These Low Carb Lasagna Stuffed Peppers are filled with ground beef, ricotta, spinach and pasta sauce then topped with mozzarella cheese!
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Ingredients in this recipe
Here's what you need on hand – full instructions are in the recipe card at the bottom of this page.
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 jar pasta sauce
- 1/2 tsp each salt & pepper
- 2 cups spinach, chopped
- 3 bell peppers any colour
- 3/4 cup ricotta cheese
- 1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, grated
- Fresh parsley or basil, for garnish (optional)
How to make stuffed peppers
- Slice peppers in half and scoop out seeds. Drizzle peppers with olive oil and season with salt & pepper. Bake 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, brown ground beef, then add onion and garlic, sauteeing for 5 minutes.
- Stir in pasta sauce and spinach, then remove from heat.
- Add beef mixture to each pepper, filling up about halfway.
- Spread with a layer of ricotta cheese (about 2 tbsp), then finish with more beef mixture.
- Top with mozzarella cheese and bake 15 minutes until melted. Serve and enjoy!
Ingredient substitutions
- Meat – Extra lean ground beef, or any other lean ground meat may be used.
- Onion – I use yellow onion, but white and red onion are great choices too.
- Minced garlic – For the best flavour, mince fresh cloves of garlic. It's also available pre-minced, usually sold in jars or tubes.
- Pasta sauce – Use your favourite brand of store bought sauce, or feel free to use homemade marinara sauce or meat sauce.
- Spinach – Either fresh baby or regular spinach are fine. Just avoid using frozen chopped spinach. There's a lot of moisture in it, which tends to water down the sauce.
- Bell peppers – Any colour or colours of your choice will work. Green peppers are cheaper than red, yellow or orange so that's something to keep in mind if you want to control costs.
- Ricotta cheese – Full fat, part skim, and non-fat are fine. You can use cottage cheese as a substitute if you'd like to, but you'll want to strain it to remove excess moisture before using it.
Should peppers be cooked before stuffing?
Yes, you will want to bake them before stuffing to soften them up. If you like your peppers extra crunchy, you will still need to pre-bake them before baking with stuffing because you risk them staying on the raw side if you bake them while stuffed.
If you want them to be more tender-crisp, pre-bake them for half the time (5 minutes instead of 10).
How do you keep stuffed peppers from getting soggy?
The trick to preventing soggy peppers lies in the amount of time you bake them before adding the filling. Baking the peppers before stuffing is a technique for partially cooking them, but you don't want to overbake them. 10 minutes in the oven is enough time to ensure they are tender but not overcooked.
You can always bake in 5 minute intervals and test the tenderness as you go before stuffing.
What do you eat with stuffed peppers?
Many stuffed pepper recipes include the use of meat, some vegetables, dairy products, and a grain such as rice or quinoa. Truly, this makes them a complete meal on their own. My low carb version includes meat, dairy, and vegetables, but no grains or starchy carbs.
If you want to serve something on the side, here are some healthy, low carb options to consider:
- Garden salad
- Cloud bread
- Dinner rolls
They're also great with a side of cauliflower rice instead of regular rice, which also keeps the carbs down.
Storing and reheating
This is a fantastic meal prep recipe! Just assemble the peppers the day before you want to serve them, then keep them in the fridge until you are ready to bake.
Note: Everything will be cold, so the meal may need an extra 10 minutes to cook through.
Store any leftovers in the fridge and use them within 5 days. Reheat them in the microwave until they are warm in the center. Or, place them in a baking dish covered with aluminum foil and bake in the oven at 375° F for 30 minutes.
Freezing the peppers
Although the texture won't be exactly the same after reheating, you can definitely freeze stuffed peppers.
After allowing them to cool to room temperature, freeze the fully cooked peppers in an airtight, freezer-safe storage container. Thaw them in the fridge overnight. Then, just uncover and bake in the oven at 375° F. for 30 minutes, or until they are hot all the way through.
More stuffed vegetable recipes
Meal prep tools for this recipe
- Grab some glass meal prep bowls if you plan on turning this recipe into leftovers
- I get all my grass-fed ground beef from Butcher Box, conveniently delivered to me frozen
- Freeze this recipe in glass microwave-safe bowls up to 3 months
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Low Carb Lasagna Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients
- 1 lb extra-lean ground beef
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 jar pasta sauce
- 1/2 tsp each salt & pepper
- 2 cups spinach, chopped
- 3 bell peppers any colour
- 3/4 cup ricotta cheese
- 1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, grated
- Fresh parsley or basil, for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 F. Slice peppers in half and scoop out seeds/white piths. Drizzle peppers with a bit of olive oil and season with salt & pepper. Bake 10 minutes, then remove from oven.
- Meanwhile, heat a large skillet over med-high heat. Add ground beef, breaking up with a spoon.
- Once beef is browned, add onion and garlic, sauteeing for another 5 minutes. Stir in pasta sauce and salt & pepper, bringing to a boil. Stir in spinach, then remove from heat.
- Add beef mixture to each pepper, filling up about halfway. Spread with a layer of ricotta cheese (about 2 tbsp), then finish with more beef mixture. Top with mozzarella cheese.
- Bake peppers for another 12-15 minutes until cheese is melted. Remove from oven, garnish with fresh herbs if desired, then serve and enjoy!
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Nutrition
Cheryl Evola says
Very tasty and easy to make.
Taylor Stinson says
So happy you enjoyed 🙂