Stuffed Peppers – Traditional Croatian Summer Cuisine

Croatian Sarma

We have already written about the queen of Croatian cuisine in wintertime the Croatian sarma. Feel free to check our previous blog How to make Croatian Sarma if you are interested in this treat.

But let us return to the theme of this blog - Stuffed Peppers.

Stuffed Peppers Recipe

Basically, you take the green peppers (in Croatia we use Babura kind) approximately 10 pieces, and carve the inner parts out and wash them.

Carving the pepper

Afterward, you stuff the peppers with the meat stuffing.

Meat Stuffing for Peppers

The ingredients for the meat stuffing are similar to the ingredients for the sarma.

Thus, these are the ingredients for the meat mixture:

• 700gr of minced meat (we use half beef, half pork meat, but it is up to you which meat and percentages you prefer, you can use them in different percentages of course)
• 1 bigger onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• a small amount of salt
• a bit of Vegeta (a dried mixture of spices)
• a bit of pepper
• 1 egg
• About 100g of rice
• a bit of fresh parsley.

Meat mixture

First, wash the rice and mix it with the meat. Add salt, pepper, and Vegeta. Then cut the onion, garlic, and parsley and add them to the mixture. Finally, put an egg to tie the mixture together and mix everything thoroughly.

Filling the pepper with the mixture

Tip for the mixture: Leave it to rest for some time (at least for half an hour) in the fridge. Then stuff the carved peppers with the mixture.

Tip for stuffing the mixture: Do not stuff the peppers completely. Due to rice cooking, the stuffing will grow and fill the peppers during cooking.

Stuffed Peppers Cooking Process

Peppers in the pot

Put the peppers inside the big pot and add enough water (about 1,5lt) to cover them up.

Add 5dcl of tomato juice and some salt. Tip: add a bit of sugar as well in order not to have heartburn afterward.

Cook them for about 1,15 hours. Just before the end add browned flour (like in the sarma recipe) if you like the sauce thicker. This is optional.

Browned Flour

Take a frying pan and put some oil to cover the bottom up. Warm it a bit and then add one tablespoon of flour. When the flour becomes yellow (about half a minute) add a bit of red pepper and remove it from the stove.

Browned flour for stuffed peppers

Add it to the stuffed peppers and mix everything with some more water. The browned flour should make the sauce thicker.

Croatian Stuffed Peppers

Cook the stuffed peppers for a few more minutes till the extra added water boils and remove the cooking pot from the stove. Voila, Croatian Stuffed peppers are done.

Stuffed Peppers Side Dish

We usually serve them with mashed potatoes.

How to Make Perfect Mashed Potatoes

First, peel the skin of the potatoes (about 1kg) and slice them into smaller pieces. Place them inside the pot and cover them with water. Add a bit of salt and leave it to cook for at least 20 minutes.

Potatoes are ready when you can slice them in half with a fork.

Potatoes cooking

Then remove the water and smash them. Add about 50gr of butter and some salt or Vegeta (as we already said this is a Croatian dried mixture of spices). Finally, add about 200ml of milk and stir everything together.

Mashed potatoes

We wish you a Bon appetite!

Where to Find Best Croatian Stuffed Peppers

In Croatia, you can find stuffed peppers everywhere. But some of the best ones are in Split. We have already written about fine dining restaurants in Split. In some of them, you can find delicious stuffed peppers as well. Feel free to check the blog in case you are interested in the 5 best restaurants in Split City, Croatia.

Villas in Split Area

During your gourmet stay in Split, you should enjoy equally luxurious accommodation. Thus, we recommend you this villa. You can even hire a private chef to make you homemade stuffed peppers.

Beachfront Villa The View

The best feature of Villa The View is its incredible sea view. Just check the photo below and you will know what we mean.

The pool and the view

As you can see from the photo this is a beachfront villa.

The interior is modern and with 4 bedrooms. All bedrooms have an exit to the balcony with a great sea view.

The interior

There is a great sea view from the living area as well due to the large glass walls. The living area has an open space concept.

Of course, we have many more villas in Split in our portfolio. If you are looking for something else, you can check them all here: Villas in Split area.

We hope you liked our blog about stuffed peppers and that you will try our recipe. Tell us your opinion on social media and enjoy your meal!