Turkey Stuffed Peppers
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Published Mar 11, 2020, Updated Nov 21, 2023
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These turkey stuffed bell peppers are an easy and healthy weeknight meal loaded with ground turkey, brown rice, tomato sauce and spices. Serve with a side salad for a veggie-packed meal.
I’m so excited to share this stuffed pepper recipe with you! It’s simple enough for a weeknight dinner, but would also be fun for a weekend dinner party!
Ingredients in Stuffed Peppers
- Bell peppers – The star of the show slash what gives this recipe its name! Any color bell pepper works great.
- Ground turkey – I used ground turkey in this recipe but any ground meat would work! You could do ground chicken or ground beef. And if you’re vegetarian or vegan, you could use lentils, crumbled tempeh or tofu.
- Yellow onion and garlic – I’m convinced that most (if not all!) meals should include onion and garlic. They just add amazing natural flavor to the meat!
- Brown rice – We’re adding texture, flavor and fiber to this meal by mixing in brown rice with the ground turkey.
- Tomato sauce – The tomato sauce is what holds all of the filling together and gives it lots of flavor. Aim for an organic tomato sauce with no sugar added. I love the Muir Glen brand!
- Shredded mozzarella cheese – I sprinkled shredded cheese on top because I knew it would excite the cheese lovers, but if you’re dairy-free, feel free to skip or sub in dairy-free cheese.
- Spices – This recipe is loaded with great spices – Italian seasoning, sea salt, ground pepper and ground cinnamon are all added to the turkey mixture.
How to Make Healthy Stuffed Peppers
Start by prepping your peppers. Cut them in half, remove the seeds and set aside.
In a large skillet, brown the ground turkey with the onion and garlic. Once brown, remove from the heat and add in the rice, tomato sauce and spices.
Add the prepped peppers to a 9 x 13 baking pan. If your peppers are wobbly or not sitting properly, you can cut a strip off the base so they sit evenly. Add about 1/2 cup of the turkey mixture into each pepper, top with an additional tablespoon of tomato sauce and sprinkle with cheese.
Pour 1 cup of water in the bottom of the baking pan to help steam the peppers (and keep them from getting too crispy!), cover with foil and bake for 35 minutes.
I decided to serve the peppers with a side salad to really up the veggie count of this meal! Feel free to keep your salad super simple with a base of greens, sliced fresh veggies and a delicious dressing. Here are two of my favorite homemade dressings: lemon vinaigrette and zesty tahini, as well as, my top 5 healthy store bought dressings.
More Turkey Recipes
Be sure to check out all of my ground turkey recipes here on EBF!
If you enjoyed this recipe, please consider leaving a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below.
Turkey Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients
- 4 bell peppers, any color
- 1 lb ground turkey
- ½ medium yellow onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 ½ Tablespoons Italian seasoning
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground pepper
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 cup cooked brown rice
- 1 ⅓ cup tomato sauce, divided
- ⅓ cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Cook brown rice if you haven’t already.
- Cut bell peppers in half, remove seeds and discard. Set aside.
- In a large nonstick pan, brown ground turkey with chopped onions and garlic. Use a spatula to break ground turkey into small pieces while it cooks. It should be fully cooked after 7-8 minutes. Remove from heat and add rice, 1 cup tomato sauce (save remaining 1/3 cup for later), Italian seasoning, salt, pepper and cinnamon to the pan. Mix well.
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Add halved bell peppers to a 9×13 baking dish. If the peppers are leaning too much, you can trim the bottom of the pepper to help it lay flat in the pan without the stuffing falling out.
- Stuff each bell pepper with about 1/2 cup of the turkey and rice mixture and top each with 1 Tablespoon tomato sauce and a sprinkle of shredded cheese. Carefully pour 1 cup water in between peppers in the bottom of the pan to help steam the peppers while baking.
- Cover baking dish with foil and bake for 35 minutes. Remove foil and place peppers back in the oven uncovered for about 5 minutes more, until cheese melts and peppers are soft. Serve immediately.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
These were delicious! Our whole family enjoyed them. The peppers were the perfect texture (not too soft, not too crunchy) and the brown rice and turkey sausage mixture was really tasty. I used leftover pasta sauce which worked out well!
Ah yay! I’m so pumped to hear these stuffed peppers were a hit, Carmen! Thanks so much for trying them out and coming back to leave a review. It means so much to me!
Amazing recipe! I’m a bit of a novice cook, so I’m wondering what I can do next time to ensure the peppers are a bit softer..( I believe that’s the goal, right?)..thanks!
Hey Adam – You could cook the peppers before filling them for a few minutes to soften them up and then add the filling and recook.