Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Recipes

5-Spice Stuffed Peppers

Stuffed vegetables are a tradition at Sukkot, symbolizing the hope for plenty during the harvest. Photographs by Liza Schoenfein

Yields 8 stuffed peppers

½ onion, finely diced
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound ground beef
½ teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper
½ teaspoon dried oregano, crushed between your palms
½ teaspoon Chinese 5-Spice Powder
¼ cup pine nuts, toasted
1 ¼ cup marinara sauce, divided
1 cup cooked white or brown rice
1 egg, beaten
6-8 medium bell peppers, preferably a variety of colors, tops cut off (and reserved) and seeds removed
Fresh mint and/or parsley for garnish

1) Preheat oven to 400˚ F.

2) In a 12-inch skillet, sauté the onion in oil for 4-5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute, stirring. Add the beef, sprinkle it with salt, pepper, oregano and Chinese 5-Spice, and cook, stirring, until the meat is no longer pink.

3) Drain meat in a colander to remove excess fat and then return to skillet. Stir in toasted pine nuts, rice, ½ cup of the marinara and egg. (Don’t add the egg until the pan has cooled down a bit.)

4) Add ¼ cup water to remaining ¾ cup marinara, pour into a shallow baking dish and arrange peppers on top. Spoon beef mixture into peppers, cover each with its top and bake 45 minutes. To serve, uncover each pepper, spoon some of the marinara on top, sprinkle with fresh herbs and replace the top loosely.

Liza Schoenfein is the new food editor of the Forward. Contact her at [email protected].

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.