These simple Mexican Stuffed Peppers are a weeknight meal that takes minutes to prep and fills your dinner table with flavor! It is a great way to change up the typical Mexican meals into something new and exciting that the whole family can enjoy. The best part is that these stuffed peppers can be made with leftover taco meat so you use up your leftovers AND get dinner in the oven even faster! Mexican Stuffed Peppers are the dinner trifecta- QUICK, EASY, and DELICIOUS!
Mexican Stuffed Pepper Recipe
I am very excited to be finally sharing this recipe with you today. One of my favorite time saving kitchen hacks is reusing leftovers to make new meals that your family will love. This saves tons of time since the bulk of the work is already done, it helps eliminate food waste, and gives your family a completely new meal they won’t even know is leftovers!
That is WIN-WIN-WIN my friends!
If you want to check out more of my dinner recipes that can be “made over” into other meals, see my Hawaiian BBQ Meatballs, Green Chile Chicken, or Chicken Enchilada Casserole.
How to Serve Mexican Stuffed Peppers
These Mexican Peppers are great for a lot of reasons, but one main reason is that they have the protein, grain, and veggie all in one dish. This can make these stand up as a meal all on their own, but if you want to round out your table, here are a few ideas for sides that I like to serve with these.
- Beans- Beans are a traditional mexican food so the flavor works really well with all that we have going on in these Mexican Stuffed Peppers. You can serve them with black beans, pinto beans or refried beans.
- Cauliflower rice- There is already rice in the meat mixture inside the pepper, but adding a side of cauliflower rice gives you the same “feel” of rice but adds another healthy veggie to the mix. I also often mix cauliflower rice with regular rice for my kids and they gobble it up without even knowing the difference!
- Salad- A simple side salad works well with these peppers. You can use a ranch dressing or something more exciting like a creamy tomatillo, or cilantro lime vinaigrette. Also, you can just eat the pepper on a bed of lettuce. Since most tacos have lettuce in them, you can just take bites of the lettuce with the pepper as you cut it up and it gives you that taco feel. My favorites are chopped romaine, iceberg, or arugula.
- Chips- Grab some tortilla chips and eat them on the side. The crunch works well since the texture of the pepper is much more soft!
- Tortillas- Eat plain flour or corn tortillas, or grill them with a little cheese as a delicious side for your Mexican Stuffed Peppers.
- Margaritas- If you need a beverage to go along with it, try serving these peppers with a traditional margarita, or one of my Virgin Margaritas.
You can serve the Mexican Stuffed Peppers with one of these side dishes, or add a few to feed a crowd. It is up to you! If you have another serving idea that goes well with this dish, please let me (and all of our other readers) know in the comments so we can give it a try!
How to Make Mexican Stuffed Peppers
These are a great meal to make with or without leftover taco meat. I am going to walk through a few tips and FAQ’s with you below, but make sure and hop down to the bottom of the post to get the FULL printable recipe card.
Q: What kind of taco meat do I use in these Mexican Stuffed Peppers?
A: The beauty of these peppers is that you can make it with whatever your favorite taco meat is! I use this Taco Meat recipe. You can use ground beef, ground turkey, ground chicken, or whatever you prefer.
Q: How full do I stuff the peppers?
A: I stuff them until they are full which is about 1 cup of filling per bell pepper on average.
Q: Can I put corn, black beans, tomatoes or other extras in the mixture?
A: SURE! I think those all sound wonderful! If you do add extras to the mixture just note that you may haves some extra filling and be able to make an extra stuffed pepper or two.
Q: What is the purpose of the chicken broth in the dish while cooking?
A: The chicken broth combined with the foil over the top helps the peppers to steam allowing them to cook evenly and retain their moisture as they bake. Once the dish is done, you will lift them out of the chicken broth to serve.
Q: Are these Mexican Stuffed Peppers gluten free?
A: Yes, they can be. You will want to double check all ingredients that you use. The homemade taco seasoning I use is gluten free so I recommend it to be safe. Also, make sure that the chicken broth you use is gluten free as well.
Q: Are these Mexican Stuffed Peppers dairy free?
A: The only dairy in the recipe is the cheese on top and the sour cream to garnish. If you are looking to make this meal dairy free, you can easily leave both off and it will still be delicious! If you want a little something extra for the topping, I recommend my dairy free ranch dressing!
Q: Can these Mexican Stuffed Peppers be a freezer meal?
A: Yes they sure can! These work really well as a freezer meal. Just prepare the Mexican Peppers up to the point where you put them in the oven and instead put them in an airtight container and freeze. When you are ready to cook, let them thaw then bake as directed adding the cheese at the end. You can also freeze them after cooking to save the leftovers for another day.
Q: How much is a serving?
A: I calculate a serving as half a pepper, but you can certainly eat the whole thing if you are hungry. It is a great and wholesome meal!
If you have any other questions that I didn’t answer, please leave them for me in the comments down below.
How to Keep Leftovers of Mexican Stuffed Peppers
If you have anything left once you serve these delicious stuffed peppers up, you can save them to reheat and eat for another meal. To save the leftovers, place them in meal sized portions in an air tight container and:
- Refrigerate for up to 3-4 days
- Freeze for up to a month.
The Mexican Stuffed Peppers can be reheated in the microwave or placed in a dish and covered with foil and reheated in the oven.
I hope that you get a chance to try out these Mexican stuffed peppers. They really are a great way to switch up the normal Mexican cuisine at our dinner tables and try something new and delicious.
If you do get a chance to try it, I would love it if you let me know! You can leave me a comment below, or if you post a picture on Instagram, make sure to tag me @easyfamilyrecipes so that I can see what you are cooking up! It makes my day to see others enjoying the recipes that I share!
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Mexican Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients
- 2 cups taco meat prepared (I use this taco meat recipe)
- 2 cups cooked rice see note
- 3 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tbsp taco seasoning
- 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
- 2 cups chicken broth divided 1/4 cup, and 1 3/4 cup
- 4 sweet bell peppers any color
- 1/4 cup sharp cheddar or montery jack cheese
- Garnish Optional
- Cilantro chopped
- Sour Cream
Instructions
- Mix together the taco meat, rice, tomato paste, taco seasoning, cilantro, and 1/4 cup chicken broth until well combined.
- Cut the tops off of each bell pepper and remove the seeds. Stuff each pepper with about 1 cup of the mixture and set it top up in a baking dish. If the pepper doesn't want to stand slice of a small portion on the bottom so that it can sit flat.
- Pour the remaining 1 3/4 cup chicken broth into the bottom of the baking dish around the peppers and cover the dish with foil. Bake at 350˚F for 40 minutes or until the peppers are fork tender. Remove the foil, add cheese top top each pepper and return to the oven for 5 additional minutes uncovered.
- Garnish with sour cream, guacamole, salsa, or cilantro as desired. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes:
- You can use any taco meat you prefer. The taco meat is important because it will really flavor the dish and my favorite is this Taco Meat recipe.
- This Mexican Stuffed Peppers recipe is perfect for leftovers and can be scaled up or down to how many peppers you want to make.
- I prefer using jasmine rice in this recipe. You can use any precooked rice you like including brown rice or other long grain rices as long as they are not already seasoned they will work well.
- You can keep leftovers in the fridge for 3-4 days.
Nutrition Information:
(Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.)
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