a grate Sunday dinner coming up. Thanks
We hope you both enjoy the peppers Robert! (Feel free to leave out the raisins if you prefer…)
Wonderful recipe. My nana made this just about the same way. We are Catholic and would eat this when Fridays were meatless.
Thanks Anita! Hope ours is as good as your nana’s!
Wonderful, but raisins are gross! Browning them is a brilliant idea.
Thanks for your feedback Del. (We don’t think the raisins are gross!)
This is a wonderful recipe. Sometimes I make it a little differently by browsing a 50/50 blend of ground pork and beef and adding that to the mix before stuffing. I also ditch the raisins. Wonderful both ways.
Thank you!