Giant Meatball Stuffed Peppers
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Meatball Stuffed Peppers are an easy-to-make one-pan dinner recipe. Bell peppers are stuffed with (grain-free!) giant meatballs and roasted in the oven with cherry tomatoes. They’re delicious!
Can we take a moment to appreciate quick and easy dinner recipes? And by quick, I mean about 15 minutes of simple prep before these meatball-stuffed peppers slide into the oven — leaving you time to tidy the kitchen, pour a glass of wine, and actually relax. This is exactly the kind of dinner I crave on busy nights.
What makes this recipe especially easy is that the sauce pretty much makes itself, thanks to juicy cherry tomatoes, and the oversized meatballs mean there’s no fussing with rolling dozens of tiny ones. I love serving the peppers over a big bowl of spinach or baby kale — when the hot tomato sauce hits the greens, they wilt just enough to become part of the meal.
The end result feels like a cozy mash-up of spaghetti and meatballs, but with far less effort. It’s comforting, satisfying, and flexible enough to serve over pasta, rice, greens, or even zoodles. And if you’re lucky enough to have leftovers, they’re fantastic the next day — which is always a win in my book.
I’ve made this stuffed pepper recipe a few times since the idea arrived in my mailbox. In the last issue (and, unfortunately, the last English-language edition they will publish), Ricardo Magazine featured a recipe for veal-stuffed peppers with a cherry tomato sauce.
They made their sauce on the stovetop and used grain-based ingredients in their meatballs. But I loved the idea and wanted to make it easier to create using more readily available ingredients. (IE, ground beef and pork instead of ground veal.)
This version is straightforward to prepare because the cherry tomatoes create their own sauce as they cook, releasing their juices. Let’s give it up for easy-to-make stuffed peppers!
While I’m not one to turn down a butter-slathered slice of warm bread, I do try to avoid eating grains as much as possible. I feel much better when I eat a grain-free diet. When I cook for my family, I always opt for paleo-friendly alternatives in recipes.
To make tender, Swedish-style meatballs, I use almond flour instead of the traditional breadcrumbs. It’s a grain-free alternative, and I promise you that you won’t be able to tell the difference. But if you stock breadcrumbs in your pantry, you can always use those instead.
Giant Meatball Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients
- 4 pints cherry tomatoes (2 ½ lbs)
- 1 small onion (minced)
- 3 cloves garlic (finely minced)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon EACH: salt and pepper
- 3 bell peppers (cut in half and seeds removed)
Meatballs
- 1 lb. EACH: lean ground beef and lean ground pork
- ½ cup almond flour (see notes)
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon EACH: salt and pepper
- 1 teaspoon paprika (on top)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Add the cherry tomatoes, onion, garlic, olive oil, salt, and pepper to an 11×13" casserole dish and mix well. Nestle the six bell pepper halves on top of the tomatoes.4 pints cherry tomatoes, 1 small onion, 3 cloves garlic, 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1 teaspoon EACH: salt and pepper, 3 bell peppers
- In a large bowl, mix together the meatball ingredients using your hands. Form into six large meatballs, place one in each bell pepper half, and gently press it down. Sprinkle the paprika over the top of the meatballs.1 lb. EACH: lean ground beef and lean ground pork, ½ cup almond flour, 1 large egg, 1 teaspoon EACH: salt and pepper, 1 teaspoon paprika
- Bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes then remove from the oven and let it stand for 5 minutes before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
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Made this last night for a group. Everyone loved it! It was delicious. Thank you!
You’re very welcome!
Great idea for a recipe! I made it for fewer people in a 9×9 pan with mini sweet peppers and some store-bought meatballs (raw). Cooked in about 35 minutes and we ate it with rice! Delicious! Thank you!
I love your appetizer twist on this recipe. Great idea!
I need to make this! It looks amazing!
They’re so good!!
You are so welcome!!! 🙂
Excellent! I doctored up the meatballs with fresh spinach and parsley; dried basil and oregano, and red pepper flakes, but otherwise followed the recipe as written. My grocery store had aloha peppers–the yellow and red stripped ones, and I also used one green and one red. When I told my housemate I was making stuffed peppers he kind of grumbled, but when he saw the assembled dish he changed his tune! They look enticing and taste fantastic. Thanks!
That makes me so happy to hear! Hooray!