🍽️ DINNER
Speca të Mbushura
Bell peppers stuffed with beef and rice, baked upright in tomato sauce until the skins slump and the rice plumps.
Kosovar · medium · serves 6
prep 30 min · cook 75 min
~450 cal · 24g protein · 40g carbs · 21g fat · 4g fiber · 6g sugars · 6g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Speca të mbushura, stuffed peppers, fill the late-summer Kosovar kitchen when the markets of Prishtina pile up sweet peppers in red, green and yellow. Peppers are hollowed and packed with a filling of ground beef and rice bound with grated onion, parsley and paprika, then stood upright in a pot of tomato sauce.
As they bake, the rice finishes cooking inside the pepper and the skins slump and blister. In the Gheg-speaking north the filling leans on all beef and a strong note of paprika, and a bowl of kos (yogurt) almost always sits beside the dish at the table.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, dairy-, egg-, nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
- 6 large bell peppers
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 cup short-grain rice
- 1 onion, grated
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
- 1 tsp sweet paprika
- 14 oz can crushed tomatoes
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 3 cups water
- to taste salt and pepper
Instructions
- 1Cut the tops off the peppers and remove the seeds and membranes, keeping the tops as lids.
- 2Soften the grated onion and garlic in some oil, add the beef and brown it, then stir in the rinsed rice, parsley, paprika, salt and pepper.✎ Chef’s noteFill the peppers only three-quarters full: the rice swells as it cooks.
- 3Spoon the filling into the peppers and set the lids back on.
- 4Stir the crushed tomatoes, remaining oil and water in a deep pot, stand the peppers snugly in it, and bring to a boil.
- 5Cover and simmer gently (or bake at 350F) for about 1 to 1 1/4 hours until the peppers are tender and the rice is cooked. Serve with the sauce and a bowl of yogurt.
Kosovar home cooking.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Pristina. It is not Kosovo's alone. Albania, northern Montenegro and North Macedonia make the same thing, where it is called gjomleze, and Slow Food lists it in its Ark of Taste as a practice at risk, because very few households now have the hours or the coals for it.
🗺️
Kosovo. It is not Kosovo's alone: the same dish is made in Albania, in northern Montenegro and in North Macedonia, where it is called gjomleze. The sac that cooks it is the same tool as the Croatian peka and the Montenegrin sac, which is a good reminder that the Balkans share equipment as much as recipes. Burek here means the pastry generally rather than one filling.
🌍
Europe. A surprising amount of European cooking is under five hundred years old. Tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, maize, beans and chocolate all crossed from the Americas after 1492, and none of them was trusted quickly: the potato took most of the eighteenth century to be accepted as food rather than animal fodder across much of the north.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Kosovo
FlijaA patient, many-layered pancake built up batter-by-batter under live coals, served with butter and cream.
Pite me SpinaqLayered thin-pastry pie filled with spinach and cheese, baked until crisp, a Kosovo staple.
PasulA slow-simmered white bean stew rich with paprika and onion, the everyday food of Kosovo.
Browse all Kosovo recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Pot or saucepan, Oven.
Storing it: Keeps 3 to 4 days refrigerated and reheats covered in the oven. Most bakes can be assembled a day ahead and baked when needed.
Make it a Kosovo meal
Çaj Rusi (Kosovar Black Tea)Drink
SheqerpareDessert
PasulLunch
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Frequently asked questions
What is Speca të Mbushura?
Bell peppers stuffed with beef and rice, baked upright in tomato sauce until the skins slump and the rice plumps.
Where does Speca të Mbushura come from?
Speca të Mbushura is a Kosovar dish from Pristina, Kosovo.
Can Speca të Mbushura be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Speca të Mbushura recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Speca të Mbushura safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Speca të Mbushura take to make?
About 105 minutes total (30 minutes prep, 75 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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