These are absolutely delicious! The filling tastes just like a cheeseburger. I’ve made them healthier by using extra lean ground beef, brown rice, and lite cheese. Such a satisfying dinner, you’ll be stuffed! Each serving has 349 calories, 12 grams of fat, with cheese.
Ingredients
- 1 cup cooked brown rice
- 1 pound extra-lean ground beef (96%) see shopping tips
- 1 cup onions diced
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce for gluten free use Lea & Perrins
- 2 tbsp ketchup
- 1 tbsp mustard (can use spicy brown mustard)
- 1 tbsp pickle relish
- ⅓ cup tomato sauce can or jar
- 3 tbsp water
- 1 cup lite shredded cheddar cheese mozzarella or blend, (can use Trader's lite Mexican blend)
- 4 large red bell peppers yellow or orange, each about 3½ inches high and 3½ inches wide
Instructions
- Cook rice and set aside. Cut off the top of 4 bell peppers about 1-inch down from top. Clean out seeds and membranes. Throw away the tops.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- In a large nonstick pan, brown ground beef and onions. Season beef with a little salt and pepper. Be sure to break up ground beef into small pieces as it cooks.
- Stir in Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, mustard, pickle relish, tomato sauce, and 3 tablespoons water. Mix well. Stir in ¾ cup shredded cheese and cooked rice. Mix well and continue to cook until heated through. Add 1-2 more tablespoons of water, if getting a little dry. Remove from heat.
- Stuff each bell pepper with ground beef mixture, top each stuffed pepper with 1 tablespoon shredded cheese. Place each in a 9-inch baking dish. Pour 1 cup water in bottom of baking dish. Cover dish with foil and bake for 40-45 minutes. If peppers are not soft enough, cook about 5 minutes more.
- Once cooked, cooled and wrapped, they freeze great!
Notes
Shopping Tips
Happily, most supermarkets sell extra lean ground beef. I used the 96% lean ground beef from Trader Joe’s. You could use ground turkey if desired. WW Freestyle SmartPoints 8 with cheese-Blue
WW SmartPoints 8 with cheese-Green
WW SmartPoints 5 without cheese-Green
Happily, most supermarkets sell extra lean ground beef. I used the 96% lean ground beef from Trader Joe’s. You could use ground turkey if desired. WW Freestyle SmartPoints 8 with cheese-Blue
WW SmartPoints 8 with cheese-Green
WW SmartPoints 5 without cheese-Green
| SKINNY FACTS: for 1 stuffed pepper 349 calories, 12g fat, 5g sat. fat, 78mg chol, 32g prot, 33g carbs, 4g fiber, 619mg sod, 9g sugar |
| FACTS: for SmartPoints 300 calories, 5g sat. fat, 3g sugar, 31g protein |
Skinny Facts
Serving: 1stuffed pepperCalories: 349kcalCarbohydrates: 33gProtein: 32gFat: 12gSaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 78mgSodium: 619mgFiber: 4gSugar: 9gBlue Smart Points: 8Green Smart Points: 8
Love love love these! I do pre-cook my peppers a bit because we like them a little softer but thats the only change I’ve made. I use red peppers and they are so much better than the stuffed green peppers I used to make. Thanks for all your recipes.
Love your tip Ann. Thanks for sharing! And I totally agree, red, orange or yellow peppers taste so much better than green peppers.
All the best,
Nancy
Is it okay to use the kind of tomato sauce you use on pasta? Or is it supposed to be the kind that has no seasoning and is just puréed tomatoes?
Nat, you don’t use pureed tomatoes, use either a can of tomato sauce like Hunt’s or use a jarred pasta sauce.
Enjoy!
My best,
Nancy
So Good. Best way to reheat? Thanks
Thanks Ed. So glad you enjoyed it! I usually reheat them in the microwave but you can also reheat in a 350 degree oven.
All the best,
Nancy
Throw away the tops of the peppers??? That’s good snack food!!!
You are so right Evelyn!
Nancy – we do a southwest and Italian version of this, but I LOVE this concept…it’s going on next week’s menu! One thing I’d mention : have you ever tried swapping out the brown rice with riced cauliflower? We’ve really found it still works great and obviously it has a huge impact on the carbs! Thanks as always for your great and creative recipes!!
Frank, you can absolutely use cauliflower rice for this recipe. I’m actually working on some new stuffed pepper recipes that use cauliflower rice.
In addition, I do have several other stuffed pepper recipes that you might want to try. Here’s the link to them-https://www.skinnykitchen.com/?s=stuffed+peppers
My best regards,
Nancy
Whenever I make stuffed peppers I never “throw away” the tops. That seems very wasteful. I usually chop them up and add them to the stuffing mixture. Or, use them in salad, or with scrambled eggs, or just as a snack.
Great ideas for using the tops, Guy.
Thanks so much for sharing!
My best,
Nancy
I’ve made these numerous times. One of my grandson’s…he’s 23…loves them. He called & wanted to know what to buy to make them & if he could come over & have me show him how to make them. I had him do everything except add the water since he was taking them back to his house to bake them there & share with his mom & dad. He’s a great kid!
I love this…Thanks so much for sharing Clara!!! Sounds like you have a wonderful grandson and you sound like a loving grandma.
All the best,
Nancy
What do you wrap them in to freeze them?
Whitney, there are 2 ways I like to wrap these to store in the freezer. I usually have on hand plastic, deli-style pint containers. Or, wrap them well in plastic wrap and place them in a ZipLock freezer bag.
All the best,
Nancy
Thank you, I made these a long time agoand they were delicious. Could you freeze them after preparing them but before cooking them all together? Or have you just always cooked them then froze
I’m not sure Whitney since I always bake them first, then freeze.
All the best,
Nancy
Hi.
I made these very good.
Comment for the tops : why throw away? I cut them in pieces and froze for another dish later.
Tks
I’m so happy you enjoyed these, Lynne. And, thanks for sharing what you do with the tops of the bell peppers. Great idea!
All the best,
Nancy
Can hardly wait to try! Love your recipes…thank you
Would the points change if I used ground turkey instead?
I hope you enjoy this recipe, Jodi! Using extra lean ground beef will probably be the same points if using ground turkey. The points will go down if you use 99% fat-free ground turkey breasts. Personally, I think it will taste much better with regular turkey or beef!
My best,
Nancy
Hubby and I said this is a keeper!! Didn’t have relish so used dill pickles. Very filling, doesn’t take a lot of time to put together, will make this again!! Thanks for recipe.
I love your review. I’m so happy you both loved it!
Thank you, Kathy.
All the best,
Nancy