Do you ever crave nachos but don’t want the extra calories that come along with fried tortilla chips? These Bell Pepper Nachos are a lighter alternative to traditional nachos and are still loaded with ground turkey taco meat, cheese, and all the yummy toppings.
If you’re looking for a fun appetizer and you love nachos this is the perfect recipe for you. I am loving mini bell peppers these days and these little bite sized pepper nachos are making me crave bell peppers even more. Plus, I will make any recipe that allows me to use cilantro.
We had a girl’s night to celebrate my mom’s birthday and I made these little bite sized pepper nachos and I practically ate the whole platter. Luckily, I made two batches. With all the high calorie finger foods out there, I wanted to make a lighter appetizer without giving up on flavor because, lets be honest, when drinking a lot of wine with your best girl friends, you also want to indulge in delicious food.
These bell pepper nachos were so good I already made them again for dinner. I stored my leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge, and I now have a quick and healthy lunch for tomorrow.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F
Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Prep mini bell peppers by slicing in half and removing seeds. Arrange mini peppers in a single layer, cut-side up but very close together. Drizzle peppers with olive oil. Set aside.
Cook Ground Turkey in Skillet:
In a small bowl, combine chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes and set aside.
In a large skillet over medium heat, heat 1 tbsp of olive cook and cook onions 3 to 4 minutes or until translucent, add garlic and stir to combine allowing to cook for 1 minute. Transfer onions and garlic to a small bowl.
Add ground turkey and cook breaking up clumps with spatula, about 5 to 7 minutes or until no longer pink. Add spice mixture and 2 tbsp. water and sauté until well combined and water is absorbed. Remove from heat.
Fill Mini Bell Peppers with Meat Mixture:
Fill each pepper with ground turkey and sprinkle with cheese. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven.
Top with chopped tomatoes, green onion, olives, sour cream, cilantro and any other desired toppings. Serve immediately and Enjoy! For a fun twist on sour cream, top nachos with my Homemade Cilantro Lime Cream Sauce. This creamy sauce is so refreshing and easy to make, goes great over these loaded mini bell pepper nachos.
- 1 lb ground turkey or ground chicken
- 1 lb mini bell peppers, halved and seeded
- 1 small onion, diced
- 1 cup shredded cheese
- ½ cup chopped tomato
- 2 T Olive Oil
- 1 T crushed garlic
- 1 T chili powder
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- ¼ tsp red pepper flakes (more if you like it hotter)
- Other toppings as desired (avocado, olives, sour cream, olives, chopped jalapeño, cilantro, green onion, red onion, etc.)
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Prep mini bell peppers by slicing in half and removing seeds (see tip below on removing seeds). Arrange mini peppers in a single layer, cut-side up but very close together. Drizzle peppers with olive oil. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, combine chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes and set aside.
- In a large skillet over medium heat, heat 1 tbsp of olive cook and cook onions 3 to 4 minutes or until translucent, add garlic and stir to combine allowing to cook for 1 minute. Transfer onions and garlic to a small bowl.
- Add ground turkey and cook breaking up clumps with spatula, about 5 to 7 minutes or until no longer pink. Add spice mixture and 2 T water and sauté until well combined and water is absorbed. Remove from heat.
- Fill each pepper with ground turkey and sprinkle with cheese.
- Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven.
- Top with chopped tomatoes and any other desired toppings.
- Serve immediately and Enjoy!
- *TIP* To remove seeds from mini bell peppers use a spoon to scoop them out.