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aka_peggy

Freezing stuffed peppers?

aka_peggy
16 years ago

I have sooo many beautiful sweet peppers and quite a lot of tomatoes I need to use soon. I'd love to make my favorite stuffed green pepper recipe and freeze it but I'm not sure it would freeze so well. I stuff them with a mixture of ground meat & rice. Do you think that would freeze ok?

Thanks~

Comments (14)

  • dgkritch
    16 years ago

    Freezes great.
    You can also just cut the tops off the peppers and seed them. Wrap in saran wrap and put into ziplocs. Stuff them later.

    Chop them up and freeze them too.

    Can you tell what's on my "to do" list tonight? I stocked up yesterday at our Farmer's Market that is closing for the season.

    Deanna

  • karen_b
    16 years ago

    I froze stuffed peppers last year and they were delicious a year later. After I stuffed them I froze them on wax paper until they were pretty well set and then I used my old manual vac/sealer because I didn't want to remove all of the air and end up with smashed stuffed peppers.

    To cook I put a little tomato sauce in the bottom of a casserole, place the peppers on top and pour more sauce over, then I inserted a thermometer probe into the thickest pepper and when the internal temp reached 170 they were done.

  • ksrogers
    16 years ago

    Coincidentially, I just froze about 30 stuffed peppers. I used hamburg mixed with partially cooked basmati rice, 3 eggs for a binder and a few of my extra stong 'walking' onions, and garlic. Usually peeling onions don't bother me much, but these sure did. After the peppers were stuffed, I wrapped each in a small sheet of freezer paper and then into Food Saver bags. I still have half a bushel left, so these will get cut up in pieces and frozen.
    I also had a second small crop of dill that had been growing after the summer plants dropped a few seeds. I used the dill in a couple of batches of half sour pickles, loaded with garlic, which are now just stating to cure on the kitchen counter. Now, what to do with all those green tomatoes...

  • aka_peggy
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Thank you both,

    I'm so glad to hear that because I have so many I can use. I thought it might freeze well but I worried that the rice might not be as good. We love them so much!

    I always make the SGP a day in advance because they taste even better the next day. Next year I'll make a point to make some for the freezer.

  • shirleywny5
    16 years ago

    Ken, Do you cook the meat before you stuff and freeze? I bough a 15cu. freezer in August and is is almost full. There may still be room for peppers. I have loads of them cut up in the freezer and today is the last day of our Farmer's market. Stuffed peppers would be great and 90 percent lean is on sale this week at Wegman's.

  • ksrogers
    16 years ago

    No, the hamburger is fresh, with fresh onions, and garlic added. I use a 30 minute cooking time Basmati rice and only cook it for 10 minutes, then cool it. I absolutely HATE Minute Rice (ugh!) Each pepper is stuffed with the mixture raw and then are wrapped in a small sheet of silicone coated paper (like the kind you see at some places were side orders and sandwiches are served), then in the FS bags. The paper wrap helps keep their tops on, as well as preventing sticking togther when frozen, and is easy to sperate when I want to bake them. Because some of my peppers are pimento types, they have a pointed bottom. I can't bake these standing vertically unless I prop them up against others. For a quicker baking, I will take from the freezer and microwave for about 3 minutes, and then bake for the rest of the time in the oven. I also added a bit of grated cheese to the meat rice filling. My frezer is a 20 cu.ft., and is a replacement for the now 'funky acting' 30+ year old one my dad used. After I almost lost everything due to the sudden failure of the old freezer (yes there was an alarm in it too!), I decided not to take any more chances and ran out at 7:30 am to buy another as soon as I could, so the rest of the food didn't thaw. I will be cutting up all therest of my peppers and freezing these too. Some of the stuffed peppers are in riper red peppers, as I had many ripening stages for my peppers ranging from green to yellow to red. I don't need to dry any for future sausage making as I have about 15 pounds of dried peppers too.

  • shirleywny5
    16 years ago

    Thanks Ken
    I always preferred my peppers be stuffed with the raw ground meat. I do like the rice precooked and chilled however. Wrapping them individually is a good idea as you may take out as many as you need without having them frozen together. I like to put 6 or 8 in each package.
    Today at market I brought home 1/2 bushel Concord grapes, a peck of Spanish onions, 2 eggplant, 2 butternut squash, 20 jalapenos for stuffing and a peck of plum tomatoes. Looks like I will be busy all next week. Almost forgot 1/2 bushel of green tomatoes to stuff. Now, if I only have room in the freezer.

  • SuzyQ2
    16 years ago

    I make a stuffing with cooked ground beef, rice, onions & tomato paste. I don't individually wrap other that the food saver and they turn out virtually the same as fresh. One of my favorite frozen meals.

  • ksrogers
    16 years ago

    With the rest of the left over peppers, I decided to pickle them. They were just cut into quarters and the core, seeds, and pith were removed. Added a couple of cloves opf fresh garlic to each quart jar first, then firmly packed the peppers in each. The brine was a mixture of my haf sour dill as well as a little leftover vinegar brine I used for pickling some lima beans. I had to add a bit more vinegar so I would have enough to fill each jar, and also a little Splenda to bring up the sweetness a bit. They just came out of the canner just now, 'tink'. Oh, I also used a little pickle crisp in each jar as I wanted the peppers to remain a bit firm in storage.
    I think I may have to just give away all the green tomatoes I have left. Just gave a friend nearly a bushel that were almost all red. They do ripen slowly indoors. Right now its the tail end of that hurricane out there. No wonder the birds had a feeding frenzy today.

  • John__ShowMe__USA
    16 years ago

    While eating a smoked chicken/wild rice burrito last night it reminded how good wild rice goes with stuffed peppers. Adds a whole new taste and texture. Just sub the WR for regular rice such as in a Cajun dirty rice recipe.

    I wrap almost everything individually in Saran Wrap before vac sealing 2 to 4 portions per bag. Reheat in microwave on high for 2 min (individual portions) and then remove the Saran Wrap before adding extra ingredients such as cheese or hot sauce and finish nuking.

  • ksrogers
    16 years ago

    Was in a rush one time and removed a chicken cordon blu that I made, and froze in a FS bag. It baked ok, but had a sheen on the outside that was a bit unusual. Once it was nearly done, I poked at it to realize that I had left the plastic wrap in it! Needless to say, it literally steamed in that wrap and even though it was baked in a small toaster oven it didn't even melt the plastic wrap! Now, I use a white silicone coated paper to cover items being bagged in FS bags. Its hard to keep bread crumbs from getting into the seal area of the bags, so thats one reason I wrap thee items first. Wild rice is also great in stuffing at Thanksgiving. I decided to also add some dried cranberries to a small batch of stuffing and that was a big hit. My favorite stuffing for turkey is with some sausage meat, corn bread, regular bread, chestnuts, wild rice and the crans. The ONLY spice mix I use is Bells Seasoning. The stuffing usually tastes better than the bird.

  • lorikeet
    9 years ago

    I just want to make sure I get this straight: do I stuff the peppers RAW, then they freeze well or will they freeze well if they are already cooked? I usually cook the hamburger, rice, etc, then stuff cooked peppers, but will those freeze well? Thanks!

  • digdirt2
    9 years ago

    You stuff the raw peppers but the ingredients you stuff them with - the meat and rice - are cooked before you stuff them. Cooked ingredients go into raw stuffed peppers and freeze them.

    There is no way the meat could brown or the raw rice cook in the peppers if frozen uncooked.

    Dave

  • nancyjane_gardener
    9 years ago

    I actually started making a stuffed pepper casserole rather than the stuffed peppers which can be awkward to eat!

    I blanch the cut up peppers for 4 minutes, then use the pepper water to cook the rice. Cook the ground turkey/onion/garlic, add cheese and bake @ 350 til cheese is melted, about 20 min. This freezes great and is my FIL's FAV! Nancy