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.
Thank you for the advice because l never knew you could boil them before you stuff and baked them l have been using my mother- in- laws receipe and doing what it says but they are always tough to eat. So does hers .So the next time l make stuffed bell peppers with spanish rice mixture l know that i will be able to eat the all of the bell peppers .
You’re welcome, Linda! Hope it helps.
Thank you for your help.
I love blanching. This worked perfectly!
Thank you
You’re welcome, Deb!
I froze the green peppers and then thawed them and made stuffed peppers -.peppers were not done- tough/ baked at 400 no lid for 30 min.
They were soft from freezer so was surprised. What is Best way to freeze for later making stuffed peppers
Shirley, our apologies. We haven’t tested the freezing yet. It got dropped off of our list somehow. But, it is back on the list and we hope to have an answer in a few weeks!
Thank you for sharing how to blanch red bell peppers and the cooling off process.
I had cooked all the ingredients for my recipe, but I had to figure what “BLANCH” meant for the bell peppers.
You’re welcome, Carol! So happy it helped.
Can I precook the peppers the day before I stuff them? I just plan on storing the precooked peppers in the fridge until I’m ready to stuff.
I’ve never tried doing that, Patti, but they should be fine for a day in the fridge. Let us know how it turns out for you!
How can I do this with cubanelle peppers? They are still too hard for my liking when I make stuffed peppers in the oven so I would love to use this method to make them softer after the oven cook but obviously they wont stand up like bell peppers.
You want to do this BEFORE stuffing the peppers and putting them in the oven, Kathy. That way they start the cooking process and will end up softer when finished.
Why stop the cooking process with an ice bath? Would it not be easier to just skip this step or would it make a difference in the final product? I plan on stuffing with cheesesteak ingredients 🙂
Carol, the idea is that you don’t want the peppers to continue cooking while you’re making the filling and/or while stuffing them. You want a quick pre-cook and then you want the peppers to stay at that point until you’re ready to put them into the oven and cook them further. Otherwise, they could fall apart.
Christine,
I just wanted to say thank you for this tip. This is my 5th time using your method and I am hooked!
Thanks again
Suzanne
You’re welcome, Suzanne! So happy that it’s been helping you.
This is a lifesaver! Thanks!
You’re welcome, Alison!
I am prepping my stuffed pepper earlier in the day, putting in frig until tonight. Should I stuff my peppers and blanch them before?
Deborah, We don’t recommend a quick blanch but you can pre-cook the peppers following the instructions in the post. It will reduce the final cooking time for the stuffed peppers.
Tried this about 6 weeks ago. Limited baking time kept the peppers firm and did not get soggy or fall apart scooping out of pan to the serving plate. Will be making them again tomorrow. Biting into a firm pepper is the only way to go.
Yummy! Happy to hear it works so well for you, Thomas.
Does this really save time? If it still had to bake for 25 -30 minutes, and original bake time was 35 -45 min, how is this a time saver once you add in the prep, boiling, ice bath and extra clean up? Seems like the extra 5 or 10 minute bake time is worth it.
Don, it speeds things up if you are boiling the peppers while you make the filling. But still only by 10-15 minutes.
Ditto on the intrigued about the freezing peppers and not precooking… Pam?
I still haven’t tried this. I will get around to it eventually though. I can report, however, that I now have an air fryer and stuffed peppers are on my list to try SOON.
Can you use an air fryer to cook your pepers?
Richard, I actually have a recipe for stuffed peppers in the air fryer on my other website. You can find it here https://cookthestory.com/air-fryer-stuffed-peppers/
Just freeze them then you don’t have to do all that
Pam, Is that true? What do you do exactly? Do you core them first and then freeze them individually? Then do you stuff them while frozen or let them defrost first? I’m intrigued.