Taco-inspired Turkey-Stuffed Peppers filled with ground turkey and brown rice, seasoned with cumin and spices, and topped with cheese are my favorite!
Turkey Stuffed Peppers
Stuffed bell peppers are my jam! This healthy Ground Turkey-Stuffed Bell Pepper recipe is an oldie and one that I’ve always loved. They are taco inspired, sort of like a burrito with the filling stuffed in a pepper instead of a tortilla and topped with cheese. Some other stuffed pepper recipes you may like are my Santa Fe Turkey-Stuffed Peppers, Chicken Taco Chili Stuffed Peppers, or my popular Stuffed Pepper Soup.
How To Make the Best Turkey Stuffed Peppers
These are my favorite turkey stuffed peppers, the one I make most in my house because it’s so good! Start with ground turkey and cook with onions, garlic and cilantro. Add cumin and spices, tomato sauce and simmer with chicken broth. Mix it with brown rice and stuff the peppers. Top with cheese and bake until the peppers are tender.
How to Serve
One bell-pepper half and a salad on the side is a very filling lunch for me, but my husband needs two to fill up.
For picky kids: When my younger daughter Madison was little, she didn’t like bell peppers, so I gave her some filling topped with cheese, and she loved it. She also liked to eat the turkey mixture in a small tortilla with cheese like a mini burrito.
How to Meal Prep and Freeze Stuffed Peppers
These easy turkey-stuffed peppers are great to meal prep and have for leftovers, which will hold in the fridge for up to four days. There are a few ways to meal prep the peppers:
- Stuff the peppers and refrigerate overnight until you’re ready to cook them.
- Make the stuffing and freeze it. When ready to eat, thaw it overnight in the fridge and stuff it in the peppers before baking.
- Bake the bell peppers and freeze any extra. To reheat, warm in the microwave or oven.
Turkey Stuffed Pepper Variations:
- Meat: Swap ground turkey for lean ground sirloin or chicken.
- Grains: Sub quinoa or white rice for brown rice or cauliflower rice for a low-carb option.
- Bell Peppers: If you don’t have red bell peppers, use any color pepper.
- Vegetables: Add chopped zucchini or squash to the filling for extra veggies.
- Sauce: If you want a saucier filling, use the whole can of tomato sauce.
- Spice: Add diced jalapeños to the turkey mixture and serve with hot sauce for a spicy kick.
More Ground Turkey Recipes:
- Turkey Taco Stuffed Avocados
- Turkey Chorizo
- Cheesy Turkey Meatball Skillet
- Turkey Cheeseburgers
- Jalapeno Popper Nachos
Turkey Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients
- 1 lb 93% lean ground turkey
- 1 garlic minced
- 1/4 onion minced
- 1 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro or parsley
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 3 large sweet red bell peppers washed
- 1 cup reduced sodium chicken broth divided
- 1/4 cup tomato sauce
- 1 1/2 cups cooked brown rice
- Olive oil spray
- 6 tbsp part skim shredded cheddar cheese*
Instructions
- Heat oven to 400°F.
- Lightly spray olive oil spray in a medium nonstick skillet and heat on a medium heat.
- Add onion, garlic and cilantro and saute about 2 minutes, add ground turkey, salt, garlic powder, cumin and cook meat for 4 to 5 minutes until meat is completely cooked through.
- Add 1/4 cup of tomato sauce and 1/2 cup of chicken broth, mix well and simmer on low for about 5 minutes.
- Combine cooked rice and meat together.
- Cut the bell peppers in half lengthwise, and remove all seeds. Spoon 2/3 cup meat mixture into each pepper half and place in a 9 x 13-inch baking dish. Top each with 1 tbsp cheese.
- Pour the remainder of the chicken broth on the bottom of the pan. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake for about 45 minutes.
- Carefully remove the foil and serve right away.
This was amazing! Tasted great and very satisfying. Even my picky husband loves so much he went back for more!
I make this probably weekly, it’s one if our favorite meals. I’ve recently started disassembling them, slicing the peppers and sautéing them then and adding it to the meat and rice mixture, its great for busy nights. Oh I also add a bag of cauliflower rice just for extra nutrition and I don’t even notice it.
This was my second time making this recipe but next time I will use less salt. Perhaps, 1/2 tsp versus the 1 tsp that the recipe calls for. I felt it was too salty for my taste so I had to add tomato sauce. I also cooked my brown rice in low sodium chicken broth to give it more flavor. I had some pinto beans left in the fridge and added them in. Why not?!
Think I could make these in the slow cooker?
I’ve made these stuffed peppers many times ! They are my favorite 😋
Love this recipe – so easy to make! I add in diced zucchini to the mixture and it tastes great
This recipe was sooooo good! I doubled it because I had two pounds of ground turkey out. I could only fit 10 halves in my 9×13 pan, so I had some leftover filling and it tastes delicious on its own too. The peppers are the perfect texture and everything is so flavorful. I also added in about a cup of fresh spinach just for a little extra protein. Highly recommend this recipe. You will love it.
Made this tonight as meal prep but haven’t tasted it yet–will update once I have! It turned out to make 5 peppers instead of 3 (I guess they were on the smaller side) and I substituted millet for the rice since I am on a candida diet (it is so great to find a normal recipe that works with this diet without many changes!). I was wondering if these will freeze well? It made so much food I am not sure I can eat it all! Thanks so much!
I really like this recipe, but tonight I changed up the spices (Italian instead of Mexican) and added some shredded cabbage (slaw mix) in near the end of the turkey cooking instead of rice. Easy peasy, and fewer calories/carbs. Thank you!
I’ve made this recipe numerous times. We absolutely love it. Thank you for the recipe!
These were absolutely delicious. I followed the recipe, except I switched out 1t of paprika for the 1T of cumin (I didn’t have any ground cumin). I served for dinner with a big salad, and everybody cleaned their plates, including my kids! In fact I ran out of food, so lesson learned for next time. Thank you so much for this recipe, it is a new favorite. (Also, I would like to say that your recipes are a godsend for this lady on Noom!)
so happy you liked them!!
I made this – added pink beans instead of rice and used salsa instead of tomato sauce and a little hot sauce. It was delicious!!
I’ve made this a few times and my husband and I both really liked it. I too added the whole 15oz can of tomato sauce per other’s recommendations. I also added some grated cheddar to the meat/rice mixture prior to adding to the peppers. I love cumin, but was a bit skeptical about using it, but it really adds to this dish. Don’t leave it out. I also par-boiled the peppers to ensure that they would soften. I will be making this again. Thank you!
I made this with 96% beef and cut up the bell pepper. I sauteed all the ingredients together and added 1 cup of rice with extra water. I brought the mixture to a boil put a lid on the pot. When the rice was cooked, it was yummy. Loved it all cooked together.
Adding*
turned the pot down to simmer until rice was cooked.
After reading through the comments, we agreed it was too dry and included the entire 15oz can of tomato sauce. The flavor was good but agreed we could kick it up a bit and added both ancho chile pepper and cayenne pepper. Will defiantly make this again!
How do you think these would be with cooked farro instead of brown rice?
I’m searching for the freezer prep. Do you cook as usual then freeze?
Thaw in the fridge then bake to reheat?
Yes that works
Gina,
Delicious! Made this last night.
Next time I would like to add a little kick to it.
What do you recommend I add?
Gina,
What kind of tomato sauce do you use for the turkey stuffed peppers?
Just a small can of tomato sauce, like Goya