This Unstuffed Bell Pepper Skillet is a healthy one pot skillet dinner recipe made with ground turkey and brown rice. This recipe is my kids’ favorite!
I feel like I hit the jackpot with this recipe. All three, yes ALL THREE, of my kids love this Unstuffed Bell Pepper Skillet. As you might guess, finding dinner recipes that my little ones will happily eat, and that Brad and I also enjoy, is not easy.
This one pot meal, though? Totally easy. So easy that when I went to copy and paste the recipe into this post, for a minute I thought I must have forgotten a step or two because the instructions are so short! I double checked and it’s all there- just a few easy steps and dinner is done!
I try to cook with brown rice whenever possible because it’s more nutritious than white, and to save time for this skillet meal I used quick-cooking brown rice. It gives you the same nutrition as regular brown rice, with a much faster cooking time.
Besides the rice, this Unstuffed Bell Pepper Skillet is packed with bell peppers (of course!), ground turkey, tomato sauce, and cheese. And best of all, it’s done in 30 minutes!
When you want all of the flavor of classic stuffed peppers but need dinner to be ready in 30 minutes, this one pot unstuffed bell pepper skillet is just the thing.
Why you’ll LOVE this Unstuffed Bell Pepper Skillet:
- One pot = less dishes!
- It’s ready in 30 minutes, start to finish.
- You’ll have all of the delicious flavor of stuffed peppers, with half the work. No need to pre-cook the peppers or rice. No need to turn on your oven (on hot summer days)!
Unstuffed Bell Pepper Skillet
This Unstuffed Bell Pepper Skillet is a healthy one pot dinner made with ground turkey and brown rice. This recipe is my kids' favorite!Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 2 bell peppers, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 pound ground turkey, or beef
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
- 14.5 ounce can petite diced tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 ½ cups water
- 1 ½ cups quick-cooking brown rice, I used Minute Rice, look for one that cooks in 10 minutes
- 1 cup cheddar and/or Monterey jack cheese
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, for serving
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion, bell pepper, and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, 2-3 minutes. Add ground turkey, season with salt and pepper, and cook, breaking it up into pieces, until browned.
- Stir in crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes, basil, oregano, water, and rice. Bring to a low simmer, cover, and cook about 10 minutes, until rice is tender. Stir in ½ cup cheese; sprinkle with remaining cheese and fresh parsley. Serve.
Serving: 1/6 of recipe, Calories: 350kcal, Carbohydrates: 37g, Protein: 28g, Fat: 11g, Saturated Fat: 5g, Cholesterol: 61mg, Sodium: 429mg, Potassium: 948mg, Fiber: 6g, Sugar: 11g, Vitamin A: 1995IU, Vitamin C: 72.6mg, Calcium: 233mg, Iron: 5.2mgNutrition information is an estimate.Tried this recipe?Mention @kristines_kitchen on Instagram or tag #kristineskitchen.
Oh, that’s totally the jackpot when all 3 kids love a recipe…and it’s healthy! I can’t wait to try this! We love stuffed peppers, but this will probably be even better. Mmmm…
Yay for 30 minute Thursday and this one pot skillet! I’ve made a similar unstuffed pepper bake, but I’m loving that you used brown rice and turkey. I think my husband and I would devour this in no time!
Oh I love stuffed peppers and my Mom always makes them for me. I’ve never “unstuffed” them before, but it sounds pretty genius and of course, way faster to make too! Hooray!
I love stuffed peppers so I’m pretty sure I’d love their easier cousin in skillet form even MORE! I can definitely see why your family loves this skillet so much, Kristine!!
I LOVE the looks of this Kristine! So impressed that all your kiddos loved it. Kai likes rice, so I will have to try this! And I have to keep an eye out for that quick cooking brown rice, because one of the main deterrents to me cooking it is the long cook time.
Yay, that is awesome that all your kiddos loved this 🙂 I can’t wait to try an easier one pot version of stuffed peppers. Such a great idea! The quick cooking brown rice and turkey sounds amazing!
Congratulations on finding a meal that all 3 kids like (and you as well)! Being that it’s 30 minutes too, you did hit the jackpot, Kristine. I love everything about this and intend to try it!
Meals that are fast and easy and all the children eat and enjoy are my favourite kind of recipes! So nice when that all comes together isn’t it?! This looks fantastic Kristine!
I love stuffed peppers, but don’t make them nearly enough because they take a little time. This is the perfect way to enjoy them, but soooo much quicker! This is such a great idea, Kristine!
This looks and sounds amazing but I must be missing something. I have read through this blog post half a dozen times now and can’t find the actual recipe..? I was hoping to add it to my meal plan next week if you can point me in the right direction for the recipe. Thanks!
You are right! When we updated the recipe card it went missing! Fixed now. Thank you.
Made this tonight with a few tweaks. I used what I had on hand. 1 green bell and 1/2 yellow bell, 1 poblano pepper, ground beef, 1/2 c regular brown rice (only because I didn’t want a lot of rice), and I used beef bone broth in place of water and added a couple slashes if Worcestershire. Other ingredients the same. I used the same spices but added Carne Asada seasoning to the ground beef and a dash of cumin. I also added a diced yellow squash just to add more veggie and I had nothing else to do with it! Lol Thank you for so many yummy and healthy recipes! I have subscribed. I hope you don’t mind the tweaks, but I never make the same recipe twice. Lol
Sounds delicious!
Oh my goodness!!! This was AMAZING!!!
The perfect comfort food on a bitter cold night and so easy to make.
I’m so happy to hear that you enjoyed this recipe! It’s one of my family’s favorites. 🙂
Just wanted to know if I could use cauliflower rice in this recipe instead of wild rice.
Hi Maria,
I haven’t tried that substitution but it sounds delicious.
Yes you can use cauliflower rice. But just a few changes to the recipe.. 1) You will not need the water listed in the recipe, b/c you are not cooking raw rice, which needs to cook the rice. Also, your cook time will be less. Again not needed full amount of time due to the time it takes for rice to cook. Basically, brown the beef, or turkey & veggies . Add in other ingredients except water. Then add in the cauliflower rice (thawed) to your own desired amount . I eyeball it. Simmer according to pkg directions on rice. Or enough time to cook if you use raw hand grated cauliflower. I often do a combo of boil in bag brown rice that I cook up separately while meat / veggies are cooking. Then add in ” some” of each cooked brown rice and cauliflower rice. Hint: If you choose to use boil in bag rice cooked separately add some tomato puree or sauce to the cooking water. The rice will absorb some of the sauce, and flavor the rice. That is how I got my kids to like brown rice.
This was easy and absolutely delicious! More importantly, I don’t normally like bell peppers so this was a gamble for me, but everything blended together perfectly allowing me to add more (healthy) variety into my diet. Thank you!
I really enjoyed this! I subbed a can of Ro-Tels for the diced tomatoes because that’s what I had. Added a little zing. I’ll be making this again and again! Thanks!
Kristine,
This has been one of my family’s favorite dishes over the years. My recipe is very similar to yours except I add 2T of Worcestershire sauce. Our oldest son can always tell if I forget the Worcestershire sauce. It just adds a unique flavor.
Hi Margie,
I’ll have to try adding Worcestershire sauce! This recipe is on my list of ones to retest and re-share. I’m excited to try your tip!