I think every food blog has to have a recipe with their take on stuffed peppers, right? It is such a versatile dish that can be incorporated into any culture’s food. I have tried Mexican style stuffed peppers, breakfast style stuffed peppers…but I think my favorite will always be Italian Stuffed Peppers.
I don’t think this is a surprise to any of my readers…I literally have an entire category dedicated to Italian recipes. I could not live without red marinara sauce or red wine. Fun fact: my doctor once thought I had an ulcer and said that I should lay off spicy food, tomato based items, and wine…When I say that is my entire diet, I am not exaggerating. Throw in some veggies (because…balanced) and it encompasses all of my food groups.
Luckily, I did not end up having an ulcer…we actually never figured out what it was…but thankfully these foods are still a huge part of my diet. That means I can continue to post yummy Italian inspired recipes like this one!
This recipe is nothing fancy. I take it down to bare-bones with this one. I think simple recipes speak for themselves. The base ingredients are:
- Ground turkey (or beef)
- Bell peppers
- Canned whole tomatoes
- Canned tomato paste
- White onion
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Before you get started on the mixture that is going to go inside of the peppers, start preheating the oven to 350°F. Nothing is worse than timing everything for a dinner and you realize that you forgot to preheat the oven.
Now that that’s out of the way…on medium heat warm up a pan with the olive oil and minced garlic. Let that simmer for about 2-3 minutes and add the diced white onion.
Let this cook until the onions start to become translucent and brown. This is when you will add in your ground meat. I personally like to use turkey over ground beef, but both will work! Weight loss bloggers and influencers tend to really push turkey over beef and for years I thought this meant that it was lower in calories. However, the only major difference is saturated fats. Beef has a higher amount of saturated fats, and therefore can impact your heart health more than turkey. Everything is okay in moderation though.
I substituted ground beef for turkey for so many years thinking I would lose more weight (lol), that now I chose it because I prefer the taste.
Once you add the meat of your choice to the browned onions, break up the meat and cook until it is also brown. This will take about 8 minutes or so on medium heat. Continually break it up and toss it as you go.
Next, add the can of whole tomatoes. Do not drain. If you do not have canned whole tomatoes, using a red pasta sauce would be a good substitute. If you plan on doing this, I would suggest adding 3 cups. You will want the mixture to be saucier in the pan, as it will dry up when baking in the oven.
Lastly add the can of tomato paste and Italian Seasonings. Let that simmer on low heat while you prepare the peppers.
This recipe calls for 4 bell peppers depending on size. You may be able to get 5 or 6 out of the meat mixture if the peppers are small.
Since I only was using 4 peppers, I used my smaller casserole dish to place them in. To prepare the peppers, remove the top opening, wash, and ever so slightly cut the bottoms of the peppers to create a flat bottom surface. If you end up cutting little holes in the surface, do not worry. Nothing will leak out…and to eat them you will be cutting them all up anyways.
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Once you place them in the casserole dish, you will want to fill the bottom with about a 1/4″ of water. The water creates a steam that will make sure that the peppers are softened. It will also ensure that the meat mixture does not dry out.
Next, scoop the meat mixture into each pepper. Fill all the way to the top. Cover will aluminum foil and bake at 350°F for 40 minutes. This is the time that I clean all the dirty dishes I just made. If I wait until after dinner, it will take a lot more convinces in my brain to actually get up and do it.
After 40 minutes, remove foil and add mozzarella (or other cheese substitute) to the top of each pepper. Place back in the oven, uncovered, for 10 more minutes.
I like to garnish these with parsley and serve!
Italian Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients
- 4 ea Bell Peppers (any color)
- 1 lb Ground Turkey Breast
- 28 oz Whole Peeled Tomatoes
- 6 oz Tomato Paste
- 1/2 ea White Onion (diced)
- 1 tsp Olive Oil
- 1 tbsp Minced Garlic
- 1 tbsp Italian Seasoning
- 3 cups Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
- Fresh Parsley (to garnish)
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350°F
- Warm pan to medium heat and add olive oil and minced garlic
- Dice 1/2 white onion and add to pan
- Mix ingredients until onions are starting to brown
- Add Ground Turkey to pan and break up
- After meat is brown, add can of whole peeled tomatoes, undrained
- Let simmer for 2 minutes
- Add tomato paste and mix
- Add Italian Seasoning and mix
- Let this mixture simmer on low heat while you wash and prepare the bell peppers
- To prepare bell peppers, cut out tops and slice a little off of the bottoms to make the surface flat
- Place peppers in a small casserole dish and fill about 1/4" of eater at the bottom of the dish
- Turn off heat and scoop mixture into peppers
- Cover with aluminum foil and cook in oven for 40 minutes (350°F)
- After 40 minutes, remove foil and add mozzarella to the top of each and place back in oven for 10 minutes
- When cheese is melted, take out, garnish with parsley, and serve.
2 Comments
Amparo Doubleday · April 22, 2022 at 3:15 pm
Good article! We will be linking to this great post on our website. Keep up the great writing.
Jennifer Renee · April 26, 2022 at 5:13 pm
Thank you!! That means a lot!!