Greek Stuffed Peppers with Rice (Gemeista)

Another Greek classic, these Greek stuffed peppers are crafted with sweet bell peppers, rice, pungent herbs, and fresh zucchini and tomato. Baked with potatoes for a melt-in-your mouth softness.

I am so excited to introduce you to one of my favorite dishes of all time – Greek stuffed peppers with rice. This dish is so hearty and satisfying and fragrant; your home will smell like a summer garden when you start baking this!

I have waited a while to post this recipe because I started the Whole Scoop with the idea of presenting easy to make recipes that are accessible for all. Now, this dish is not hard to make (I promise!); it just requires a lot of TIME. There is a fair amount of prep work and there is a long bake time: 2 hours.

However, it is so worth it.

Gemeista

The Greek name of this dish is “gemeista” which translates to “stuffed” or “filled”. In Greece, you can find all kinds of variations for this dish. In the past, not only have I stuffed peppers, but I have stuffed eggplants and large tomatoes too. Since we are largely plant-based, I opt to stuff this dish with just rice, veggies and herbs, but in many families and regions of Greece, you can find these peppers stuffed with rice and ground beef. Go to any restaurant in Greece and you will be sure to find this heavenly and luscious dish!

I know the baking time might seem a bit intimidating or tedious but I promise you: it’s worth it. In the hot oven, all the flavors melt and meld together, a divine taste of fresh sweet peppers, rich olive oil and, pungent herbs. Rice is such a perfect vehicle as it’s neutral flavor and sponge-like texture absorbs everything around it.

These Greek Stuffed Peppers make a practical dish

Gemeista reheats very, very well. When I make this recipe, as you will see below, I usually make very large pans or trays of gemeista to have for the week. This recipe will be enough for approximately 7-8 stuffed peppers but I have certainly made trays with 20 stuffed peppers! This is a great holiday dish as you can make it in large quantities, especially if you have a double oven and can cook two trays at once.

Not only is this a favorite of mine, personally, but my kids also love it as well and it’s a great way to help the littles eat their veggies. After 2 hours of bake time, the peppers become so soft that I just mash the pepper with a fork and blend it into the rice. My kids have no idea that they’re eating peppers, zucchini, tomatoes, onions, garlic and all the wonderful herbs.

I am so excited for you to try out my Gemeista recipe! As always, we love hearing from you guys; don’t forget to tag us on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest if you try it out! Grab a knife and start chopping; you will be rewarded!

Greek Stuffed Peppers with Rice (Gemeista)

Another Greek classic, these Greek stuffed peppers are crafted with sweet bell peppers, rice, pungent herbs, and fresh zucchini and tomato. Baked with potatoes for a melt-in-your mouth softness.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 1 hour hr

Cook Time 2 hours hrs

Course Main Course

Cuisine Greek

Servings 8

Ingredients

  

• 1.5 large onions, diced
• 4-5 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 8 bell peppers any color (red, yellow, orange or green)
• 1 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1 cup chopped fresh dill
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh mint optional
• 1 large zucchini
• 1 cup fresh tomatoes
• 2 tbsp dried oregano
• 2.5 cups white basmati rice
• 3 large potatoes, peeled and sliced into wedges
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

 

• Wash your herbs, peppers, zucchini, tomatoes, and potatoes (peeled).
• Cut and prepare all of your vegetables.

  ♦ Peppers: slice the tops off but leave in tact, making little "hats". Reference the picture above. Set aside in the pan with the matching top.

  ♦ Dice your onion and and mince your garlic and add to a large skillet.

  ♦ Wash and finely chop your herbs (parsley, dill, mint) and set aside.

  ♦ Cut your zucchini into 1 inch rings and your tomatoes into wedges. Add the tomato and zucchini to a blender/food processor. Blend into a puree and set aside.

  ♦ Peel and cut your potatoes into wedges, about 1/2 inch thick.
• Add 1/3 cup olive oil to the onions and garlics and sautee in the skillet over medium-high heat about 3 minutes until translucent.
• Add the zucchini and tomato puree to the onions and garlic and mix well.
• Reduce the heat to medium and add the fresh chopped herbs and oregano, salt and pepper. Combine well.
• Add the rice and sauté for about 3-5 minute, mixing all of the ingredients together very well.
• Preheat your oven to 400 F.
• Turn off the heat and bring your pan of cut peppers near your skillet. Fill the peppers with the rice mixture about 3/4 of the way. Do not overfill. Rice expands when it's cooked and if you overfill, your peppers will open and the rice will fall out into the pan. Set upside right.
• Once all of your peppers are filled with rice, add water to each pepper until full and let them sit for a minute or two.
• Lay each pepper on its side with the hat ON, lodging the peppers against each other for support so that the top stays on. It's good to have them tucked in tight so they don't move. Some of the water will leak out and that's okay.
• Tuck your potato wedges between the peppers and into the pan but not on top of each other. It's okay to have a little overlap and have them lay a little under the peppers.
• Add a very thin layer of water to the bottom of your pan, maybe 1/4 inch.
• Season the tops of your peppers with salt and pepper and a generous drizzle of olive oil.
• Completely cover your peppers and pan with aluminum foil – we want the steam created to stay trapped in the pan. Place in the oven and bake for 90 minutes. I recommend setting a timer on your phone.
• At the 90 minute mark, take your peppers out of the oven and remove the aluminum foil. Using a turkey baster or a large spoon, scoop some of the liquid from the bottom of the pan and rehydrate each pepper, trying to get some liquid to the back of the pepper. Do this for each pepper.
• Set back in the oven for another 20 minutes.
• Remove the peppers from the oven and rehydrate them again with liquid from the bottom.
• Place peppers back in the oven and leave until sufficiently browned and the rice is thoroughly cooked, usually another 10-15 minutes. See picture at the top of this post.
• When they're finishing cooking, rehydrate one last time with any liquid left at the bottom of the pan before serving.

Notes

1. Please use fresh herbs. It really makes a huge difference. If you can’t, you certainly can use dried herbs but it won’t taste the same.

2. Everyone’s oven is different and they tend to cook at different speeds. For the second half of baking when you bake uncovered, the times will vary due to differences in ovens. The best way to test if your peppers are finished is to start by tasting the rice in the back of the pepper. Dig a fork in there and get some rice. If the rice is hard, rehydrate the rice with a baster/spoon and liquid from the bottom of the pan and set to bake for another 10 minutes. The peppers have a very distinguishable look when fully baked. They will soften and slightly wrinkle in texture and they will lose their hard shape.

3. If you are adding ground beef/turkey, you will need less rice. I would do 1lb ground meat and 1.5 cups of rice. Sautee your meat with the onions and garlic and then proceed with the rest of the directions in the same order.

4. You can add any veggies to the bottom of your pan to bake along with your peppers. We use potatoes but I have also added carrots, zucchini and mushrooms.

5. If you have any rice mixture left over, you can cook it separately in a little sauce pan with water until rice is thoroughly cooked or you can simply add it to your pan of peppers in a little corner and let it cook right there.

6. Rice type is important because rice cooks differently depending on if it’s black, brown, white, red. I use basmati rice. Jasmine rice also cooks similarly. If using a different rice, other than Jasmine or Basmati, it is very likely that your water requirement and cooking times will alter.

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