Giada De Laurentiis’ Cheesy Bell Peppers Stuffed With Orzo Are an Easy Way to Sneak Some Veggies Onto Your Plate

Easy meets healthy in celebrity chef Giada De Laurentiis‘ cheesy bell peppers stuffed with orzo. Between the silkiness of the cooked peppers and the satisfying orzo mixed with more hearty vegetables, this meal from the Food Network star is one you’ll be happy you served your family — and yourself.

Celebrity chef Giada De Laurentiis loves using orzo

For this filling recipe, you’ll need canned Italian-style tomatoes, zucchini, fresh mint leaves, grated Pecorino Romano cheese, olive oil, garlic, chicken broth, orzo, and bell peppers. Ingredient quantities can be found on the Food Network website.

Orzo pasta is the star of this dish. The Giada at Home host uses orzo in many of her dishes, including Crispy Orzo Salad, Crispy Coconut Orzo With Peas, and even White Chocolate Orzo Pudding. Of the latter recipe, the chef writes on Giadzy, her lifestyle and food blog, “Seeing a theme here? You can really use orzo to replace rice in many capacities – including rice pudding! This spin has a texture that we love even more than the traditional dessert.”

How to put Giada’s Orzo Stuffed Pepper recipe together

First, preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, as the stuffed peppers will bake at the end of the preparation process. Then, De Laurentiis calls for combining the tomatoes (chopped) into a large bowl with the zucchini, mint, cheese, olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper.

Boil the broth in a pan, and then add the orzo until it’s almost cooked. Next, add the orzo to the bowl containing the veggies, and move the remaining broth to the baking dish.

Cut the tops from the peppers, and clean out the seeds. Also, cut just enough off the bottom of the peppers to allow them to stand in the baking dish. Stand each empty pepper in the baking dish containing the broth, and spoon the orzo and vegetable mix into the peppers. Once covered, place the dish in the oven, and bake for 45 minutes. Finally, place cheese on the orzo filling of each pepper, and bake an additional 15 minutes. Serve and enjoy!

Reviewers gave a thumbs-up to this stuffed pepper dish

Reviewers were impressed with De Laurentiis’ Italian makeover to a tried-and-true dish.

“Very versatile recipe! This is my husband’s favorite dish for the past few years and would make an impressive meal if entertaining company!” said one reviewer on the Food Network website.

Another home cook added: “Super tasty! Whipped this up in 20 minutes and baked as directed. I liked the orzo filling instead of rice (much faster cook time too). I’ve been trying to reduce my meat intake recently so this recipe really hit the spot for a savory dish! Great job Giada!”

And a happy eater wrote: “Absolutely loved this recipe. I usually don’t care for stuffed peppers but these were delicious. I would highly recommend this recipe.”