Name: Turkish stuffed peppers
Prep time: 50 min
Cook time: 1 h 10 min
Total time: 2 h
Cuisine: Turkish
Ingredients: 200 g Turkish baldo rice, or use jasmine rice (1 cup); 3 tomatoes, divided; 5 parsley sprigs; 1 large yellow onion; 55 ml extra-virgin olive oil (¼ cup); 3 tsp fine sea salt, divided; 1 tbsp Turkish mild repper paste (tatli biber salçası), or use tomato paste; ½ tsp caster sugar, or use granulated sugar; 1 lemon, juiced; ½ tsp ground dried mint (nane); ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper; 10 to 12 Turkish mini green bell peppers; to serve: Turkish yogurt, or use full-fat Greek yogurt; 1 tbsp Turkish mild repper paste (tatli biber salçası), or use tomato paste; 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

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Turkish stuffed peppers (biber dolması) are the perfect vegetarian addition to any feast! These sweet and tender small bell peppers are filled with the most flavorful lemony and tomatoey rice filling.

I’ve been told many times that my Turkish stuffed peppers rival the ones made by my husband’s grandma. I can’t take a lot of credit since a) his family shared the recipe with me and b) Turkish stuffed peppers are really easy to make. But no matter, it’s always a nice thing to hear. And believe you me, if I can make delicious traditional dolmas, so can you! My friends always ask me for the recipe once they’ve tried them.

Stuffed and wrapped dishes

There is a whole category of dishes in Turkey called dolma that consists of things being stuffed with a rice-based filling (but other grains can be used, like bulgur) and then cooked. The most common dolmas are: enginar dolması (stuffed artichokes), kabak dolması (stuffed zucchinis), çiçek dolması (stuffed zucchini flowers), midye dolması (stuffed mussels) and of course biber dolması (stuffed green peppers)!
Sarma is a type of dolma where the filling is wrapped in leaves rather than being used as stuffing. Typically, grape leaves (yaprak sarması) or cabbage leaves (lahana sarması) are used to make sarmas.

You will always find a huge platter of dolmas at the center of the table at any family gathering. There is just something so convivial about dolmas! If you know that making dolmas takes time and effort, you can’t help but feel welcome and cared for at the sight of it.
Turkish stuffed peppers are easily in my top 3 of favorite dolmas, just behind stuffed mussels and stuffed vine leaves. Nothing can beat warm stuffed mussels served on the beach after all! But biber dolması are really really good and way less time-consuming to make than Turkish stuffed grape leaves. If I spot the right kind of peppers at the Turkish shop, it’s a no-brainer, I am going to make some biber dolması!

🛒 Turkish ingredients

If you can’t get your hands on Turkish baldo rice (baldo pirinç), jasmine rice (also called aromatic rice, fragrant rice, or thai rice) is, in my opinion, the best substitute. Jasmine rice cooks in a similar fashion but it won’t be as plump and chewy as baldo rice.

To make proper Turkish stuffed peppers, you definitely need to use very small green bell peppers. They have the same shape as normal green peppers, but they are only 7.5cm (3 in) high. They can generally stand upright without tipping over. I can only find them at the Turkish store, where they are usually sold in bags with 6 or 8 inside. These small green peppers are only used to make this dolma dish, so I’m not sure you could find them anywhere else.
⇨ I suppose you could try to make Turkish stuffed peppers with regular-sized green bell peppers. It won’t taste quite the same, and I have never tried it, but I would venture to say you can probably fill up to 5 green bell peppers with the filling in this recipe. You will need to add more water to the pan because the water should arrive halfway up the sides of the green peppers.

You would not dream of serving dolmas without big dollops of Turkish yogurt (tava yoğurt or kaymaksız yoğurt) on the side! The acidity and creaminess of yogurt really bring this dish together, so do try it even if it seems weird to you to use yogurt in a savory context as a sauce. You can use full-fat Greek yogurt instead, as it is more widely available.

📋 Step by step

This is an overview with step-by-step photos. The ingredient list and full instructions are in the recipe card below.

Step 1: Make the rice stuffing

Grate the tomato with a box grater and discard the skin. Cook the onion until softened over medium-low heat. Spread the paste all over the onion and cook for 2 min. Stir in the grated tomato, sugar, salt, and washed and drained rice. Cook for 7 min, remove from the heat, and stir in the rest of the ingredients.

Step 2: Stuff the green peppers

Cut around the stems deep enough to cut out the cores of the green peppers. Fill each green pepper three-quarters full with the stuffing. Cut the tomatoes into pieces that will fit inside the top of the peppers. Put the tomato lids on top of the filling, smooth side up.

Step 3: Cook the dolmas

Make the cooking liquid by whisking the paste and water together. Pour the liquid around the stuffed green peppers. Drizzle the top with olive oil. Bring to a boil over high heat. Cover with the lid and reduce the heat to medium-low. It takes around 50 min for the Turkish stuffed peppers to be completely tender.

🕒 Don’t skip the rest

I find Turkish stuffed peppers to be MUCH tastier if, like for every kind of dolmas, you let them rest a bit before serving. The flavors really shine when the dolmas are not burning hot. Eating them with cold yogurt helps cool them down, but it’s not the same thing as actually waiting for the Turkish stuffed peppers to be just warm or at room temperature.

I actually prefer them fridge-cold. The flavors are so much more pronounced because they had time to develop and mingle. Plus, the peppers get a bit firmer, which is a nice contrast with the soft rice. Turkish stuffed peppers really are way more flavorful cold. I wholly encourage you to try because the difference is night and day.
To get them fridge-cold by dinner time, I would need to start cooking earlier and I usually don’t plan sufficiently ahead. But thank goodness for leftovers though! They taste even better the following days.

Variations

My husband’s family is from the Aegean coast, where the vegetarian versions of Turkish meals tend to be more popular, with an emphasis on olive oil, lemon, tomato, and herbs. That’s what I am used to, so that’s what I prefer, but there are other versions of tasty Turkish stuffed peppers out there! The other most popular ones are:

meaty: They are called etli biber dolması (stuffed peppers with meat) or kıymalı biber dolması (stuffed peppers with ground beef). For this version, follow the recipe as written, but stir 125 g (¼ pound or 4 oz) of ground beef (not the lean kind) into the filling at the end of step 2. Mix with the wooden spoon until thoroughly combined. The meat will cook alongside the rice inside the green peppers once stuffed. You’ll end up with more filling, so buy a couple more green peppers if possible.

made with dried red peppers: They are called kuru biber dolması. The dried peppers are rehydrated before being stuffed and cooked. It’s far less common, at least if you’re not from the South. I absolutely love them too! Unfortunately, I haven’t managed to make some quite as good as the ones I used to buy from a little restaurant down my street. But when I do, I’ll rush to post that recipe!

Turkish stuffed peppers

Author: Amélie
Prep Time: 50 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Total Time: 2 hours
Yield: 10 to 12 peppers 1x
Category: Main course
Method: Stove
Cuisine: Turkish
Diet: Vegetarian

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Description

Turkish stuffed peppers are the perfect vegetarian addition to any feast! These sweet and tender small bell peppers are filled with the most flavorful lemony and tomatoey rice filling.

Ingredients

Scale

For the Turkish stuffed peppers:

200 g Turkish baldo rice, or use jasmine rice (1 cup)
3 tomatoes, divided
5 parsley sprigs
1 large yellow onion
55 ml extra-virgin olive oil (¼ cup)
3 tsp fine sea salt, divided
1 tbsp Turkish mild repper paste (tatli biber salçası), or use tomato paste
½ tsp caster sugar, or use granulated sugar
1 lemon, juiced
½ tsp ground dried mint (nane)
½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
10 to 12 Turkish mini green bell peppers
to serve: Turkish yogurt, or use full-fat Greek yogurt

For the cooking liquid:

1 tbsp Turkish mild repper paste (tatli biber salçası), or use tomato paste
3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

Instructions

Wash and soak the rice. Put the rice in a colander and rinse it under lukewarm running water until the water runs clear. Put the rice into a large bowl, cover it with lukewarm water, and mix in 1 tsp of salt. Let the rice soak for 30 min then drain using the colander again.
Make the filling. Grate 1 tomato on the largest holes of a box grater into a deep plate and discard the skin. Pick off the parsley leaves from the sprigs, chop them and set aside. Peel the onion and finely chop it. Heat the olive oil in a non-stick frying pan over medium-low heat. Cook the onion until softened, about 7 to 8 min, stirring occasionally. Add the mild red pepper (or tomato) paste and spread it all over the onion using a wooden spoon. Cook for 2 min. Stir in the grated tomato, caster sugar, drained rice, and the remaining 2 tsp of salt. Cook for 7 min, stirring from time to time. The rice should have softened slightly but still be crunchy. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the lemon juice, chopped parsley, and spices.
Stuff the green peppers. With a sharp knife, cut around the stem deep enough to cut the core free. Pull the stems to remove the core. You might need to shake the peppers a little bit to remove some of the seeds that have fallen at the bottom. Take a lidded pot that will be wide enough to accommodate all the peppers sitting upright in one single layer. The green peppers will need to fit snugly to prevent them from falling over. If your pot is too wide, slice big chunks of potatoes or any kind of vegetable you have in the fridge. You’ll place them around the green peppers to prevent them from falling. Divide the filling among the green peppers, making sure to fill each vegetable only three-quarters full. The rice will expand while cooking so it needs some space! Arrange the green peppers sitting upright inside the pot in a single layer. Make sure it’s a tight fit. Cut the remaining 2 tomatoes in half and remove the stalks. Cut the halves into pieces that’ll be just big enough to fit inside the top of the green peppers. Push the tomato lids on top of the filling, smooth side up. These will stop the stuffing from spilling out during cooking.
Cook. Make the cooking liquid by mixing the paste in 475ml (2 cups) of water using a whisk. Pour the liquid around the stuffed green peppers. The water should not cover the green peppers, merely reach halfway up the sides of the green peppers (or three-quarters up the sides at the maximum). If there isn’t enough liquid, add some water to reach halfway up the sides. Drizzle the olive oil on top. Bring to the boil over high heat. Cover with the lid and reduce the heat to medium-low. For example, the heats of my induction stove go from 1 to 9 ½ (9 ½ being the hottest) and I reduce the heat to 4 when I cook Turkish stuffed peppers. Cook the green peppers, covered, for 50 min. After 50 min, uncover and prick the biggest green pepper with the tip of a pointy knife. It should insert with no resistance. Remove the tomato lid and taste a little bit of the rice to check if it’s cooked. Be careful not to burn your tongue! If the green peppers or the rice aren’t soft enough to your liking, cook for 5 to 10 more min and try another one. Add more water if there isn’t enough left in the pot.
Serve. Once cooked, grab the Turkish stuffed peppers one by one using a tablespoon and place them onto a serving dish. Let them rest and cool down for at least 15 min. Serve them warm or at room temperature. I actually prefer mine fridge-cold! Serve with big dollops of cold yogurt on the side.