Stuffed Bell Peppers

Looking for some crowd-pleasing healthy meal options? Try our DELICIOUS stuffed bell peppers loaded with fresh ground meat, veggies, and spices! Low carb, keto-friendly, and make ahead. Check it out…

I’ll admit, I actually started eating these delicious bell peppers because of a pregnancy craving. That’s right. I could NOT get enough of this stuff. The hunger for bell peppers was insatiable. Sure, there were other cravings: pickles, popsicles, iced coffee, and cantaloupe to name a few. Yes I know, random. But I got really excited when I started craving this veggie-packed meal. I mean, it’s not every day you actually crave something healthy. Am I right?

What else can I serve with these stuffed bell peppers?

Glad you asked! I suggest you start out with the best white bean hummus with chips or veggies for an appetizer. You could pair the main dish with an amazing green salad, and really impress your friends with a refreshing beverage made with cucumber juice! Check out these beautiful recipes below!

By the time I nailed down this recipe, it was just in time to host a nice dinner party for some of my good friends. And as luck would have it, they were following a keto diet. Now I know many people would likely panic especially if they are not used to cooking low-carb or keto-friendly meals, but this recipe y’all… Let’s just say, you won’t need to really worry about it. Sure, I served the meal with fresh yeast rolls and croutons in the salad. But hey, those little accessories could easily have been omitted if someone didn’t want them, and they were not mandatory at the dinner table.

In short, everyone was happy. There was keto food for those following that diet, and there were carb-friendly yeast rolls in the breadbasket for those, like me, who love bread.

Stuffed Bell Pepper Ingredients

You’ve heard it before, but I’ll say it again. The best recipes start with the best ingredients. You want the freshest veggies, good quality ground meat, cheese, etc.

Notice I haven’t mentioned any rice, quinoa, couscous, or potatoes. We didn’t put that kind of stuff in our stuffed peppers. But you absolutely can. That’s what makes this recipe so great. You can adjust the ingredients to your liking. But in order to keep it keto-ish, we just stuck to mainly low-carb veggies, meat, and cheese.

The Peppers

When picking out the bell peppers, there were a few things I kept in mind. Color, vibrancy, ripeness, and freshness. These qualities, in my opinion, are far more important than the shape of your bell peppers. I have seen a lot of harping on the idea that you MUST have perfect short fat wide bell peppers to start with.

Sure, it makes it a lot easier to stuff the peppers with filling but you can still work with a “funkadelic” looking pepper. I say, if the “right shaped” peppers look rotten or questionable, don’t get them at all. You can always work with an odd-shaped skinny wonky bell pepper. The key is in how you cut your peppers, and you can see exactly how I do this in my YouTube video for this recipe.

Since you’re already working with this gorgeous vegetable, don’t be afraid to mix it up and get all the color varieties you can. I tried my best to pick out an assortment of red, orange, yellow, and green bell peppers. After all, presentation is an important trait when serving a delicious dinner to your guests. Who doesn’t love color variety in their dish?

Stuffed Bell Pepper Filling

Veggies

I kept it pretty simple and went with good ol’ yellow onion, garlic, celery, and carrots for this meal. I used a handy garlic press to make that process a little easier. I also included chopped extra bell pepper in the mix. The combination is so good and mixed very well with the meat and cheese part of the filling.

Fresh Ground Meat

In this case, we used a mixture of ground brisket and venison, but you can use any ground meat you like. I have used ground turkey, pork, and Italian sausage in the past. By the way, if you haven’t checked it out already, we did a post on how to grind your own meat for meals like this one. You don’t have to do that of course, but if you can, it’s worth the effort. I have been using this really cool tool from the pampered chef called the mix and chop to help brown my ground meat evenly, and I must say, I’m a little obsessed.

Diced Tomatoes and Cheese

This comes down to personal preference, but I really love the Italian diced tomatoes in my stuffed bell pepper filling. Italian style usually has some added herbs for flavor. I also love using fresh mozzarella cheese to top off each of my stuffed peppers. A nice ball of cheese like the one pictured below is perfect. I simply cut the ball of cheese into slices and place each one on top of the peppers. It melts perfectly in the oven and tastes delicious!

What about seasoning and ingredient amounts?

Luckily, this recipe is easy to adapt to any sized crowd and taste pallet. I usually try to make more than enough for each dinner guest, and enough for leftovers. For real, these stuffed bell peppers taste even better the next day so you’re gonna want some leftovers.

Make sure to have at least two bell peppers per person and a few more to eat later or for people like me who usually eat three. Don’t judge.

For every 12 bell peppers, use about 1 pound of ground meat. Rule of thumb, for every pound of ground meat, I season with 1 teaspoon of salt. I also use one 15 oz. can of diced tomatoes, about two carrots, two celery stalks, a whole yellow onion, and two to three garlic cloves.

The rest of the spices and seasonings are really up to you and your taste. I also added some black pepper and about 2 tablespoons of za’atar that we brought home from Israel last year.

I really hope you give this recipe a try and put it in your dinner rotation. You can’t go wrong with a healthy delicious meal like this. I think you will love it! Happy homesteading!

Stuffed Bell Peppers Printable Recipe:

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What about you?

Do you have a favorite low-carb or keto dish? Leave a comment below!