Chicken Stuffed Peppers with Rice and Carrots {Paleo}

The ultimate comfort meal – chicken stuffed peppers with rice and carrots. A five ingredient recipe that is sure to be a family favorite. Gluten-Free, Dairy Free, & Paleo too! 

Have you ever tried or made chicken stuffed peppers before? If you haven’t you must. Chicken stuffed peppers are amazing. Russians love stuffed pepper recipes — it is one of the countries traditional dishes, though those peppers are stuffed with a beef and rice mixtures and cooked in a tomato based sauce.

I wanted to go for something a little bit lighter – think healthy stuffed peppers.

And my family has just so happened to recently visit my dad’s great aunt in Brooklyn, who in her late 70s is still cooking up a storm whenever we come to visit and she treated us to a dish similar to this.

I grew up eating my grandmother’s beef based stuffed peppers but had never tried chicken ones before.

I loved them. Lighter and not so heavy as the beef ones, this was the perfect full on meal. No side dishes necessary. Chicken and peppers are always good together and it’s no different in this recipe.

With chicken stuffed peppers you get a full serving of protein, starch and veggies all in one bite, so these are definitely healthy stuffed bell peppers.

Why these chicken stuffed peppers are the best:

• well balanced meal with lots of protein, veggies, and a bit of carbs
• easy recipe with minimal prep
• only five ingredients needed
• bursting with flavors
• perfect meal prep recipe
• freezer friendly
• easily adaptable to be Whole30, keto and low carb friendly

Now the key with this one is to properly pick out those peppers. You want there to be a lot of room inside for stuffing. So you’ve got to get the right shaped peppers.

I chose to go with a mix of red, yellow and orange peppers as I find these to be the most flavorful. I also went for the organic ones – which I know, cost a fortune. I think I paid $2-3 a pepper. Doesn’t that seem outrageous?

But I must say, these were worth every penny. I don’t know if it’s because these were organic or what, but these were hands down the most flavorful peppers I’ve ever had. In my entire life.

Best peppers ever. I could have made a full meal out of the roasted peppers alone (if it wasn’t going to set my back $20).

If you buy the non-organic colorful peppers and also are blown away by the taste, let me know in the comments below. I need to know if the organic label on these has anything to do with the taste.

I mean I’m normally not even a huge fan of peppers. As veggies they are fine, but they don’t stand a chance normally, in my mind, next to a fresh summer heirloom tomato for example. These peppers though were the bomb. So I’ll be frequently adding chicken stuffed peppers into my cooking rotation, that’s for sure.

How to Make My Chicken Stuffed Peppers:

Cut the tops off the peppers and remove the seeds inside as well as the pepper handle. Is that what it’s called? Shred the carrots on a box grater or using your food processor grating blade.

For the filling lightly cook some rice (just for 4-5 minutes), drain the remaining water, and mix with the ground chicken, shredded carrots, salt, pepper and oregano. Some shredded and drained zucchini would work magically here too — I’ll be adding that in next time!

Stuff the peppers with the filling, add the little pepper hats on top – make sure not to throw those away!

Place into a deep casserole dish. For the sauce instead of a tomato sauce mix a bit of mayo with Sriracha and water and add it into the casserole.

Pop into the oven to bake and that’s it. Serve with spoonfuls of sauce and green onions + cilantro to garnish. These chicken stuffed peppers are a great option to make for a crowd and are the perfect hearty and healthy comfort meal. Leftovers heat up perfectly and these stuffed bell peppers with rice freeze well too!

As you cut into these peppers with every bite you get those delicious roasted softened peppers with a hearty chicken, rice and carrot filling. This is hands down my new favorite bakes stuffed peppers recipe and that was I’ll be making this dish from now on.

Recipe Tips:

• If possible be sure to use dark meat ground chicken in this recipe. The dark meat ground meat is higher in fat and less lean, making for more flavorful stuffed sweet peppers
• Use a mix of red, orange and yellow peppers, preferably the organic ones.
• Make sure to pick large and wide peppers that will be easy to stuff for this recipe.
• To reduce cooking time instead of stuffing them from the top down, cut the peppers in half and stuff them that way.
• For a paleo, keto, Whole30, low carb recipe use cauliflower rice, Paleo Sriracha and Paleo Mayonnaise

Are Stuffed Peppers Healthy?

• Absolutely, especially this recipe! These peppers are baked, with nothing fried, and are a perfect mix of veggies, protein and carbs.

How Long to Bake Stuffed Peppers?

• Since the ground chicken in this recipe is not precooked you need to cook the peppers for 45-50 minutes at 425 degrees F. I also like to broil the peppers for 5-10 minutes to get some nice caramelization on the peppers themselves, but this step is optional.
• As always the best way to make sure the chicken is cooked through is by testing the the temperature has reached 165 degrees F on a food thermometer (for $10.99 this is an excellent kitchen addition).

Can Stuffed Peppers be Frozen?

• Yes! You can easily freeze the cooked peppers individually and reheat in the oven when ready to eat.

How to Make Stuffed Peppers Without Rice?

• To make keto stuffed peppers, or low carb stuffed peppers simply replace the rice with cauliflower rice. No cooking required for the cauliflower rice! Just mix the cauliflower rice in with the rest of the filling ingredients and cook according to recipe instructions.
• Or you can simply use more ground chicken, more carrots and add in some shredded zucchini too without the additional cauliflower rice.

For other Russian inspired recipes be sure to check out my Vinegret – potato and beet salad, Russian Beet salad with walnuts and garlic, and Olivier Salad – the classic Russian mixed salad.

If you would like to serve these sweet stuffed peppers with a salad, here are some ideas:

• Avocado Cucumber Salad
• Avocado Chickpea Salad

5 from 1 vote

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Chicken Stuffed Peppers with Rice {GF, DF}

Prep Time

10 mins

Cook Time

1 hr

Total Time

1 hr 10 mins

 

The ultimate comfort meal - chicken stuffed peppers with rice and carrots. A five ingredient recipe that is sure to be a family favorite. Gluten-Free Dairy Free & Paleo too!

Course: Dinner

Cuisine: Russian

Servings: 5

Calories: 285 kcal

Author: Vicky Berman

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground chicken
• 2 carrots finely grated
• 1/2 cup uncooked jasmine rice
• salt/pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 5 yellow and orange peppers
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise optional
• 2 teaspoons Sriracha optional
• For garnish: chopped green onions and cilantro optional

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Add rice to pot with 1 cup water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 4-5 minutes. Drain remaining water.
3. Mix chicken with carrots, oregano, salt and pepper.
4. Add rice.
5. Stuff peppers with chicken and rice mix. Add tops to the peppers.
6. Place peppers in deep casserole dish.
7. Mix 2 cups water with 2 tablespoons mayonnaise and 2 teaspoons sriracha (optional).
8. Add to casserole dish (or just add the water).

9. Bake at 425 for 45-50 minutes, then broil on high for 10 mins (optional) 

10. Serve with sauce, garnished with green onions and cilantro.

Nutrition Facts

Chicken Stuffed Peppers with Rice {GF, DF}

Amount Per Serving

Calories 285 Calories from Fat 108

% Daily Value*

Fat 12g18%

Saturated Fat 2g13%

Cholesterol 80mg27%

Sodium 155mg7%

Potassium 836mg24%

Carbohydrates 25g8%

Fiber 3g13%

Sugar 6g7%

Protein 18g36%

Vitamin A 7820IU156%

Vitamin C 154.6mg187%

Calcium 43mg4%

Iron 1.8mg10%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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