Stuffed Pepper with Rice and Chicken recipe | Vegetarian option available

Suitable for the dinner, the multi colored and stuffed peppers will lighten up the table. The tasty chicken filling, topped with tomato sauce and melted cheese will almost guaranteed delight most pallets. If a vegetarian choice is preferred, just substitute the chicken with vegetables like diced carrot and courgette.

Preparation time: 20 minutes || Cooking time: 25 minutes

You'll need:

   - Peppers: 3

   - Olive oil: 1 tablespoon

   - Onion: 1

   - Garlic: 1 clove

   - Chicken breast: 1 breast approx. 200gm

   - Rice: 200gm

   - Basil leaves: 2 tablespoons

   - Cheese: 75gm (hard cheese)

   - Salt and pepper to taste

For the tomato sauce you'll need: 

   - Tomato passata: 200ml

   - Sundried tomato paste: 2 tablespoons

   - Fresh basil leaves: 2 tablespoons

Prepare your mise en place. First, slice the peppers in half, lengthways, remove the stalk and deseed. Chop the onion, crush the garlic, cook and dice the chicken breast, cook the rice, chop the basil and grate the cheese.

Preheat your oven to 220 degrees Celsius; arrange the peppers with the cut side up, in a roasting tin, then season and drizzle with olive oil and roast for about 15 minutes or until just soft and set aside.

Prepare the filling; head the olive oil over medium heat and saute the onion and garlic until soft, then add the cooked chicken and rice together and saute for another 2-3 minutes. Add the basil and half of your cheese, season, then add the filling into the pepper halves.

Last step is to mix the passata, sundried tomato paste and basil and spoon over the filled peppers. Sprinkle the remaining cheese and bake in the oven for another 10 minutes or until golden brown.