Ground Chicken Stuffed Peppers

These Ground Chicken Stuffed Peppers are a healthy and flavorful dinner option, combining tender bell peppers with a savory filling of ground chicken and rice.

A 40-minute recipe to make some healthy food for dinner? Ask me how! Easy, I’ll tell you, if you have a few kitchen staples and some fresh peppers.

Perfect for a weeknight meal, they offer a balanced mix of protein and veggies that the whole family will enjoy.

Why You’ll Love This Peppers Recipe

• Childhood memory. I know classic stuffed peppers with beef are something many granmas and moms use to make a lot!
• Healthy and filling family dinner.
• Easy to customize and make changes (to adapt to your diet or preferences!).
• Delicious meal. Soft yet still a bit crunchy peppers, and comforting filling with chicken and rice. Simple good food!

Ingredients Notes

Stuffed pepper recipes always have two main components: a bell pepper and a filling.

The filling can be customized based on your preference, but often has some meat, veggie, and rice (or similar starch). Often cheese is added inside or on top to make a gooey texture or cheesy crust.

You’ll need:

• Large bell peppers (any color). We are going to use pepper halves to fill it with rice and chicken.

Bell peppers are all the same, the colors change depending on the ripeness. So green bell peppers are the youngest, orange and yellow bell peppers are more ripe, and red bell peppers are the most ripe and also have the most nutrients and vitamins.

I’d say the color doesn’t really affect the taste, they are all delicious sweet bell peppers. Only green peppers may be slightly more bitter.

I use 4 bell peppers cut in halves and serve two halves per portion. For kids, you may use only one half if they are picky eaters.

When shopping for peppers, try to find ones with a good, even shape that can stand (if you stuff the whole) or lay down (if cutting in half lengthwise) without tipping over.

For The Filling

• Olive oil and avocado oil are best to cook the filling for the stuffed peppers. Also, it is quite healthy!
• Diced onion or finely chopped.
• Minced garlic or garlic powder. I always prefer the fresh garlic for flavor.
• Ground chicken is a lean meat and it makes this recipe healthier than the original beef recipe.
• Cooked rice. Any rice, even basic white rice or brown rice, works just fine. If you can, I highly recommend cooking rice in some chicken broth (or chicken stock) – it makes the plain rice so flavorful! One of the upscale options is to use cauliflower rice. The ground chicken stuffed peppers are one of the easiest (and tasty) ways to use any leftover rice. If you want something healthier, you can use quinoa or couscous (not gluten-free).
• Diced tomatoes. Fresh or canned diced tomatoes – doesn’t really matter. But if using canned, make sure to drain them. You can technically use tomato sauce, tomato paste, or even Marinara sauce, but I think they have a risk of making the peppers soggy.
• Herbs & Spice: Dried oregano, dried basil, kosher salt, and pepper to taste.
• Mozzarella cheese – shredded. I love gooey cheese, so I pick something that melts well. Mozzarella and herbs add some Italian flavors. You can also use Parmesan cheese for the topping for this recipe. In general, any of your favorite cheeses that melt well, works, starting with Gouda.
• Fresh parsley for garnish (optional). Use herbs that compliment chicken or peppers well, for example, parsley, fresh basil leaves, or even fresh thyme. For garnish only use fresh herbs.

I made this recipe gluten-free but if you’re to swap ingredients, especially rice for orzo or similar make sure to check if the new ingredient contains gluten.

Tools You’ll Also Need

• Large skillet to pre-cook chicken and aromatics.
• Baking dish (9×13 baking dish usually fits 8 halves) to bake stuffed peppers. I prefer the dish over a sheet pan because of the sides. I don’t want my peppers to tip over and make a mess. 
• Aluminum foil to cover the peppers while they are baking to keep them from drying out.

How To Make Ground Chicken Stuffed Peppers

In this recipe, you do not need to pre-cook the peppers!

Cut The Bell Peppers

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C).
2. Cut the tops/stems off the bell peppers and then slice the peppers in half lengthwise. Remove the seeds and membranes. Set aside.
3. Removing the stem is optional, sometimes it adds a little aesthetic rustic feel to the halved peppers. But do not eat it, it doesn’t really taste great.

Cook The Chicken

1. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium to medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic, and cook until softened, for about 3-4 minutes.
2. Add ground chicken to the skillet, breaking it apart with a spatula or a wooden spoon. Cook until no longer pink, about 5-7 minutes.

Prepare The Meat Mixture For Stuffing

Stir in the rice, diced tomatoes, oregano, basil, salt, and pepper. Cook for another 2-3 minutes until well combined.

Stuff Each Pepper Half

1. Spoon chicken mixture and stuff peppers, filling them to the top. Make sure the mixture goes in all the curves.
2. Place the stuffed peppers in the prepared baking dish cut side facing up.
3. Sprinkle shredded mozzarella cheese over each stuffed pepper.

Bake The Dish

1. Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven. 
2. Remove the foil and let the peppers bake for another 10 minutes, or until they are tender and the cheese is melted and bubbly.
3. Serve hot with your favorite sides and fresh herbs (fresh basil is always good for garnish and some cilantro if you eat it).
4. If making whole peppers, baking time will be around 50 min, 75% of the time the peppers should be covered.

What Goes Well With Stuffed Peppers? Serving Ideas

This delicious meal is great on its own because it has everything in it: protein, veg, garnish.

But you can also serve it alongside:

• Sides with roasted veggies: carrots or zucchini are great options.
• Something more hearty: pan-fried potatoes or gnocchi.
• Super healthy and low carb – fresh green or garden salad.
• Toast or tortilla and sour cream or yogurt-based sauce.

Storage

Store leftover chicken stuffed bell peppers in the fridge in an airtight container for 2-3 days. Reheat the peppers in a microwave or oven at 350°F until warm (around 10 min).

Chicken stuffed peppers are amazing for making a large batch and freezing. Freeze stuffed peppers uncooked for up to 6 months. Once ready to make, bake adding 10-15 minutes extra.

Cooked stuffed peppers after thawing can be more watery and a bit soggy so it is not the best way to store them.

To make ahead for meal prep, store the cooked rice and chicken mixture and fresh peppers separately until ready to make them. Then stuff and bake.

The filling is good in the fridge for 4 days.

Substitutions & Variations

• Swap the meat. Lean ground beef instead of cooked chicken (classic stuffed pepper recipe calls for beef, by the way), Italian sausage, ground turkey, shrimp, or vegan option – more veggies or some soy curls. Want something more filling? Try Greek stuffed peppers with lamb.
• Use the whole pepper. Old-fashioned recipes often stuffed whole peppers without cutting them in halves. You can make this with bell pepper halves too and serve as a side dish.
• Heahtier version. Green bell peppers have a bit fewer carbs, brown rice is healthier than white rice, and you can also skip cheese. You can roast your own tomatoes to make sure you don’t use commercially produced products with additives too.
• Not a fan of peppers? Use zucchini boats instead or stuff cabbage leaves.
• You can make these ground chicken stuffed peppers with no rice to keep it low-carb! Use a different grain, bulgur, small-sized pasta, riced cauliflower, riced broccoli, beans, or simply nothing instead of rice.
• Add more ingredients: baby spinach, corn, and mushrooms pair well with peppers.
• Italian flavors. Mozzarella, Parmesan, Italian seasoning (although not Italian but has herbs typical for Italian cooking), and a choice of tomato sauce (marinara sauce is, of course, the most popular).
• Mexican stuffed peppers flavor. Add black beans to bulk up the peppers, but also use taco seasoning and some spicy peppers, or at least red pepper flakes or chili powder. For cheese, you can also use Monterey Jack cheese, Mexican cheese, or even cotija.
• Try making these with buffalo chicken, wild rice, cheddar cheese, feta cheese, and so much more.

Tips To Make The Best Stuffed Bell Peppers

• If you are stuffing the whole peppers, place them on the baking sheet standing, not laying horizontally.
• You can turn this main dish into appetizers – simply use mini peppers!
• You can make a proper yogurt-based light sauce to go with stuffed peppers. Mix Greek yogurt, salt and pepper, garlic, some lemon juice, and some mint or cilantro.

Popular Questions

Should I Boil Peppers Before Stuffing Them?

You can boil or roast bell peppers before stuffing them to keep them from falling apart and getting soggy. It removes excess juices from their skin. However, it is completely optional if you’re using rice for stuffing.

To pre-cook the peppers, boil water and then put peppers in the boiling water for 4-5 minutes. Do not cook for longer or they will turn mushy.

Why Are My Stuffed Peppers Bland?

Do not shy away from salt and pepper, herbs, and garlic – they make all the difference in flavoring stuffed peppers and the filling.

How To Stop Stuffed Peppers From Being Watery And Soggy?

Drain all excess liquid from any canned ingredients you use to make stuffed peppers and drain grease from cooked meat. You can also blanch (pre-cook) peppers before stuffing them to keep them firm as the bell peppers are made of 90% water they will give out a lot of juices while baked.

Using rice in stuffing bell peppers helps to keep them sturdy and firm too, as it soaks up liquids really well. 

If you love this easy dinner recipe, you’re going to love these other dinner favorites too. Please click each link below to find the easy, printable recipe!

More Great Recipes With Peppers

Greek Stuffed Peppers

Stuffed Poblano Peppers

Stuffed Pepper Casserole

Simple Teriyaki Stir Fry

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