This Stuffed Pepper Soup is a flavorful, healthy soup recipe that’s loaded with Italian sausage (for even more flavor!), peppers, rice and tomatoes. Stove top or slow cooker versions.
Looking for more quick soup recipes? Try this Easy Taco Soup recipe or this Crockpot Chicken Taco Soup!
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Soup season!
And here we are celebrating with yet another new soup recipe, because who can have too many soup options for these long and dreary winters? (I know we’re not technically there yet, but it sure feels like it sometimes!)
Some of my favorite soups from this year? This Crockpot Potato Soup, this hearty Beef and Barley Soup, and this Cheeseburger Soup — a family favorite!
I love this Stuffed Pepper Soup because it is so incredibly flavorful, and yet it doesn’t have a lot for ingredients.
Although most of my ingredients here you see in any Stuffed Pepper Soup, there’s one swap I made that I think makes all the difference: substituting regular ground beef with mild Italian sausage.
Friends, just do it.
I love ground beef and we use it a lot for easy meals because it’s so versatile, but in a soup recipe like this one?
You want those Italian herbs and spices.
Italian sausage packs such an awesome punch of flavor, that we can reduce the other ingredients we throw in because you just won’t miss them.
This Stuffed Pepper Soup is easy to make (and I’ve included crockpot instructions down below!), healthy, and ticks all my boxes for a well-rounded meal:
- protein
- grains
- veggies
- a ton of flavor
How to make Stuffed Pepper Soup:
- Brown your Italian sausage in a large soup pot or dutch oven.
- Add onions and peppers and saute several minutes, until slightly softened.
- Add your herbs and spices — dried herbs can lose their punch after sitting a long time in your pantry. By adding them to a hot dry pot, it wakes up their flavor!
- Dump in everything else and simmer away — there are lots of Stuffed Pepper Soup recipes that call for cooked rice, but you will not see me calling for an extra, totally unnecessary pot. If you prefer to cook your rice separately, you go right ahead (although you’ll likely want to reduce the broth by 1-1.5 cups)
- Give it some cheesy love and a sprinkling of fresh parsley.
Variations on this Stuffed Pepper Soup:
- If you don’t have Italian sausage, you can easily substitute for lean ground beef or ground turkey, but you will likely want to also bump up the seasonings — feel free to give the soup a taste after cooking and adjust as necessary.
- To lighten it up a bit, you can opt for Italian turkey sausage instead of pork
- You can add in a bunch more veggies if you prefer! I wanted to keep my Stuffed Pepper Soup on the traditional side, but just like there are a thousand different ways to make stuffed peppers, there are a thousand different ways to make this soup. Mushrooms and spinach would be the first two I’d add in if I wanted to mix things up!
- Use cauliflower rice for a lower carb option.
How to make Stuffed Pepper Soup in the slow cooker:
- Brown your Italian sausage or ground beef.
- Throw everybody except the cheese in the pot and let it simmer until the veggies and rice are tender — roughly 5-6 hours. (If you only have Instant Rice on hand, be sure to add it just for the last 10-15 minutes or so)
- Top with cheese and extra garnishes as you desire and serve
More healthy soups you’ll love:
- Beef and Barley Soup — so hearty and flavorful!
- Crockpot Vegetable Beef Soup recipe
- Slow Cooker Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup – an updated classic
- Chicken Rice Soup: Stove Top or Slow Cooker – a reader favorite for good reason!
Stuffed Pepper Soup
written by Ashley Fehr
Ingredients
- ¾ lb Italian sausage casings removed, spicy or mild
- 1 medium onion finely diced
- 1 green bell pepper chopped
- 1 red bell pepper chopped
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon paprika *optional – for extra kick
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 4 cups low sodium chicken broth
- 798 ml canned diced tomatoes, no salt added (28oz)
- 1 1/2 cups tomato sauce
- 1 cup dry long grain brown rice (rinsed well)
- shredded mozzarella cheese for serving
Instructions
- In a large (around 5 quarts) dutch oven or soup pot, brown Italian sausage over medium-high heat, stirring often to crumble, about 3-4 minutes.
- Add onion and peppers, and cook over medium-high heat until softened, about 4-5 minutes.
- Stir in garlic, salt, oregano, paprika (if using) and pepper and cook 1 minute.
- Add broth, tomatoes, tomato sauce and rice and stir to combine. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, then reduce to medium-low, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes, until rice is cooked through, stirring occasionally.
- Serve with mozzarella and fresh parsley as desired.
Notes
Nutrition Information
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Yesenia says
Delicious, my family loved it!
Only thing is the cook timing has to be doubled as a few others mentioned. I did use the dutch oven but it took 40min to cook through. I will keep this one in my dinner rotation recipes for sure!
The Recipe Rebel says
Hi Yesenia! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for this kind review!
maureen says
Hello, if you are going to cook rice separately, how much broth would you use? Also, can the recipe be doubled easily? This looks delicious enough to share with relatives! I am going to try half spicy italian sausage and half ground beef.
The Recipe Rebel says
Hi Maureen, you’ll likely want to reduce the broth by 1-1.5 cups. It seems like it could be doubled easily.
Celeste Heilbrunn says
I made the soup yesterday and my family loved it. I did make a few modifications based on my family’s tastes. I added more sausage including some hot Italian sausage and instead of diced tomatoes I used stewed tomatoes. My son just had some for lunch and asked when I could make it again! Thanks for the recipe!
The Recipe Rebel says
Hi Celeste! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for this review!
Roxy Reed says
This soup was delicious and my kids loved it. However I don’t agree with the cook time. My rice was still pretty hard after 20 mins so simmered for another 25 ish even then a bit crunchy still! Otherwise it was very good.
Ashley Fehr says
Thanks Roxy! Yes, the cook time will vary depending on your type and brand of rice, and the exact temperature of the cooking liquid. 45 minutes is quite long, but the important thing is that the rice is cooked to your liking.
Carrie says
Thank you so much for sharing it was delicious. I will definitely be making this again.
Ashley Fehr says
Thanks Carrie!
Danielle Frankford says
Very good but for some reason it took forever for my rice to cook. I put brown rice in on med high temp,, covered, but after 20 min my rice was still hard. I had to double the timing
Ashley Fehr says
Thanks Danielle! It can take longer depending on the variety of brown rice. “20 minutes or until rice is cooked”, so the timing is right on 🙂 The texture and doneness is the most important thing to watch for!
Tara says
Really easy and so so yummy! Seasoned perfectly! Thank you.
Ashley Fehr says
Thanks Tara!
Meredith says
This was SO good and SO easy! I’ve been making a lot of soups as the weather has gotten colder and absolutely loved how flavorful this was (while having not too many ingredients and with minimal chopping required). Thank you!
Ashley Fehr says
Thanks Meredith!
Jeri says
Does this freeze well?
Ashley Fehr says
Yes it freezes great!
Katie says
This looks amazing. If cooking in 8 qt instant pot, what cook times would you suggest? TIA! Your recipes are my fav!
Ashley Fehr says
Thanks Katie! I actually haven’t tried in the Instant pot, so I can’t say for sure!
Diana says
I love this soup! I serve it with a dollop of Sauerkraut.
Ashley Fehr says
That’s a great addition!
Lauren says
I have regular ground sausage on hand not Italian. Would it taste as good using a different flavored sausage.
Ashley Fehr says
I would probably add a few more spices and seasonings to compensate, but yes, it will still be good!
Karen says
If using frozen cauliflower rice, when should I add it to the pot?
Ashley Fehr says
I actually have never cooked with frozen cauliflower rice, so I can’t say exactly though I would probably add it in a few minutes before serving as it should cook fairly quickly, right?
Lana says
Not a fan of rice, is there something else I could put in it’s place?
Ashley Fehr says
You could use orzo pasta. That is about the same size and shape!
Mary Jo Reynolds says
This became my new favorite earlier this fall after the 1st time I made it. OMG…wonderful. I haven’t added paprika (don’t have it in the pantry & rarely use it). Long grain white rice because that’s what I always gave on hand. Today I used beef broth. So quick, easy, & freezes well. Thank You!!!!!
Ashley Fehr says
Thank you Mary Jo! It is one of my personal favorites too!
Silvia says
Making this soup today and it smells great. I was wondering though about the rice. Do I want some bite in the rice or do I want it to be soft as if I made it separately on the stove top? I made the chicken rice soup but I think for that one I cooked the rice too long because the soup was very thick. Still tasted good but I want to get it near perfect. My extra veggie I added was celery so we will see how that tastes! Thanks for sharing your recipes!
Ashley Fehr says
Hi Silvia! You can cook it as long as you like! It really depends on your preference. The soup is thick (as you can see in the video), but if you want a thinner soup, just add additional broth or other liquid. I hope you enjoy it!