My Grain Free Italian Stuffed Peppers take a little extra time to prepare but are a big batch meal, making them a great Sunday dinner for a few, with leftovers for lunches or dinner during the week ahead.
They can also be prepared in advance and baked off at dinner time, making them perfect for a larger crowd too; just add a simple green salad for a complete meal sure to impress and satisfy. My Grain Free Italian Stuffed Peppers are flavorful and filling, boasting a high veggie to beef ratio. They are packed with just about every vegetable you can think of – bell pepper, onion, carrot, celery, mushroom, spinach, tomato, and hearts of palm – and are a great way to eat less meat, as they stretch a pound of ground beef for a crowd or across multiple meals. Allowing the onions, carrots, celery, mushrooms to caramelize adds richness and depth, so even your meat lovers won’t object to or even notice all the veggies crowding out the ground beef. And you can easily take these Grain Free Italian Stuffed Peppers all the way vegetarian by omitting the ground beef and doubling the mushrooms. The secret to my Grain Free Italian Stuffed Peppers is the hearts of palm that stands in for the traditional rice – hearts of palm provides the perfect texture and helps bulk up the veggie and beef filling while adding great nutrition as a grain free, low-carb, low-calorie alternative to rice, with the added benefit of extra protein, fiber, and potassium.
TIPS:
(1) Palmini makes riced hearts of palm, which are ideal here – however, I’ve yet to be able to find them in my local stores. Palmini and Whole Foods both make hearts of palm linguine, which I use instead of the riced hearts of palm. After thoroughly rinsing in cold water, I pile the linguine on a cutting board and chop into rice-size pieces, it only takes a minute and works just as well.
(2) I use no salt-added canned tomato products, if yours contain salt, cut back on the salt called for in the recipe.
(3) I use my largest baker for this recipe, a standard 9 x 13 baking dish isn’t quite large enough – the one I use for this is 11.5 x 13.
Grain Free Italian Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients
2 tablespoons avocado oil
1 large onion, diced small (about 2 cups)
2 medium carrots, shredded on the large side of a box grater (about 1 cup packed)
3 celery ribs, halved length-wise, diced small (about 1 cup)
16 oz cremini mushrooms, chopped small
4 garlic cloves, minced
16 oz lean ground beef (93% lean)
2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 tablespoons tomato paste
3 teaspoons Italian seasoning
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
¾ cup dry white wine (or chicken/vegetable broth)
8 oz tomato sauce
14 oz can diced tomatoes, juices drained
5 oz fresh baby spinach, coarsely chopped
½ cup grated parmesan
2 – 12oz packages of riced hearts of palm or hearts of palm linguine (chopped into rice size pieces, see Tip), thoroughly rinsed in cold water, drained, and excess water gently squeezed out
5 bell peppers (orange, yellow, red, or a combination), halved length-wise, inner ribs and seeds removed
12 oz shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
How to make Grain Free Italian Stuffed Peppers
In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons avocado oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until starting to soften, about 5 minutes. Add carrot and celery and cook, continuing to stir occasionally, until vegetables are all softened, volume has reduced by about half, and vegetables are starting to take on color, about 10 minutes. Add mushrooms, stir well to combine and cook, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms have released all of their water and start to brown and caramelize with the other vegetables, about 10 more minutes. Add garlic, and cook, stirring constantly, until very fragrant, about 1 minute.
Add ground beef, salt, and ground black pepper to the vegetable mixture and cook, stirring frequently and breaking up beef with the back of your spoon as you stir, until cooked through and browned, about 8-10 minutes. Add tomato paste and mix in well, so ground beef and veggies are all coated and cook for 2 minutes. Add Italian seasoning and crushed red pepper flakes, stirring for 1 minute.
Add white wine and stir until liquid is all absorbed and cooked off. Add tomato sauce and diced tomatoes, bring to a quick boil and reduce to a simmer, simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in chopped spinach, until leaves are wilted and mixed through. Remove from heat and stir in parmesan cheese and hearts of palm (riced or chopped linguine).
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Allow beef and vegetable mixture to cool at least 15 minutes.
Stir 8 ounces (about 2 cups) shredded mozzarella cheese into the cooled beef and vegetable filing. With a large spoon, generously fill the pepper halves with the beef and vegetable mixture, and arrange in an over-sized baking dish. (If preparing in advance, Italian Stuffed Peppers can be made up to this point and refrigerated until you are read to bake; remove from refrigerator at least 30 minutes before baking).
Add ¼ cup of water to the bottom of the baking dish. Cover baking dish tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven, remove foil, and top peppers with remaining 4 ounces (1 cup) shredded mozzarella cheese. Return to oven, uncovered, and bake and additional 10-15 minutes until the cheese is melted and starting to brown. Serve with a simple green salad.
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