Classic pepper steak but stuffed into individual peppers. This twist combines the savory and spicy flavors of caramelized onion, brown sugar, soy sauce and the optional gentle kick of red or green jalapeño peppers mixed with rice and baked inside colorful bell peppers.
How to Pick your Steak
For pepper steak, you will want to use a “flat” steak for this recipe – skirt, flank or even flat iron steak will work with this recipe. They are leaner and less tender but come with a lot of flavor. Since the steak will cooked in a savory sauce and is in bite-size pieces it will stay tender and will be oh so delicious.
How to Make Rice
I love making white rice in my instant pot, if you do this you want to use a one to one ratio of rice to liquid, for this recipe I use 1 cup of rice : 1 cup water. On high pressure for 5 minutes.
If you’re making white rice on the stove top you will want to use 1 cup of rice : 2 cups of water – here is the perfect step-by step recipe or you can follow the directions on your rice package.
Feel free to substitute with brown rice or quinoa.
Stuffed Pepper Steak Make Ahead
This dish is oh- so good and easy to make in a lot of different ways to help cut down on your weeknight cook time.
To make ahead, you can make the filling in a crock-pot or on the stove top and then when ready to eat, scoop it into the peppers and pop in the oven any night of the week.
Sometimes life surprises you, I have also started the recipe crock-pot in the morning and then dinner plans change, simply cool it down on the counter top and refrigerate until the next day, then just reheat & start off where you left off.
Stuffed Pepper Steak In the Crock-Pot
Or you can make pepper steak in the crock-pot!
To make it in the crock-pot: Use the same recipe below. In the crock pot, add the butter, thinly sliced onion, steak (uncooked and in one piece, not cubed), 1/2 cup of low- sodium soy sauce, sliced jalapeños, the brown sugar plus a 1/4 cup of water. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 4-6 hours.
At some point, make the 1 cup of rice.
After your cooking time, remove your steak and cube into bite-size pieces and set aside. Make the slurry in a small bowl – whisk together the remaining 1/2 cup of low-sodium soy sauce and corn starch until combined and then add to your sauce in the crock-pot, whisking until all the lumps are removed. Turn your crock-pot on high until the liquid starts to simmer/low boil.
Let it simmer until the sauce starts to thicken (about 2-3 minutes), remove your jalapeños, add see steps 8 -11 are the same.
Stuffed Pepper Steak
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp Butter
- 1 lb Skirt/Flank Steak See blog notes
- 1 medium Onion – thinly sliced
- Jalapeños – halved optional
- 2 tbsp Brown Sugar
- 1 cup Low-Sodium Soy Sauce
- 1 tbsp Corn Starch
- 1 cup Rice Measured before cooked – see blog notes
- 6 Bell Peppers
Instructions
- Start your rice. See blog notes for cooking guidance. Once it's cooked, set aside.1 cup Rice
- Preheat your oven to 350F
- In a medium hot pan, add the butter and quickly sear the steak.3 tbsp Butter, 1 lb Skirt/Flank Steak
- Remove from the heat and cut into bite-size pieces and set aside. (At this point it will still be rare – it will continue to cook throughout the prep and in the oven).
- In the same pan, over medium heat add your thinly sliced onions. Let them soften and caramelize. Add in your halved jalapeños peppers if you are using them.1 medium Onion – thinly sliced, Jalapeños – halved
- Once the onions start to caramelize add in your brown sugar and let it cook for about a minute as you prepare your slurry.2 tbsp Brown Sugar
- In a small bowl, whisk together your soy sauce and corn starch. This is called a slurry and it will make the sauce thicker.1 cup Low-Sodium Soy Sauce, 1 tbsp Corn Starch
- Add your slurry to your pan. Add in your cut up steak and bring up to a boil until it starts to thicken. Remove from the heat. If your sauce becomes too thick, you can add water until you reach the consistency you want. Water will not change the flavor of your sauce. Do not add in more soy sauce – that will change the overall flavor of the dish. Remove the jalapeños peppers.
- In a large bowl, combine the pepper steak mixture, and cooked rice together.
- Cut the tops off your pepper and remove the inside seeds. Place standing up in a casserole dish. Fill each pepper up with the steak and rice filling.6 Bell Peppers
- Bake in the oven at 350F for 45 minutes, until your bell peppers are tender.
Nutrition
