Stuffed Baby Bell Peppers with cream cheese are a quick, easy, and delicious appetizer! This low-carb, keto appetizer is perfect for sharing at any gathering!
Bright, gooey, and flavorful, these baby bell peppers are filled with cream cheese, walnuts, garlic, green onion and some sriracha for a little spice. They’re an easy and appeasing snack for any get-together, and will keep your ravenous friends satisfied until the main event.
This easy appetizer recipe has been one of the most popular appetizers on my site ever since I shared it back in 2012!
Mild sweet peppers get stuffed with a delightful cream cheese mixture then baked in the oven to gooey golden brown perfection.
This easy two-bite appetizer is loved by all who try it! From a baby shower to your holiday table, this simple appetizer makes for easy entertaining.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe:
Quick to Prepare: This recipe for stuffed peppers with cream cheese is a breeze to toss together at a moment’s notice!
Versatile: They are the perfect addition to any function involving appetizers. Weddings, Super Bowl parties, baby showers, holiday bashes, etc.
Budget-Friendly: This easy recipe is affordable and inexpensive to make.
Customizable: You can add all sorts of goodies like your favorite shredded cheese, meats, and fresh herbs. Many people top the finished peppers with crispy bacon fresh out of the oven or a sprinkle of everything bagel seasoning.
Let’s discuss the simple ingredients for these delicious bell peppers with cream cheese.
Ingredients for Stuffed Peppers with Cream Cheese:
Mini Bell Peppers: Pick up a bag of mini sweet peppers from the grocery store. They are also known as baby bell peppers or baby peppers! They are not spicy at all and are completely mild. They typically come in different colors, like red, yellow, and orange.
Avocado Oil or Olive Oil: Used to drizzle the mini peppers to protect them from burning during the baking process, we need a little oil. I like using avocado oil because it holds up great at high temperatures and has a neutral flavor.
Cream Cheese: Pick up a regular 8-ounce brick of cream cheese, which will be used to stuff the little sweet peppers.
I recommend bringing the cream cheese to room temperature before using it because softened cream cheese is much easier to mix than cold cream cheese.
For the best result, use full-fat cream cheese over reduced-fat cream cheese.
Green Onions: Fresh green onions bring a pop of flavor to the creamy cheese.
Fresh Garlic: Mince up one large clove of fresh garlic to provide a burst of garlic flavor. You can replace it with one teaspoon of garlic powder if you’d prefer.
Sriracha: For a little spice, I add a small amount of sriracha. You can either omit this ingredient for mild sweet peppers or you can increase the amount to add more heat.
Raw Walnuts: I know. Sounds strange, right? Chopped up walnuts bring a little crunch to the cream cheese filling, which I find to be delightful! Omit them if you aren’t into walnuts.
Sea Salt and Black Pepper: Season the cream cheese mixture with salt and pepper to your personal taste.
Recipe Customizations:
Change up the recipe as needed by adding and subtracting ingredients. You can get creative with the add-ins by including your favorite ingredients. Consider fresh herbs, jalapeno, parmesan cheese, Italian sausage, cheddar cheese, Monterey jack cheese, bacon, a drizzle of buffalo sauce, etc.
Prepare this recipe in the air fryer by making my Air Fryer Cream Cheese Stuffed Mini Peppers.
Now that we’ve covered the basic ingredients, let’s make some delicious stuffed cream cheese peppers!
How to Make Stuffed Baby Bell Peppers:
I like to pre-roast the baby bell peppers to ensure they are nice and soft and flavorful. Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees F and slicing the baby bell peppers in half length-wise.
Remove all the seeds and place the halves on a large baking sheet in a single layer.
Drizzle with oil and bake for 8 to 10 minutes – just long enough to soften the peppers. Once out of the oven, allow peppers to cool before handling them.
While the peppers are pre-baking, prepare your cream cheese filling.
To do so, add all ingredients for the filling to a mixing bowl and mix well to combine. You can either use a fork or a hand mixer for this process.
Pro tip: be sure your cream cheese is softened or at room temperature so that the mixture is easy to mix.
Stuff the peppers with the cream cheese mixture and bake at 400 degrees F for 8 minutes, or until the cheese is nice and gooey and golden brown. Garnish with chopped green onions and serve!
An optional additional step is to switch your oven to the high broil setting and broil for 2 minutes to make the cheese a little crispier.
Serve this mini peppers recipe warm, fresh out of the oven for the best results. You can also use it as a cold appetizer if you’d like, but I prefer the peppers warm myself because the creamy cheese is so delightful.
Store leftover cream cheese bell peppers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Garnish with green onion, and serve!
And that’s it! A perfect appetizer for game day, holiday celebrations, or any occasion necessitating finger food.
Make them for your next party!
Fair warning: upon sharing, you’ll henceforth be requested to bring these with you wherever you go. They are such a crowd-pleaser!
If you’re looking for more appetizer recipes, also check out these favorites.
More Appetizer Recipes:
- Crispy Sweet Potato Fries
- Crispy Baked Avocado Fries
- Caramelized Onion and Cream Cheese Stuffed Peppers
- Baked Feta Dip with Fig Jam and Pecans
- Avocado Dip
- Gluten-Free Crab Cakes
- Baked Jalapeno Poppers
Enjoy this simple recipe any time the craving for little peppers stuffed with cream cheese strikes!
Cream Cheese Stuffed Baby Bell Peppers
Ingredients
- 12 baby bell peppers cut lengthwise and seeded
- 2 teaspoons grapeseed or olive oil
- 1 package cream cheese 8oz
- 2 stalks green onion finely chopped
- 1 clove garlic minced
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon sriracha optional
- ½ cup walnuts chopped
- Ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut the bell peppers lengthwise, remove the seeds and stems. Lightly oil the bell peppers by tossing them in a bowl with some grapeseed oil or olive oil. Place the peppers on a baking sheet skin-side down. Roast in the oven for 8-10 minutes until the edges begin to show some color. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
- While the peppers are roasting, prepare your stuffing. Place the cream cheese, walnuts, garlic, salt, sriracha and black pepper in a bowl and mix until creamy (I used a fork to mash the ingredients together but I’m sure this can be done in a food processor or mixer). Add the green onion and fold in to the cream cheese until combined. Test the cream cheese for flavor. If you would like, add more salt and/or sriracha.
- Heat your oven to 400 degrees. Use a spoon (or a piping bag) to stuff the peppers liberally and place them back on the baking sheet. There is enough stuffing here to really pack those suckers up, so you don’t need to worry about the amount of cream cheese you’re portioning out. If the cream cheese is very soft, place the baking sheet in the refrigerator for 15 minutes to allow it to set up. If not, pop the peppers in the oven and bake about 8 minutes. Change oven setting to high broil and bake an additional 2 minutes, until the tops of the cream cheese begin to brown (If they’re already brown at this point, skip the broiling).
- Put on a pretty plate and serve to your friends.
Video
Nutrition
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I used the Everything Bagel topping. It was delish!
Oooh, that sounds amazing! I’ll have to try the same!
OMG! These were amazing and I didn’t alter the recipe one bit. Definitely a keeper in the rotation!
I’m so happy you like them, Jason!! xoxoxo
How would these be if not baking? The oven heats up the house so much. and these look lovely for summer but just not the baking part.
Hi Theresa,
I’ve never tried them without the baking, but my guess is that they would be very tasty. Truthfully, I think they will be better from the baking process because it softens the peppers and brings out the flavor, plus makes the cheese nice and melty, but I’d say it’s worth a try keeping them raw! xo
They are amazing uncooked!
I actually used this recipe as a base. Used some big green bells, stuffed with a blend of cream cheese, minced sweet peppers, and ground beef seasoned with salt, pepper, and a liberal amount of Quaker Steak and Lube “Thai ‘R’ Cracker” sauce. These were amazing!
So yummy! I made with what I had…he owned chorizo, softened red onion (out of green), minced jalapenos, cilantro garnish. Maybe some corn…
Making for cinco de mayo.
So happy to hear it! Thanks, Debbie!
I love these and I am making them for a work potluck tomorrow. Your blog is simply fabulous!
I’m so happy to hear it, Monika! I hope you and your guests enjoy1 xo
What are the nutrition facts? Like how many servings in each food group?
Does putting them in the oven make them softer or crunchier? I need to make them softer than when they are raw,so just curious.
Hi Misty, The peppers soften in the oven 🙂 Hope you love them!
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