For people on a ketogenic diet, changing meals up is crucial. The same boring hamburgers without the bun just don’t do it for some of us over time. Adding in some meals that are out of the ordinary, while still using the same ingredients helps us to thrive, survive, and prosper.
Stuffed bell peppers are a fantastic way to try something new. While the ingredients aren’t all that new, the taste will be. The fat of the beef and bacon gets to completely slather and run through the beef, giving it a deep and rich flavor that you’ll be loving on!
The soy sauce adds that hint of umami and salt that we all crave every now and again. Liquid smoke is key here, adding a smoked element to the beef that brings a whole new flavor profile to the entire dish. I use this brand of liquid smoke.
The rest? Well the rest is interchangeable and you can pick and choose what you want, what you want to change, or what you want to add.
Adding cheese on the top isn’t necessary, and in fact while I love cheese, I preferred these without cheese on them when testing both options. The char that the pepper gets from broiling it at the end deepens the flavor of the pepper as you know if you’ve had charred peppers before. It might LOOK like it’s burnt, but trust me – it really adds a flavor that you can’t get anywhere else.
Give these a try and let me know what you think!
Yields 4 servings of Bacon and Beef Stuffed Bell Peppers
The Preparation
- 1 ½ pounds ground beef
- 4 slices thick cut bacon
- 4 medium bell peppers
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 2 tablespoons sugar free ketchup
- 2 teaspoons oregano
- 1 ½ teaspoons worcestershire
- 1 teaspoon hot sauce
- 1 teaspoon liquid smoke
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
The Execution
1. Put your 1 ½ pounds of ground beef inside of a Ziploc bag.
2. Add all of the spices to the mixture, including the oil.
3. Mix all the meat and spices well together, so everything is thoroughly combined.
4. Let the mixture marinate in the fridge for 3 hours.
5. Once you are ready to cook, remove the meat mixture from the fridge. Take out the cores of 4 bell peppers. Be careful with this as you can cut the side of the peppers open and the juice won’t stay inside from the meat.
6. Dice up some bacon into thin strips.
7. Fry the bacon until it is partially cooked – you don’t want it too crispy, but you don’t want it raw either. This is so that the bacon has enough time to cook in the oven while the beef is cooking.
8. Start to boil a pot of water that’s heavily salted. Also, preheat your oven to 350°F.
9. Add your peppers to the water, fill the inside of them with water so that they sink to the bottom.
10. Boil the peppers for 3 minutes – you should notice that their skin becomes more vibrant.
11. Once the 3 minutes is up, remove the bell peppers from the boiling water and drain them completely – letting them dry off on some paper towels.
12. While the peppers are cooling, add your bacon and bacon fat to the beef. Mix everything up well so that it’s all combined evenly.
13. Put your bell peppers onto a foiled tray. The foil will help with cleanup because they will leak some of their juices out. Stuff the peppers with the meat mixture until it’s partially coming out of the top. You can place balls of foil in between all the peppers to make them stand upright properly if needed.
14. Put the peppers in your oven for 50 minutes. This will allow the beef to take on a medium-well center.
15. Once you take out the peppers, you can add some cheese to the top or keep them naked to get a char.
16. Add the peppers under the broiler for about 2-3 minutes. If you leave some of the peppers naked, they should have a nice dark char on the top.
17. Let the peppers cool for about 5 minutes before you serve.
This makes a total of 4 servings of Bacon and Beef Stuffed Bell Peppers. Each serving comes out to be 603.35 Calories, 45.34g Fats, 6.02g Net Carbs, and 33.85g Protein.
| Bacon and Beef Stuffed Bell Peppers | Calories | Fats(g) | Carbs(g) | Fiber(g) | Net Carbs(g) | Protein(g) |
| 1 ½ pounds ground beef | 1722 | 125.6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 116.41 |
| 4 slices thick cut bacon | 178 | 14.02 | 0.44 | 0 | 0.44 | 11.58 |
| 4 medium (476 g) green bell peppers | 95 | 0.81 | 22.09 | 8.1 | 13.99 | 4.09 |
| 3 tablespoons olive oil | 358 | 40.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 tablespoon soy sauce | 8 | 0.09 | 0.79 | 0.1 | 0.69 | 1.3 |
| 1 tablespoon minced garlic | 13 | 0.04 | 2.78 | 0.2 | 2.58 | 0.53 |
| 2 tablespoons Ruled.me ketchup | 18.4 | 0.1 | 4.08 | 0.84 | 3.24 | 1.04 |
| 2 teaspoons oregano | 10 | 0.15 | 2.48 | 1.5 | 0.98 | 0.32 |
| 1 ½ teaspoons Worcestershire | 7 | 0 | 1.65 | 0 | 1.65 | 0 |
| 1 teaspoon hot sauce | 1 | 0.02 | 0.08 | 0 | 0.08 | 0.02 |
| 1 teaspoon liquid smoke | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ½ teaspoon ground black pepper | 3 | 0.04 | 0.74 | 0.3 | 0.44 | 0.12 |
| Totals | 2413.4 | 181.37 | 35.13 | 11.04 | 24.09 | 135.41 |
| Per Serving(/4) | 603.35 | 45.34 | 8.78 | 2.76 | 6.02 | 33.85 |
For each Stuffed Bell Pepper, it comes out to: 603.35 Calories, 45.34g Fats, 6.02g Net Carbs, and 33.85g Protein.
The Preparation
- 1 ½ pounds ground beef
- 4 slices thick cut bacon
- 4 medium bell peppers
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 2 tablespoons sugar free ketchup
- 2 teaspoons oregano
- 1 ½ teaspoons worcestershire
- 1 teaspoon hot sauce
- 1 teaspoon liquid smoke
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
The Execution
- Add all your ground beef, oil, and spices into a Ziploc bag. mix them well until all ingredients are combined.
- Marinate this in the fridge for 3 hours.
- Get a pot of salted water boiling on the stove, and while it is coming up to a boil, take out the core of the peppers.
- Blanch the peppers by boiling them for 3 minutes and then removing them from the water to dry.
- Preheat your oven to 350F
- Fry some bacon that is finely chopped, don't cook it all the way - you just want to par cook it. Mix it in with the beef when done.
- Stuff the peppers with the bacon and beef mixture.
- Cook the peppers for 50 minutes, or until the meat inside is medium temperature.
- Add cheese on the top of the peppers and broil them, or broil them naked to get a char on the top.
