Aren’t the best things packaged? Preferably packaged in little blue boxes #TiffanyPlease. Stuffed bell peppers are like a little package of nutrients and deliciousness tied into one! They are one my favorite “lazy” go-to-dishes to create. This recipe provides amazing left-overs for a breakfast scramble or lunch the next day. AND to top it off, its super simple to whip up. I love that this meal is not ingredient sensitive– isn’t it the worst when you’re excited about cooking something and you don’t have that one magical ingredient? Who used all my Yakima™ Applewood Smoked Salt! You can totally change it up and do a “everything but the kitchen-sink” type of move when it comes to preparing this dish. In other words, you can’t go wrong with the veggies, spices, or even the meat you add. For example, you could substitute the ground beef for ground turkey, lamb, pork, chicken… or WATCH OUT, a 50/50 stuffed pepper, Ooooh yeah, try half beef and half pork. I know. Mind-blowing!
For other substitutions:
Nightshade free? Stuff squash instead of bell peppers and discard the sun-dried tomatoes and tomato sauce.
Fodmap Free? Discard onions, garlic and stuff mixture into a squash, such as acorn.
Click here for a complete list of nightshade and fodmaps.
Simply Enjoy!
- 3 bell peppers, halved and cleaned
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil for cooking
- 1/2 large onion, diced
- 1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1.5 pounds ground beef, or ground meet of choice
- 1/2 cup tomato sauce, canned or homemade ( I use Bionaturae Organic Strained Tomatoes)
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/4 cup of basil, finely chopped
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Place bell pepper halves in a roasting dish, face down and cook in oven for 10-15 minutes.
- While the peppers are cooking, melt your coconut oil in a large skillet on medium heat. Sauté onions until they are slightly browned on the edges. Then, add in garlic and sun-dried tomatoes and cook for a minute or two.
- After garlic is fragrant, add in ground meat and cook until fully done.
- Next, add in tomato sauce, chili powder, smoked paprika, cayenne, salt, pepper, and basil, mix until well combined.
- Take your peppers out of the oven and flip them over to prepare for stuffing.
- Spoon the stuffing into each pepper and then put back into oven for 10-15 minutes to blend flavoring.
- As a last step, I sometimes like to put the peppers back into the oven and broil for 2 minutes for a crispy top.
- Also, I like to garnish my peppers with extra basil and a little extra tomato sauce.
