Mexican Stuffed Peppers are made by stuffing colorful bell peppers with ground beef, rice, cheese and all of your favorite Mexican-inspired flavors. The perfect easy weeknight meal, these Mexican Stuffed Peppers are healthy, delicious and a new twist on classic stuffed peppers.
Let me start this Mexican Stuffed Peppers post by saying I do not like peppers. Nope.. Nah .. No thanks. As an avid non-pepper eating human being, the idea of writing a recipe and then … um … eating a recipe for stuffed peppers seems like bit of a stretch. I was skeptical and apprehensive and really not looking forward to that nights dinner but to be fair, I can’t put a blog post up and claim it’s a great stuffed pepper recipe if I don’t even try it!
So I made it.. I baked it .. I TRIED it.
Again, as a non-pepper eating human I can honestly say that even though I am not a fan of green peppers or red peppers or even the pretty yellow and orange peppers… these Mexican Stuffed Peppers are CRAZY GOOD!! Stuffed peppers traditionally (at least in my house growing up) were a mixture ground beef and white rice and tomato sauce. The End. They were fine and I would eat them by scooping out all of the insides of the stuffed peppers and just eat that because … yeah! .. I didn’t like peppers back then either. But this twist on classic stuffed peppers by adding all sorts of southwest and Mexican-inspired flavors really takes the idea of stuffed peppers in a whole new direction and that direction is a straight road to flavortown.
CAN MEXICAN STUFFED PEPPERS BE MADE AHEAD OF TIME?
Absolutely! Simply prepare the Mexican Stuffed Peppers the day before and cover them with plastic wrap before moving them to the refrigerator. Be sure to let your meat mixture cool before stuffing your peppers and increase your cook time by 10 to 15 minutes if you are baking them straight from the fridge.
MODIFICATIONS, IF YOU PLEASE
- Looking to make these a bit more low-carb? Replace the rice with cauliflower rice to bring that carb count down.
- Want to make these Mexican Stuffed Peppers even more figure friendly? Substitute the ground beef for ground chicken or turkey.
- Want to make these Mexican Stuffed Peppers in the slow cooker? These stuffed peppers are perfect for the crock pot .. simply stuff you peppers and cook on low for 4 hours. Add the cheese on top about a half an hour before you are ready to take them out of the slow cooker.
- Don’t want to microwave your bell peppers before stuffing them? No worries .. simply core your bell peppers and stuff as instructed but pour just a bit extra chicken stock inside each of the peppers. Place in an oven safe pan and cover with foil. Bake for 45 minutes, remove the foil and add the shredded cheese before baking for another 5-10 minutes or until cheese has melted.
HOW DO YOU MAKE MEXICAN STUFFED PEPPERS?
Easy! To make Mexican Stuffed Peppers, start by cutting the tops off of bell peppers and then removing the seeds and core of the pepper.
Once cleaned, place your peppers on a plate and cover them with a damp paper towel. Cook for 2-3 minutes on High and when done, set aside. While your peppers are pre-cooking, add chicken stock to a large covered cooking pot and bring to a boil. One boiling, add in your brown rice, recover your pot and remove the pot from the heat. Let your rice cook while you prepare your meat mixture. Grab a large skillet and brown your ground beef over Medium High heat until cooked and no longer pink. Drain the grease and return to the stove top. Add to the ground beef, taco seasoning, corn, black beans, Rotel tomatoes, chopped onion, garlic, seasonings and green chiles.
Stir to combine and then add in your cooked rice. Stir in chopped cilantro and half the Monterey Jack cheese. Using a large spoon, spoon your Mexican Stuffed Pepper mixture into your bell pepper shells and place standing up in a 9×13 baking pan.
Cover pan with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil, cover tops of your stuffed peppers with the remaining cheese and then return to the oven for 5-10 minutes or until cheese has melted. Serve immediately.
Looking for more Mexican-inspired dishes? Check out a few of my favorites below ..
- Easy Chicken Enchiladas
- Easy Slow Cooker Mexican Chorizo Chili
- Chicken Tinga Tostadas
- Best Red Enchilada Sauce
Enjoy!
MEXICAN STUFFED PEPPERS
Mexican Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients
- 8 bell peppers ... tops, seeds and cores removed
- 2 cups brown rice
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 1 pound ground beef
- 15 ounces corn kernels
- 15 ounce s black beans ... rinsed
- 1 packet taco seasoning
- 10 ounces Rotel tomatoes with green chiles
- 1/2 medium onion ... diced
- 3 cloves garlic ... minced
- 4 ounces green chiles ... diced
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup cilantro ... chopped
- 8 ounces Monterey Jack cheese ... shredded
Instructions
- To make Mexican Stuffed Peppers, start by cutting the tops off of bell peppers and then removing the seeds and core of the pepper. Once cleaned, place your peppers on a plate and cover them with a damp paper towel. Cook for 2-3 minutes on High and when done, set aside.
- While your peppers are pre-cooking, add chicken stock to a large covered cooking pot and bring to a boil. One boiling, add in your brown rice, recover your pot and remove the pot from the heat. Let your rice cook while you prepare your meat mixture.
- Grab a large skillet and brown your ground beef over Medium High heat until cooked and no longer pink. Drain the grease and return to the stove top. Add to the ground beef, taco seasoning, corn, black beans, Rotel tomatoes, chopped onion, garlic, seasonings and green chiles. Stir to combine and then add in your cooked rice. Stir in chopped cilantro and half the Monterey Jack cheese.
- Using a large spoon, spoon your Mexican Stuffed Pepper mixture into your bell pepper shells and place standing up in a 9x13 baking pan. Cover pan with foil and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove foil, cover tops of your stuffed peppers with the remaining cheese and then return to the oven for 5-10 minutes or until cheese has melted. Serve immediately.
Nutrition
Heather O’Clair Kirby of Wicked Whisk Taco Stuffed Peppers is awesome. They may not have looked as pretty as the picture in the recipe but delicious. Lou loved them. This recipe is a keeper.
This was a hit! Next time I want to try it with those little peppers. I think this would be great for a potluck.
Thanks so much Mary, we are so happy everyone enjoyed them and let us know how the change in peppers goes.
I’m excited to try this! I was wondering about how much ground beef you put into each pepper? I’m trying to decide if I should get a little over 1lb of ground beef or if 1lb will be enough.
Hello Gabriela, To answer you question, 1 pound of ground beef is sufficient if you are doing the eight peppers. All the other ingredients help take up the space but also be aware of the size of the peppers you are using, because that can impact the amount filling required.
An oven temp?
Cook your peppers at 350 degrees 🙂
I’m so glad to have this recipe in my YUM box! I can’t wait to give this a try!