These Easy Rice & Turkey Stuffed Bell Peppers make a fantastic appetizer, perfect for any occasion. This is a fuss free minimalist recipe involving a few simple steps. Quick and simple, this recipe will feed a crowd!
Fuss free stuffed peppers recipe
I love recipes that require minimal effort and produce amazing results! These easy turkey stuffed bell peppers involve very few steps and hardly any chopping. Apart from cutting the peppers in half the only other time you will have to use a knife is to chop the parsley.
The other ingredients include cooked rice, a bit of grated cheese and raw ground turkey.
You don’t have to prep the turkey
This easy turkey stuffed peppers recipe does NOT require cooking the turkey meat before making the filling. There are several reasons for that.
- It means shorter preparation time.
- The juices from the meat stay inside the peppers making them fabulously moist
- The filling will keep its shape quite well (won’t be crumbly)
- The filling will taste absolutely delicious with all the ingredients cooking together!
Simply combine the raw turkey with the rest of the filling ingredients and stuff the peppers.
How to make easy turkey stuffed bell peppers with rice
Start by heating up the oven to 180 C. Then cook the rice according to packet instructions. Once cooked, remove the lid and leave to cool completely.
Whilst the rice is cooking roast the pepper halves.
Once the rice has cooled combine it with the rest of the filling ingredients, including the raw turkey and three quarters of the cheese.
Then simply fill the peppers with the mixture, sprinkle with the remaining cheese and drizzle with a little oil. Bake for 40 minutes. Serve hot!
Substitutions
This turkey stuffed peppers recipe is super adaptable. You can use it as a basis for creating your own stuffed peppers recipe.
Use different meats
You can substitute turkey for ground chicken, pork or beef, just try to use meat with similar fat content (approx. 7%).
Use different herbs and spices
You can use cilantro (coriander) instead of the parsley. If you would like to spice this recipe up a bit more you can add pumpkin spice or Moroccan flavours, or even a bit of curry spice. Smoked paprika, in addition to the garlic and onion granules, would work well too.
What peppers to use
I’ve used a mixture of peppers (to add more colour to my recipe) but you can use just one colour if you prefer. Just ensure the peppers are roughly similar size.
Use rice of your choice
You can swap white rice for either brown or red rice, though bear in mind the filling mixture may not be as sticky. (White rice is naturally quite sticky). Remember also that non-white rice varieties need to cook longer.
Consistency and texture
As I mentioned, the filling in these stuffed peppers is not as crumbly as in peppers where the meat has been precooked. (See the photo at the top with one of the peppers cut in half). Although the filling keeps its shape well it is still moist and soft, with an almost melt-in-your-mouth consistency.
Because the peppers are briefly pre-roasted (to give them enough time to release lots of flavour), they will be tender, though not mushy.
More turkey recipes that are perfect for entertaining
Easy Turkey Stuffed Eggplant Recipe
Turkey Meatballs with Red Rice
- 6 medium sized mixed bell peppers
- 450 g lean ground turkey, approx. 7% fat content
- 1/2 cup uncooked rice
- 100 g mature cheddar or other strong cheese, coarsely grated
- 4-5 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
- 1/3 tsp onion granules
- 1/4 tsp garlic granules
- 1/2 tsp fine sea salt, plus a bit more for seasoning the peppers, and plenty of pepper
- olive oil for drizzling
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Preheat the oven to 350 F/ 180 C/ gas mark 4. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
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Cook the rice according to packet instructions. Remove the lid and set aside to cool, stirring occasionally.
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Whilst the rice is boiling prepare the peppers. Cut each pepper in half from the top, remove the seeds and place on the baking sheet open end up. Season lightly and drizzle with a little oil. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and pour the juices from the peppers into the rice. Leave the oven on.
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To make the filling combine the rice (it will have cooled by now) with the meat, onion and garlic granules, seasoning, parsley and 3 quarters of the cheese. Stir thoroughly and fill the pepper halves with the mixture pressing in well. Sprinkle each pepper with the remaining cheese, drizzle over a little oil and bake for 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve immediately.
Pin Easy Rice & Turkey Stuffed Bell Peppers!
MORE EASY APPETIZERS/SNACKS
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RECIPE LINK PARTIES
I am bringing this Easy Rice & Turkey Stuffed Bell Peppers Appetizer to #CookBlogShare, hosted this week by Eb@Easy Peasy Foodie. Also sharing with Fiesta Friday, co-hosted this week by Alex @ Turks Who Eat and Zeba @ Food For The Soul.
Amazing recipe. Can’t wait to prepare.
Thank you! Let me know how it turns out!
Yum! These look delicious. I love stuffed peppers, but I’ve never tried them with turkey. I bet this would be a great way of using up leftover turkey after Christmas too! Thanks for sharing them with #CookBlogShare. Eb x
Thank you! If you wanted to use leftover turkey in this recipe you’d have to make it a bit differently, but it would work too.
Super-yummy 😍
Ciao
Sid
Thank you!
Nice! Looks tasty! 🙂
Thank you! It was quite tasty:)