Mexican Stuffed Bell Peppers (2024)

Published: Sep 24, 2014 / 38 Comments

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Mexican Stuffed Bell Peppers - stuffed with ground beef, black beans, rice, tomatoes, spiced just right with Mexican spices, topped with grated Cheddar and Mozzarella cheese. Baked in a meatless tomato sauce (right from the jar).

These delicious Mexican stuffed bell peppers make an amazing dinner! They are baked in tomato sauce because it doesn't let them dry up during baking process and also expands your options for serving. These stuffed bell peppers can be served as-is, on a regular plate without the tomato sauce:

Or, you can serve them in a bowl, with a little bit of the tomato sauce at the bottom, which makes beef and beans stuffed bell peppers more moist and flavorful - I prefer them that way:

How to make stuffed bell peppers

They are super easy to make - stuff the bell peppers with the filling (made with ground beef, rice, black beans, and tomatoes) according to the recipe, and place them in a baking dish:

Next, fill the baking dish with tomato sauce and sprinkle the bell peppers and the sauce with cheese:

Finally, cover with foil and bake bell peppers stuffed with ground beef and black beans until heated through! Enjoy!

Other Mexican inspired recipes

Mexican Chicken Pasta-sliced chicken breast cooked in Mexican spices, with bell peppers and green chiles, and then smothered in a creamy sauce made with Cheddar and Mozzarella cheeses and spices.
Mexican Street Corn Black Bean Chicken Bake - chicken breasts topped with Chili powder, corn kernels, black beans, Cotija cheese, and baked in the oven for about 25 minutes.

4.91 from 20 votes

Mexican Stuffed Bell Peppers

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 40 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr

Course Main Course

Cuisine Mexican

Servings 6 servings

Calories per serving 350 kcal

Author: Julia

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
½ pound ground beef
2 teaspoons chili powder
2 teaspoons cumin
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup rice , cooked, or ½ cup rice (uncooked)
8 oz black beans from the can, rinsed
1 tomato , chopped into small slices
6 green bell peppers , medium size
⅔ cup tomato sauce (meatless marinara sauce)
⅔ cup water or use less - judge for yourself
¼ cup mozzarella cheese , shredded
¼ cup cheddar cheese , shredded

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Heat the skillet on stove top until hot, add olive oil - it should sizzle. Immediately add ground beef and cook it constantly stirring intill nicely browned and cooked through. Remove from heat. Drain all excess fat. Add 1 teaspoon chili powder, 1 teaspoon cumin, ¼ teaspoon salt to cooked ground beef, stir to combine.
To the same skillet, off heat, add black beans, chopped tomatoes, and cooked rice. Note: make sure to rinse black beans really well and drain. Add more spices: 1 teaspoon chili powder, 1 teaspoon cumin, ¼ teaspoon salt to beef, stir to combine.
Prepare bell peppers for stuffing: cut the tops off, stem and seed them.
Stuff each bell pepper with the filling. Fill the baking dish with marinara spaghetti sauce and up to ⅔ cups of water (don't pour all water at once - just pour enough to make the marinara sauce less dense). Place stuffed bell peppers tightly into prepared baking dish, cavity side up. In my case, I used 2 large bread pans. Top each pepper with both shredded Mozzarella and Cheddar cheese. Sprinkle some cheese over the tomato sauce too. Cover with foil
Bake stuffed bell peppers for 30-40 minutes, until the peppers are tender and the filling is hot. Serve in shallow bowls, with some of tomato sauce on the bottom.

Nutrition

Nutrition Information

Mexican Stuffed Bell Peppers

Serving Size

1 g

Amount per Serving

Calories

350

% Daily Value*

Fat

Nutrition Disclaimer:

The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. It should not be used as a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

Keyword baked bell peppers, mexican peppers, stuffed bell peppers

Tried this recipe?Be sure to leave a comment and provide a Star Rating below - I love your feedback and try to respond to every comment!

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Reader Interactions

Comments

4.91 from 20 votes (18 ratings without comment)

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Excellent recipe
October 28, 2019 at 2:58 am
Excellent recipe. I just made it and served it with cauliflower rice.
Reply
- Kathie
  January 18, 2021 at 7:48 pm
  How do u make cauliflower rice I’m interfering
  Reply
  - Kathie
    January 18, 2021 at 7:49 pm
    I meant Intrigued sorry LOL
    Reply
Celesta
April 23, 2018 at 6:20 pm
How about using ground chicken?
Reply
- Julia
  May 03, 2018 at 4:53 pm
  Yes, you can definitely use ground chicken.
  Reply
Nini
March 14, 2018 at 2:56 am
Why the added oil before adding the hamburger? Seems needless.
Reply
- Julia
  March 14, 2018 at 4:55 pm
  I think I used very lean ground beef for this recipe, that's why I needed olive oil to cook it.
  Reply
RHUBARB
March 09, 2017 at 10:31 pm
Hilarious
Reply
kate
February 08, 2017 at 7:59 pm
I wanted to also mention that the amount of spices in this, especially the cumin was a bit much. Cumin is very strong so when it called for 2 tsp I was a little unsure, but I did it anyway and turns out I should have stopped at 1 tsp. Also, I did not add the chili powder bc I cannot eat spicy food and I did not water down the red sauce (instead of water I used more red sauce). I like my sauce to be thicker and I'm glad I did that. I also used a pound of ground beef instead of 1/2 a pound and did not drain it (i think those juices add more flavor). All in all I think it was a good recipe and my husband agreed. If I make it again I would tone it down with the spices.
Reply
Bernadette
August 22, 2016 at 4:09 am
Next time I would do with more spices and garlic and onion as it was quite bland for us... I made it with red peppers and instead of just black beans I added Mexican mixed veggies. What a colour transformation ☺
Reply
Carmen
May 27, 2015 at 8:32 pm
Julia, thank you so much for sharing your recipe. The dish is absolutely delicious!
Reply
Angela
March 08, 2015 at 12:13 am
Great recipe. The only thing I would change is to boil the peppers before stuffing and baking. Only cooking them leaves them quite firm and requiring cutting into. Still a success and will try again !
Reply
Cyndi
March 02, 2015 at 8:31 pm
We made these for dinner. Found that the peppers need a longer cooking time, maybe an hour and a quarter total to make the peppers soft. Great flavor, though.
Reply
- kate
  February 07, 2017 at 11:19 pm
  I also found that these peppers needed a longer cooking time. Put them in for 35 min and when I checked them they were still hard. My oven is also electric so maybe that's also why...? Not really sure, but cooking time was way too short.
  Reply

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