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These Keto Stuffed Peppers are the perfect family friendly, nutritious dinner! Full of lasagna flavor without the pasta. These lasagna stuffed peppers are rich, cheesy, and decadent without the guilt!
I’m probably more than a little confusing to you when I go from sharing a recipe for baked ziti (you know, the carb loaded ooey gooey cheesy pasta?) to sharing a recipe for low carb stuffed peppers, but here I am.
I’m a big believer in balance and that means that sometimes I eat things like biscuits and gravy (allllll the carbs) and other times I replace pasta with vegetables.
I’m a big fan of low carb, actually. I’ve lost a lot of weight eating this way and doing a few weeks of low carb here and there helps me maintain that weight loss.
Luckily for me, a new cookbook from my friend Carolyn, who blogs at All Day I Dream About Food, happened to show up at my door step the day I had decided it was time to up the veggies and back away from the carbs for a bit.
Her book, The Everyday Ketogenic Kitchen, is absolutely FULL of low carb and keto recipes. Like, full of them. More than 150 of them.
These recipes are inspired, y’all. Not only is the book full of recipes, but there is a whole section on keto ingredients. It’s just awesome.
Since I needed a dinner recipe the other night, I flipped through her book and settled on the lasagna stuffed peppers.
These keto stuffed peppers are filled with beef and three types of cheese, giving them all of that ooey gooey lasagna goodness you crave!
What We Love About Keto Stuffed Peppers:
These peppers were really easy to make. Just a simple mixture of ground beef, spinach, and cheese stuffed inside some bell peppers. You don’t even have to cook the peppers before stuffing. They come out nice and tender from the oven. Hello, low carb lasagna. Let’s be friends.
Carolyn’s recipe called for frozen spinach, but I forgot to grab some at the store so I used a bag of baby spinach and it worked great! If you watch my video, you’ll see how it looks like way too much spinach when I load it all in the pan, but it cooks down into tiny little bites that even my kiddos didn’t mind. 😉 I love how that happens.
Give this recipe a try and be sure to snag a copy of Carolyn’s book. It’s a keeper if you’re on a keto or low carb diet! I think you’ll love the book!
Ingredient Notes:
Ground Beef – You can use whatever blend of ground beef you prefer. If it’s a fattier blend you’ll need to drain the grease. Lean beef works just as well.
Bell Peppers – Any color of bell pepper will work for making low carb stuffed peppers. Red and yellow peppers are my favorite.
Cheese – These peppers are stuffed with lots of Parmesan, mozzarella, and ricotta cheese! The cheese makes these really satisfying.
Tomato Paste – This is an easy way to add big, bold tomato flavor.
Spinach – I’m using baby spinach in this recipe. It’ll seem like a lot when you add it to the skillet, but it’ll quickly wilt and cook down to a much smaller amount.
What Readers are Saying!
“I love this easy and delicious recipe.” – Cecilia
How to Make Keto Stuffed Peppers:
Ground Beef: Brown the beef in a skillet, crumbling as it cooks. Drain the fat and stir in the minced garlic and seasonings. Dump on the spinach – it’ll seem like a lot but it cooks down nicely. Add the riccota and Parmesan cheese to the meat mixture and give it a good stir.
Prep the Peppers: Slice the peppers in half lengthwise and remove the seeds and ribs.
HOW TO SLICE PEPPERS FOR STUFFING:
There are a couple of ways to cut bell peppers for stuffing. I like to cut them in half because they are easier to fill, they bake faster, they broil better, and you’ll fit more meat and cheese filling into them!
You just slice them in half length-wise and then remove the seeds and ribs. The other method for stuffing peppers is to do them whole by cutting the top off, removing the seeds and hollowing out the center while keeping the pepper intact.
That might work for this recipe but I’ve never tried it and the cook/broil times would probably be a little different.
Fill: Place each sliced pepper half into a baking dish and start stuffing them with the meat, spinach, and cheese mixture. Top that off with a mixture of tomato paste, water, garlic powder, and salt and then sprinkle on some mozzarella.
Bake & Broil: These low carb stuffed peppers will take about 30 minutes to bake at which point you’re going to want to switch the oven over to broil and finish the peppers off under the high heat for about 1-3 minutes or until the cheese has begun to lightly brown.
Low Carb Serving Suggestions:
You can serve these keto stuffed peppers alongside all kinds of great low carb side dishes.
We like to enjoy lasagna with garlic bread but we’re going low carb so in this case I’m serving it alongside either these garlic bread chaffles or cauliflower breadsticks! Either one will go well with these lasagna stuffed peppers.
FAQs:
I haven’t tried but I think these would be okay to freeze. You’d probably want to freeze them first on a baking dish for an hour or two before transferring to a freezer safe bag or container.
A stuffed half pepper is equal to one serving size.
A lot of stuffed pepper recipes use rice and other carb heavy foods as filling, but not this recipe! It is low carb and still full of flavor from all the meat, cheese, and spinach.
A lot of stuffed bell pepper recipes will have you boil the peppers first to soften them up. I don’t do this because I like them to still be a little crisp but you can boil them first to soften if you prefer!
MORE EASY LOW CARB RECIPES!
- Low Carb Fried Zucchini
- Low Carb Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf
- Keto Breakfast Casserole
- Air Fryer Pepperoni Chips
- Keto Cheeseburger Casserole
Lasagna Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 1/4 teaspoons salt divided
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 6 ounces fresh baby spinach
- 1 cup whole-milk ricotta cheese
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
- 4 large bell peppers any color
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1/3 cup water
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the ground beef and crumble as it cooks. Drain the grease when meat is cooked through.
- Add the garlic, red pepper flakes, 3/4 teaspoon of salt, and pepper to the skillet and cook for 1 more minute.
- Add the baby spinach to the skillet and let cook until wilted, stirring often, about 5 minutes.
- Add the ricotta and parmesan to the cooked beef and stir well to combine.
- Cut each bell pepper in half length-wise and remove the seeds and ribs.
- Place the peppers in a 9×13 baking dish and fill each half with the beef mixture.
- Stir together the tomato paste, water, garlic powder, and remaining 1/2 teaspoon of salt in a small bowl. Spoon evenly over the peppers.
- Top each pepper wiht mozzarella.
- Bake for 30 minutes and then turn the oven to broil. Keep a close eye on the peppers and broil for 1-3 minutes or until cheese has lightly browned.
- Remove from the oven and sprinkle with parsley (or basil, if you prefer).
Tips & Notes:
Nutrition Information:
This recipe was originally published in October 2017. It was updated with new photos in February 2024. Original photo below:
Derek says
These are soo yummy! Can’t wait to make it again.
Karly Campbell says
I’m so glad you liked them! Thanks for the review, Derek!
Cecilia says
I love this easy and delicious recipe.
Karly says
Thanks, Cecilia!
Sharyn says
I just started the Optavia 5:1 plan. I’m wondering if I tweaked this recipe if it could be used as a Lean & Green meal. Anyone ever try who’s familiar with Lean & Green
Kaitlin says
One half pepper doesn’t seem like very much. What else do you serve it with?
Thanks
Karly says
The filling is pretty hearty. We also serve with salad or steamed veggies. You can always eat the other half of the pepper if you like. 🙂
Kathleen says
Yum! Quite easy, and will absolutely make again, but we would like a little more seasoning. Would it significantly change the stats to use the Italian herb seasoned tomato paste, or to add dry Italian seasoning? We really enjoyed it but it doesn’t quite hit the lasagna craving without the herbs.
Karly says
It shouldn’t change the macros much to add dried herbs. Maybe a couple carbs for the entire recipe. 🙂
Kathleen says
Thank you!
Nick says
If I were to add an onion to this, which one would be best? And when should it be added after the drain of the beef?
Karly says
I normally cook with sweet onions, but whatever you like should work fine. I would add it once the beef is starting to brown, before draining, so that it has a bit of time to soften.
Jen says
Is the serving size one half of a pepper?
Karly says
Yes, that’s correct.
Vasi says
Hi! I am from Romania, and this kind of food is very common at us, but what you bringnew to it, is the cheese that you put in the meat mixture. I like this and I will try it too.
Tammy says
Can you freeze them
Karly says
I think these would freeze fine, though I haven’t tried.
Bryn says
So much yum! My family will love these, however, I have one child whose belly cannot handle peppers. What do you think this filling would be like in a tomato?
Karly says
I’ve never made stuffed tomatoes before, but flavor-wise, I think it’d be great!