Low Carb Stuffed Peppers

Stuffed peppers are usually made with Bell peppers, which makes sense – they are readily available, and they stand up in a baking dish. However, I’ve made them with pablano peppers (sometimes called pasilla peppers where I live, but apparently incorrectly) just by splitting them lengthwise and making two filled peppers out of each one. It’s nice for a change to have stuffed peppers that are a little spicier.

You can use any color of Bell peppers to make this recipe – its fun to have a mixture of two or three colors. You can also use whatever spice mixture strikes your fancy, from Middle Eastern to Asian. It’s fun to change it up.

Ingredients

6 Bell peppers, any color, medium or large*

1 1/2 pounds ground beef

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 8-oz can of tomato sauce or 4 tablespoons tomato paste

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 teaspoons chili powder (or, really, any spices you like)

1/3 cup Mozzarella cheese

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

1. Prepare the peppers – Slice off the top of the peppers and remove the ribs and seeds. Either microwave them on a plate or baking dish (whatever fits in the microwave oven) covered with plastic wrap for 4 minutes, or blanch them in boiling water for 3 minutes.

2. Cook the beef mixture – heat a large skillet, and cook the beef, onions, garlic, and spices. If you are using tomato paste, include that as well.

If you are using the tomato sauce, pour about 2/3 of the can in, and save the rest for a topping. Cook until the beef is cooked through and the onions are soft. If it gets too dry you can add a little water.

3. Loosely fill the peppers with the beef mixture, and sit upright in a baking dish. If you are using tomato sauce, spoon some of the leftover sauce on top of each pepper. Add about a tablespoon of cheese on each one. Bake for half an hour in the oven, or 12 minutes in the microwave, turning half-way through the cooking.

Nutritional Information: Each of 6 servings has 8 grams effective carbohydrate plus 4 grams fiber (12 grams total carbohydrate), 32 grams protein, and 379 calories.

*I used large Bell peppers for computing the nutritional information, because the USDA defines a large as about 4 inches long and 3 inches across, which I think most people call a medium. We are taking the top off, though.

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