Everyone is familiar with the many variations of stuffed peppers, Balkan or not. In fact, you can even find them at Costco these days as the dish is very well known. We from the Balkans enjoy our fair share of vegetables stuffed with meat and rice. Did someone say Sarma? During the warmer months, you’ll find stuffed peppers at most meals. It’s so ingrained in our cuisine you’re sure to find them on menus in authentic restaurants around the world. I know here in Chicago Balkan restaurants all have them on the menu or feature them as specials. Today, I’m coming to you with a slightly different variation: stuffed with feta cheese and a few other ingredients then baked to perfection.

Cheese stuffed peppers are not new, in fact when I was very little I remember my grandma Ljubica (mom’s mom) would take a whole fresh yellow pepper, stuff it jam-packed with her homemade white cheese and hand it to us to enjoy while playing outside. I can still taste it now, it was refreshing, and filling, and I remember her saying something about eating that when she was a child. Back in those days, everyone had a garden and cows so it was truly a no-spend meal for sure. In this recipe, I stuff the peppers with a combination of feta, eggs, and even a little bit of semolina/farina/cream of wheat and then bake them in the oven until nicely browned and softened. They make such a delicious alternative to the traditional kind and a perfect light summer meal.

I love making these in the morning in the hot summer months, as the whole house smells like freshly roasted peppers. Then we enjoy them throughout the day, either room temperature or warmed up—it’s the perfect weekend meal.

I hope you give these a try very soon. If you’re not following me on Instagram, make sure to do that. I’m constantly posting on my story and showing new tips, tricks, my favorite products, and Balkan items I find in stores near me. In addition, I post some IG-exclusive recipes there, too, that aren’t on the website. Make sure to say hi!

Punjene Paprike sa Sirom/Feta Stuffed Peppers

Recipe by The Balkan HostessCourse: MainCuisine: serbian

Servings

servings

Prep time

minutes

Cooking time

minutes

Sweet fresh peppers stuffed with a feta cheese mixture perfect for a light meatless meal.

Ingredients

6 fresh yellow peppers (Gypsy variety)
3-4 cups (400 g) crumbled feta cheese
2-3 tablespoons (28-42 g) cottage cheese (optional)
3 tablespoons (42 g) farina/cream of wheat (griz)
3 eggs
Salt (depending on saltiness of cheese)
Oil

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 f / 200 C and grease an adequate baking dish with oil. Set aside.
In a mixing bowl, combine all of the listed filling ingredients and stir well. Be sure to taste the feta cheese to determine if additional salt needs to be added. If your cheese is on the saltier side, omit or reduce the amount of salt.
Clean peppers by removing the stem and seeds. Then, fill each pepper with the filling to the top and place in the baking dish. Repeat this with the remaining peppers.
Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and bake the peppers for 20-30 minutes, then uncover the baking dish and continue baking until the peppers are soft and have started to brown on top.
Serve hot or room temperature.

Notes

Experiment with different cheese combinations, I like adding a little bit of Boursin cheese to the mix or even mozzarella for that “cheese pull” effect.
Adding some grated garlic to the cheese mixture makes this dish extra delicious!