Cheesy Ground Turkey and Cauliflower Taco Stuffed Peppers
These taco stuffed peppers are a delicious twist on taco night. This healthy dinner ditches the taco shells and instead stuffs everything into a roasted bell pepper. It’s cheesy, flavorful and best of all, you can customize it to what you love.
When it comes to bell peppers, choose what you love, just be sure they’re large enough to stuff. I prefer the sweeter colors like yellow, orange and red bell peppers because the flavor comes alive when roasted and blends so well with the bold flavors of the taco seasoning.
Serve with a side of Spanish rice or drizzle some cottage cheese avocado crema on top. Double the recipe and use the leftover filling for ground chicken tacos or taco salads throughout the week. There’s so much you can do with it so you won’t get bored!
Why you’ll love this recipe
- 27 grams of protein.
- Gluten-free and low carb.
- Simple ingredients.
Ingredients and Substitutions:
These are the main ingredients and substitutions for this taco stuffed bell pepper recipe. See the recipe card below for the full list of ingredients and instructions.
- Large Bell Peppers: Use your favorite color. For sweeter peppers, go with yellow, red or orange bell peppers and for a pepper with more bite, go with green bell peppers.
- Olive Oil
- Lean Ground Turkey: ground chicken, lean ground beef or ground pork also work.
- Taco Seasoning: I use Siete taco seasoning or my homemade taco seasoning.
- Frozen Cauliflower Rice: used to keep these low carb. You can use cooked brown rice or white rice if you prefer a more traditional stuffed pepper.
- Salsa: use your favorite!
- Black Beans: kidney beans or pinto beans work, too.
- Shredded Mexican Cheese Blend: or cheddar cheese.
Variations
- Add your favorite taco toppings! Shredded lettuce, sour cream, tomatoes, olives , diced onion, red onion, cilantro and avocado crema are my classic go-to’s.
Dietary Modifications
- This recipe is gluten-free, as is.
- For diary-free, omit the cheese or use a dairy free cheese.
How to make these taco stuffed peppers (a visual step-by-step guide)
Step 1: preheat oven and prep peppers
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Cut the bell peppers down the center from the top down so you have 2 halves (image 1). Take out the seeds and stem creating a cavity to stuff with the taco mixture. Place peppers on a baking dish or casserole dish and drizzle with the olive oil (image 2). Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes until slightly soft.
Step 2: cook taco meat
While the bell peppers cook, add the ground turkey to a pan over medium-high heat and cook until browned and cooked through (image 3). Mix the taco seasoning with water in a small bowl to create a paste. Pour into the ground meat mixture along with the cooked frozen cauliflower rice (image 4) and mix to combine and evenly coat. Add the salsa and beans (image 5) and mix to combine (image 6).
Step 3: remove peppers and stuff with taco filling
Remove the bell peppers from the oven (image 7) and stuff the halved peppers with 170g of the meat mixture (image 8). Top with ¼ cup (28g) of shredded cheese (image 9) return to the oven for 5-10 minutes to melt the cheese (image 10).
Expert Tip!
You want to get large bell peppers to fit the filling. The smaller the pepper the harder it will be to fill them. If using small peppers you may want to turn this into 8 halves.
Recipe FAQs
These are best reheated in the microwave. The oven tends to overcook the meat too quickly.
Store leftover peppers in the refrigerator, covered, for up to 5 days.
These are designed to be a complete meal but if you’re craving some carbs with it, serve with air fryer smashed potatoes, Spanish rice or white rice.
Check out our other easy recipes!
If you make this recipe, please leave a rating and/or comment! Tag me on Instagram @ohsnapmacros, I love hearing from you!
Taco Stuffed Peppers
📱 MyFitnessPal & MacrosFirst App Users
You can find this recipe and many others on MyFitnessPal and MacrosFirst by searching: Ohsnapmacros – Taco Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients
- 3 large bell peppers, any color
- 1 Tbsp. olive oil
- 1 lbs. ground turkey, 93/7
- 1 package taco seasoning, Siete
- 4 Tbsp. water
- 12 oz. frozen cauliflower rice, cooked
- 1/2 cup mild salsa
- 1 cup black beans, rinsed and drained
- 1.5 cups shredded Mexican blend cheese 168g
Optional Toppings
- shredded lettuce
- tomatoes
- olives
- red onion
- cilantro
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Cut the bell peppers down the center from the top down so you have 2 halves. Take out the seeds and stem creating a cavity to stuff with the taco mixture. Place them on a baking sheet and drizzle with the olive oil. Bake for 15-20 minutes until slightly soft.
- While the bell peppers cook, add the turkey to a pan over medium heat and cook until browned and cooked through.
- Mix the taco seasoning with water in a small bowl to create a paste. Pour into the taco mixture along with the cooked frozen cauliflower rice and mix to combine and evenly coat. Add the salsa and beans and mix to combine.
- Remove the bell peppers from the oven and stuff each with 170g of the meat mixture. Top with ¼ cup of shredded cheese, 28g, and return to the oven for 5-10 minutes to melt the cheese.
- Once the cheese has melted remove and serve topped with your favorite toppings like lettuce, tomato, olives and hot sauce.
Notes
- To lower the fat, use less cheese.
- Green bell pepper is more bitter. Red, yellow and orange will be more sweet. I like to use a variety.
- Nutritional information is an estimate and will vary with substitutions.
