These Cheesy Mexican Stuffed Peppers are loaded with the most delicious beefy and bean filling! This easy dinner recipe will turn any meal into a fiesta!
We love Tex-Mex night at out house! Also try our Pan Fried Beef Tacos for a twist on taco night, or our Naked Sheet Pan Tacos for a low carb dinner! Or stick with the basic recipes and make these Homemade Beef Tacos that everyone will love!
A Stuffed Pepper Recipe With A Tex-Mex Twist!
These Cheesy Mexican Stuffed Peppers have made it on our permanent dinner rotation! Stuffed peppers are perfect for an easy make ahead dinner, a twist on taco night or even for your Cinco de Mayo celebration!
Instead of a traditional stuffed pepper filling, we swapped out the rice for black beans in these Mexican stuffed peppers and man, we just love them! Our boys love beans of all kinds in just about anything so this recipe was a quick hit.
Also besides swapping out the rice for beans in the beef filling, we added corn, diced tomatoes and a good layer of melty cheese on top. Because it’s not a fiesta without melted cheese, am I right?
What Ingredients Do I Need To Make These Mexican Stuffed Peppers?
We’ll start with the basic ingredients here and then get into some swap out or substitution ideas later!
- Bell Peppers: Any color you like, for a fun Cinco de Mayo dinner we like to get a few different colors!
- Ground Beef: Use a lean ground beef for the filling, or make sure to drain off any drippings left behind after cooking.
- Onions: Sweet yellow onions will add so much flavor to the ground beef filling!
- Black Beans: Canned black beans work perfectly, or you can use pinto, kidney or white beans.
- Corn: You can use fresh, frozen or canned corn.
- Diced Tomatoes: We like using “petite” died tomatoes because the dice is smaller than a regular can of diced tomatoes. So if you’re not a fan of big chunks of things…it’s definitely something to check out!
- Tomato Sauce: Regular tomato sauce will flavor the beef filling and also create a sauce in the bottom of the baking dish.
- Cheese: You can really go with any melting cheese you like the flavor of. We used white and yellow cheddar cheese but other ideas are Monterey Jack, Pepper Jack, Colby, Mexican Blend, and even Mozzarella.
Can You Make Stuffed Peppers Ahead Of Time?
Stuffed peppers are a perfect make ahead recipe! You can take this recipe all the way to topping the peppers with cheese, then just cover and stash them in your refrigerator until you’re ready to bake.
To be honest, I think they taste even better reheated so don’t be afraid to bake them all the way through and just warm them up at dinner time.
Either way, you’re going to have a total knock out dinner waiting for you at the end of the day. To warm up already cooked stuffed peppers a couple of minutes in the microwave does the job!
How Do You Make This Stuffed Pepper Recipe?
Once you have the ground beef and bean filling made, it’s time to tackle the peppers.
For this stuffed pepper recipe we like to cut the top third off of the pepper, not directly in half. This was you can leave the stem on the pepper for a show stopping presentation (we eat with our eyes!) which is super fun for any dinner night or a fiesta like Cinco de Mayo!
Also, we take the pepper that we cut off, dice it up and add it to the beef filling, so no wasting of any ingredients! If you want to stretch this recipe further, you can just cut the peppers in half and grab an extra pepper for using in the filling.
Pour tomato sauce in the bottom of a 9″ x 13″ baking dish and the lay your peppers on top, cut side up. Stuff the peppers with the meat and bean filling, dividing equally between all the peppers.
Bake the peppers for 25-30 minutes, then remove them from the oven and add the cheese. Back into the oven for another 5 minutes to melt the cheese and then it’s time to dig in.
Our kids will eat this stuffed pepper recipe at least once a week. They love the bean and beef filling with all the taco seasonings and flavors they love. It’s a great way to get your kids to eat more vegetables!
What Can I Substitute In The Filling?
SO many things. Turkey or ground chicken instead of beef for one. Even leftover shredded chicken or turkey can be stirred into the filling if you’ve got that on hand.
Not a fan of beans? Just add some cooked white or brown rice instead. And don’t be afraid to spice these peppers up! Add a few dashes of hot sauce if you like it hot, or keep it on the mild side like we’ve done here and then you can spice up your own pepper at the end.
As far as the vegetables go, you can pretty much add anything you have in your fridge like chopped spinach or broccoli. Get creative with your leftovers!
This is one stuffed pepper recipe that might just take over the classic version. The cheesy topping, the beefy filling and all the delicious spices and flavors…
It’s a dinner recipe that will be asked for over and over again!
PIN IT!
Looking For More Dinner Recipes?
- Steak Fajita Fried Rice
- Chicken Stuffed Zucchini Enchiladas
- Cheesy BBQ Pulled Pork
- Philly Cheesesteak Fried Rice
Cheesy Mexican Stuffed Peppers
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 6 Servings 1x
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeThese cheesy, beef and bean stuffed peppers are going to be a hit for dinner or at your next party!
Ingredients
- 6 large bell peppers, cut in half with the stem left on one side (reserve the smaller cut half for the filling)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 cup diced onion
- 1 cup diced peppers (from the smaller half of the cut pepper)
- 1 1/4 pounds lean ground beef
- 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
- Fresh black pepper to taste
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 (29 ounce can) tomato sauce
- 1 (15.5 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
- 2 cups grated Colby jack cheese (or substitute a Mexican blend, Pepper Jack or Mozzarella)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Add the oil to a large skillet over medium heat.
- Add the onion and diced peppers, cooking for 5-7 minutes until softened.
- Add beef to the skillet, cooking until browned though. Drain any drippings from the skillet.
- Next add the garlic, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, cumin, oregano, beans and 1 cup of the tomato sauce to the skillet, stirring to combine. Turn the heat off and set the filling aside to cool slightly.
- Pour the remaining tomato sauce into the bottom of a 9″ x 13″ baking dish, then place in the peppers cut side up.
- Fill each pepper with the beef filling, dividing between all the peppers and bake, covered with foil, for 25 minutes.
- Remove the peppers from the oven and top with the cheddar cheese. Place the peppers back in the oven uncovered for 5 minutes until the cheese is melted and the peppers are tender.
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
