Small stuffed peppers in sauce, baked traditionally or in a microwave or air fryer.

From Sicily come miniature varieties of vegetables. These small peppers and tiny eggplants. Both should be prepared stuffed.
They can be served as an appetizer or side dish and are best eaten cold.

There are various fillings as well as cooking methods. In any case, the standout ingredient is undoubtedly Sicilian-style seasoned breadcrumbs, click here to see the recipe.
In the original recipe, these small treasures would be fried and then finished in sauce in the oven. But today we’ll make a light version, so we’ll only cook them in the oven.
The tomato sauce doesn’t just moisten the filling inside but serves as a bed for their cooking.

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Cost: Very economical
Rest time: 30 Minutes
Preparation time: 30 Minutes
Portions: 6
Cooking methods: Oven
Cuisine: Italian Regional
Seasonality: Summer, Autumn

383.60 Kcal

calories per serving

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Energy 383.60 (Kcal)
Carbohydrates 35.37 (g) of which sugars 8.06 (g)
Proteins 12.96 (g)
Fat 21.47 (g) of which saturated 6.47 (g)of which unsaturated 3.20 (g)
Fibers 5.07 (g)
Sodium 474.48 (mg)

Indicative values for a portion of 216 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA^* and FoodData Central^** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.

^* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ^** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov

Ingredients

Let’s do the shopping

2.2 lbs peppers (small, about 12 pcs)
2 cups breadcrumbs (seasoned Sicilian style, see recipe)
5.3 oz provola cheese (sweet or smoked)
3.5 oz tomato sauce (plus as needed)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Half onion
10.6 oz tomato sauce
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
as needed basil

Small Stuffed Peppers in Sauce

Tools

What we need to make the

1 Baking tray
1 Cutting board
1 Oven
1 Air fryer Homemade for you

Steps

Let’s go to the kitchen

These are the small Sicilian peppers, as you can see they are real treasures.
You can find them either green or red depending on their ripeness.
Alternatively, for this recipe, you can use regular-sized peppers cut in half.
After washing them, cut off the “little lid,” but don’t throw it away.
Then hollow them out. Place each pepper next to its lid so as not to lose the right match.
Cut the provola cheese into cubes, as many as there are peppers to fill.
Now prepare the seasoned breadcrumbs following the recipe, click here to see the recipe
Combine the breadcrumbs with olive oil, tomato sauce, and hand-torn basil.
Knead this filling; it should have the consistency of a meatball, so depending on whether the breadcrumbs absorb more or less moisture, more or less tomato sauce may be needed.
Fill the peppers in this order: first a handful of filling, then a cube of provola, and finally a little more filling; press with your fingers and…
close with its “little lid.”
Place the chopped onion, evo oil, and put in the oven for 3 or 4 minutes at 375°F if using a regular oven or 3 minutes if using the microwave.
Then remove the tray from the oven and pour in the tomato sauce
and the previously filled peppers
Bake in a ventilated oven at 355°F for 20 minutes.
Or in the microwave for 15 minutes in the micro-grill mode
At the end of cooking, prick them with a fork; if the fork goes in, they are done.
Let them cool in the turned-off oven and then, once cold… serve them.
Here are the Small Stuffed Peppers in Sauce ready.
In the drawer of your air fryer, place the extra virgin olive oil, onion without the grill, and cook for 4 minutes at 355°F, then pour in the tomato sauce, a pinch of salt, and then place the peppers.
cook at 375°F for 15 minutes. At the end of cooking, transfer the peppers to a dish with their sauce and serve at room temperature.