Mexican Stuffed Peppers – colorful flavor packed stuffed bell peppers filled with ground beef, spices, mexican rice, veggies, and cheese!
Mexican Stuffed Peppers
These bell peppers are absolutely loaded with flavor. The best part of this recipe is that the ground beef cooks right in the bell pepper. You do not need to cook the meat before stuffing the peppers. I use my favorite Mexican Rice Recipe to stuff the peppers. I will usually plan to serve the rice with tacos earlier in the week, then use the leftovers for this mexican stuffed pepper recipe.
I adapted this recipe from my CrockPot Stuffed Peppers and my Instant Pot Stuffed Peppers. All of these recipes have the same basic ingredients, it’s just the cooking method that changes. This is my preferred method for feeding a crowd or for meal prepping since you can make so many at once. If you need them quick, try the Instant Pot version! They cook in just 10 minutes in the Instant Pot.
Note: This recipe makes 8 stuffed peppers. The baking dish below is smaller than a 9×13 pan so only has 6 pictured.
Can I Freeze Stuffed Peppers?
Yes! Let them cool completely, then wrap individually in plastic wrap and place in a freezer safe bag. Let thaw and microwave to reheat. They make great leftovers. The bell peppers are a natural portion control.
What to Serve with Mexican Stuffed Peppers
- Black Bean and Corn Salad
- Mexican Rice
- Slow Cooker Refried Beans
- Frozen Margaritas
- Homemade Salsa
- Baked Tortilla Chips
Which Bell Peppers to Use
- Look for bell peppers that are roughly the same size so they cook evenly.
- Width is more important than height since they can be trimmed shorter.
- Red, yellow, and orange bell peppers have a sweeter, milder flavor and I prefer to use those, but green bell peppers can be used as well.
- Look for bell peppers that are firm and smooth with no soft spots.
More Mexican Recipes
- Steak and Shrimp Sheet Pan Fajitas
- One Pan Chicken Burrito Bowl
- Ground Beef Enchiladas
- Instant Pot Chicken Enchiladas

Colorful flavor packed stuffed bell peppers filled with ground beef, spices, mexican rice, veggies, and cheese!
- 8 bell peppers
- 2 pounds 85/15 ground beef
- 1 cup onion finely diced
- 15 oz can of tomato sauce
- 1 1/2 cups cooked mexican rice use leftover mexican rice
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 3 teaspoons chili powder
- 2 1/2 cups colby jack cheese shredded and divided
- diced green onion
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On stovetop, saute onions in olive oil until softened. Set aside to cool.
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut the tops off of bell peppers. Remove stems and seeds and finely dice the tops of the bell peppers.
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In a large mixing bowl, combine uncooked ground beef, cooled onion, tomato sauce, seasonings, cooked mexican rice, 2 cups cheese, 2 1/2 teaspoons of kosher salt and 1 teaspoon of pepper. Do not over mix.
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Fill bell peppers with ground beef mixture and top with remaining cheese. Set stuffed bell peppers in baking dish and fill with 2/3 cup of water. Cover tightly with foil. TIP: SPRAY FOIL WITH NON STICK COOKING SPRAY BEFORE PLACING OVER STUFFED PEPPERS. THIS WILL KEEP THE CHEESE FROM STICKING TO THE FOIL. Bake for 1 hour or until bell peppers are tender and the filling reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees on a meat thermometer. Serve with diced green onions on top.
This recipe can be easily halved to make 4 stuffed peppers.
5 Easy Dinner Ideas for Busy Weeknights
My five FAVORITE recipes for busy families!
- Quick to make
- Light on your budget
- Easy to clean-up
- and...most important...absolutely DELICIOUS
Such a fun. and flavorful dish; looking forward to making this for dinner tonight! Looks amazing!
So flavorful and I love how colorful they are. Definitely an awesome weeknight meal. 😉
These were soooo delicious. And we had plenty leftover so I’ll be having them for lunch today and tomorrow! A great meal prep for 2.
The flavors in this recipe were bomb!! THANK YOU!
These stuffed peppers are the most delicious dinner dish! Amazing flavor, we all loved it!
Excellent! Only changes I made were to cook beef and onion together then drain so there was not as much fat. Mixed everything in and baked. Delicious!!!
The peppers I used were a little on the larger side so it took closer to 1 1/2hours to cook. But they tasted great.