The Cooking Method That Adds So Much More Flavor To Classic Stuffed Peppers

Sliced open and divested of their seeds and pithy ribs, bell peppers become the perfect bowl-shaped vessel for all kinds of tasty things, which is why there are hundreds of variations on this dish, from the traditional kind stuffed with beef and rice to delicious vegetarian barley and walnut stuffed bell peppers. Normally baked in the oven in neat little rows in a roasting dish, there's a more festive and flavorful cooking method for these tasty, self-contained little meals — namely, grilling.

Unlike their oven-roasted counterparts, grilled stuffed bell peppers take on a smoky, savory flavor that penetrates through the veggie vessels and also flavors the ingredients inside — from bell peppers filled with cheesy pizza toppings to Argentinian picadillo beef stuffed peppers, the grilled version is nearly always superior. For one thing, you can simply place the peppers right on the grill rack to roast to delicious perfection, whereas oven-baked stuffed peppers can sometimes become soggy as their juices pool in the bottom of the roasting pan.

For another thing, the charred grill marks on the outside of each pepper lend a light bitterness to the dish that complements the smokiness and elevates rich ingredients inside the pepper by offering contrast. Grilled stuffed peppers are also slightly less work, as most standard recipes advise precooking the peppers a bit to make them less watery. When grilling, you can simply do this step right on the grill instead of fussing with the microwave or another pan on the stove.

Possibly the best thing about grilling your stuffed peppers is that you can make every part of the meal on the grill. Since some ingredients need to be precooked prior to stuffing, you can place cast iron or stainless steel pans on your grill to brown ground beef, shredded chicken, or sausage, along with any veggies you'd like to include. You can even make rice on the grill in a pan or aluminum roasting tin tightly covered in aluminum foil. This makes the meal that much easier and faster to prepare, and you'll likely use fewer dishes, as well.

The biggest pitfall to watch out for is how you prepare the peppers themselves. Making them usually involves slicing off the top to remove the stem and dicing the top to use in the filling. However, bell peppers aren't always even on the bottom, which presents a tipping hazard when they're placed on the grill rather than in a roasting pan, where they can hold each other up. The best way to combat this issue is to slice the peppers vertically from top to bottom, rather than lopping off the stem end. Utilizing the vertical cut gives you two little pepper boats that will be much more stable on the grill. This also means the side of the pepper will rest on the grill rather than just the bottom, providing more real estate to get that gorgeous char on your peppers.