Growing up I was never a big fan of stuffed peppers. In my mind, they were stuffed with ground meat and maybe rice. I never cared for that combination of textures. Then, a few years ago I saw on Pinterest a pepper stuffed with macaroni and cheese. Game Changer. I realized you can really stuff peppers with whatever you want. It can be as healthy or as unhealthy as you want.
I went in a healthy direction with these peppers. It’s also in a low-carb or Keto direction. Most importantly, I went in a simple direction.
You start by slicing the bell peppers in half from top to bottom, and take the seeds and stem out to make little boats to hold your fillings. Then add a tablespoon or two of your favorite marinara sauce in each bell pepper boat.
Dice chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces and season with salt, pepper, and some dried basil (because it’s winter and no body has the time or money to go out and buy fresh stuff that goes brown in a day) and saute until the pieces are just cooked through. Don’t overcook them because they’re going to cook for a few more minutes in the oven in a bit.
You could also use ground chicken or turkey if that it what you have on hand. I’m just not a big fan of the texture of ground meat, so I avoid it.
Now, for the cheese part, I basically had some random odds and ends of cheese left in my refrigerator: about 1/4 cup of parmesan, 1/4 cup of fresh mozzarella, and a1/3 cup of ricotta. So, I just mixed it all together with a bit of salt and pepper, and divided it evenly-ish on top of the chicken. It turned out to be a pretty good combination, so I’m sticking with it.
Bake it up for about 20 minutes until the bell peppers soften a bit and the cheeses have melted. Dig in!
Chicken Parmesan Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients
- 3 bell peppers
- 1 lb. chicken breast about 2 chicken breasts
- 1/4 cup marinara sauce
- 1 tsp. dried basil
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan
- 1/4 cup fresh mozzarella diced
- 1/3 cup ricotta
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Slice the bell peppers in half lengthwise, or from top to bottom, creating two bell pepper boats. Take out the seeds, stems, and any of the thicker vein/membrane parts.
- Place bell pepper halves in a baking dish and put 1-2 tbsp of marinara sauce inside each bell pepper boat.
- Dice the chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces. Saute for 4-5 minutes, seasoning with salt, pepper, and dried basil, until chicken is browned and just cooked through.
- Evenly distribute chicken among the bell pepper bowls.
- Mix all of the cheeses in a small bowl, seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.
- Evenly distribute the cheese mixture on top of the chicken.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the bell peppers have just started to soften and are no longer raw, and the cheese mixture has melted.
