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Ground Turkey Stuffed Peppers

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posted: 06/09/19

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This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy

These Ground Turkey Stuffed Peppers are such a great delicious dinner! Full of delicious flavor, your family will request these all the time. Plus, with how easy these are to freeze, you can have left overs for lunch all the time.

Want another great stuffed pepper recipe? Make my Taco Stuffed Peppers.

ground turkey stuffed bell pepper with melted cheese and fresh parsley on a baking tray on top of a blue and white striped napkin

One of my very small points of pride as a mom is the fact that for the most part my kids will eat their vegetables. I grew up in a veggie eating household, and now I actually love vegetables and integrating them into my diet. It feels great knowing that my kids are headed down the same road after making them vegetables over and over. Though we eat vegetables every day, especially at dinner, it can be tricky at times to find recipes that naturally integrate them in. This is one of the reasons I love making my family stuffed peppers! And these ground turkey stuffed peppers are sure to be a hit in your house too!

An Easy Stuffed Pepper Recipe

These stuffed bell peppers with ground turkey aren’t my fastest dinner (you might want to try my Peanut Butter Stir Fry Noodles for that), but they are easy to make for sure. I use my homemade spaghetti sauce and my Italian seasoning recipe in this ground turkey stuffed pepper recipe, but you could also use store bought. Both add a great flavor to this recipe. Because I went the extra mile with some homemade ingredients, I took a few short cuts to make this recipe come together more quickly.

Tips to Make this Recipe Faster and Easier

There are a few things that really make this recipe easier.

  1. Microwave the peppers while you are making the filling. It cuts down on the baking time while still giving you a soft pepper. Like your peppers crunchy? Skip this step!
  2. Use instant rice! One of the hassles of stuffed peppers is that the rice needs to be cooked when it goes in. Using instant rice really helps with this step.
  3. Use a slice of cheese to top it at the end instead of shredded cheese. The recipe reads to use shredded cheese so you only have to buy one thing (instead of shredded and slices), with the notes explaining how much easier slices are to work with that the end.

How to Make Ground Turkey Stuffed Peppers

woman cutting the seeds out of the inside of a stuffed pepper

The first thing to do is wash our bell peppers and then slice them in half. You don’t need to slice the stem perfectly, I just did that to make for pretty pictures.

Additionally, I went with red, yellow, and orange bell peppers, but green bell peppers are often less expensive and work well in this recipe.

eight bell pepper halves (red, yellow, and orange) with their seeds and ribbing removed on a baking sheet waiting to be filled

After cutting out the seeds and ribbing of the bell peppers, we are going to put them in a large bowl, spritz them with a little oil, cover them and then microwave them. This will soften them, the primary thing that happens in the oven during most bell pepper recipes. By cooking them while we are making the filling, we cut down a lot on final end baking time.

glass bowl filled with bell pepper halves

While the peppers cooking in the microwave, make your filling out of ground turkey, onions, spaghetti sauce, rice, and seasoning.

close up picture of ground turkey filling for stuffed bell peppers

Now the stuffed peppers with ground turkey and rice are ready to be stuffed and baked.

eight ground turkey stuffed bell peppers (orange, yellow, and red), cooked and covered in melted cheese on a baking sheet

Can I Freeze these Stuffed Peppers?

Yes! When I make stuffed peppers this way, cut in half and with lots of filling, I like to tell people how to freeze them in case eight peppers is just too much for your family. If you look at my Taco Stuffed Peppers, I have a video that shows this method of freezing them individually.

  1. Follow the instructions in the recipe up to topping them with cheese. Do not top the peppers you want to freeze with any cheese.
  2. Place the unbaked stuffed pepper in a plastic bag. Seal the bag, with just one inch of it left unsealed.
  3. Dip the bag in a bowl of water, making sure no water, gets in the top where the bag is unsealed. The water will help form a tight seal around the pepper in the bag.
  4. While it is still underwater, seal the bag.
  5. Place in the freezer for up to three months.
  6. When ready to make the pepper, remove it from the plastic bag, and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, topping with cheese half way through.
red bell pepper cut in half and stuffed with ground turkey, topped with provolone cheese and fresh parsley on a plate with salad

Make these Ground Turkey Stuffed Peppers Low Carb Friendly

If you are following a low carb diet like Keto or Paleo, you can make these ground turkey stuffed peppers low carb friendly a few different ways:

  • Cut out the rice completely, and only make this recipe with 3 full peppers (6 halves) instead of four peppers. Keep the rest of the ingredients the same.
  • Make some cauliflower rice and use that in place of the instant rice listed in this recipe.
  • Replace the rice with quinoa. Quinoa is not low carb, but it is a great source of fiber and protein! Take out the rice and add 1 1/2 cups quinoa. Make it easy with this Instant Pot Quinoa.

Other Great Stuffed Pepper Recipes

We can’t get enough stuffed peppers around here, so I have a lot of great stuffed pepper recipes! There will probably be more to come too.

a red bell pepper cut in half and filled with ground turkey, topped with melted provolone cheese and fresh parsley on a rustic baking sheet
a red bell pepper cut in half and filled with ground turkey, topped with melted provolone cheese and fresh parsley on a rustic baking sheet
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Ground Turkey Stuffed Peppers

Serves: 8 people
(tap # to scale)
Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 40 minutes
Total: 50 minutes
These Ground Turkey Stuffed Peppers are such a great delicious dinner! Full of delicious flavor, your family will request these all the time. Plus, with how easy these are to freeze, you can have left overs for lunch all the time.

Ingredients

  • 4 bell peppers cut in half with seeds removed (see photos above)
  • 1 tablespoon oilve oil
  • 1/2 large onion diced
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 pound ground turkey
  • 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper
  • 1 teaspoon cumin
  • 1 cup spaghetti sauce
  • 2 cups mozzarella cheese shredded (8 ounces) (see note 3)
  • 1 1/2 cups cooked rice (see note 2)

Instructions

  • Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
  • Put the peppers in a large microwave safe bowl. Spray liberally with cookign spray. Cover the bowl with a microwave safe plate and microwave for 7 minutes (see note)..
  • While the peppers are cooking in the microwave, heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the olive oil and then add the onions. Cook the onions for approximately 7 minutes or until very soft.
  • Add the garlic and saute for another minute.
  • Add the ground turkey, breaking it up as you cook it. Add in the Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, and cumin.
  • Once the turkey is compltely cooked through, stir in the spaghetti sauce, 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese, and cooked rice.
  • Put the peppers on a parchment lined baking tray, discarding any liquid that might have accumulated during microwaving. Divide the filling mixture amonst the eight pepper halves and then top with remaining cheese.
  • Bake the peppers for 15 to 20 minutes until the cheese completely melts and begins to bubble.

Notes

  1. If you don’t want to microwave your peppers, you could try steaming them in a large steaming basket while you cook the meat and other ingredients. Alternatively, you could skip this step and bake the peppers for 40 minutes instead of 15 once stuffed.
  2. I like using instant rice in this recipe for it’s convenience. If you’d rather cook regular rice, that is totally fine, just plan for it time wise accordingly.
  3. You may like to use 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese and then 8 slices of deli mozzarella or provolone. The slices of cheese are much easier to top the peppers with than the shredded cheese.
Author: Lisa Longley
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American
a red bell pepper cut in half and filled with ground turkey, topped with melted provolone cheese and fresh parsley on a rustic baking sheet

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Ground Turkey Stuffed Peppers

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Hi! I'm Lisa Longley, and I am committed to giving you simple dinner ideas and recipes that are easy to make; recipes that will fill your home with joy. I am the owner and author of SimpleJoy.com and I'm so glad that you are here.

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