DELIZIOSO!!! Italian Stuffed Peppers with Bread Stuffing are made with Cubanelle peppers (a.k.a. frying peppers) and stuffed with a delicious Italian bread stuffing flavored with salami and then baked. This is an authentic Italian family recipe from southern Italy. EASY-to-make with little prep!!
When we visit my family in southern Italy, we find a BIG wonderful AUTHENTIC ITALIAN meal waiting for us that’s fit for a king. I can’t wait for this special meal made just for us. It always has our family’s most popular dishes one of which is this recipe for stuffed peppers, Eggplant Parmigiana and pasta, of course! We eat, drink homemade wine, eat, drink wine, eat and drink until we can’t eat and drink anymore! I come from an Italian family of excellent cooks who happens to make award-winning wine too! I know…how lucky am I?
This recipe for authentic Italian stuffed peppers has been in our family for generations. My great grandmother didn’t come here from Italy, my mother did in the 1960s! That’s how Italian I am. My mother was (R.I.P.) a gourmet level cook and she taught me a lot of important things about Italian cooking.
She taught me how to make tomato sauce that she called gravy which, I use to make my famous Baked Ziti with Ricotta Cheese.
Italian stuffed peppers are made with breading, not ground beef and rice as you may be familiar. They’re served as a second dish after the pasta dish in Italy. But, in America, almost anything goes so, you can serve them as a main dish or side dish. They’re so delicious that you won’t care what they’re served with. See my suggestions below before the recipe card about what to serve with stuffed peppers.
Italian Stuffed Peppers with Bread Stuffing
This is one of my favorite authentic Italian dishes and you’re going to get mad at me for not sharing this recipe sooner. It’s not only delicious, it’s easy-to-make! Plus, you can make this recipe ahead and just reheat them before serving or store them stuffed in your refrigerator the day before you bake them. The make ahead instructions are in the recipe card below.
This is a wonderful Sunday dinner or holiday dinner. See all of my tasty Italian recipes!
What are Cubanelle Peppers?
First, let’s talk about the frying peppers you’ll use to make this recipe. No, you’re not going to fry them first, in case you’re wondering.
They’re called Cubanelle peppers and they’re crunchy, sweet peppers, not hot, about six to seven inches long and about three inches wide. They’re mostly green but can have a redish/orange color to them as pictured.
I find them in the produce section at the grocery store and at my local produce stand too. I used six peppers for this recipe.
Cubanelle peppers are perfect for frying. Sometimes, instead of stuffing them, I’ll just clean them (remove the seeds and stems) and fry them in olive oil, add salt and then eat them with fresh Italian bread. That’s so good!
Can I use bell peppers to make Italian Stuffed Peppers?
Yes, you can. As a matter of fact, I’ve made this recipe with red bell peppers and then poured my homemade Italian tomato sauce, which you can find in this recipe before I bake them. That is absolutely delicious as well because the red bell peppers taste great with the sauce. However, you’ll need to bake them longer because bell peppers are thicker than Cubanelle peppers.
What kind of bread should I use to make this recipe?
I look for UNSEASONED bread cubes in the supermarket but, they’re hard to find unless it’s during the holiday season (Oct-Dec.) Don’t use seasoned bread cubes because they have seasonings in them that will alter the taste of this recipe.
You can use stale white (or wheat bread) to make this recipe which is what I did. I bought Italian bread, cut it in half and let it sit on my counter (out of the bag) overnight. You can use sliced white bread too.
This is what the inside of the stuffed peppers look like:
What do you eat with stuffed peppers?
You can serve a meat main dish such as chicken or Italian sausage with them. Or, you can serve pasta and/or salad with the stuffed peppers.
Here’s a list of my favorite Italian dishes that pair well with Italian Stuffed Peppers:
Authentic Homemade Italian Meatballs & Tomato Sauce
4-Ingredient Italian Fried Eggplant Recipe without Bread Crumbs
Next time you’re at the grocery store, pick up Cubanelle frying peppers and the other ingredients to make this delicious recipe for Italian stuffed Peppers with Bread Stuffing. You’ll like it so much you’ll double the batch next time!
I took this recipe to Meal Plan Monday and Weekend Potluck.
Italian Stuffed Peppers with Bread Stuffing
Ingredients
- 6 Cubanelle or frying peppers about 6-7 inches long
- 12 cups unseasoned bread cubes or stale white bread
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil use more if needed
- 4 eggs
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley chopped
- 1 cup dried Italian sausage cut into small 1/4 inch cubes
- 6 cloves garlic
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- First, preheat oven to 375F.
- Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl beat eggs.
- Next add: remaining ingredients except peppers to make bread stuffing. Combine well and set aside. The mixture should be moist. It will moisten as it sits.
- Then, wash peppers, remove and discard tops and seeds from inside the peppers. Salt the inside of the peppers.
- Then, oil spray the bottom of a 13 x 9 x 3 inches baking dish.
- Next, when bread stuffing is moist, add the stuffing to the inside of a pepper using a spoon. Gently push the bread stuffing down into the pepper but, be careful not to crack the pepper. Place stuffed peppers in the oil sprayed baking dish.
- Last, bake stuffed peppers at 375F for about 55 min. Use a fork to pierce the peppers to check if they're done. They should be soft and they'll wrinkle when you remove them from the oven.
