Crock Pot Mexican Stuffed Bell Peppers

These Crock Pot Mexican Stuffed Bell Peppers are easy and delicious, and you don’t need to turn on the stove or the oven to prepare them. Just chop and mix and they are ready to go.One of my absolute favorite cookbooks is Slow Cooker Revolution from America’s Test Kitchen. So when I wanted to develop a recipe for stuffed bell peppers in the crock pot, I used their technique for Tex-Mex Stuffed Bell Peppers as a guide. It’s perfect because, you do not need to brown the ground beef ahead of time. When I use my slow cooker, I am always looking for a way to avoid precooking. The slow cooker insert takes up enough room in the dishwasher, I don’t want another pan in there too!Ok, let’s get started.Finely dice 1/2 of a yellow onion. Pour a cup of prepared enchilada sauce into a heat proof measuring cup and add diced onion. Heat the onion/enchilada sauce mixture in the microwave for about 5 minutes to soften onions. I usually cover mine with a paper towel to avoid splatters.Cut the tops off of four bell peppers, I use yellow, red or orange as the green bell peppers are not as sweet. Remove stems and seeds and dice the tops of the bell peppers.Pour 1/3 of a cup of water into the bottom of the crock pot and nestle bell peppers in.

In a large mixing bowl, combine one pound of uncooked ground beef, onion/enchilada sauce mixture, diced bell peppers, 1 cup of shredded jack cheese, 3/4 cup of cooked mexican style rice, 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper.

Fill bell peppers with ground beef mixture and top with more cheese. Don’t forget that you need to have the water at the bottom of the crock pot.

Cook on low for about 6 hours.

The bell peppers are soft, but not too soft, and the filling is so flavorful. I kept my bell peppers kid friendly, but you can bump up the flavor by adding a little canned chipotle chile in adobo if you want more spice!

We topped ours with a little bit of sour cream and green onion, and had a simple salad on the side.

 Crock Pot Mexican Stuffed Bell Peppers
adapted from Slow Cooker Revolution by America’s Test Kitchen

Serves 4

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 6 hours

Ingredients

4 bell peppers
1 pound of 85 percent lean ground beef
1/2 of a yellow onion, diced
1 cup of canned enchilada sauce
1 1/4 cup of shredded jack cheese
3/4 cup of cooked (leftover) mexican rice
salt and pepper
sour cream and diced green onion for toppings

Directions

1. Finely dice a 1/2 of a yellow onion. Pour a cup of prepared enchilada sauce into a heat proof measuring cup and add diced onion. Heat the onion/enchilada sauce mixture in the microwave for about 5 minutes to soften onions.

2. Cut the tops off of four bell peppers. Remove stems and seeds and dice the tops of the bell peppers.

3. Pour 1/3 of a cup of water into the bottom of the crock pot and nestle bell peppers in.

4. In a large mixing bowl, combine one pound of uncooked ground beef, onion/enchilada sauce mixture, diced bell peppers, 1 cup of shredded jack cheese, 3/4 cup of cooked rice, 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper.

5. Fill bell peppers with ground beef mixture and top with more cheese.

6. Cook on low for about 6 hours. You can test mixture with meat thermometer for doneness. It should be cooked to 160 degrees.

Note: You must used pre-cooked rice. I used leftover mexican rice,  but you can also use cooked white rice. Just bump up your seasoning so that the mixture is not too bland. You can add chili powder, garlic powder, cumin, chipotle in adobo. Whatever sounds good to you!

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Thank you for reading!

Melissa