Who Pre-Cooks Their Peppers? Hands Up!
Do you do it? Do you pre-boil your peppers before stuffing them? If not, we bet you will next time!
There are hundreds of different ways to make Stuffed Peppers. Creating different fillings, slicing the pepper in half or leaving it whole, and the most debated, to pre-cook or to not pre-cook. To blanch or not to blanch.
Note first off that pre-cooking is not the same as blanching. To blanch you get the water boiling first. Then add your veg. It goes in for a short short time and then is transferred to an ice bath to stop the cooking process. Blanching helps vegetables retain a nice bright color but it doesn’t really cook the vegetable.
Video: Soften Up Those Peppers – Boil Like This
You can absolutely blanch your bell peppers before stuffing them. It would result in a nicer color for the finished product but it wouldn’t help you in terms of cooking time or any other thing a busy person might need. We don’t blanch our peppers but we won’t make a big deal about it if you do. We just don’t know why you’d bother. Pre-cooking, on the other hand. That’s where it’s at!
Why Pre-Cook Peppers?
Pre-cooking is different than blanching. Pre-cooking is the idea of quick-starting the cooking process of your stuffed pepper. Since stuffed peppers can take as long as 45 minutes to bake, shortening that down with a quick boil really helps me out. Once filled, the pre-cooked peppers will only need 25 minutes in the oven. Just make sure your filling is warm otherwise it won’t be hot in the middle in that time.
So pre-cooking shortens the baking time. Does it do anything else? Yes! It softens the peppers so that they’re more tender even after that short bake. And also, some people find that it makes the peppers less bitter in flavor, more mild.
How to do it? Cut the tops off of your peppers and get them ready for stuffing. Then follow the instructions below.
Stuffed Pepper Recipes To Try
Once you have your peppers ready, or if you’ve decided to not pre-cook them, I have some really amazing stuffed pepper recipes for you to try:
- Classic Stuffed Peppers With Beef and Rice
- Mac and Cheese Stuffed Peppers
- Easy Chicken Stuffed Peppers With Cheese
Podcast Episode About Pre-Cooking Peppers
Listen to me explain briefly about how to make these peppers, along with some other great tips, by clicking the play button below:
Listen to more Recipe of the Day episodes here.
Print
How to Pre-Cook Peppers (Instructions)
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 3 minutes
- Total Time: 13 minutes
- Category: Entrée
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- Peppers, either halved or whole and hollowed
Tools
- Large Pot
- Pot Cover
- Slotted Spoon
- Large Bowl filled with Ice Water
Instructions
- In large pot, fill peppers with water (to prevent floating), and fill pot around peppers with water until peppers are fully covered.
- Cover pot and bring to a rolling boil on high heat. Bring the temperature down to medium-low and let peppers hard simmer for three minutes, or until tender.
- Using slotted spoon, transfer peppers to ice water to cool.
- Spoon peppers out of water and shake off excess. Place in baking dish and stuff.
- Proceed with recipe, cooking for 25-30 minutes.
I looked all over and this recipe did not say what temp the oven needs to be at..did you forget it?
Apologies, but I’m confused by your question. The peppers are simmered in hot water, not cooked in the oven. You simmer them so that they cook more quickly. The info for how to stuff and then bake the peppers is over here and the recipe says 350F https://thecookful.com/classic-stuffed-peppers/ I hope that helps.
So it doesn’t do anything for the taste of bell peppers just cuts down on time when baking them?
Correct, Margaret, saves some time on the dish. Let me know if you try it!