A summery version of stuffed peppers – on the grill, made light with turkey sausage, and made gluten and grain-free with cauliflower rice.
Grilled Stuffed Peppers with Cauliflower Rice
I’ve been wanting to try making stuffed peppers with cauliflower rice for a while now, months really, and kept getting sidetracked. Before I knew it, here we are, smack dab in the middle of grilling season. Why not try it that way? After making the filling on the stovetop, it took only 10 minutes for the peppers to cook through on the grill. Thumbs up.
I like any opportunity to use cauliflower rice, and I totally don’t mind making it myself, but Trader Joe’s recently did all of us grain-free folks a solid and came out with an organic frozen, ready-to-use, super affordable version. This is not a sponsored post at all, I just LOVE the stuff. Not only have I been using it in recipes that call for it outright, I’ve been (shhh) slipping it into my kid’s dinners here and there as well. She likes certain veggies, and will grow to like many more as she gets older, but hey, we can all use more in our diets, especially soon-to-be-second-graders. Anyway, it fits perfectly here. I used turkey sausage, giving it an even lighter end result. I think you’ll love it.
Aerial view.
- 4 large bell peppers
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 large onion, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 small zucchini, diced
- 1 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste.
- ½ teaspoon fresh black pepper, plus more to season
- 1½ pounds sweet Italian turkey sausage (or hot, if you prefer!)
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- ½ teaspoon oregano
- ½ teaspoon thyme
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper
- 14 ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
- 2 cups cauliflower rice from Trader Joe's (or make your own, of course!)
- 2 eggs
- Prep the peppers by neatly lopping off the tops. You can either preserve them intact to top them off for presentation, or you can dice them up (minus the stems) and throw them into the filling mix. Scoop out the ribs and seeds and set aside.
- Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high. Add onion and saute until they begin to soften. Add diced peppers if using, and saute a few more minutes. Stir in garlic and diced zucchini. Cook for 4-5 more minutes, until all veggies are starting to turn lightly golden brown. Add salt, pepper and herbs.
- Time to add the turkey sausage! Break it up well as you mix it into the vegetables.
- Once turkey has started to brown, stir in drained tomatoes. Cook for 3-4 minutes, then add the cauliflower rice. Cook, stirring frequently, until turkey is fully cooked and all residual liquid has evaporated. Taste for seasoning and adjust to your liking, then stir in the eggs. (You can beat them with a fork in advance if you want, but I didn't find it necessary.)
- Remove filling from burner and go preheat your grill to LOW. Fill your prepped peppers, packing in well. Cover them with the preserved tops, if you had set them aside. (They'll cook fine without them, too.)
- Place peppers on grill, ideally in a spot that gets heat more indirectly (if not, the skin on the bottom might be a little blackened, but easy enough to pull away if so, so). Close grill and cook for about 10 minutes, until pepper flesh is hot and soft.
Grilled Stuffed Peppers with Turkey Sausage and Cauliflower Rice
— posted by Anne
if i want to bake these in the oven instead of grill, what temp and how long? thank you!