Some people will boil green peppers before stuffing them in order to soften the pepper before cooking. But, if you cook the peppers long enough, they’ll soften up on their own and you can omit boiling the peppers first.

If you have any leftover meatball mixture, or you don’t need to stuff six peppers at once, you can simply turn that into meatballs.

Use a cookie scoop to measure out enough mix for a meatball. Roll it into a ball and place it on a cookie sheet. Bake it at 350 F for about 20 to 25 minutes.

Since these will be done before the Meatball Stuffed Peppers, you can serve them as an appetizer before the main course.

Personally I like red peppers better than green peppers in most meals. Red peppers have more sweetness to them.

But, when you’re making stuffed peppers, green peppers are the better choice. They’re frugal, which is helpful for your budget. And since you have so many other ingredients in the recipe, you don’t want the sweetness of the red pepper competing with the savory meatball mixture.

Of course, you can use either, but if you are worried about your budget, green is the way to go.

We personally really like using ground beef in this recipe because of the flavor it gives to meatballs. But, I get it. Ground beef is getting expensive and some people just choose not to eat it.

So yes, if you want, you can swap the ground beef for ground turkey or ground chicken. If you do, the taste will be off so I suggest adding a half to a whole tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce into the meat mixture. That helps ground poultry taste more like ground beef.

Keep in mind that those are both leaner than beef, so the recipe won’t be as juicy. In that case, you may want to pre-bake the peppers for about 20 minutes before stuffing them, then cook the stuffed peppers about 25 minutes. That should be long enough for the peppers to soften but not too long that the turkey or chicken dries out.

That time may need to be adjusted based on your oven, so keep checking and pull the peppers out of the oven when the chicken or turkey has reached 165 F.

Store leftover stuffed peppers in an airtight container in the fridge for three to five days.

If you’ve made too many stuffed peppers, you can freeze the leftovers. After you’ve cooked the stuffed peppers and they’ve cooked, wrap them in foil and place them in a freezer safe bag. The stuffed peppers will last about three months in the fridge.

To reheat them, defrost the frozen stuffed peppers in the fridge overnight. Heat them for about 20 to 30 minutes at 350 F.