Mexican Stuffed Bell Peppers | Valerie's Kitchen (2024)

A delicious filling made with seasoned ground beef, rice, black beans, and corn is topped with cheese and baked inside pretty colored bell peppers. Mexican Stuffed Peppers are a vibrant, super tasty meal.

I’d like to introduce you to my beautiful friend. She’s quite the colorful character – all dressed in red, and ready to party.

This recipe is a Mexican-inspired version of the classic stuffed bell peppers I grew up on. I have a tendency to throw a Mexican twist on nearly every recipe eventually and this time around it was mom’s stuffed bell peppers. I’ve taken her base recipe and jazzed it up by adding my ownHomemade Taco Seasoning, black beans, and corn. This recipe is full of fiber and good nutrition and I’m even going to tell you how you can lighten it up so I’m not responsible for making you break a New Year’s resolution.

The bell pepper imparts yummy flavor to the filling as it cooks to create savory deliciousness at its best. And, they are quite easy to put together.

Shall we?

Slice the tops off your bell peppers. Remove all the seeds and trim the ribs, if necessary. I suggest using a variety of colors for a gorgeous effect. Place them in a baking dish and add about 1″ of water. Cover the dish with foil and bake the peppers in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes. The water will steam cook the peppers to give them a tender head start before we fill them. When the peppers are slightly tender, remove them from the oven and reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees.

Meanwhile, back at the farm …

While the peppers are in the oven, let’s prepare the filling.

Add a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil to a large saute pan. Add lean ground beef and cook, stirring to break up the beef, until no pink remains. Drain off as much grease from the pan as you can and then return it to the heat. Add chopped onion and garlic (see recipe below for all the precise measurements, mmkay? mmkay). Cook and stir for several minutes until onion is tender.

Next, add some taco seasoning, cooked rice, black beans, frozen corn (no need to thaw), shredded cheese, diced green chiles, a can of fire roasted diced tomatoes, and a little tomato sauce. If you want to add some heat you can add some crushed red pepper, but this is totally optional.

You can really simply lighten up this recipe by doing any or all of the following – use lean ground turkey instead of beef, use brown rice instead of white, reduce or even eliminate the cheese. I use my own Homemade Taco Seasoning but the prepared, store-bought variety will also work.

Combine the mixture well and cook until the cheese has melted. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside.

After the initial pre-cook of the peppers, remove the baking dish from the oven and pour off the water. Return the peppers to the baking dish and load them up with the filling.

Top each pepper with a little bit (or a lot!) of shredded cheese – I used cheddar and Jack – and pop the baking dish back in the oven (at 375 degrees) for about 25 to 30 minutes.

I topped them with a little light sour cream and thinly sliced green onion. Any variety of toppings would be great here – avocado, cilantro, olives, tomatoes, salsa, yum!

More tasty stuffed bell pepper ideas:
Spicy Italian Stuffed Bell Peppers | Barefeet in the Kitchen
Cheesy Enchilada Stuffed Peppers | The Cookie Rookie
Sausage and Orzo Stuffed Peppers | Boulder Locavore
Pizza Slow Cooker Stuffed Peppers | A Spicy Perspective