There are a lot of stuffed pepper recipes out there, but they are all pretty similar. Rice, meat, cheese. Which is great for those of us that love rice. But I have never been too big of a rice fan. So as intriguing as I found the concept of stuffing my bell peppers full of food, I hadn’t found the inspiration to try it yet. Until recently that is. One of my newer DWBH recipes sparked an idea, and I had to give it a try.
Cauliflower rice.
After making my chicken fried (cauliflower) rice, I am obsessed. The rice substitute really does a great job. It makes a great rice-like side dish but packed with so many more vitamins and health benefits! So I knew that if I put that rice in this dish, it could be a game changer.
Tips to the Perfect Peppers
Let’s start by talking about the cauliflower rice. If you don’t have a food processor, or are short on time, most grocery stores now sell cauliflower already “riced.” It will be in the section with all of the other fresh vegetables. So that is definitely a good option. But I think it is fun to be able to say you made it yourself. At least every once in a while. And if you have a food processor it only adds about a minute or two to your prep. Just don’t overdo it. You want it to be like grains of rice, not mush. So less is more for this step and remember, you can always do more, but once it is too mushy, it’s harder to go backwards.
Also a quick tip for the turkey. I’d go as lean as you can. The only reason you ever really need more fat in your ground meats is when you are trying to form them into patties. And we aren’t doing that here, so in my opinion, the leaner the better.
And for the peppers themselves – we made three peppers with this recipe and had lots of filling leftover. I actually enjoyed eating it as leftovers, sans the pepper, but if you’d rather have more peppers as leftovers or are cooking for a bigger group, feel free to get six peppers, there will be plenty to fill them with! And the colors you get just depend on your personal preference. The yellow ones are my favorite!
When you go to cut the peppers, just take a sharp knife and make a circle around the top, so you can pull out the seeds easily. But then cut off a little more. This enables you to make the top of the pepper more aesthetically pleasing with a clean cut, and it gives you extra pepper to chop up and include in your stuffing! Cook it on the stove with the pico de gallo and you will add it to the cooked cauliflower rice and cooked turkey once it is done.
The veggies add some freshness to the filling and extra flavors, without being too overpowering. so even if you think you want to skip these in your filling and stick with the meat and rice, I’d suggest giving it a try first.
So by the end of the prep, you should have three different pans going: One for the turkey, one for the cauliflower rice, and one for the peppers and pico combination:
Just get a big bowl, combine all your prepared ingredients, and mix them all together! Now you are ready to stuff your peppers. (You can add some cheese to your filling if you would like it to be cheesier. However, I found the cheese on the top to be plenty!)
But before you go ahead and stuff those peppers, if you want to be Master-Chef worthy and you have a gas stove, char your peppers! This gives them a really impressive look plus adds a little texture and that “from the grill” flavor. Your guests will love it. To make the peppers softer, I would also suggest cooking them for about 10 minutes before filling. Because your filling is already cooked, so you really only need to put them in the oven to melt the cheese on top. You can skip this step if you want your peppers to be crispier.
Time to get stuffing! Good luck!
Stuffed Bell Peppers
Ingredients
3-6 bell peppers (assorted colors)- 1 lb ground turkey
- 1 (10oz) can of mild red enchillada sauce
- 1 (10oz) bag of cauliflower florets
- 1 tbsp taco seasoning
- 1/2 tsp minced garlic
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 cup spicy pico de gallo
- Shredded Mexican cheese blend to taste (used on top of the peppers, so you can add as much or little as you want. Or can even mix in to the filling for extra cheesiness)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F
- Make cauliflower rice by putting the florets in a food processor – don’t overdo it, we aren’t making mashed cauliflower!
- Cook cauliflower rice in a pan over medium-high heat on the stove, with taco seasoning and black pepper. Cook until tender and some of the rice starts to brown.
- Cook turkey in a large pan on the stove, with enchilada sauce and cayenne pepper.
- Cut the tops off of your peppers, and get all the seeds out. Cut them down far enough so you can take the extra and chop it for some extra filling.
- Cook chopped peppers and pico de gallo on stove top with minced garlic until tender.
- Optional (but fun!): Char your peppers! If you have a gas stove you can put them right over the flame. This will cook them a little so they aren’t as tough, plus give a really impressive look to your meal. Otherwise, cook in the oven for about 10 minutes to soften the peppers.
- Fill up the peppers.
- Top with cheese
- Cook until cheese is melted, about 5 minutes.
If you aren’t too stuffed after eating these stuffed peppers, be sure to try my Two-Ingredient Pancakes after for dessert! They make the perfect sweet ending to the day.
