Sausage Stuffed Mini Peppers
good potluck appetizer
Ingredients
- 1 lb. sweet mini peppers (1 bag)
- 8 oz. bulk Italian or turkey sausage
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 8 oz. reduced fat cream cheese, softened
- ¼ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- black pepper
- shredded Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Either cut a slit in the peppers or cut in half lengthwise, leaving stems attached. Remove seeds and membranes to make room for stuffing.
- Cook sausage in a pan for a minute or two, breaking it up into small crumbles. Continue cooking until sausage is cooked through, about 5 minutes.
- Add the garlic and crushed red pepper flakes and stir for about 30 seconds, until you can smell the garlic
- Add sausage/garlic mixture to softened cream cheese in a medium bowl. Add black pepper and Italian seasoning and mix thoroughly.
- Spoon sausage/cream cheese mixture into the pepper halves. Sprinkle the tops with a little Parmesan cheese
- Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the peppers are soft.
Notes
- There are two ways to cut the peppers: either cut a slit lengthways and scrape out the seeds and membranes, or cut them in half lengthways and scrape out the seeds and membranes. I prefer the first method, but the second method is easier
- Do not use full fat cream cheese, because the peppers will get quite greasy
- Make it Spanish/Mexican by using chorizo and adding smoked paprika. Use queso anejo instead of parmesan