Stuffed Pepper Casserole – Healthy Easy Meal
This healthy stuffed pepper casserole with cheddar is a great go-to meal for nights when you don’t really feel like cooking. It’s easy to make, hearty, and tastes great!
This might not be the prettiest meal in the world, but it is one of my absolute go-to meals. It’s a perfect meal: easy, nutritious, and satisfying.
You can prepare the casserole in about 15 minutes, pop it in the oven, and let it bake. It needs to bake for at least an hour and a half – which just so happens to be the time where I’m starting to go crazy, the kids are getting ornery, and I’m staring at the clock waiting for my husband to get home (aka the witching hour!).
That might sound like a long baking time but the beauty of this is that you can do anything you want while it bakes. Make a side salad. Sit down, relax! Catch up on emails. Play with your kids. Do some yard work. Whatever you want. Dinner will be ready when you are.
The only actual cooking in this dish aside from baking it (which is completely hands-off), is browning the meat and cooking the onion, which takes less than 10 minutes. Once that is done, you just mix the rest of the ingredients together, tightly wrap the casserole with foil and bake.
You probably should stick around the house, you know, since the oven is on and all, but other than that you can do whatever your heart desires. And make sure to stir this every so often!
Enjoy!
Things to note about this Stuffed Pepper Casserole recipe:
- Make sure to buy long-grain rice. The short grain will take longer to cook. My neighbor makes a version of this with orzo so you could try that if you wanted!
- Feel free to substitute ground beef if you want a more traditional stuffed pepper flavor in this stuffed pepper casserole. I love ground turkey and I go for the extra lean stuff for this recipe because all the juice from the tomatoes makes it super juicy and flavorful.
- As with many of my recipes, I love to use extra sharp cheddar cheese on this stuffed pepper casserole. The bold flavor allows you to use less cheese leading to a lower calorie meal. Mozzarella cheese is fine, too – it has a milder flavor but is still delicious. Go ahead and substitute whatever cheese you like, or happen to have on hand.
Looking for bell pepper recipes? Try:
Healthy Stuffed Pepper Casserole with Cheddar
This Healthy Stuffed Pepper Casserole with Cheddar is a great go-to meal for nights when you don’t really feel like cooking. It’s easy to make, hearty, and tastes great!
Ingredients
- 20 ounces extra lean ground turkey breast
- 1/2 cup chopped yellow onion
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 2 large bell peppers, chopped
- 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
- 1/2 cup long-grain brown rice
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 3/4 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese or mozzarella
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- In a large high-sided skillet, add ground turkey and onions and season with salt and pepper. (I use a non-stick skillet. If you don’t, you might want to add a teaspoon or two of olive oil.) Cook, breaking up ground turkey, until turkey is cooked through and browned.
- Add to a 9×13 casserole dish and add all other ingredients except cheese. Stir to combine. Cover tightly with foil. Bake for 75 minutes to 90 minutes or until rice is tender. Remove foil, add cheese and bake for about 5 minutes longer or until cheese is melted and bubbling.
Notes
- It is important to use long grain rice in this recipe. If you only have short grain, plan for an increased baking time to make sure the rice is tender. Using white rice will decrease cooking time.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 6 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 318Total Fat: 14gSaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 99mgSodium: 397mgCarbohydrates: 11gFiber: 2gSugar: 3gProtein: 39g
RachelCooks.com sometimes provides nutritional information, but these figures should be considered estimates, as they are not calculated by a registered dietician. Please consult a medical professional for any specific nutrition, diet, or allergy advice.
Husband’s take: He never complains when I serve this! He loves that it is healthy and still really hearty and filling.
Changes I would make: None are necessary. Sometimes I switch it up a little based on what I have in the house. I love it with mushrooms.
Difficulty: Easy!
**Disclosure: I am thrilled to be a dairy ambassador for Milk Means More. I have been compensated by Milk Means More for my time to develop this recipe and write this post. All opinions are as always, my own. Find out more about why Milk Means More on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Pinterest.
57 Comments on “Stuffed Pepper Casserole – Healthy Easy Meal”
This was super easy to put together, very filling and delicious! It’s great if you love stuffed peppers, but want to be lazy about it, which is exactly what I wanted to do. I used mozzarella on this because that’s what I had on hand, so I haven’t tried it with the sharp cheddar yet. It was excellent with the mozzarella. Thank you so much for this! And if anyone is a WW like myself, the points worked out to be 4 (Blue), 5 (Green), 2 (Purple). That is just an estimate, you will want to calculate it for yourself using the products and brands you choose.
So glad you liked this recipe! It is definitely a great no-fuss recipe. And thanks for sharing the helpful WW info!
My husband and I really enjoyed this casserole! Although cook time is kind of long (we had a good workout in the meantime!), prep is quick and simple. I followed the recipe; however, I only had a pound of ground turkey, I added 1 cup of chopped onions, and one 14 oz. can each of fire roasted tomatoes and diced tomatoes. This dish is flavorful, plentiful, and will most certainly be served again soon in our home. We loved it. Thank you!
So glad you liked it! You’re right about the cook time, it’s long…but it’s pretty hands-off, freeing you up to do other things (like a great workout!). Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment!
Made a version of this tonight and my family LOVED it, we all had seconds. I didn’t have turkey, so I used lean ground beef, as well as an extra pepper and used white rice instead of brown. It is such an easy and yummy recipe to throw together with all pantry staples…. thank you!!
So glad you liked it! Thanks for taking the time to come back and leave a comment!
Hi, I’m wondering if I could make this with cauliflower rice and if so, how long would you suggest I bake it for? Im thinking about half the time. It looks like a great recipe but I’m on a low carb diet.
Thanks!
I think that would be delicious! The cauliflower rice won’t absorb liquid like normal rice does. I think what I would do is just saute it all in an oven-safe skillet and then just pop it in the oven to melt the cheese. So do steps 1 & 2, add the peppers and saute until they are slightly softened, and then add the cauliflower rice, tomatoes (you might be able to use a smaller can – 15oz), oregano, garlic powder and keep cooking until the peppers are to the tenderness you like. Then I’d sprinkle it with cheese and pop it in the oven until the cheese melts.
I hope that helps! Let me know if you give it a try!
Can long grain brown rice be used?
Disregard that question
Did you try it?
I made this on Sunday night and I’ve eaten it every day this week for dinner. I live alone and I’m always seeking out recipes that will keep for 4-5 days. This was a complete success! It tastes so good reheated and is filling but still healthy. Also, I love stuffed peppers and this casserole is so much easier and more practical to make. Thanks for sharing, I’ll definitely be making this again!
I’m so happy to hear you liked this recipe! Thank you for taking the time to come back and leave a comment, it means a lot to me!
Hi! I just made this and it’s currently in the oven! I added sautéd kale and hemp seeds into it for extra nutrition. Excited to try! Here’s my question though. Does the recipe taste better by doing it this way as opppsed to just sautéing all the ingredients in a pan and making rice on the side? I could cook 1/2 cup of rice in my rice cooker in less than 20 minutes, so I’m just wondering if waiting 1.5 hours is worth it for a better taste or if it changes it that much? Thanks!
You could definitely do that! It’s a hands off kind of thing for me, which I like…but I imagine the taste would be similar if you stirred cooked rice into the sauteed ingredients. :) Let me know if you try it!
My fiancé and I are in full pre-wedding diet mode, and we LOVE this casserole! Do you happen to know the nutrition stats by chance? Even just calorie count per serving would be super helpful for tracking purposes. Thanks!
Hi Jenny – congrats on the engagement! How exciting! I’m slowly adding nutrition information to all my recipes. It’s always a bit of an estimate, but I added it to the recipe card. I hope that helps! Good luck and congrats again!
Has anyone doubled this recipe? I want to double it to make more but not sure how that will affect cooking times. Any advice or suggestions would be great.
If you use a large enough pan (so that it’s not too deep), it should probably cook in a similar amount of time, maybe slightly longer. I haven’t tested it though, so let me know how it turns out if you try it!
How would you make it with the orzo?
Would you cook them first or no just dump in then bake?
I haven’t tested it with orzo – it would significantly change this recipe since the rice takes a long time to cook, and it soaks up a lot of the liquid. If you experiment with it, let me know how it turns out!
Easy and good. Thank you for a new go to
So happy to hear you liked this! Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment!
Can leftovers be frozen?
I think this would freeze really well! Let us know if you try it!
I will !! Thanks
Do you think you could use instant brown rice and just lessen the cook time?
It could work! I would give the peppers a quick saute with the meat, otherwise they might not cook through in the time the rice takes to cook. I haven’t tried it that way so I make no promises, but I’d love to hear back from you if you try it!
Just wondering, do you think the turkey could be swapped out for chicken? My husband and I are more into chicken than turkey. We aren’t wondering which one would be healthier, but if it would still taste good.
It would taste great! That would absolutely work. :) Enjoy!
This was very good I had to use a little more salt and pepper. I will definitely make it again.
So glad you liked it! Thank you for coming back to leave your feedback, I really appreciate it!
Did you make this with crushed tomatoes or diced tomatoes? Looks like diced in the picture but says crushed in the recipe.
Crushed is best! I might have used petite diced for the photos, I mix it up sometimes depending on what I have in my pantry (you caught me!). Crushed will yield the best result though, if you have them. You might be seeing a few red bell peppers too – I think I used a mix of three different colors.
I made this for dinner tonight and it was fabulous! Mine took longer than the 90 minutes so I was glad I started early. It was totally worth the wait! Next time I’ll prep it the day before and let the rice soften to reduce the cooking time. I served it with garlic roasted cauliflower steaks and it was a healthy, delicious meal. Thanks!!
So glad you liked this recipe! Smart to soak it overnight…and those cauliflower steaks sound divine!
Just made this dish tonight and it was absolutely delicious! I used the motz cheese and loved it! Thanks !:)
So happy to hear you liked it! Thank you for taking the time to come back and leave a comment, means a lot to me!
This sounds so yummy I cannot wait to make. Where can I find the nutrition info? We are watching calories, fat, etc so I like having that information for whatever I am making lately. Thank you
Hi, I am slowly adding nutritional information to my recipes but this one doesn’t have it yet. There are lots of great calculators online though, I like My Fitness Pal. :)
Question about the rice, how does it soften up in the oven without any water? Just worried it might come out crunchy. Thanks!
It cooks in the juice of the tomatoes and steam (cook it covered). It does take time though!
You could add the Tomatoes, Rice, Peppers to the pot you browned your meat in…cook for a few minutes o stove..then build your Casserole. Wouldn’t take so much basking time!
Smart!
Love how you keps all the flavor but took all the work out of a favorite dish!
This looks good enough to eat off of all week…but I bet it wouldn’t last very long in my house! YUM!
another delicious and healthy recipe from your blog…thank you xoxo
Looks amazing Rachel!! My kids would love this!!!
Healthy and easy – I am IN! All busy moms need recipes like this! Can’t wait to make it!
Sounds delish – I love all the healthy ingredients and I just got a bunch of peppers at the farmers market that would be perfect to use in this :)
sounds good–I guess I could omit the peppers…allergic
I love your idea of using mushrooms in this, too! YUM!
We’re simpatico today with our recipe sharing. Your version looks supremely easy! I think Amy might be onto something by using leftover turkey. And yes, always sharp cheese!
Sure looks good to me! This might even work using leftover turkey from Thanksgiving. Either way, I love it!
I need to have some make-ahead meals for later this week. And I have everything in the house already to make this! What luck!
What a great healthy and filling dinner option for the whole fan! Noms:)
I love low maintenance dishes like these! Especially when they’re loaded with all that delicious looking cheese. :) And that’s a great tip on the long-grain rice! I never thought about that.