VIP Recipe: Ricotta Stuffed Peppers in Meat Sauce
Even if I was eating grains, I wouldn't pass up this meaty, hearty Italian dinner that just so happens to be moderately keto as well.
As an Italian, it burdened my heart when I first went gluten-free, knowing I’d never again be able to secretly hurrah when the waiter still delivers a bread bowl and garlic oil to the table after I tell him a half-hearted “no, we don’t need bread.” ::takes tiny nibble::
And this week I was really pining for pasta, it’s probably my Italian grandmother whispering bad ideas in my head, or maybe it’s the winter chill creeping in, but it was sitting with me until a friend posted a photo of stuffed shells, and I realized all I really wanted in the photo was the ricotta filling and meat sauce.
So, I came up with this recipe to satiate my desires.
I feel like this process can be completely simplified, so I did so in the recipe. Originally I heated the sauce in the slow cooker while I cooked the meat on the stove and the peppers in the oven (3 dishes no thanks).
I wouldn’t omit cooking the shells first, it will help remove some moisture so they don’t get super watery when you cook them, but if you’re in a rush you can turn it from a 2 dish meal into a 1 dish meal by forgoing that step.
And one last note that yes, the net carb count is 11g, so it’s tipping the scale a bit, I tend to keep my meals under 10g and only if they include veggies. One adjustment for that is to halve the ricotta mixture and when they’re done baking, simply spoon the meat sauce inside the shells to the top. You’ll only save about 1 net carb per serving though, most of the carbs are in the sauce and the peppers themselves, so you could reduce the sauce in half and save yourself about 4 more carbs per serving. (I use Rao’s sauce.)
As you can see, the peppers are quite full, so there’s plenty of room to reduce filling and sauce, we just don’t want to remove so much sauce that the meat burns to the bottom of the pan:
Ricotta Stuffed Peppers in Meat Sauce
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
Servings: 4