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.
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).
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 pound ground beef
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup rice , cooked, or 1/2 cup rice (uncooked)
- 8 oz black beans from the can, rinsed
- 1 tomato , chopped into small slices
- 6 green bell peppers , medium size
- 2/3 cup tomato sauce (meatless marinara sauce)
- 2/3 cup water or use less - judge for yourself
- 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese , shredded
- 1/4 cup cheddar cheese , shredded
- 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, 1/4 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, 1/4 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 2/3 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.
How about using ground chicken?
Yes, you can definitely use ground chicken.
Why the added oil before adding the hamburger? Seems needless.
I think I used very lean ground beef for this recipe, that’s why I needed olive oil to cook it.
Hilarious
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.
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 ☺