Stuffed Green Peppers (with Rice, Italian Sausage, and Parmesan)

Stuffed Green Peppers with Rice, Italian Sausage, and Parmesan are one of my earliest and most popular recipes for stuffed peppers. And the tasty peppers have a lot of Italian sausage and cheese and not too much rice, so they’re not as high in carbs as you might think!

PIN the Stuffed Green Peppers to make them later!

Stuffed Green Peppers with Rice, Italian Sausage, and Parmesan are a popular recipe I first came up with after finding an amazing sale on green peppers at the grocery store! I’m a long-time fan of stuffed bell peppers, and I’ve made a lot of stuffed pepper varieties through the years. But this stuffed pepper recipe is still one of my favorites.

At first I planned to make a meatless stuffed pepper with brown rice but when I found two links of turkey Italian sausage in the fridge. I couldn’t resist adding that to the mix. You could easily make this vegetarian by substituting sauteed mushrooms for the sausage. But please don’t skip the ground fennel and grated Parmesan added to the stuffing because that flavor combination is what makes these stuffed green peppers so over-the-top good!

And these stuffed peppers only have one-fourth cup of rice per serving with a lot of sausage and cheese, so they aren’t a huge splurge on carbs. But see tips below for making a version that’s even lower in carbs!

What ingredients do you need?

(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 with ingredient amounts.)

• Ben’s Brown Rice (affiliate link), or other long-grain brown rice
• green bell peppers
• onion
• Olive Oil (affiliate link)
• Sweet Italian Sausage (turkey or pork)
• ground fennel (affiliate link)
• dried Greek Oregano (affiliate link)
• grated Parmesan cheese
• salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
• grated mozzarella cheese

How high in carbs are the Stuffed Green Peppers with Rice?

If you make these stuffed peppers with Ben’s Brown Rice (affiliate link) like I did, the peppers have 20 net carbs each and 27 grams of protein.

How to make these stuffed green peppers lower in carbs:

You can easily make these stuffed peppers lower in carbs by using sausage and a bit less rice. 

What sausage did I use for stuffed green peppers?

I prefer turkey Italian sausage for this recipe, but if you have a hard time finding that, pork Italian sausage will be fine.

Can you use other colors of peppers for this recipe?

Of course you can use another color of peppers for this recipe if the green ones don’t appeal to you! And when I don’t find green peppers on sale I love to use the colorful peppers for this recipe.

How to make Stuffed Green Peppers (with Rice, Italian Sausage, and Parmesan):

(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.

1. I started by cooking one cup of Ben’s Brown Rice (affiliate link) in my Zojirushi Rice Cooker (affiliate link), or follow package directions to cook on the stove.
2. Then barely slice off the bottom of each pepper so they stand up in the dish.
3. Cut off stem end of the pepper, then remove seeds and membranes.
4. Remove the stems, then chop up the pepper tops along with one large onion.
5. Heat olive oil, then saute the peppers and onions for 3-4 minutes over medium-high heat.
6. Remove peppers and onions, add more olive oil, then squeeze the sausage out of the casings and saute until browned, breaking apart with the turner.
7. Add the onions and peppers to the sausage, add dried spices and saute 2-3 minutes to blend the flavors.
8. Then mix in the cooked brown rice and Parmesan cheese and cook 1-2 minutes to warm the mixture.
9. Stuff the filling mixture into the peppers, pushing down with a spoon so the peppers are tightly stuffed.
10. Cook the stuffed peppers at 375 F/190C for about 30 minutes.
11. After 30 minutes, remove from oven and put a generous pinch of grated mozzarella on top of each pepper.
12. Put peppers back in the oven and bake 10-15 minutes more, or until cheese is melted and lightly browned.
13. Serve Stuffed Green Peppers hot, and enjoy.

Want Ideas for Low-Carb Stuffed Peppers?

Check out Keto Stuffed Pepper Recipes for lots more tasty ideas for stuffed peppers that are low in carbs!

Weekend Food Prep:

Stuffed Green Peppers are a perfect recipe to double so you have some to refrigerate or freeze for later, so 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!

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Yield: Makes 4 large stuffed peppers

Stuffed Green Peppers (with Rice, Italian Sausage, and Parmesan)

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes

Stuffed Green Peppers with Rice, Italian Sausage, and Parmesan are one of my earliest and most popular recipes for stuffed peppers.

Ingredients

• 1 C uncooked long-grain brown rice (I used Ben's Brown Rice, but any long-grain rice will work.)
• 4 large green bell peppers, bottom trimmed, cap end cut off and diced, and seeds removed
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 T olive oil
• 8 ounces turkey Sweet Italian Sausage (see notes)
• 1/2 tsp. ground fennel
• 1/2 tsp. dried Greek or Turkish oregano
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup grated mozzarella cheese

Instructions

Cook rice according to package directions, or using a rice cooker. (Rice can be cooked ahead and used in this recipe later.)

Preheat oven to 375F/190C.

Trim bottom of bell peppers so they have a flat surface to stand on. Cut off a fairly generous amount of the stem end of peppers, then remove seeds.

Place hollowed-out peppers in a baking dish that you've sprayed with non-stick spray or olive oil. (A dish that's close in size to the peppers will work best.)

Remove stem part from the pepper caps and trim off any white membrane, then dice pepper caps and the onion into fairly small dice.

Heat 2 tsp. olive oil in a large skillet, then saute diced pepper and onion for 3-4 minutes, until they are starting to soften but aren't browned.

Remove pepper-onion mixture to a bowl, add 1 tsp. more olive oil, then squeeze sausage out of the casing and cook until it's lightly browned, breaking apart with the back of the turner.

Put the onion-pepper mixture back into the pan with the sausage, add the dried spices, and saute 2-3 minutes to blend the flavors.

Then add cooked rice and Parmesan cheese, season the mixture with salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste, and cook just long enough to warm, about 1-2 minutes.

Stuff the filling mixture into the hollowed-out peppers, using a spoon to press the mixture down so it's tightly packed into the pepper shell. (A few years ago I stopped pre-cooking the peppers before stuffing, and now I prefer peppers that are stuffed raw.) If you have any extra filling, you can put it in a small ramekin and bake along with the peppers.

Bake peppers for 30 minutes, then remove from oven and put a generous pinch of grated mozzarella on top of each pepper. Put peppers back into the oven and bake about 10-15 minutes more, until cheese is melted and lightly browned. Serve the Stuffed Green Peppers hot.

You can freeze leftover peppers for a month or two, although the frozen peppers will be a little softer in texture (but still very tasty.) I cut them in half top-to-bottom before freezing and freeze two halves in a small baking dish with a snap-on lid.

Notes

Use any sausage of your choice. Use diced mushrooms instead of sausage for vegetarian version.

This recipe created by Kalyn when her market had a great sale on peppers!

Nutrition Information

Yield

4

Serving Size

1
Amount Per Serving Calories 345Total Fat 15gSaturated Fat 5gUnsaturated Fat 8gCholesterol 84mgSodium 597mgCarbohydrates 23gFiber 3gSugar 5gProtein 27g

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.

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Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
Green and red bell peppers are very nutritious, and these Stuffed Green Peppers are a great main dish for phase 2 or 3 of the South Beach Diet. To make a version that’s lower in carbs, just use more sausage and a bit less rice.

Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use Oven Dinners to find more recipes like this one. Use the Recipes by Diet Type photo index pages to find more recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest, on Facebook, on Instagram, on TikTok, or on YouTube to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.

Historical Notes for this Recipe:
This recipe was first posted in 2010. I used to make these Stuffed Green Peppers with Rice, Italian Sausage, and Parmesan often for my father, and I’ll always think of sharing them with him whenever I make this. The recipe was last updated with more information in 2025.

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