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 leftovers for lunch.
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 serving 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. This is one of the reasons I love making my family stuffed peppers. They love them and I love how nutritious they are. These ground turkey stuffed peppers are sure to be a hit in your house too!
How to Make Ground Turkey Stuffed Peppers
Here is a brief overview of how this recipe for stuffed bell peppers comes together. For the full recipe including all measurements, scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
- Prepare the peppers. Wash the bell peppers and slice them in half. Remove the seeds and ribbing and put the pepper halves in a large bowl.
- Microwave the peppers. Spritz the peppers with a little oil, cover them, and then microwave them. This will soften them, which is the primary thing that happens in the oven during most bell pepper recipes.
- Make the stuffed pepper filling. While the peppers are cooking in the microwave, cook the onion and sauté until it’s translucent. Then add the ground turkey and cook until it is no longer pink. Stir in the spaghetti sauce, rice, and seasoning.
- Bake the peppers. Put the peppers on a baking sheet and divide the ground turkey mixture into the peppers. Top with cheese and bake for 15-20 minutes. Enjoy!
Choosing Peppers For Stuffed Peppers
Whenever I make stuffed peppers for my family, I go with red, yellow, and orange bell peppers, but green bell peppers are often less expensive and work well in this recipe. Choose peppers that are firm and similar in size so they will cook evenly. Avoid any peppers that are wrinkly in spots or have soft spots.
Homemade Spaghetti Sauce
I love making this recipe with my homemade spaghetti sauce because it has such a great flavor and comes together quickly. My marinara sauce would also be a great choice here. You can totally make this stuffed peppers recipe with your favorite store-bought tomato sauce if that is what you prefer.
Homemade Spaghetti Sauce Recipe
Homemade Italian Seasoning
Italian seasoning is a blend of a few spices and herbs that add great flavor to recipes. You can usually find this blend with all of the seasonings at your grocery store, or it is really easy to make it from scratch.
Italian Seasoning
Tips to Make This Recipe Faster and Easier
Because I went the extra mile with some homemade ingredients, I took a few shortcuts to make this recipe come together more quickly. There are a few things that really make this recipe easier.
- Microwave the peppers while you are making the filling. It cuts down on the baking time while still giving you a soft, tender pepper. Like your peppers crunchy? Skip this step!
- Use instant rice. One of the hassles of stuffed peppers with rice is that the rice needs to be cooked when it goes in. Using instant rice really helps with this step. Uncle Ben’s makes great bags of instant microwavable rice that works great in stuffed peppers. You can purchase both white and brown rice in this brand.
- 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.
Making Stuffed Peppers Ahead of Time
This is a great recipe to make ahead of time. Prepare the stuffed peppers up to the point of putting them in the oven. Cover the pan and refrigerate for up to 24 hours. When you are ready to bake them, bake uncovered in a preheated oven for 25-30 minutes.
Making Stuffed Peppers in the Slow Cooker
If you want to make this stuffed peppers recipe in the crockpot, prepare the recipe to the point of stuffing the peppers, but use five full peppers instead of four cut in half. Put the microwaved peppers in the bottom of your slow cooker. Fill each with the turkey mixture and cook on low for three to four hours. Then top with shredded cheese and allow to cook for an additional 10 minutes, or until the cheese has melted.
Crockpot Stuffed Peppers
Storing and Reheating Leftovers
Store any leftover stuffed peppers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three days. Reheat what you plan to eat in the microwave, oven, or air fryer until heated through. I share how to freeze the stuffed peppers below.
Freezing Stuffed Peppers
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 are too many for your family.
- Make the recipe up to the point of topping them with more cheese.
- Place the unbaked stuffed peppers on a baking sheet and freeze for four hours. Then transfer the partially frozen peppers to an airtight container. Place in the freezer for up to three months.
- When ready to make a pepper, remove it from the container, and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, topping with cheese halfway through.
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 in a few different ways:
- Cut out the rice completely and only make this recipe with three full peppers (six 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.
If you make these ground turkey stuffed peppers or any of my other recipes, be sure to come back and leave a comment letting me know how you and your family enjoyed it!
Ground Turkey Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients
- 4 bell peppers cut in half with seeds removed (see photos above)
- 1 tablespoon olive 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)
- fresh parsley chopped, optional
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Put the peppers in a large microwave-safe bowl. Spray liberally with cooking spray. Cover the bowl with a microwave-safe plate and microwave for 7 minutes (see note).4 bell peppers
- 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.1 tablespoon olive oil, 1/2 large onion
- Add the garlic and sauté for another minute.2 cloves garlic
- Add the ground turkey, breaking it up as you cook it. Add in the Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, and cumin.1 pound ground turkey, 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, 1 teaspoon cumin
- Once the turkey is completely cooked through, stir in the spaghetti sauce, 1 cup of mozzarella cheese, and cooked rice.1 cup spaghetti sauce, 2 cups mozzarella cheese, 1 1/2 cups cooked rice
- Put the peppers on a parchment-lined baking tray, discarding any liquid that might have accumulated during microwaving. Divide the filling mixture among the eight pepper halves and then top with the remaining cheese.
- Bake the peppers for 15 to 20 minutes until the cheese completely melts and begins to bubble. Top with fresh parsley if desired.
Notes
- 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.
- I like using instant rice in this recipe for its convenience. If you’d rather cook regular rice, that is totally fine, just plan for it time-wise accordingly.
- 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.
- If you want to replace the ground turkey with ground beef, eliminate the oil from the this recipe. Instead of first cooking the onions and garlic and then the meat, cook the meat first, breaking it up and then add the onions and garlic, cooking until the onion is translucent. Drain off any excess grease.
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