Bell peppers are packed tight with juicy shredded salsa chicken and corn, topped with spicy jack cheese, and then baked in the oven for gluten free and low carb comfort food. Even better - this recipe has only five ingredients!
When my grandfather and Shirley came over for dinner last week, it was the first time I was hosting a dinner for them AND the first time that I was cooking a real meal for Nate since he returned. Let’s just say that stakes were HIGH. And everyone has their different requirements, right? For example, my grandfather is on a low-sodium diet. That meant my original idea of risotto was out the window. Nate eats a LOT but he enjoys healthy eating, so I knew there needed to be a good ratio of vegetables to proteins to whole grains to satisfy. And I wanted something that would be approved by myself and my mom, meaning something that we could eat a lot of and was full of flavor but still was easy on the waistline. So…a-HA! Stuffed peppers it is!
So stuffed peppers take some time. Each individual step is not difficult, but you kind of have to commit to making stuffed peppers earlier in the day. But they are made to impress - both visually and the way they taste. I decided to try my luck with a Mexican-inspired dish. First, chicken went in a crockpot with corn and salsa. It happily cooked all day until I could shred it into juicy pieces. About an hour and a half before you are ready to serve, start readying your peppers. Cut them in half and remove all insides. Maybe for a pro this doesn’t take that long, but for me it takes several cooking utensils!
Once the peppers are clean, blanch them in hot water for just a few minutes. That helps to tenderize the veggies and bake easier. Then, shred your chicken in your crockpot and start stuffing those peppers! You may think that your peppers are stuffed, but press down and you can likely fill in more. Pop in the oven at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes. Five minutes before you’re ready to serve, top with your cheese and turn on the broiler. That was a recommendation from Momma Dani California Cooks, and as always, she was spot on in the kitchen. You want your peppers to start to turn inward on themselves, and the broiler does veeeery nice things to that cheesey topping. Then, they are done!
I served these stuffed peppers with brown rice mixed with cilantro, garlic, and lime (totally inspired by Chipotle’s brown rice) as well as maple-roasted brussels sprouts. The brussels may seem out of place, but my grandfather had recently gone off a medication which for years he was forbidden to eat brussels sprouts so I needed to re-introduce him to one of my favorite vegetables! They are also one of Nate’s favorites, so a win-win all around. Homemade sangria on the side, and then Shirley supplied insanely good walnut brownies for dessert. I highly recommend a similar menu if you decide to give these peppers a try!
On it’s own, the salsa chicken was delicious and I often make a big crockpot of that on Sunday night and eat throughout the week over salads, in lettuce cups, quesadillas, rice bowls, you name it.
- 6 large bell peppers
- 3 chicken breasts
- 1 jar fresh salsa
- 1 can of corn, drained
- 1 cup shredded pepper jack cheese
- Place the chicken, salsa, and corn in the crockpot. Cook on low for 8-10 hours or low for 4-6
- An hour and a half before serving, slice your peppers in half, lengthwise. Clean out all of the seeds and insides of each half
- In a boiling pot of water, blanche the peppers for about a minute each. Remove, pat the peppers dry, and place in a large baking dish
- Once the chicken is ready, it should shred easily at the poke of a fork. Shred the chicken and mix in the crockpot with all of the juices and the salsa
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F
- Pack each pepper tightly with the shredded chicken
- Fill the baking dish with about a ½ inch of water
- Place the peppers in the oven
- After about 30 minutes of cooking, sprinkle the cheese over the peppers and turn on the broiler for 5 mintutes
- Remove when the cheese has melted and the peppers are turning inwards
- Serve and enjoy!
Thanks for stopping by! 
