Family favorite coming ‘atcha! Forget boring stuffed peppers, introducing shawarma spiced stuffed peppers with a tahini sauce. Super flavorful, loaded with veggies, protein, and healthy carbs. Your whole family will love this meal, perfect for meal prep!
Friends, I get overly excited about stuffing vegetables. It's totally a thing. I'll stuff any kind of squash (Spaghetti squash boat? YES Stuffed delicata squash? YES!) tomato, or bell pepper. Veggies make the perfect vessel for all kinds of deliciousness, it's a complete meal tucked into a plant… ya know, culinary perfection.
This recipe is a twist on a traditional stuffed pepper, the beef is spiced with my favorite Shawarma spice blend and topped with a heavenly tahini drizzle with fresh parsley.
Let's get cooking
INGREDIENTS NEEDED TO MAKE THIS RECIPE
- Bell Peppers – Red, orange and yellow varieties will work.
- Grass-Fed Ground Beef – I used a 90/10 blend but 80/20 will also work you will just have to drain more fat.
- Rice – I used “Right Rice” in this recipe which is a vegetable-based grain alternaitve, it is DELICIOUS! and contains more protein and fiber than traditional rice, but any rice will do.
- Diced Tomatoes – Fresh or canned.
- Shawarma Spice Blend – Follow my quick and easy recipe to blend up your own, a combination of cumin, paprika, garlic, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, and sumac.
- Garlic, Onion, Olive Oil – The start of all good recipes.
- Tahini and Fresh Parsley – For the tahini drizzle, so yummy!
TOOLS YOU WILL USE
- Baking dish or large sheet pan
- Good knife
- Cutting board
- Large skillet
STUFFED PEPPER TIPS
- Cut the bell peppers lengthwise, many recipes recommend cutting the top off of the peppers but I prefer lengthwise, the peppers won't topple over and you also get a better stuffing to pepper ratio.
- Pre-bake your peppers. Nothing is worse than bitting into a raw stuffed pepper. While you prepare the stuffing pre-bake the peppers for 15 minutes to soften. This will also cut down on the total cook time.
- Sauce it up! I am all about the sauce, the rice and beef soak up the deliciousness (in this case it's a tahini drizzle).
NUTRITION NERD CORNER 🤓
Let's talk about alternate rice and pasta products!
Take a stroll down the rice and pasta aisle in the supermarket and you may feel overwhelmed with options. You will find multiple kinds of lentil, bean, and pea pasta and rice. Some better than others.
Overall, I think it comes down to personal taste. I like the option to increase protein in rice or pasta dish, and sometimes I like to use white rice and traditional pasta.
In this recipe, I used Right Rice – a vegetable-based grain alternative. It is made with lentils, chickpeas and peas. Contains two times the protein and five times the fiber of white rice.
Is there something inherently wrong with white rice – NOPE! Absolutely not. I adore white rice and cook with it frequently but I am loving exploring alternative grain products.
DIETARY MODIFICATIONS FOR THIS RECIPE
This recipe is gluten-free
- Vegetarian – Replace the ground beef with crumbled tofu or lentils
- Vegan – Replace the ground beef with crumbled tofu or lentils
- Low Fodmap – Eliminate the onion and garlic, replace with a 1/4 cup of sliced green scallions
- Whole 30 – Replace rice with cauliflower rice
- Paleo – Replace rice with cauliflower rice
- Keto – Replace rice with cauliflower rice
I can’t wait for you to try these Stuffed Peppers!! When you make it, snap a photo and tag me on Instagram @abrapappa or use the hashtag #abraskitchen so I can feature your photo!
If you’ve tried this recipe, don’t forget to rate and leave a comment below. I love to hear from people who’ve made my recipes!
Shawarma Spiced Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients
- 6 bell peppers, cut in half lengthwise and seeds removed
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 6 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 onion diced
- 1 lb. grass fed ground beef
- 2 tbsp shawarma spice mix
- 1/4 cup water
- 15 ounce can of diced tomatoes or 1 cup diced fresh tomatoes
- 2 cups cooked rice I used "Right Rice" lentil flour high protein rice
Tahini Drizzle
- 3 tbsp tahini
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp water
- fresh chopped parsley, for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°
- Cut bell peppers in half lengthwise, remove seeds and membrane. Drizzle peppers with a bit of olive oil and season with sea salt. Rub the peppers both inside and out with the olive oil and salt to coat them. Arrange the peppers flesh side down in a baking dish or large sheet pan and pre-bake for 15 minutes.
- In a large skillet over medium high heat saute the garlic and onion in olive oil for 2 minutes.
- Add the ground beef to the skillet and break up with a wooden spoon. Cook until browned.
- Drain off any excess fat/liquid from the pan. Stir in the shawarma spice and salt, stir until well coated. Add water and scrape up any browned bits in the pan.
- Add rice and tomatoes and cook stirring for 2-3 more minutes.
- Remove the bell peppers from the oven and flip over.
- Fill the peppers with the beef mixture and place in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until the peppers are soft. You can test the peppers by inserting a knife into the flesh, if it goes in easily the peppers are done.
- Make the tahini drizzle by combining the tahini, water, and lemon juice.
- Top the peppers with tahini drizzle and chopped parsley.
Notes
- A serving is two halves of stuffed pepper
- You can freeze the peppers, but do so without the tahini drizzle
- The peppers will keep in the fridge for up to 5 days
- The rice portion is an estimate, you can use a little less or a little more.
Nutrition
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