There’s something about summer that gets me in the mood to relax and take it slow more than usual. With that feeling comes the need for easy, yet really delicious, dinners. And this recipe for Turkey Quinoa Stuffed Bell Peppers is perfect! Not only do the beautiful colors scream summer to me, but it’s a great way to eat a high protein meal (hello, quinoa!) This is a staple at our house because I usually have all the ingredients, with the exception of the ground turkey and that’s super easy to pick up. To make things easy I freeze leftover tomato sauce and chicken stock from other recipes to use in recipes like this one :)
Ingredients
How to make it
Heat a large sauté pan over medium high heat. Add olive oil. Sauté onions and garlic, stirring occasionally until fragrant (a couple minutes).
Add ground turkey, cumin, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Break up the turkey using a wooden spoon/spatula, allowing it to brown (4-5 minutes).
Once turkey is almost completely browned, add uncooked quinoa, tomato sauce, 1 cup of chicken broth, and chopped cilantro. Stir well to combine then cover. Let simmer over medium heat for 15 minutes.
While the mixture simmers, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and slice the bell peppers in half. Remove the seeds and white membranes inside.
Put bell peppers halves into an oven proof dish. Fill each half with as much turkey-quinoa filling as you can. Pour remaining ¼ cup of chicken broth into the baking dish and cover tightly with foil.
Bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil, sprinkle each pepper with shredded cheese and bake another 10 minutes.
Bon appetit!
- 1 pound Ground Turkey Breast
- 1/2 cup quinoa, uncooked
- 1 1/4 cup Chicken Broth (Low Sodum), separated
- 1/2 cup Tomato Sauce
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 onion, diced
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2-3 large bell peppers, halved and seeded
- 1 cup of shredded cheese
- Heat a large sauté pan over medium high heat. Add olive oil. Sauté onions and garlic, stirring occasionally until fragrant (a couple minutes).
- Add ground turkey, cumin, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Break up the turkey using a wooden spoon/spatula, allowing it to brown (4-5 minutes).
- Once turkey is almost completely browned, add uncooked quinoa, tomato sauce, 1 cup of chicken broth, and chopped cilantro. Stir well to combine then cover. Let simmer over medium heat for 15 minutes.
- While the mixture simmers, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and slice the bell peppers in half. Remove the seeds and white membranes inside.
- Put bell peppers halves into an oven proof dish. Fill each half with as much turkey-quinoa filling as you can. Pour remaining ¼ cup of chicken broth into the baking dish and cover tightly with foil.
- Bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil, sprinkle each bell pepper with shredded cheese and bake another 10 minutes. Serve immediately.
- Makes for excellent leftovers!
- Tip: Filling can be eaten alone without the bell peppers, or wrapped in lettuce cups if you’re in a hurry and don’t have time to bake the peppers.
Where do I find the nutrition info? Carbs? Fat?
Thanks for stopping by, Jolene. I don’t currently have a nutrition tracker on my recipes. I will do some research. For now, I have manually calculated the nutrition information by typing the ingredients into Myfitnesspal.com. For 1 whole bell pepper (2 stuffed halves): 379 calories, 36g carbs, 7g fat, 41 g protein, 1,245 mg sodium.
I LOVE Myfitnesspal! It’s been helping me lose weight! Since I cook everything from scratch (food allergies!) I’ve also been using it to figure out calories, etc. Can’t wait to try this recipe, looks yummy!
I love it too, June! It’s very effective and helps keep you on track for sure :) Food allergies are no fun, but it’s a good way to make food more than going out! Hope you enjoy this recipe!!
Lose it app – you can plug in all the ingredients and come up with the calories per serving.
Do you use regular tomato sauce in a can and spice it up or do you use a spaghetti/marinara sauce?
Hi Chelsie, I use whatever I have on hand! Most of the time I’ll use tomato sauce from a can that I’ve frozen from the last time I made the dish, but spaghetti/marinara also works really well and adds great flavor. Thanks for stopping by!
Absolutely loved this recipe, made this for diner tonight and it was definitely a winner.
I’m so happy to hear this, Prea! It’s one of my go-to’s :)
So good! I added a bit of left over carrots, whole chopped tomatoe,Chile powder and ground chillies! A new favorite!
That sounds amazing, Brenda! Thanks for sharing! And so happy to hear you enjoy this recipe as much as we do :) Thanks for stopping by!
well i added this recipe to my fitness planner and told it to serve 4 as it says so above here.
but the data is different. it says 1 serving is 848 calories? so which is it? what is “one serving”?
Hi Dave, one serving is one half of a bell pepper, stuffed with 1/4 of the quinoa/turkey stuffing. Hope that helps!
Hi!
I came across this scrumptious looking recipe and have one quick question for you….would it make a difference (cooking time) if I used 4 bell peppers and just cut their tops off(as well as hollowed the insides out like you instruct)?
Thanks!
-Ashley
Hello Ashley! Great question :) I’ve done that method and found that cooking it just a few extra minutes (3-5 minutes) does the trick. Thanks so much for stopping by, and hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do!
My husband and I LOOOOOOOVE this recipe! We’ve tweaked it a bit by chopping about 1/2 cup different color bell peppers (red, orange, yellow) and added it to the original recipe when adding the quinoa, tomato sauce and chicken broth. Once its ready we stuff portobello mushrooms and bake it the same way we would bake the bell peppers in the oven. It is so delicious!!!!!
oh my gosh, Ashley! portobello mushrooms sounds amazing! i’ll have to try that ASAP, thanks for sharing!!!
Hi Ashley! I actually just did that tonight and it worked out pretty good! I would show a picture but not sure how to post it. Anyways I was afraid that I wasn’t going to have enough mixture, but it was PERFECT!
Thanks so much for the feedback, Jennifer!! :)
What is the total calories for one whole stuffed bell pepper( two halfs)?
These were a great hit! I added some chopped frozen spinach, defrosted squeezed out the excess water and added it to the meat mixture before I stuffed the peppers. They were delish and have now been added to the monthly rotations! Thanks!
This makes me so happy!!
this looks tasty! Need some clarification though: In your ingredients picture you list chicken stock, but then in the recipe you have chicken broth… which do you actually use? I have both…
Sorry for any confusion! I use chicken stock and broth interchangeably, just depends on what I have. I do find chicken stock to be a little tastier than broth so I would use that if you have both! Thanks for stopping by and trying this recipe!
My hubby is trying to lower triglycerides and this recipie will do well. Any other suggestions on dinners to help? Trying this one tonight, looks good :)
Hi Evelyn! I hope your husband enjoyed this recipe! It’s one of our favorites and definitely healthy! I definitely have some other diet friendly recipes you can check out for him! In the search bar of my site check out the following recipes: Asian Salmon, Cauliflower Fried Rice (just leave out the bacon!), Korean Beef Lettuce Wraps (as long as you use lean ground beef!), Lemon Garlic Chicken, Easy Salmon Kebabs, Gazpacho, Roasted Butternut Squash Soup (again just leave out the bacon!). Hope you get to try at least some of these! Thanks for stopping by :)
Best stuffed bell peppers EVER! Great to freeze individually for grab and go lunch – I do prefer reheating in the oven, they turn out better than in the microwave YUM
Wow, thanks so much for that awesome review, Janet! And also thanks for the tip on freezing – I love that!!!
Hi Nikki,
After making this recipe, I noticed that my quinoa was way undercooked but the quinoa is already in the mixture with the filling so I have no idea how to cook them longer…do you have any ideas?
Thanks!
Lana
Hi Lana, sorry it was undercooked! I would just simmer the mixture longer than 15 minutes until the quinoa is cooked to your liking (maybe try 20 min). Then you can stuff the peppers. Hope that helps!
Would you be able to make the “filling” in advance? I’m planning to make these for dinner tomorrow night and was hopping to be able to prep that part so tomorrow I just have to stuff them and pop them in the oven. Would this work?
Hi Kortnee! It would totally work! In fact, my husband doesn’t like bell peppers, so he often requests just the filling so he can eat it for a couple days. The filling keeps just fine in the fridge until you’re ready to eat it or use it to stuff peppers :) Enjoy!
Hi there- looks yummy!- I’m wondering if maybe I could sub out uncooked polenta for the filling instead of quinoa?
Also- What percentage of lean do you recommend for this recipe? Brand new cook here! :)
Hello Ellen! Thanks for stopping by :) Polenta has quite a different texture than quinoa so I’m not sure it would be the best substitute. If you’re not into quinoa, other options that would be great substitutions include any type of rice, cous cous, or lentils. In terms of fat content on the turkey, any percentage will do (the higher the fat content, it will be more moist). Hope you love this recipe – I have it on the menu for tomorrow!
Hey! Wondering what a good sub would be for tomato sauce? Or can I just leave it out? Pregnant mama and the acidity of tomato anything has been killing me lately! Thanks
Hi Erica! I would say to just add a little chicken stock/broth in place of tomato sauce! Good luck with the pregnancy!
Hi Nikki
I was searching the web for a stuffed pepper receipe and came across these. OMG – they are delicious ! I went through all of you recipes and there are quite of few of them that I can’ wait to try. Thanks for sharing your mothers’ recipes with us.
Oh my, Nancy – you just completely made my day! Thank you for taking the time to comment – I hope you love all the other recipes!
I found this recipe a couple of months ago and have been making it at least once a month. It is absolutely delicious, even my 8 year old who is an extremely picky eater loves it. He has never wanted to try peppers until I made this. So thank you for this delicious recipe!
Ivana, you’ve made my day! Bless you and your sweet little 8 year old!! :)
Coming from a split household (one half likes flavor, no matter the cost, and the other likes a healthy tasty recipe), These are now our go-to stuffed peppers! Tonight While I was making them(again), hubby peeked in and said “Oooo, are those the ones we really like?!”…I do add 1 can of tomato soup and am quite heavy handed on broth, but that’s because I really like the peppers w a sort of sauce. Don’t be afraid of the cumin, cilantro, & garlic- they make for an incredible combo of flavors. I promise it wont disappoint. It might even replace your current recipe (like it did for us)!
Oh my, Leah – this is the best comment ever! Thank you so much for your tips on how to improve on the recipe as well! It makes me smile from ear to ear to hear how much you and your family love these :) All the best!!
I have made this dish several times and I love it! I sometimes add mushrooms, corn, and jalapenos for extra texture and a kick of spice. I have also tried enchilada sauce in place of tomato sauce and I actually prefer the flavor. Thanks for the healthy recipe !!!
Thank you for letting me know, Sheryll! Your additions sound amazing, I’ll need to try those for sure! xx
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Quinoa hardly cooked after 15-20 mins. and the turkey was overcooked. Next time I’ll cook the quinoa separate and put the meat and quinoa together when stuffing the pepper.
Thanks for the feedback, Mindy! Strange it hardly cooked, it always works for me! But yes, cooking the quinoa separately and adding is a fool-proof way to avoid that next time :)
I just made this last night. It was very good and simple. But I agree it needs something extra to doctor it up. I will definitely make this again, but maybe jalapenos, corn-salsa, and cilantro for toppings. I also steamed the bell peppers for 3 minutes in the microwave. However they still came out with some crunch after cooking in the oven. I think steaming for 5 minutes in the microwave would be perfect.
Thanks for commenting, Natasha! Love your suggestions, too!
Great recipe! Very yummy.
Was wondering how I would adjust the tomato sauce and broth if I don’t use quinoa? I dont want it to be runny. Thank you!
Hi Emily! Thanks so much for trying my recipe and your question! If you omit the quinoa, simply leave out 1 cup of chicken broth as well (as detailed in step #3). Otherwise everything else can stay in :) Hope this helps!
This looks tasty but might I suggest that you swap cage-free organic for pastured organic. From what I know, it seems like a kinder option!
Loved this recipe!! I followed it exactly and was so pleased with the flavors. I used three bell peppers as the filling would’ve been too much for just two. Also, new to WW and the whole recipe is a mere 30 points for anyone wondering! So for a half bell pepper serving, only 5 points. So excited about this!
This makes my heart happy! Thanks for the feedback and for the WW info too, Julia!
I just want to let you know that I’ve made this a dozen times and the whole family loves it! It’s one of our favorite meals and it’s healthy! Thanks so much!!
Oh gosh, this made my day Kristeen – thank you!!!
Made this recipe to tonight and your recipes never disappoint this me
Dear Long – thank you so much for your sweet comment, it makes me smile!!