Greek Stuffed Peppers

Greek Stuffed Peppers recipe ~ ground turkey, orzo, feta cheese, spinach and chickpeas baked in bell peppers and a Greek-style tomato-herb sauce.

I still *occasionally* eat pizza rolls, have a heavy hand with salt and rarely pass up dessert so when I created and fell in love with this Greek Stuffed Peppers recipe I couldn’t wait to share it with you.

I’ve been stuffing peppers with my favorite flavors for a while now. It’s a great option if you’ve indulged over the last few weeks months like I *may* have for an easy, feel good healthy comfort dinner.

If you’d like swap out the ground turkey for ground beef or chicken. They’ll go well with the orzo, chickpeas, fresh spinach and feta cheese too. It’s all blended with Greek seasoning, fresh dill and some of the Greek-style tomato-herb sauce then topped with fresh tomatoes and baked until the peppers are tender.

Greek Stuffed Peppers Ingredients:

• dry orzo
• olive oil
• ground turkey
• Greek seasoning 
• Salt and pepper to taste
• onion
• fresh spinach
• chickpeas
• crushed tomatoes 
• fresh dill
• cinnamon
• lemon
• grape tomatoes
• red bell peppers 
• feta cheese

Instructions:

Cook the orzo 2 minutes less than package directions then drain and set it aside.

Drizzle the olive oil into a large skillet over medium to medium-high heat then add the ground turkey.  Season with 1 ½ teaspoons of Greek seasoning, a little salt and pepper then cook 3-4 minutes. Drop in the onion and rough chopped spinach. Lightly season the spinach with salt and continue cooking until the spinach is wilted and the turkey is no longer pink breaking it up with a wooden spoon.

Fold in the can of drained chickpeas, ½ cup of crushed tomatoes, 1 tablespoon of dill finely chopped and all of the feta cheese. Once it’s combined, add the cooked orzo. 

To make the sauce, pour the remaining crushed tomatoes into a shallow baking dish. Add the rest of the dill and Greek seasoning, cinnamon and 2 tablespoons lemon juice. Drop halved grape tomatoes into the sauce, season everything with salt and pepper to taste and give it a good stir to combine.

Slice the bell peppers as shown in the photos, remove the stems and seeds then then divide the turkey-orzo filling between them gently pressing to fill the pepper. Pressing the filling allows it to get in all the cavities of the pepper.

Carefully place the stuffed peppers into the baking dish with the sauce then spoon about a teaspoon of sauce and a few tomatoes over the top of each pepper. Loosely tent with aluminum foil and bake at 375° for 30 minutes or until the peppers are tender.

To serve:

Place a stuffed pepper onto each plate, top with more of the tomato sauce and serve hot. 

Can I make this recipe ahead of time?

Definitely! Prep the entire dish the night before (don’t bake yet) and refrigerate. The next day let the baking dish come to room temperature, then bake according to directions. 

What can I make with any leftover filling: 

It may happen that you have leftover filling, depending upon the size of the peppers. The filling can be refrigerated up to 2 days and used as a topping on a baked sweet potato or by itself with some toasted naan bread. If you’re not using the extra filling right away, freeze it for up to 30 days.

Do we share a love of stuffed everything? This Stuffed Pepper Soup should be next on your list. 

Enjoy!

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Greek Stuffed Peppers

Bell peppers filled with seasoned ground turkey, feta, orzo, spinach and chickpeas baked in a Greek flavored tomato-herb sauce.

Print Pin Rate

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Greek

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Servings: 6 peppers

Author: A Gouda Life

Ingredients

• ⅓ cup dry orzo pre-cooked amount
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 pound ground turkey
• 3 teaspoons Greek seasoning divided
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 small onion diced
• 3 cups fresh spinach rough chopped
• 16 ounce can chickpeas drained
• 15 ounce can crushed tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons fresh dill divided
• 1 cup feta cheese
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 lemon
• 3 red bell peppers
• 1 cup of grape tomatoes halved

Instructions

• Cook the orzo 2 minutes less than package directions then drain and set it aside.
• Drizzle the olive oil into a large skillet over medium to medium-high heat. Add the turkey, season with 1 ½ teaspoons of Greek seasoning, salt and pepper then cook 3-4 minutes. Drop in the onion and rough chopped spinach. Lightly season the spinach with salt and continue cooking until the spinach is wilted and the turkey is cooked through breaking it up with a wooden spoon.
• Fold in the drained chickpeas, ½ cup of the crushed tomatoes, 1 tablespoon of dill and all of the feta cheese. Once it’s combined, add the cooked orzo.
• Pour the remaining crushed tomatoes to a shallow baking dish then add the rest of the dill and Greek seasoning, cinnamon and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice.  Add halved grape tomatoes, season everything with salt and pepper to taste and stir to combine.
• Slice the bell peppers as shown in the photos, remove the stems and seeds then then divide the turkey-orzo filling between them gently pressing to fill the peppers.
• Carefully place the stuffed peppers into the baking dish with the sauce then spoon about a teaspoon of sauce and a few tomatoes over the top. Loosely tent with aluminum foil and bake at 375° for 30 minutes or until the peppers are tender. 
• To serve, place a stuffed pepper on each plate, top with more of the tomato sauce and serve hot. Optional: garnish with olives and extra feta cheese.