Low Carb Stuffed Pepper Soup

Hello friend

One of my childhood memories is my mom preparing stuffed peppers for supper. It was always a treat as my dad wasn’t that fond of them so we didn’t have them often. When I moved out (many moons ago) I would make stuffed peppers for myself.  It has been years since I prepared the last batch as I am not a huge fan of cooking and it just seemed like way too much work for feeding just me.

Several years ago I found a recipe for stuffed pepper soup and with some adjustments I found a keeper.  It became one of my favorite soups to make (and of course — eat). In the last couple years I have had to revamp my eating and sadly due to the higher than I could eat carb count — the recipe went to the back of my recipe book.

Revamping to Lower the Carbs

As I was looking through my recipe book in the last few months, I came across this favorite soup recipe.  I thought that maybe with some adjustments I could return this soup to my menu.

The ingredient that was causing the carb count to be so high was the rice. How can I make stuffed pepper soup without rice?  I tried it by just omitting the rice, but it was lacking the thickness of a hearty soup. I thought of replacing the rice with quinoa, however the carb count would still be too high.  It was then that I decided to try ricing cauliflower and seeing if it made a difference.  I didn’t have huge hope for this as I have tried substituting cauliflower for other ingredients in other recipes and was disappointed. To my delight — it worked.  The carb difference between the rice and the cauliflower rice is a whooping 17 grams.

What is Ricing Cauliflower?

Ricing cauliflower is basically taking a huge head of cauliflower and breaking it down into little pieces that resemble rice.  You can do this process in the following ways:

Chop with a knife

Using a sharp chefs knife – chop the cauliflower into small pieces.  This technique takes the longest time.

Grate

Cut the cauliflower in large chunks.  Using a box grater use the medium sized holes (usually used to grate cheese) — grate into small pieces.

Food Processor

Cut the cauliflower into small pieces (you can use the stems too) and place in the food processor. Using the grater blade pulse until the cauliflower gets to be the size of rice.

Purchase it

You can purchase cauliflower already “riced” in the produce department of most grocery stores.

Substitutions

I usually use extra lean ground beef in this recipe.  You can substitute it with ground chicken or ground turkey if you prefer. If you substitute the cauliflower rice with regular rice the carb count will considerably increase.  I like to add a sprinkling of cheddar cheese – this is an option.

*** This soup freezes well. I usually freeze it in 1 L containers to use for future healthy lunches.

Nutritional Value

Per serving: — based on 6 servings ~~

218 calories, 8.3 g fat, 13.5 g carbs, 20.4g protein

 

More Soup

In addition to the Stuffed Pepper Soup in my menu rotation I also have the following soups:

Baba’s Ukrainian Beet Borscht

Southwest Chicken Salsa Soup

 

If you make it, I would love to know your thoughts. Drop me a note in the comments.

Be blessed 💞💞💞

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Nutritional Disclaimer

Please note that I am not a nutritional or medical professional. I am sharing my own experiences and not advising. Nothing that I express should be taken as medical advice and you should consult with a medical professional before starting any diet or exercise plan. The reason that I am providing some of the nutritional information is as a courtesy.

I use MyFitnessPal to calculate and I usually will remove sugar substitutes (erythritol, Splenda, swerve etc..) from the final carb count and net carb count, as it doesn’t affect my own blood glucose levels. It is my goal to do my best to be as accurate as possible, but you should independently calculate nutritional information on your own before relying on them. I expressly disclaim any and all liability of any kind with respect to any act or omission wholly or in part in reliance on anything contained in this website