Bell Pepper Nachos Recipe

These sheet pan bell pepper nachos are a fun veggie spin on classic nachos with all of your favorite toppings. They’re easy, high protein, and high fiber making them perfect for a quick and healthy dinner.

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Why you’ll love these loaded nachos

If you’re a fan of traditional nachos, you’re going to absolutely love this bell pepper version.

Fun fact: These bell pepper nachos are one of the first recipes I’ve ever shared and they continue to be one of my all-time favorite recipes (and a fan favorite too!).

These healthy nachos are easy to make, they’re packed with veggies, and they’re just SO insanely good. All you need is bell peppers, taco meat, cheese, beans and your favorite toppings!

Each serving has 25 grams of protein, 5 grams of fiber, plus vitamins and antioxidants from all the veggies. Did you know one medium-sized red bell pepper has 169% of the Reference Daily Intake for vitamin C?

The versatility of these nachos might be the best part. You can customize these healthy bell pepper nachos to include all of your favorite toppings and additions, and you can even make them with half regular tortilla chips too so that you still get some crunchy nachos (my preferred way!).

If you love nachos and they’re one of your favorite foods (like me!), this recipe is perfect for any weeknight meal, but it works great for a Super Bowl party or game day too!

Let’s get into what you need for this bell pepper nachos recipe!

Ingredients

1. Bell peppers: To make bell pepper chips, you’ll need to remove the stem and seeds and then slice into bite-sized pieces that you can top with toppings. You can also use mini bell pepper halves and stuff them for mini pepper nachos.
2. Ground turkey or lean ground beef: Any lean protein works for these. My favorites are ground turkey, ground chicken, lean ground beef or shredded chicken breast.
3. Taco seasoning mix: My go-to is Siete taco seasoning, or you can make your own with simple ingredients like garlic powder, cumin, chili powder, paprika, salt and pepper.
4. Mexican cheese: I usually grab a grab of mexican-blend cheese but you can also use shredded monterey jack or sharp cheddar cheese.
5. Black beans: I typically use black beans but you can use any beans that you have! Pinto beans, refried beans or even chickpeas work great in this recipe.
6. Avocado: Diced avocado adds healthy fats, fiber and creaminess to these nachos.
7. Cherry tomatoes: Instead of using jarred salsa you can make this super easy pico de gallo with just a few ingredients. Any tomatoes will work but cherry or grape tomatoes are nice and sweet.
8. Sweet onion: Sweet onion, red onion or green onions work here.
9. Lime juice: You’ll need lime juice for the pico de gallo, but it’s also delicious squeezed on top of the freshly baked nachos.
10. Fresh cilantro: Cilantro adds the best fresh, herby flavor to these nachos. Add as much (or as little) as you like!
11. Salt and black pepper
12. Optional additional toppings: Plain Greek yogurt or sour cream, salsa, black olives, green onions, hot sauce, etc!

If you prefer some crunch to your nachos, you can also do half regular tortilla chips too!

How to make bell pepper nachos

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add your ground turkey. Season with taco seasoning and continue cooking until fully browned, about 10 minutes.

3. Arrange your bell peppers on a parchment paper lined baking sheet in a single layer. Spray with cooking oil or toss in a teaspoon or so of olive oil. Roast for 7-9 minutes until peppers are starting to brown and are slightly softened.

4. While the ground turkey and bell peppers are cooking, combine pico de gallo ingredients in a small bowl. Add additional lime juice, salt, and pepper to taste.

5. Remove from the oven and top peppers with ground turkey or beef mixture, beans, and then sprinkle evenly with cheese. Note: If you’d like to serve them with half regular tortilla chips, move bell peppers to one side of the pan and add tortilla chips on the other side so that the chips don’t get soggy.
6. Return to the oven for 3-4 more minutes until cheese is melted.

7. Top with pico de gallo and any other toppings that you enjoy!

Tips for the best bell pepper nachos

• Roast your bell peppers “face up” aka the inside of the bell pepper facing up. This way, you can “stuff” each bell pepper piece with toppings.
• Don’t skip the toppings! If you ask me, the more toppings, the better! The best toppings are plain Greek yogurt or sour cream, salsa, hot sauce, jalapeńos, avocado, guacamole, cheese sauce or avocado lime crema! I also LOVE adding my cottage cheese queso!
• If you add regular tortilla chips too, be sure to separate the bell peppers and tortilla chips on the sheet pan. Bell peppers have quite a bit of moisture and will make your chips soggy (store leftovers separately too).
• Finally, be sure to watch your nachos closely in the oven because they can burn easily!

Bell pepper nacho variations

• Buffalo chicken nachos: Toss shredded chicken in buffalo sauce instead of using ground turkey and then follow the recipe as written. Drizzle with ranch or blue cheese dressing (or my favorite buffalo ranch sauce!).
• Barbecue chicken nachos: Toss shredded chicken in barbecue sauce and top nachos with caramelized onions.
• Vegetarian nachos: Use a meat alternative like vegan crumbles, tofu or simply add an extra can of beans in place of meat.
• Use mini bell peppers for easy mini bell pepper nachos!
• Serve nachos on top of greens for a nacho salad situation!
• Serve nachos in a flour tortilla with sour cream for an easy “burrito”.
• Shred rotisserie chicken or used canned chicken for a huge time saver.

Storing leftovers

Store leftovers in an airtight container for up to 4 days and reheat in the oven, air fryer or microwave. If you anticipate you’ll have leftovers, I recommend storing the pico de gallo and avocado separately and then topping after reheating the nachos.

These have easily been one of my most loved recipes ever by followers, friends and family! If you make them, be sure to tag me @the.balanced.nutritionist on Instagram.

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