Yemista is a traditional dish of stuffed tomatoes and peppers. Yemista means “stuffed” in Greek and this recipe can be used with a variety of vegetables. Today we are using my mother’s recipe ( which was her mother’s recipe, my Yiayia) and are stuffing tomatoes and peppers.

Growing up, this dish became one we would so look forward to having in the summer as soon as my father’s garden was bursting with juicy tomatoes and sweet green peppers. My mother would prepare a HUGH pan filled with all the goodies from the garden! Once the peppers and tomatoes started cooking, we could smell the delicious aromas coming from the kitchen to the outside as we were playing. Our friends would always say “what is your mom cooking today, and can we stay and eat”! Of course, we knew there would be plenty, this was a greek home, she always cooked too much!

Although this dish takes a little bit of time to prepare it will become one of the classic Greek meals that you will make time and time again.

To save some time, if you want to make this recipe ahead of time just follow steps 1-6 in the instructions below, cover with foil and place in refrigerator until your ready to bake!

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Yemista-Stuffed Greek Tomatoes & Peppers

A traditional Mediterranean dish of tomatoes and peppers stuffed with a mixture of ground beef, rice and tomatoes and baked to perfection!

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Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr

Total Time 1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

Course Main Dish

Cuisine Greek

Servings 6 servings

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 10 medium tomatoes with the tops cut off and seeded (or a mix of tomatoes and peppers)
• 1 cup rice
• 1 medium onion - diced
• 5 tbsp dill
• 2 tsp allspice
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp salt
• olive oil
• 5 tbsp parsley
• 1 lb lean ground sirloin
• 2 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 1 14 oz can tomato sauce

Instructions

 

• After removing tops from tomatoes carefully scoop out flesh leaving just the tomato/pepper shell.
• Place shells in a baking dish that has been drizzled with olive oil.
• Chop the flesh and place in a large pot with the diced onion, 2 tablespoon olive oil, parsley, dill, allspice, salt, and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil and cook for five minutes.
• Add the meat and continue cooking until browned.
• Add the rice and chicken broth to this mixture. Continue on simmer for an additional five minutes.
• Stuff the tomatoes/peppers evenly with the meat mixture and replace tops. Drizzle the tops with additional olive oil and one can tomato sauce.
• Cover and bake in a preheated 350ﾟoven for approximately 1 1/2 hours.
• Remove cover and bake for an additional half-hour or until tomatoes/peppers are easily pierced and slightly blackened. Allow to cool slightly before serving.

Notes

Feel free to use a variety of garden vegetables to stuff using the same filling. Try eggplant, zucchini, red peppers, and a variety of squash. Make this in the fall/winter season also, for a hearty comfort food dish.

Keyword Beef, Gluten-free, Greek, Peppers, Rice, tomatoes, Yemista

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