These Keto Stuffed Peppers are made the classic way with ground beef, tomato, garlic, onion and spices topped with melty cheese. They're perfect for the keto diet!
Quick prep and even quicker clean-up plus delicious to boot, these Keto Stuffed Peppers are made the traditional way so you know they're good. We've got ground beef, tomato, garlic, onion and spices topped with melty cheese for one great meal!
You can make this recipe by the book, or let your imagination run wild if you so choose. (We make these Keto Philly Cheese Steak Stuffed Peppers all the time and even stuffed mushrooms!). Hollowed out bell peppers are a fantastic vehicle to stuff full of your favorite meats and veggies. Plus, they are a great way to add color to your diet in order to get a variety of phytonutrients. Stuffed peppers for the win!
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🫑 Bell Pepper Facts
Because we are science nerds we wanted to give a little background into bell pepper so here we go...Whenever we think of foods rich in vitamin C, our mind always goes to oranges because that's just what we've been taught contains the most. But did you know that bell peppers have more Vitamin C than oranges?
100 grams of green bell pepper contains 95.7 mg compared to 53.2 mg in 100 grams of oranges.
It seems pretty impressive, right? Well, green bell peppers are just the tip of the iceberg. Yellow and red varietals contain even more with 341 mg and 209 mg respectively. And it’s not just vitamin C either. A large red bell pepper contains over 5000 IU of vitamin A whereas a large yellow bell pepper only contains 372 IU.
We always feel our best when we try to incorporate a variety of colors into our diet, which we call “eating the rainbow”. These Keto Stuffed Peppers are great for that!
Bell peppers are a great way to accomplish this on keto (green is easy) because yellow and orange are sometimes troublesome to fit within your macros. Depending on the time of year and availability you can also find bell peppers in brown, white, lavender, and dark purple.
To read more about bell peppers and their variety of benefits, check out links below:
- Does a Bell Pepper Lose Vitamin C From Turning Yellow to Red? - Healthy Eating SFGate
- Which Bell Color Is The Healthiest? - Dove Med
- Eating The Rainbow: Why Eating a Variety of Fruits and Vegetables Is Important for Optimal Health - Food Revolution Network
Now, for some common questions:
How to make stuffed peppers:
- First, you'll slice the tops off of your bell peppers and scoop out the seeds.
- Next, you'll make your filling on the stovetop.
- After that, you'll stuff the peppers with the filling and top with cheese.
- Transfer the peppers to the oven and bake until tender or until a fork easily pierces the side of the pepper.
What is in Keto Stuffed Peppers?
These have a meat mixture filling made with ground beef, olive oil, onions, garlic, diced tomatoes, Italian seasonings, and cauliflower rice. We also tucked in some cheese for good measure because cheese is so totally delicious. If you are dairy-free you can leave out the cheese.
Do I have to use a cast-iron skillet?
No, you can totally use a baking dish! Just be sure to choose one where all of the peppers touch so that they don't tip over while baking.
Can I use ground chicken instead of beef?
Yes! Definitely. Feel free to swap any ground protein for the beef here. Turkey would also work great as would Italian sausage.
Can these be reheated?
Yes! These make a great meal-prep recipe. To reheat you'll want to simply pop them in a 400° oven for about 10 minutes. The cheese will get nice and melty again, and let's be honest. The cheese is the best part of any dish.
What is the nutritional information for these Keto Stuffed Peppers?
As always, you can find the full nutritional breakdown including the carb count (total carbs and net carbs) at the bottom of the recipe card and you can find the serving size/yield at the top of the recipe card. You should always double-check your specific ingredients because different brand's ingredients may have different values.
For this recipe, each pepper is 10g net carbs.
📖 Recipe
Keto Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes
- 1 ½ cups cauliflower rice
- 6 bell peppers tops and cores removed
- 1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
- Freshly chopped parsley for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400° F.
- Heat the oil in a 10" or larger cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add the beef and spices to the skillet and brown for 5-7 minutes before adding in the onion and garlic. Cook another 4-5 minutes until the onion starts to soften.
- Add in the tomato paste, diced tomatoes, and cauliflower rice. Cook 5 minutes, then divide the mixture between the peppers and top with cheese.
- Wipe out the skillet then place the filled peppers in the skillet, cover and bake for 15 minutes, uncover, and turn the broiler on high. Broil for 3-5 minutes until the cheese is bubbly.
- Top with parsley and serve.
Tamera Alexander says
Wonderful! Made them tonight. Will definitely make them again! Thanks for the recipe!
Edward Montez says
Thanks for the Recipe it was awesome 👌
Sheri says
Other than the cauliflower rice which I love this recipe seems pretty traditional .I have all the ingredients except the tomato paste Since I’m not doing Keto I’ll probably just substitute ketchup.I’m sure that will be OK .I’ll post some pictures when I get it done .
Ainsly Galdot says
Made these for dinner a few weeks ago. Loved. loved. loved. them! =)
Ellen says
Is 1 pepper equal to 1 serving?
castironketoadmin says
Yes
Michelle says
I made these for dinner tonight, Amazing!!!
So yummy even w Cauliflower rice.
Lisa says
Fantastic!! These were great! My husband (who is picky and not on keto) loved them too! Thank you for the great recipe!
Lucinda Vigil says
Will these stay good in the fridge for five days? I’d like to take one everyday for lunch this week but not sure if I should freeze them instead. Thanks
Cast Iron Keto says
Hi Lucinda! Yes, they should be fine in the refrigerator for 5 days as long as they are stored in an airtight container and reheated properly.
Cindy Attanasio says
Excellent, made them tonight, so easy!
Patricia says
Delicious and easy to prepare!
Louise says
Hi the recipe looks delicious. However I presume you did not mean 114.5 oz of diced tomatoes. I followed my intuition and merely added 14.5- 28 oz of diced tomatoes. Thank you for creating these wonderful recipes for us. God bless.
Cast Iron Keto says
Hi Louise, definitely not - the recipe calls for one 14.5 ounce can, I can see where it would be easy to read through real fast and read it as 114.5 ounces. So glad you didn't use 114.5 ounces lol!
Kim says
These were amazing and so easy!!!! I added a little Heinz sugar free ketchup on top before the cheese!!!
Carol says
They were good but lacked something. I will make them again but will change it up a bit. Perhaps a little more paste and more seasonings such as Italian seasoning. Or use Rao marinara sauce instead tomatoes and paste.
Valerie paoletti says
Do I have to use avocado oil?
Cast Iron Keto says
Nope, any oil you have on hand will be fine.
Judy says
Can you use frozen cooked cauliflower rice?
Cast Iron Keto says
Yes! We typically use Trader Joe's frozen cauliflower rice and just thaw it out beforehand.
Christy says
Can I use the diced tomatoes with green chiles? Or would that throw off the flavor completely?
Cast Iron Keto says
I think that would be totally fine!
Kristie says
Carb manager says 10 Net carbs each, That seems high.
Diana Morales says
You can always adjust a bit, use less onion, use a different blend of cheese for less carbs, and lower the amount of cauliflower. Carb manager let’s you insert your own recipe and mine are only around 7 net carbs based on the spices/ingredients I used.
Rich says
Made these tonight for Dinner and the flavor is outstanding and me and the wife loved them. This is def going in my recipe book. Thankyou
Sonya Gordon says
I think I'll leave out the tomatoes, that's where a big hunk of the carbs come from. 10 carbs is a lot for one item in the day on Keto.
Sandra says
Very Easy to make and great tasting.
Nina Blandford says
Can these be frozen? I had too much ground beef so adjusted the recipe for that and ended up with 8 peppers . They are delicious but don’t want to eat them every day!
Cast Iron Keto says
Hi Nina, we've had a few readers say that they have frozen them but we have not given it a try yet. In theory, they should be perfectly fine and you can reheat in a skillet or the oven.
Molly says
These are easy and tasty, thank you!
Megan Burnett says
These are absolutely amazing! I’ve never left a review for anything before, but I had to give these five stars. I’ve made many stuffed pepper recipes before, but this recipe far surpasses them all. Awesome recipe!
Mimi says
Do you mean “cover” with the pepper tops.?
Cast Iron Keto says
Hi Mimi, no this means to cover with foil. Apologies that that wasn't clear, hope this helps!
Josh says
I was really pleasantly surprised. Very flavorful and filling. Adding it to the menu plan. Thanks!
Cast Iron Keto says
Glad to hear it, Josh, thanks!
LISA E TILL says
I thought these were delicious. Made them at first uncovered (in error and they were okay (missed the 10 uncovered) Remade them today and they are delicious! I actually think the cauliflower rice is better than regular rice... I am thinking if you keep the original instructions I believe they would be tasty with spices of your choosing and ANY type of cheese that you like or have on hand!
Jamie says
Great recipe! Thank you!
Paul says
We just made these tonight after a full day of biking they were amazing expecting a 7 on 10 but there actually a 9.9 on 10 awesome thank you so much for the recipe I try to post a pic... I did add 1 cup of cheese and to Sun dried tomatoes this to make it my own
Danielle Reid says
These were delicious out of the oven as well as the next day!
Debbie says
I just made this recipe and it is great. It’s definitely a keeper and it’s pretty easy to make with ingredients I have on hand. I put a layer of cheese in the middle of the pepper, too. And since I grow parsley I added several tbsp of fresh parsley to the meat mixture.
Christina says
When browning the beef, I usually drain the fat, but this recipe doesn't say to do that. What do you do with the excess fat liquid, just leave it in? Making now, hopefully you'll be able to direct me on how to proceed. Thanks!
Cast Iron Keto says
Hi Christina, the fat is left in the pan.
Christina says
Thanks! Making these again tonight for my lunches this week. These are so delicious and I don't feel guilty about eating them!
Bruce C. says
I made this with minced dried onion, and took the tops of the green peppers and cooked it with the beef, added a little cayenne and chili powder, and replaced the Monterrey Jack with Fresh Mozzarella it's so good.
Christine H says
This was great!!!!
I didn’t add the diced tomatoes...trying to keep the carbs low....instead I added about 1/2 cup of chicken stock to help blend everything. And my peppers were big and I only had three so I cut them in half and filled each one....fantastic!
CONNIE SAYLOR says
Can you use shrimp in this recipe?
Cast Iron Keto says
You could!
Dustin says
I followed the recipe exactly and it was so yummy! Everyone loved this. We will definitely be making this again soon! Thanks u so much
Joy says
I love this recipe! I made it with ground turkey, added more paprika, cumin and chipotle pepper to give it a little zing!!!
Long says
Great recipe. Easy to follow. Took about a half an hour total to make and turned out exactly as pictured. They tasted delicious and made the house smell wonderful. Thanks!
Lisa says
Yum! Those look amazing!
RS says
Wondering if the cauliflower rice needs to be steamed prior to adding to the peppers. Can it just be pulsed in a food processor and tossed in EVOO, s&p? Or is steaming necessary? Thanks
Cast Iron Keto says
No steaming necessary!
Cast Iron Keto says
No steaming necessary!
Pat Wright says
I love these, have been making them for about 5 years. Sometimes I leave the riced cauliflower out completely. My adult kids love them so when they get hungry for them I always make them.
They are also good with cut up mushrooms in it too!
Lee says
We made it and it was awesome. However we did use spicy diced tomatoes.
Sue says
I'm getting ready to make these for the 3rd time in a month! That means they are good. Actually, I only cook for myself so last time I stuffed 2 peppers, placed remaining stuffing in a small casserole dish, and cooked it along with the peppers. Freezes perfectly and later very good with steamed broccoli, etc. Thanks for something so taste satisfying.
Angela says
Great recipe. I added sour cream to the filling before I stuffed the peppers to make it even more delicious. Also recommend steaming the peppers in microwave for few minutes to soften them up before stuffing and putting in oven.
Kim says
Hi there! Can this recipe be made with Konjac rice?
Shelly says
these look delish! I am sending this to my friend who has an abudance of peppers at the moment. hope all is well with you.
Vicki says
Absolutely DEE-licious!! I added some seasoning salt, and then some regular salt to taste.
Janice says
Can I leave the cauliflower out? Any suggestions for a substitute? Thank you
Cast Iron Keto says
You can just leave it out while increasing the other filling ingredients a bit.
Gretchen says
Can I make these the night before and cook them the next day?
Cast Iron Keto says
You can!