
Stuffed Bell Peppers Without Rice
Traditional stuffed peppers include ground beef, tomatoes, rice, seasoning, and cheese. Since we're following a low carb diet, we still wanted to keep the flavors of traditional stuffed peppers but wanted to make them keto-friendly and with no rice. You won't even miss the rice in this inexpensive comfort food recipe, and to be honest, I think easy stuffed peppers taste even better with no rice. With a rich comforting filling, flavorful low carb tomato sauce, and gooey cheese, you won't ever miss the carbs. You'll love the blend of 2 savory meats, cheese, and healthy vegetables, these low carb stuffed peppers only have 7 net carbs for each serving! If you're looking for more low carb and keto stuffed peppers recipes, you'll definitely want to check out our stuffed pepper soup recipe and Philly cheesesteak stuffed peppers too. And don't forget the stuffed pepper side dishes!Keto Stuffed Peppers
Here are the ingredients we used for our keto stuffed peppers without rice recipe: Ground meat- We used ground beef with 20% fat and also ground Italian sausage. I'm a huge fan of using what you have at home or what's on sale, so you could still make these low carb peppers with all beef, ground turkey, all Italian sausage, ground pork or ground chicken. Vegetables - We used a low carb chunky marinara sauce so that the peppers would hold their shape and the filling wouldn't get too liquidy. If you decide to swap with tomato sauce, I'd suggest increasing the seasoning and also know that the filling might be a little runny (but will still taste fabulous!) Our recipe also used cauliflower rice instead of rice, you can also substitute riced broccoli. Cheese- Our recipe used a shredded Mexican cheese blend, you could also use cheddar cheese or colby cheeseCan You Eat Green Peppers on Keto?
If you're following a keto diet like my husband, you might be wondering if you can even eat green peppers or other types of peppers on a keto program. A keto program will have you eating a maximum of 20 net carbs per day, so as long as you still to protein, no carb dairy and no carb snacks the rest of the day, you can enjoy low carb stuffed peppers for dinner. Stuffed peppers with no rice are actually a perfect keto friendly meal and is one of my husbands favorites! By themselves, a whole green pepper has 6 carbs, 2 grams of fiber, and 4 net carbs per pepper. The yellow, red, and orange peppers have 7 carbs per whole pepper. For our recipe, we cut the peppers in half and filled them to the brim with a low carb savory filling to keep these stuffed peppers with no rice as low carb as possible.How to Make Stuffed Peppers Without Rice
Wash the peppers and cut in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds and white membrane. Whether you want to remove the green stem piece is optional, as you can see I have some peppers with the stem and others without. Even after stuffing the peppers, the low carb pepper filling does not fall out. Coat an oven proof dish with cooking spray, and place the bell pepper halves in the dish. Season with salt and pepper.Stuffed Pepper Substitutions
One thing I love about making stuffed peppers is how easy it is to change up the ingredients for what you have on hand. While we used part ground beef and part Italian sausage, you could also make these yummy peppers with one kind of meat or even substitute ground turkey or ground chicken if you want to make them a little leaner. These all make great protein ideas: ground beef ground turkey ground chicken Italian sausage Italian chicken sausage ground pork While we used a variety of colored peppers for this low carb stuffed pepper variation, you can definitely use just green, yellow, orange or red peppers, depending on your personal preference. If you're trying to make keto stuffed peppers, using green peppers does decrease the total carb count by 1 net carb. Although this recipe is only 7 net carbs per serving, to make as close to no carb stuffed peppers as you can make them, you can skip the cauliflower rice and just add more meat. Really, you could even skip the peppers and just eat the yummy filling too and turn it into a low carb savory casserole!What to Serve with Stuffed Peppers
While you can definitely serve your stuffed peppers without rice as is since it's already filled with protein, dairy and vegetables, sometimes it's nice to have at least one other simple dish to put on your plate. Here's a few ideas on what to serve with your low carb and keto stuffed peppers: kale caesar salad shaved brussel sprouts salad low carb broccoli slaw cucumber salad sauted mushrooms Did I miss anything? What do you like to serve with low carb stuffed peppers?Can I Freeze Stuffed Peppers?
One of the things I like most about stuffed peppers, is that they're easy to put together and use for meal prepped lunches and dinners. I'm a huge fan of batch cooking and doubling or tripling recipes so I can freeze some for later. If you're wondering if you can freeze stuffed peppers, the answer is yes you can! One important thing to note about freezing stuffed peppers is that the ice will increase the liquid in the peppers and they'll be a little runnier than if you'd put your low carb stuffed peppers without rice directly in the oven. When I'm cooking peppers from frozen, I actually put them directly in the oven from the freezer and just add 15 minutes to the cooking time. If you need the peppers quickly for a lunch on the go, I'd recommend microwaving them from frozen for 3 minutes at 50% power. Increase the microwave time in 1 minute increments if your peppers aren't fulled heated after 3 minutes.More favorites from Whole Lotta Yum
- Shrimp Avocado Salad
- Air Fryer Bone In Chicken Thighs
- Instant Pot Country Style Ribs
- Baby Back Ribs in Oven
- Air Fry Turkey Breast
- Chicken Tenders Air Fryer
- Egg Soup
- Best Rib Rub
- Broccoli Cauliflower Salad Recipe
- Pork Shoulder Blade Steak
- Egg Cups Recipe
- Brussel Sprouts Carbs
- Esquite Corn
- Cream Cheese Dessert Recipes
- Smash Potato Air Fryer
- Oven Cooked Bacon
- Broccoli and Cheese Soup Recipe
Keto Stuffed Peppers Without Rice
Easy and delicious stuffed peppers without rice make a comforting and low cost low carb, gluten free, sugar free and keto meal.
Ingredients
- 3 bell peppers, any color
- 1 lb ground beef (Italian sausage or ground turkey work great too)
- ½ cup yellow onion, chopped
- 3 teaspoon minced garlic cloves
- 2 cups raw riced cauliflower
- 1 ¼ cup chunky marinara sauce (sugar free like Rao's)
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ ground pepper
- ½ cup shredded Colby Jack (not pre-shredded, see note below)
- 1 teaspoon chives, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Wash bell peppers, cut them in half, and remove the membrane and seeds.
- Place peppers in a baking dish, cut side up, and sprinkle with a little salt and pepper
- Cook ground meat in a pan for 6-7 minutes until cooked through. Drain the grease and set the meat aside in a bowl.
- Saute chopped onion, garlic, and riced cauliflower for 4-5 minutes, until softened.
- Add marinara sauce, dried basil, sea salt, and ground black pepper to the same pan. Mix together and simmer on medium-low for 2 minutes until heated through. Stir in ground meat and ½ cup shredded cheese.
- Spoon the meat and sauce mixture into the peppers, add a small spoonful of marinara on the top, and more shredded cheese to the top of each bell pepper.
- Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Garnish with green onion slices or fresh parsley. Enjoy!
Notes
We do not recommend pre-shredded cheese, please shred your cheese from a block. Pre-shredded cheese doesn't melt as well due to the potato starch, it has more carbs than block cheese, and it doesn't melt as well.
Ground Italian sausage, ground turkey, or ground chicken can be used in place of ground beef.
Nutrition Information
Yield 6 Serving Size ½ pepperAmount Per Serving Calories 413Total Fat 34gSaturated Fat 16gTrans Fat 1gUnsaturated Fat 14gCholesterol 149mgSodium 786mgCarbohydrates 9gNet Carbohydrates 7gFiber 2gSugar 0gProtein 43g
I suggest you calculate the nutritional content of the ingredients you're using and to just use the one in the recipe as a general estimate. Calories and carbs can vary by ingredients. make sure to use sugar free marina sauce.
Samantha says
When reheating frozen ones- How long would you recommend cooking for? I’ve seen some conflicting answers on google
WholeLottaYum says
I'm not 100% positive. But I'd use the same temperature as the recipe, keep them covered in foil until they're almost heated through and then remove the foil for the last 15 minutes of cooking. They could take 40 mins+ as a best guess?
Sue Mitchell says
I am allergic to broccoli and califlower do you have a suggestion to replace the vegetable? Would zucchini work you think chopped finely.
WholeLottaYum says
I think finely chopped zucchini would work as well!
Mandy says
This was absolutely amazing!! My husband and I couldn't stop raving! One of the best meals we have ever made. I bragged and shared the link to everyone on Facebook! Haha! Thanks for sharing!
Marcell says
Please fix the cooking times in the recipe!!!
Amber says
This is a regular meal in our home now as I don’t eat carbs only sparingly.
We found this almost a year ago & make it weekly if not every other week! One of our favorites
My boys don’t eat the peppers but love the meat stuffing & eats it by itself as a meal. They even hate cauliflower but love this!
We have not had no problem in the multiple numerous times making this with the cooking time.
Amber says
We also use our homemade keto sauce we can made with Splenda as the marinade sauce!
This is absolutely delicious
Marie says
These stuffed peppers are awesome!! My family loves them. There so easy to make thanks for sharing.
Monica says
I left out the salt and substituted some mrs dash to lower the sodium content. It was delicious!
Vicky says
I'm definitely going to try this, I always do my stuffed peppers in the slow cooker, but I am going to try the oven because I think al dente peppers would be really good.
Suzanne says
So made these tonight, been on keto 10 days, no cheating! Added half a jar medium salsa instead of marinara sauce...did the cauliflower rice and the rest...these were amazing!
WholeLottaYum says
Thank you so much for your feedback! And congrats for doing so well on keto! You got this!
Mary F. says
Made this last week. Was pretty easy to make. Turned out good. My husband thought they needed a little more tomato flavor so I may add a can of tomato sauce next time to satisfy him. I have always used a full pepper; however, I sliced in half this time and they were so easy to serve. They were big peppers so 1/2 was perfect. Froze the leftovers for later. Will be keeping this recipe for making future stuffed peppers.
Kathleen says
Left out cauliflower. I did not precook meat but stuffed peppers. Put some tomato sauce in the pan.
Left open in oven for twice the time so peppers cooked. Put cheese on at end.
Delicious
John K says
These were delicious, and I will make them again, but you left out a step in the Printable recipe, namely the uncover and cook for another 20 minutes.. It's in the notes on what to serve it with and how easy the are to store, but not the part to soften the peppers...
Linda says
This recipe is delicious. I was actually able to fill 6 peppers with this recipe.
Adelaide Randak says
The discussion prior to the recipe says to cover the compiled peppers, bake for 30 minutes, remove cover and contain baking for 10 more minutes. The recipe that follows makes no mention of the second 10 minute bake. Am I missing something.
Monica says
My peppers are super crunchy after cooking for 30 minutes covered. Are they supposed to be?
Stephanie M. says
I always boil my peppers first so they’re softened and then add the stuffing & bake. So much better that way.
WholeLottaYum says
Thanks for the feedback, Stephanie! I'll probably add other ways to cook the peppers since cooking on the stovetop or in a microwave IS faster than baking. We included baking the peppers just to keep the instructions to one type of cooking method.
Akash says
Hi Jen, thanks for sharing the recipe. It really looks delicious, definitely going to try it!
WholeLottaYum says
Thank you so much! Enjoy!