Healthy Stuffed Bell Peppers Recipe
Have you ever tried healthy stuffed bell peppers? Totally YUM!!
I made this recipe for the first time in Stuttgart Germany. I lived there as a nanny to 4 kids. When I got on the plane from San Francisco to Munich, I had no idea the kind of culinary adventure I was about to embark on.
Even though the family I stayed with had no idea what clean eating was (and neither did I at the time), they embodied the spirit of it with every meal.
Thankfully, I took notes.
These clean eating stuffed bell peppers are a delicious addition to your clean eating meal rotation. They are filling, have tons of flavor and what you don’t eat at dinner, you can freeze for a later time. In fact, if you chop them up, they go wonderfully over brown rice (or riced cauliflower if you want fewer carbs).
The only tricky part is finding a pot that will fit your peppers so they can stand up. But after making this a few times, I realized that if I cut the smallest bit off the bottoms of the peppers (just enough to give them a solid base to stand on, but not enough to actually cut a hole in the bottom), they stand perfectly on their own so the size of the pot becomes a little less critical. That being said, you still want to be sure the sauce comes up the sides of the peppers at least halfway for cooking purposes. Taller casserole dishes can work well here, too.
These make great leftovers for lunch the next day, too. In fact, Mini Chef and I ate off of these for several days the last time I made them. They are delicious, versatile, and an all-around comfort food.
More Healthy Bell Pepper Recipes
Healthy Stuffed Bell Peppers
Ingredients
- 6 large bell peppers (any color works)
- 1 ½ lb. ground turkey
- 45 oz. tomato sauce (three, 15 oz. cans, low sodium, no sugar added)
- ½ large red onion (chopped)
- ½ lb. crimini mushrooms (white mushrooms will work too)
- 1 tsp. onion powder
- 1 tsp. garlic powder
- 1 tbsp. olive oil
- ½ cup chicken broth (veggie broth works too)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Slice the tops off your peppers and remove the cores. Reserve the tops.
- Place your peppers in a baking dish (preferably one with a lid – but don’t panic if you don’t have one). Make sure the dish is small enough to fit the peppers snugly so that they can stand upright.
- Pour 2 of the 3 cans of tomato sauce into the bottom of the pot so your peppers have a nice little pool to swim in during baking.
- Pop out the middles of your pepper tops and chop them, as well as the onion and mushrooms.
- Put your veggies in a pan with the olive oil and sauté until they are nice and soft.
- Put your cooked veggies into a large mixing bowl and set aside.
- Using the same pan you cooked your veggies in, cook your turkey in the 1/2 cup of broth.
- Add your spices.
- In the last 3-5 minutes of cooking, return your veggies to the pan. Mix well.
- Return the entire mixture to the mixing bowl. Add your remaining tomato sauce. Stir well.
- Fill your peppers with the meat mixture.
- Cover with a lid. If you don’t have one, cover tightly with aluminum foil.
- Bake for approximately one hour, or until the peppers are very soft.
- Cool and serve with a little sauce poured over the top.
Notes
Nutrition
I cannot wait to make this! Sometimes I get so caught up in trying to find new clean recipies to make for my family, I forget about those simple delicious meals like stuffed peppers… yum!!!
Leslie – It’s easy to do! I get wrapped up like that all the time.
Hope you enjoy the peppers!
Can’t wait to make some!!! Thanks for all the great recipes.
Shanika – Thanks for reading my blog! I’m so glad you enjoy my cooking!
This sounds so great. I love stuffed peppers – I’m going to try this over the weekend. I also enjoy reading the background of the recipes and your inspirations.
Thanks Amy! I hope you enjoy them!
Awesome! I haven’t had a good stuffed pepper since I was a kid. I’ve had some in the service(mostly stuffed with bland white rice, and they were tasteless!) but they didn’t compare at all. This is the first good recipe I’ve seen online, and believe me, I’ve been searching. Thank you!
Aaron – You’re welcome! Let me know how they turn out for you!
I will try these tonight..just realized I need aluminum foil though! I will leave the mushrooms out I do not like them but it sounds yummy!
Angela – It will still be good without the mushrooms. Enjoy!
Well, I made them for dinner Sunday. I made some changes though- I used fresh yellow onion and fresh garlic, no mushrooms or broth. They turned out great.
Aaron- Fantastic! I’m so glad you enjoyed them!
i made these and added a little leftover brown rice to the filling- they turned out very good, my family loved them.
Trude – Ya, you just can’t go wrong with this one. You can stuff them with just about anything! So happy you enjoyed my recipe!
I love stuffed bell peppers too, I like most of the ingredients except the tomato sauce. It has been a very long time since I had this, but willing to use turkey instead of hamburger meat, it is a better healthier approach eating foods like this. I boil my bell peppers so they can get softer quicker when u bake them n the oven. I cook like a chef with alot of experiences by watching the best chefs aroiund the world. Have a great week!
Penny – That sounds wonderful! Thanks!
Made these for dinner tonight and loved them! I used green and red peppers since I had both. I also put in some fresh garlic. I had to speed up the cooking a little, so I put the peppers in a freezer bag in the microwave for a few minutes to soften them before assembling them. Delish!
Mikki – That’s great! Fresh garlic is a fabulous addition. Glad you enjoyed them!
Leanne – Fantastic!! I’m happy you liked them!
These were awesome, and I didn’t miss the rice one bit. I added a little parmesan to the top of each one..I hope that’s ok for the no sugar challenge!!
Carrie – Perfectly fine! Glad you enjoyed them!
Misty – Wow! Thanks!
Just made this for my girlfriend and I. Oh man, I am so full! I love all of your recipes.
Awesome!!! Thanks for the feedback. Glad you enjoyed it!
Im getting ready to try this clean eating lifestyle not diet next month I cant yet just because my moneys funny this month and Ive already bought groceries for the fam thismonth but asap Im on it ! Im a lil nervous plus super excited ~ Ive been a pinning muthasucka all day long ! wish me luck Ima need it
You’ll do great! Just take little steps and don’t beat yourself up for mistake.
I hope you enjoy them!
I live in Munich now and I bypass a lot of recipes bc I can never find ground turkey meat. Where did you get it?? 🙂
Ask one of the butchers there to grind up some turkey breast for you. Or, you can easily use lean beef or ground chicken. Recipes like this are pretty versatile.
I’ve never substituted anything with this recipe, so it’s hard to say. The sauce really helps it cook. You could try spaghetti sauce if you like that better, but it’s still tomatoes. Sorry, wish I could be more help with this one.
Do you think these could be prepared ahead of time and put in the freezer and thawed before cooking?
Ashley – If you thaw them completely in the fridge and then make very sure they are fully cooked, I see no problem with it.
I tried this with some variation and it was fantastic. For the veggie mix I threw in a couple of diced bell peppers in addition because 6 wasn’t enough to begin with. I also threw in a diced jalapeno and a couple tablespoons of cilantro along with my other spices – cumin, paprika, cayenne. It was May 5 so I thought I should give it a Mexican twist. Instead of turkey I used about a 1/2 lb of homemade pork sausage. I didn’t use the broth. I only used one can of tomato sauce to add to the veggie/pork mix and I had just enough to overflow the 6 bell peppers. I’m not sure that making the bell peppers swim in the tomato sauce is necessary. I had a lot of sauce leftover. Though I could find a good use for it. What I’d really like to try is a grilled version of this recipe. Hard to beat the flavor of charred peppers.
Geli – What you can do is cut them in half, char the peppers on the grill and then “stuff” them. But if you feel they may get too soft to hold the contents, you may have to wrap them up in foil. That’s the only way I can think of. I’ve never tried.
I am very confused as to when the tomato sauce goes in? Is it in the stuffing or in the pan for baking?
Rosemary – 2 of the three cans go in the pan and 1 of the three goes in with the filling.