Amanda C. Hughes’s Low Carb Steak and Pastrami Bomb (+ Keto!) is a 20-minute pepper bake that reads like a deli counter dare and lands squarely in the “cravings solved fast” lane. It serves four, comes in at 6 net carbs per serving, and packs enough fat and protein to feel like a real meal, not a compromise.
Cravings solved fast
This recipe is built for speed and satiety. Hughes gives it 5 minutes of prep time and 15 minutes of cook time, which means you can move from craving to dinner in about the time it takes to argue with yourself about ordering a sandwich. Each serving delivers 43 grams of fat and 38 grams of protein, the kind of macro profile that makes sense when the goal is to shut down hunger, not just nibble around it.
The flavor goal is just as direct. Hughes wanted to beef up one of her older recipes, Philly Cheesesteak Stuffed Peppers, and the result is a mashup of shaved steak, red pastrami, onion, mustard, mayonnaise, and cheese stuffed into green peppers. That is a lot of deli energy for one skillet, but it is also exactly why the recipe works for keto eaters who miss the punch of a hot sandwich or cheesesteak. The pepper stands in for bread, while the condiments and cheese do the heavy lifting on richness.
The dish is loud, salty, cheesy, and built around the same urges that usually send people toward a sub shop. The recipe answers the specific hunger for a breadless cheesesteak or pastrami stack.
How Hughes builds the bomb
The method is as practical as the ingredient list. Hughes has you pre-bake the peppers first, which keeps them from turning watery once they are stuffed. Then she cooks onion in ghee or oil, browns the shaved steak, adds the pastrami, drains the grease, and mixes in mustard and mayonnaise before filling the peppers. A slice of cheese goes on top, and the final broil gives the whole thing the melted finish that makes it feel like comfort food instead of a tray of diet food.
The peppers provide structure, the meat stays juicy, and the cheese gives the final melt that ties the filling together. Without that balance, this could have turned into greasy chopped beef in a pepper shell. Instead, it lands as a proper handheld-style dinner with enough body to satisfy a sandwich craving.
Hughes also leans into the casual spirit of the post itself. She plays with the name, calling it the strami bomb and the pastreak bomb before settling on steak and pastrami bomb.
Why the earlier cheesesteak peppers matter
The Low Carb Steak and Pastrami Bomb (+ Keto!) was published on July 4, and it makes more sense next to Hughes’s earlier Grain-Free Philly Cheesesteak Stuffed Peppers, which WickedStuffed published on July 2, 2026. That version serves four, takes 30 minutes total, and uses 4 green peppers, 1 pound of shaved beef steak, 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise, 1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard, and 5 slices of pepper jack cheese. Its nutrition is leaner on carbs, at 1 gram of net carbs per serving, with 399 calories, 32 grams of fat, and 20 grams of protein.
That comparison shows the difference between a classic keto workaround and a more aggressive comfort-food remake. The earlier recipe is the cleaner stuffed-pepper play: beef, mustard, mayo, cheese, and a tight low-carb count. The steak-and-pastrami bomb is more elaborate and more deli-driven, with the pastrami pushing it closer to a hot sandwich than a simple cheesesteak filling.
Stuffed peppers give you a built-in edible vessel without relying on rice, buns, or noodles, and they let familiar fillings do the work. Hughes uses that structure twice in a single week, once in a more traditional cheesesteak form and once in a stacked deli mashup.
Amanda Hughes knows the lane
Amanda C. Hughes has been developing ketogenic recipes since 2010. On WickedStuffed, she is identified as a keto recipe blogger and cookbook author who has created recipes for herself, magazines, nutrition coaches, and meal subscription boxes, and as the author of several best-selling cookbooks.
In a Virta Health interview, Hughes said she was not always a believer in the lifestyle before becoming the person behind WickedStuffed and a bestselling keto cookbook author.
The Steak and Pastrami Bomb sits amid a cluster of new July 2026 keto dinner recipes on WickedStuffed.
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