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Whip up a batch of these Stuffed Banana Peppers with Hot Sausage when you need an easy low carb meal that is bursting with spice and flavor.
Enjoy them as an appetizer or easy Keto dinner, any day of the week.
- Stuffed pepper variations
- Filling
- The spice is in the seeds
- Can I freeze my stuffed banana peppers?
- Let's get started.
- Step 1. Prepare the peppers
- Step 2. Stuff your pepper with the sausage
- Step 3. Layer and cover in pan with tomato sauce
- Step 4. Wrap and bake your stuffed banana peppers
- Step 5. Top with cheese and bake until golden brown
- Stuffed Banana Peppers with Hot Sausage
- More Great Recipes
Typically, stuffed banana peppers are served by themselves or alongside some sort of starch, like rice or pasta.
There's something so magical about the way rice soaks up those spicy flavors that is purely divine.
While rice may not be on the menu for the Keto diet, it's easy to substitute with riced cauliflower or Miracle Rice for those same flavors.
In place of noodles that are high in carbohydrates, try some of these Keto-friendly pasta substitutes instead.
Stuffed pepper variations
Depending on where you live or the time of year, you may not have access to banana peppers.
Try switching up the pepper and seeing what kinds of unique flavors you can create.
Recipes like this works just as well with:
- jalapenos
- bell peppers
- poblanos
- Hungarian wax peppers.
Filling
Ground beef or mild sausage in the meat mixture for something a little different.
Overall, be sure to use a fatty meat over lean meat in this scenario, to keep your peppers moist and flavorful.
Crushed pork rinds add a texture similar to bread crumbs and can be added to lighten up the meat mixture.
Some other interesting add-ins:
- cream cheese
- bacon bits
- chopped nuts
- fresh herbs
The spice is in the seeds
The spice level of the pepper is concentrated in the seeds.
If you find a tasty pepper that is just too spicy for your liking, try removing all of the seeds.
And most importantly, please use gloves when preparing your peppers.
While the banana pepper isn’t a super hot pepper, they can pack a surprising amount of heat!
You do not want to get that heat into your eyes.
Can I freeze my stuffed banana peppers?
Absolutely, and it's one of the reasons I love this recipe so much.
I often make huge batches and freeze in aluminum trays or plastic freezer bags.
That way, we get to enjoy them all year round, even in the winter!
Let's get started.
This recipe is fairly easy and straight-forward.
For me, the hardest part is making sure I don’t touch my eyes when working with the peppers!
Step 1. Prepare the peppers
While wearing disposable gloves, use a knife to cut the tops and large ribs from inside the peppers.
I like to do this over a baking sheet so I don’t make a huge mess.
Any size of banana pepper will do, but I do try to get medium sized ones at similar sizes.
I try to keep them as consistent as possible so that they cook evenly and the amount of ingredients match the recipe.
Step 2. Stuff your pepper with the sausage
If the meat doesn’t all fit into the pepper, it’s totally fine if it hangs out of the side.
If you’re adding your own seasonings to the meat, add everything to a large bowl and combine before stuffing.
Step 3. Layer and cover in pan with tomato sauce
Pour half the sauce in the baking dish and layer your stuffed banana peppers.
Pour remaining sauce over the top.
Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.
Step 4. Wrap and bake your stuffed banana peppers
Cover your baking dish with aluminum foil and bake until peppers are fork-tender.
Step 5. Top with cheese and bake until golden brown
To make this faster, I turn the oven to 400 degrees to get it brown and bubbly.
This recipe calls for ½ cup of cheese, but I usually add more.
Crispy mozzarella cheese mixed with the tomato sauce and banana peppers is such a tasty combination.
Stuffed Banana Peppers with Hot Sausage
Equipment
- disposable gloves
Ingredients
- 8 banana peppers
- 1 lb spicy Italian sausage ground
- ½ cup mozzarella cheese
- ½ cup tomato sauce
- 2 tablespoon water
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
- Start by preparing your peppers. While wearing disposable gloves, cut tops of the peppers and remove any large pieces of the Inside rib. There will be small bunches of seeds inside. If you like a lot of heat, leave them. If you prefer a more mild pepper, remove the seeds.
- Divide the ground sausage into 8 separate, equal portions and stuff one portion into each pepper. It's okay if the sausage is exposed and doesn't completely fill the contents of the pepper.
- In a baking dish, take half of the tomato sauce and spread it along the bottom of the baking dish. Add the water and mix it together with a spoon or whisk.
- In a single layer, lay each pepper in the sauce in the dish.
- Pour the remaining tomato sauce over the peppers.
- Cover the baking dish with foil and pop it into the pre-heated oven for roughly 40 minutes.
- At 40 minutes, remove the baking dish from the oven and carefully remove the foil. There will be hot steam released. If a knife easily pierces the pepper, they're ready for the next step.
- Top each pepper with mozzarella cheese.
- Turn the oven to broil and put the peppers back in the oven, uncovered.
- Broil until the cheese is golden brown and remove from the oven.
- Let cool for at least 10 minutes before serving. Enjoy!
Kelli
what tomato sauce do you use that's keto friendly?
Dom Geracia
Love using Rao's! It's a little pricey, but so worth the flavor and low carb count.
Amy B.
Do you freeze batches cooked or uncooked?
Dom Geracia
Hi Amy!
I actually do a bunch of these over the summer and freeze them uncooked. That way they're ready to go whenever I need them!
Joe
Great recipe!
I'm going to make it for the 3rd time tonight.
I may vary a bit by adding diced onion to the sausage, different herbs to the sausage, etc.
If I can't find banana peppers, almost any pepper will do.
Thanks for this.
JF
Dom Geracia
So glad you enjoyed!
Edita Pakarkle
Wow! This meal is amazing! Thank you very much for a recipe.
Terrissa Johnson
Are you cooking the italian sausage prior to stuffing the peppers?
Dom Geracia
Nope, start with raw!
Debra
No
Jennifer
Had a camp on Fish Creek in West Virginia. We would stuff banana peppers with sausage cook them on a grill then make a sandwich with mustard and ketchup and Beer on the side. Very addictive
Melissa
Love these! I often can't find banana peppers so I sub out cubanelle peppers which I can always find at my super Wal-Mart. The whole family loves them!
Crystal Clark
I’ve made these for years but was never on a keto diet. This is my husbands favorite meal and while searching online to find recipes for him I came across this. You have no clue how happy he will be 🙂 I never even thought about this
Jan Diemand
How do you determine the carb count of your recipes?
Dom Geracia
I usually put the info into MyFitnessPal and calculate it. Some of my recipe didn't originally have them listed, but I'm slowly but surely going through and adding them haha.
Cath
www loved this recipe, simple, delicious and all we could say say, wow!