Spiderweb Stuffed Peppers
The idea is almost too simple: instead of tucking the spaghetti neatly inside, you let strands hang over the edge of the pepper. In the oven they dry out and start to look like a web, while everything inside stays soft. Under the cheese it is a proper dinner that feeds six.
- Prep
- 25 min
- Cook
- 45 min
- Total
- 1 h 10 min
- Servings
- 6
- Level
- Medium
- Per serving
- 470 kcal
Ingredients
Makes: 6 pepper halves
Shopping list
The ingredients for the servings you chose — copy them or send them to a messenger. Tick what you already have at home: only the rest goes on the list.
Method
Oven
180 °C · top and bottom heat, no fan
With a fan: 160 °C
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Step 1: Prepare the peppers
Halve the peppers lengthwise through the stalk and clear out the seeds. Set them cut side up in a baking dish and brush with oil.
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Step 2: Cook the spaghetti
Boil it 2 minutes short of the packet time. It finishes in the oven, and overcooked strands turn to mush and will not hang.
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Step 3: Brown the mince
Heat the oil, soften the onion for 4 minutes, then add the mince and fry, breaking it up, for 8 minutes — until it is actually browned, not merely grey.
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Step 4: Make the sauce
Add the garlic, oregano and passata, season, and simmer for 12 minutes until the sauce is thick enough to sit on a spoon.
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Step 5: Combine
Tip the spaghetti into the pan and toss with tongs until every strand is coated. Stir in the parmesan.
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Step 6: Fill the peppers
Heap the spaghetti into the halves and deliberately drape a few strands over the edges — those are the web.
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Step 7: Bake
Cover with foil and bake at 180°C for 25 minutes, then uncover, scatter with mozzarella and bake another 10, until the cheese colours and the trailing strands crisp.
Tips & variations
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Tip
Avoid overripe, soft peppers — they collapse and let the filling out. Choose firm ones with thick walls.
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Variation
It works just as well without meat: swap the mince for 400 g of finely chopped mushrooms, fried until the moisture has gone.
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Swap
Linguine or any long noodle will do. The length is the point; short pasta cannot trail.
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Storage
Three days in the fridge. Reheat covered in the oven, or the web goes dry and brittle.
Nutrition
| 1 serving | Whole dish 6 servings | |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 470 kcal | 2,820 kcal |
| Protein | 26 g | 156 g |
| Fat | 21 g | 126 g |
| Carbohydrates | 44 g | 264 g |
Approximate values calculated from standard ingredient data.
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