The BEST Low Carb Stuffed Peppers Marinara

A delicious stuffed pepper with a low
carb spinach salad.

Ingredients:

2 red, orange or yellow bell peppers

1/2 pound uncooked chicken sausage (I used a natural chicken basil sausage)

2 tablespoons butter

2 ounces mushrooms (about 3/4 cup sliced)

1 clove garlic, minced

1 cup baby spinach leaves

2 tablespoons low carb marinara sauce
1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

1/3 cup pork panko**

1/3 finely grated parmesan cheese**

1/3 cup finely grated mozzarella cheese**

1/2 cup low carb marinara sauce

Method:

Preheat oven to 350*. Line a 9 inch square pan with aluminum foil.

Halve and rinse the bell peppers, removing the seeds. Pat dry with a paper towel. Place the peppers, cut side up, in the prepared pan. Bake for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, remove the sausage from the casing. Cook and crumble over medium heat, until completely cooked. Transfer the cooked sausage to a bowl.

Add the butter to the skillet and melt over a medium-low heat. Add the mushrooms, garlic and spinach. Saute until the vegetables are softened and fragrant, about 5 minutes. 

Add the sauteed vegetables, the 2 tablespoons marinara sauce, onion powder and basil to the bowl with the cooked sausage. Stir to combine.

Stir together the pork panko and cheeses. Set aside.

Remove the pre-baked peppers from the oven and remove from the baking pan. Add the 1/2 cup of marinara sauce to the foil lined pan. Put 1/4 of the sausage and vegetable mixture into each of the pepper halves and return to the prepared pan. Sprinkle 1/4 of the cheese mixture on top of each stuffed pepper. Return to the oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the tops are lightly golden brown. 

Transfer each baked pepper half to a serving plate and spoon a little of the marinara sauce over the top. Makes 4 servings. Enjoy!

**If you do not have Pork Panko in your pantry, you may omit it and increase the parmesan and mozzarella cheese to 1/2 cup each. If you are mot following a gluten free diet, you may use regular Panko.

Nutritional info per serving, approximately:

293.39 calories ~ 18.74 grams fat ~ 12.7 grams net carbs ~ 22.3 grams protein

Notes: My husband and I have never liked stuffed bell peppers, because we don't like the taste of green bell peppers. Switching to yellow, orange or red peppers made a huge difference! (Green peppers are bitter and cause us indigestion ~ the other colors are sweeter and do not give us heartburn.) We both really enjoyed this meal.