These Italian stuffed peppers are filled with lean ground chicken, fire roasted tomatoes, parmesan, fresh basil, and a beaucoup of veggies. Thanks to the chicken and veggie overload, these stuffed peppers are packed with fiber and protein, making this a great high volume recipe to keep you super full and satisfied. You’ll find there are tons of customizations you can make to fit your nutrition and/or flavor profile needs. So let’s dive in.
Warning: At first glance this recipe may look long and daunting. And while stuffed peppers recipes are all a bit labor intensive, the filling is actually quite easy to make. Everything gets cooked in one pan and you get to microwave frozen cauliflower rice. Pick up some pre-diced onion and carrots (I won’t judge), and these Italian stuffed peppers will be a walk in the park.
How to Make the Italian Stuffed Peppers Filling
These Italian stuffed peppers are filled with something resembling a quick cooking ground chicken bolognese. If you have the time, you could use something like my turkey bolognese or Instant Pot bolognese recipe and still add cauliflower rice for extra volume.
Either way, if you’re not a fan of cauliflower rice you could use any cooked rice. The Right Rice I used for my Greek ground chicken and rice bowls would work great here. Or maybe even the orzo from my chicken and zucchini bowls.
And if you wanted to make fresh cauliflower rice, check out this post on how to make cauliflower rice. You could either cook it in butter like the recipe calls for or throw it straight in. It’ll cook with the rest of the filling once stuffed inside the peppers.
As a quick side note, any customizations you make will likely affect the volume. So don’t go too crazy unless you’re prepared to adjust the amount of peppers you stuff.
How to Fill and Bake the Peppers
The recipe calls for 5 large bell peppers. You can see in the first image below that the 10 pepper halves take up an entire half sheet pan. If you can’t find large peppers like, use 8-10 regular sized. My Greek stuffed peppers recipe calls for the same half sheet pan and fit 8.
If you don’t have a large rimmed sheet pan, you can always use a baking dish. I’ve found that removing the tops from bell peppers works best for making stuffed peppers in a baking dish. Check out my buffalo rotisserie chicken stuffed peppers for an example. Oh, and my air fryer stuffed peppers are a great example of another alternative cook method.
You really can’t mess these Italian stuffed peppers up. Just get them filled, baked, and baked again with some cheese on top!
Speaking of cheese, I broke my never-use-pre-shredded-cheese rule by using the Italian shredded cheese blend from Tillamook. You’re not after a tricky cheese sauce or anything like that, so pre-shredded gets the job done for an otherwise labor intensive recipe.
That’s the way the cookie crumbles. If you have a question about these low carb stuffed peppers that I haven’t covered, ask away in the comments below. And if you try the recipe and love it, be sure to come back and let me know in a recipe review. I always appreciate those!
Italian Stuffed Peppers
Cheesy Italian seasoned ground chicken, fire roasted tomatoes, and vegetables stuffed inside roasted bell peppers.
Ingredients
- 5 large Red Bell Peppers (or 8 smaller peppers)
- 1 Tbsp (16g) Olive Oil
- 1 lb Ground Chicken (97/3)
- 1 medium (150g) Yellow Onion, diced
- 2 medium (150g) Carrots, peeled and diced
- 4 cloves Garlic, minced
- 2 Tbsp (30g) Balsamic Vinegar
- 15 oz can Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes
- 1 handful Fresh Basil, minced
- 1 tsp Dried Oregano
- 1 tsp Garlic Powder
- 1/2 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
- 1/2 tsp Black Pepper
- 1 oz Grated Parmesan
- 12 oz Frozen Cauliflower Rice
- 4 oz Shredded Italian Cheese
Instructions
- Microwave the cauliflower rice for 5 minutes and preheat oven to 400ºF.
- Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and carrot to the skillet and cook until soft, about 5-6 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about another minute. Finally, add the balsamic vinegar and stir everything together.
- Push the veggies to the side of the skillet. Add the chicken and brown both sides before mincing and fully cooking.
- Once the chicken is cooked, stir everything together and add the diced tomatoes, parmesan, seasoning, and cauliflower rice. Stir together, remove from the heat, and set aside. Salt and pepper to taste before filling the peppers.
- Cut the peppers in half through the stem and remove any seeds and membranes. Spoon the filling in and bake on half sheet pan for 25 minutes before adding the shredded cheese on top and baking an additional 10-15 minutes. Top with fresh basil or parsley and enjoy!
Notes
Each Italian stuffed pepper has 2 WW SmartPoints (blue).
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 10 Serving Size: 1 Stuffed PepperAmount Per Serving: Calories: 170Total Fat: 6gCarbohydrates: 13gProtein: 17g
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Airon Black
Monday 16th of August 2021
You know you have a great new recipe to throw into the rotation when the 10 year old tween boy asks for seconds and doesn’t complain about all the veggies he’s eating and can’t even tell that he’s eating dreadful cauliflower! This hits all the right spots of an Italian meal without the heavy feeling afterwards. This is definitely worth trying out and I can see that it can really be tweaked based on personal preference but I thought it was delightful as designed.