Cauliflower Rice-Stuffed Peppers
Slash the calories and carbs of traditional stuffed peppers by swapping white rice for cauliflower "rice." The riced cauliflower is hearty and won't turn to mush during baking. Use an assortment of red, yellow, orange and green peppers to make an appealing presentation.
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Recipe Summary
Nutrition Profile:
How We Made Stuffed Peppers Healthy
1) Traditional stuffed pepper recipes call for rice in the filling, but we use cauliflower rice instead. It bulks up the filling, adding fiber while keeping carbs and calories in check.
2) We use lean ground beef and part-skim mozzarella cheese to keep saturated fat to a minimum. 90% lean or leaner ground beef works well here without taking away from the texture of the filling.
3) No-salt added tomato sauce keeps the peppers moist while they cook without adding extra sodium.
How to Prep Stuffed Peppers
1) Find peppers that are all roughly the same size so they cook evenly together. You can vary the color if you want to mix things up. Bell peppers are perfect for stuffing, but poblano peppers and smaller peppers like lunchbox peppers and even hot peppers like jalapeños can all be used for stuffing.
2) You can halve peppers lengthwise and stuff each half or you can cut the stem ends off the peppers as we do here and stuff them as they sit vertically in the pan. If you choose to do it this way, cutting a small portion off the bottom of the pepper so they sit flat may be helpful. For either method, you will want to remove the seeds before stuffing.
3) We pre-cook the peppers in a steamer basket before stuffing them to soften them up. This helps jumpstart the cooking process and helps ensure the peppers and the filling are all done cooking at once.
Can I Make Stuffed Peppers Ahead?
Yes! Prepare the stuffed peppers through Step 5 and refrigerate for up to 1 day. Bake as directed when you're ready to enjoy them.
Additional reporting by Hilary Meyer
Ingredients
Directions
Nutrition Facts
3 1/2 medium-fat protein, 3 vegetable, 1 fat
