Sausage and Pepperoni Pizza Stuffed Peppers
Sausage and Pepperoni Pizza Stuffed Peppers are a great low-carb dinner when you’re craving pizza but don’t want the carbs. And if you like pizza and stuffed peppers, you’re probably going to like these stuffed peppers with pepperoni pizza flavors!
PIN Sausage and Pepperoni Pizza Stuffed Peppers to try them later!
If there’s one thing I know from many years of blogging, it’s that even low-carb eaters crave dishes with pizza flavors! I guess that’s partly why these Sausage and Pepperoni Pizza Stuffed Peppers have been such a hit on the blog, although stuffed peppers in general are a popular item.
So many people have enjoyed these stuffed peppers with pizza ingredients that they seem perfect to feature for our Friday Favorites post this week!
My first version of this recipe had lovely green, yellow, and orange peppers but when I went to make it again I couldn’t find colored peppers that were the longer shape I wanted, so I had to use all red ones. But by all means, if you find large peppers that are different colors definitely use them.
And if you like pizza flavors but don’t want so many carbs, I hope you enjoy this pizza-flavored take on Stuffed Peppers!
What ingredients do you need for this recipe?
(This is only a list of ingredients; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)
- Pork or Turkey Italian sausage links
- Olive Oil (affiliate link)
- onion
- garlic
- pizza sauce, preferably Rao’s Pizza Sauce (affiliate link)
- Dried Oregano (affiliate link)
- bell peppers
- pepperoni
- Mozzarella cheese
Do you have to precook the peppers for the Pizza Stuffed Peppers?
For many years I thought you had to pre-cook peppers to make stuffed peppers. But then I started making them by simply stuffing raw peppers, which leaves the peppers a bit more crisp in the finished dish and now I greatly prefer that method.
What pizza sauce did we use for Pizza Stuffed Peppers?
The lowest sugar sauce pizza sauce I found was Rao’s Pizza Sauce (affiliate link) with only 2 carbs in 1/4 cup and that’s the one I use for all my pizza variations, including this one.
Want more low-carb stuffed peppers?
Check out Low-Carb and Keto Stuffed Peppers Recipes for even more tasty options for stuffed peppers without the carbs.
How to Make Sausage and Pepperoni Pizza Stuffed Peppers:
(This is only a summary of the steps for the recipe; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)
- First let’s make the stuffing mixture. Heat a little olive oil in a large frying pan and brown the sausage well, breaking apart as it cooks. (I use a potato masher (affiliate link) to break apart the meat; don’t laugh!)
- When sausage is brown, push it over to cook the onions and garlic.
- Then add the pizza sauce and simmer until the sauce has cooked down a lot; the mixture should be barely wet. (Look for the lowest-sugar sauce you can find.)
- Turn off the heat and stir in the chopped pepperoni and grated cheese.
- Cut the peppers in half lengthwise, cutting away the stem but trying to leave the end part to help hold in the filling.
- Divide the pizza stuffing mixture between the six pepper halves and bake in a preheated 375F/190C oven for 20 minutes.
- Remove from oven and put grated Mozzarella and pepperoni halves on top of each pepper.
- Bake about 25 minutes more, or until cheese is nicely melted and browned.
- Serve hot and enjoy! Leftovers can be kept in the fridge for a few days or frozen, and these reheat well.
More Low-Carb Stuffed Peppers:
- Stuffed Poblanos with Ground Turkey
- Stuffed Peppers with Italian Sausage and Ground Beef
- Stuffed Peppers with Beef, Sausage, and Cabbage
- Southwestern Cauliflower Rice Stuffed Peppers
- Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers
Weekend Food Prep:
This recipe has been added to a category called Weekend Food Prep to help you find recipes you can prep or cook on the weekend and eat during the week!
Sausage and Pepperoni Pizza-Stuffed Peppers
Sausage and Pepperoni Pizza-Stuffed Peppers are a great low-carb dinner when you're faced with a craving for pizza.
Ingredients
- 19.5 oz Italian sausage or turkey Italian sausage links, uncooked
- 1 T olive oil
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1 T minced garlic
- 13 oz. jar Rao's pizza sauce (see notes)
- 2 tsp. dried oregano
- 3 large bell peppers, cut in half lengthwise and stem and seeds removed
- 3 oz. pepperoni
- 2 1/2 cups grated Mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F/190C. Spray a 9" x 13" casserole dish or large baking sheet with non-stick spray or olive oil
- Heat olive oil in a large non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat and squeeze sausage out of the casings and add to the pan, breaking apart with your fingers as you add it. Cook until sausage is nicely browned, breaking apart with a turner or potato masher (affiliate link) as it cooks.
- While the sausage cooks, cut 12 pepperoni slices in halves and the rest into fourths. Grate cheese if needed, or measure out desired amount of pre-grated cheese. Cut peppers in half and remove the seeds and cut out the stem end.
- When sausage is nicely browned, push it to the side and add the onions and garlic. Turn heat to medium and cook onions and garlic 2-3 minutes.
- Add the sauce and the dried oregano, turn heat to low, and simmer until the sauce is reduced and thickened. (You should be able to see the bottom of the pan if you pull your turner across it.)
- Turn off heat, let the mixture cool for a few minutes, then add the chopped pepperoni and 2 cups grated Mozzarella, stirring gently so it's well-mixed with the sausage mixture.
- Fill each pepper with the pizza-stuffing mixture, packing it in so all the stuffing is used. (It's easiest to hold the pepper in your hand over the pan while you fill and then add it to the baking dish.)
- Bake peppers 20 minutes. Then remove from the oven and add a generous pinch of grated cheese and four pepperoni halves to the top of each pepper.
- Put back in the oven and bake 25 minutes more, or until the cheese is nicely browned, peppers are cooked, and the stuffing mixture is bubbling hot. Serve hot
Notes
The lowest sugar sauce I found was Rao's Pizza Sauce (affiliate link) with only 2 carbs in 1/4 cup. I previously made this with a pizza sauce that was slightly higher in carbs, so I have adjusted the nutritional information.
Recipe created by Kalyn.
Nutrition Information
Yield
6Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 611Total Fat 48gSaturated Fat 18gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 27.5gCholesterol 103mgSodium 1371mgCarbohydrates 14gFiber 2gSugar 6gProtein 31g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated by the Recipe Plug-In I am using. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, since many variables affect those calculations.
Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
Sausage and Pepperoni Pizza Stuffed Peppers should be suitable for low-carb, Keto, and low-glycemic diets as long as you use a pizza sauce that’s low in sugar. For the original South Beach Diet, use turkey Italian sausage, turkey pepperoni, and reduced-fat mozzarella. Other low-carb diet plans would probably prefer pork sausage, regular pepperoni, and full-fat cheese.
Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use Oven Dinners for more recipes like this one. Use the Diet Type Index to find more recipes for a certain diet plan. You might also like to follow Kalynโs Kitchen on Pinterest, on Facebook, on Instagram, on TikTok, or on YouTube to see all the good recipes Iโm sharing there.
Historical Notes for this Recipe:
This recipe for Pizza Stuffed Peppers was posted in 2017. It was last updated with more information in 2023.
42 Comments on “Sausage and Pepperoni Pizza Stuffed Peppers”
SAUSAGE AND PEPPERONI PIZZA STUFFED PEPPERS
Can I freeze the cooked version of this
Yes, you can freeze them once they have been cooked. If possible, I would cook the ones that are going to be frozen for a slightly shorter time, because they will be softer after they’ve been frozen.
For Step 5 I use my food processor and throw all my vegetables in there – frozen red and green pepper onion mix, black olives, jalapenos and pepperchinis, and mushrooms – along with red pepper flakes. I mix it into a paste, and pour it in along with the Rios sauce.
As for step 6 I add bacon bits along with the pepperoni and cheese. Its get my spicy pizza supreme fixes for the week lol
Interesting! Sounds like you’re a creative cook!
I am currently on vacation in Spain so sorry for the slow reply.
I’m confused. If this has 8 total Carbs and 3 fiber that’s 5 net. Where do the 7gs of sugar come from?
Well I was confused too, because 5 net carbs didn’t seem like it could possibly be right for this. When I looked to see when this recipe was posted (looking at the first comment) it seems like it was right after I switched my site to WordPress in 2017, and in fact, this may have been one of the very first recipes where someone calculated nutritional information with the new system. Before that I didn’t have nutritional information, so I suddenly had 1500+ recipes to calculate it for.
Of course I had to hire someone to help with that and I have found some that were done wrong. I’m not saying it wasn’t me who did it wrong, I have no memory of who did which recipe that far back.
This recipe is also problematic because the nutrition calculator doesn’t recognize a product like Rao’s pizza sauce!
So I just recalculated the nutritional information (using information I found online for the Rao’s pizza sauce for that part and combining it with the results I got from the calculator.) And it was definitely wrong.
I have corrected it and apologize for the wrong information. Thanks for catching that error. I hope the new higher amount of carbs doesn’t make it too high for you. I am correcting the post now.
This recipe post says โVideoโ, but where is the video? I am unable to find and access it.ย
Not sure what happened and sorry I just saw this comment. But there is a video at the very top of the post.
These were so good! I used 8 pepper halves, turkey Italian sausage, turkey pepperoni, mushrooms, one bag of shredded cheese, and cooked a bag of frozen cauliflower rice and mixed in. It brought the calories down to 300 each, with 11 g. carbs. These definitely helped with my killer pizza craving. Thanks for the delicious recipe!
So glad you enjoyed, and I like hearing how you switched it up! But the original version only had 8 carbs; maybe you are reading that wrong?
I made this recipe tonight and we loved it! I used a mix of dairy-free mozzarella and Parmesan because Son eats dairy free. We enjoyed it with a salad and Son and his girlfriend ate theirs with rice. Will definitely be making this meal on a regular basis! Thanks, Kalyn. ๐
Shirley
Thanks Shirley, so glad you liked it!
If i’m using peppers that I froze out of the garden do I need to alter the timing at all?
I wish I could help you, but I have no experience at all with freezing peppers. Do you freeze them raw? Either way I am guessing they will be a bit softer than fresh peppers, so maybe the cooking time will be slightly less, but that is only a guess.
Yep I froze them fresh out of the garden-whole. I’m going to make this tonight with them and i’m guessing the second time in the oven I just won’t have to leave them in as long. Will update!
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I used this recipe for my food prep this week. Though I used Italian chicken sausage and added some cauliflower rice as well, with less cheese. I am looking forward to tasting this tomorrow!
Hope you enjoy. I bet the cauliflower rice will be good in this.
That’s definitely a find; I will look for it for sure. Hope you enjoy!
I made this for dinner last night and it was a huge hit! ย DH went back for seconds. ย I could see adding other pizza topping like mushrooms or banana peppers next time I make it. ย I did find a pizza sauce with only 3 grams of sugar per 1/4 cup. ย Don Pepino, it comes in a can. ย Not sure how widely available it is though.
OMG – my kids ate a veggie!! We made this several weeks ago, and once I convinced them to take bites of the bell pepper WITH the filling, I wouldnโt say they โlikedโ it, but they tolerated it and ate the entire piece of bell pepper with the filling. My hubby and I loved it. Iโm making it tonight for the second time.ย
The best keto recipe I have found yet! ย They were amazing. I think I might drain sausage a little next time, but they were a big hit here. Thanks for this recipe.ย
Thanks Sue, so glad you enjoyed it!
Any idea if this would taste good adding cauli-rice to the mix?
I”m guessing it would be pretty good, but you’d probably need another pepper (two halves) if you add more to the filling because our peppers were pretty full.
Do you need to boil/soften the bellpepper first. I made stuffed bellpepper recently and prebaked the peppers a bit then baked with the stuffing. My hubby didnโt like that the peppers werenโt soft. Tips for this??
Recipe sounds delish and I canโt waut to try to solve pizza cravings.ย
I stopped pre-cooking peppers for stuffed peppers a long time ago because I prefer them with a bit of crunch. You could pre-bake them or cook in the microwave a bit if you like softer peppers. I love this recipe; hope you enjoy!
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I used 3 oz. total, but the you can use more or less pepperoni to taste!
I made these this weekend and they are amazing! I used spicy chicken sausage and they are so good. I am doing SBD and I can’t tell you how helpful your blog and recipes have been in getting me through phase one and actually interested in keeping up a diet!
Thanks for that nice feedback Laura! So glad you are enjoying the recipes!
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Anybody who didn’t stop to drool over this post has to be crazy. Cannot get over how good this looks! DROOOOL!
Thanks Karly! SO glad you like it!
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Can they be frozen before or after cooking?
I definitely think they can be frozen after cooking. If you wanted to do meal prep, you could do the first 20 minutes of cooking time, wrap well and freeze, and then thaw and add the cheese and pepperoni and do the final 25 minutes cooking time. I wouldn’t recommend freezing the raw peppers though.
For the record, these sound AMAZING, and I am definitely going to work them into the rotation. How delicious!
Congratulations on the new site — it is beautiful, and I’m so psyched you’re finally unveiling it to the world!
Thanks Genie; hope you enjoy the recipe! I am so happy with the site. I have a lot to learn about WordPress, but I’m getting there!
Hi Kalyn, is your new blog look. I absolutely love it. Thanks so much for all your great recipes.
Hi Susan! The new WordPress site is just two days old. I am loving it, although like anything that’s a huge change like this, there are issues. So many issues. But my designer is figuring them out! Glad you like it!