Gluten-Free Jack-O-Lantern Stuffed Peppers are the perfect festive meal this time of the year to help celebrate the Halloween season! These peppers are stuffed with grass-fed beef, onion, mushrooms, and bell pepper, topped with your favorite cheese.
The fall season is in full swing and these delicious stuffed peppers are the perfect meal to celebrate on Halloween night! For those adapting to a low-carb diet, keto diet, or just a healthy lifestyle, this meal is for you. While my family and I do not strictly practice a ketogenic diet, we do practice healthy living by having most of our main meals moderate to low carb.
Halloween celebrations invite the opportunity to have lots of sweet treats and candy bars around the house, which is dangerous for anyone with a sweet tooth. There’s not a lot of “healthy” low-carb Halloween treats, which is why we love making these stuffed peppers as a meal option, to help balance our blood sugar. Believe me, we have our share of festive treats.
From start to finish this full recipe can be made in under an hour. Talk about low carb yum! Pressed for time? You can feel free to skip carving out the faces, but you’ll be missing half of the Halloween fun!
INGREDIENTS IN JACK-O-LANTERN STUFFED PEPPERS
This recipe will fit most meal plans and is customizable to please any palate. Feel free to substitute any of the vegetables or meat to fit your needs. If you are trying to avoid high-fat recipes, switching out the ground beef for ground turkey is still a great option for low carb recipes.
- Meat: You can use grass-fed beef, ground turkey, ground chicken, or bison.
- Onion: One large yellow or sweet onion works well in this recipe.
- Oil: A little bit of oil helps sauté the vegetables.
- Mushrooms: Provide texture and flavor.
- Green Pepper: Helps provide texture and is a great way to flavor the recipe.
- Spices: Salt, Garlic, Black Pepper for flavor.
- Cheese: Cheddar, Mozzarella, Pepper Jack are all great options.
HOW TO CARVE OUT THE JACK-O-LANTERN FACES
Carving out the faces is the best part of this recipe, giving adults and young kids the opportunity to show off their creativity. It’s the perfect addition to a fun Halloween meal. Hosting an event? These peppers are a great conversation starter at your next party. Delicious recipes do not have to be boring.
- Slice the stem end off of each pepper.
- Remove the seeds and center from the peppers
- Using a small handheld knife, carefully cut a jack-o-lantern face out on one of the sides. Carve out different shapes, for the eyes, nose, and mouth.
HOW TO MAKE JACK-O-LANTERN STUFFED PEPPERS
This recipe is very straightforward with only a handful of ingredients! It’s one of our favorite low-carb recipes.
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Grease a 9-inch pie dish, or casserole pan and set aside.
- Dice up your onion, green pepper, and mushrooms. Add them to a large frying pan with oil. Sauté until tender.
- Brown your beef in a separate pan. Once the beef is fully cooked, strain the fat with a colander, and combine the beef with the vegetables. Add the seasonings and mix until fully combined.
- Take each pepper and carefully slice off the tops. Scoop out the seeds, then carve out the Jack-O-Lantern faces.
- Stuff the peppers with the beef and vegetable mixture, adding the top hats, then place the peppers in the baking dish. Bake for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, open the oven and remove the top hats. Set them aside. Top the peppers with your favorite cheese, and return the pan to the oven for 5 minutes.
- Remove the peppers from the oven and serve.
FOR MORE HEALTHY HALLOWEEN RECIPES, CHECK OUT THE LINKS BELOW
- Gluten-Free Sweet Potato Chili
- Pumpkin Biscuits and Gravy
- Gluten-Free Butternut Squash Soup
- Gluten-Free Apple Crumble Bars
- Pumpkin Pie (Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Refined Sugar-Free)
- Roasted Sweet Potatoes
- Pumpkin Spice Bread
Gluten-Free Jack-O-Lantern Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 8 ounces mushrooms
- 1 large onion
- 1/2 green pepper
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt season to liking
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 4 large orange peppers
- 1/2 cup cheese, divided evenly
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Grease a 9-inch pie dish, or casserole pan and set aside.
- Dice the onion, mushrooms, and green pepper into 1/4 inch pieces. Place the vegetable in a large skillet with oil, and sauté until tender (around 10 minutes) then set aside.
- In a separate frying pan brown the beef. Once the beef is fully cooked, strain the fat with a colander, and then add the beef and spices to the vegetable mixture. Stir until well combined.
- Prepare your peppers by carefully cutting the tops with a knife. Set aside to use for later. Scoop out the seeds and middle of the peppers, then rinse thoroughly. Dry each pepper with a paper towel.Using a small handheld knife, carve out the jack-o-lantern faces on one side of each pepper.
- Place all 4 peppers upright inside a large oven-proof ceramic dish and fill each pepper with the beef mixture. Return the tops of the pepper to create little hats. Bake for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes remove the peppers from the oven, and set the hats aside. Add the cheese on top of the pepper opening and return to the oven for another 5 minutes, or until the cheese has melted.
- Serve Immediately. Store in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Nutrition
Delicious and so cute.