These Southwest Stuffed Peppers are chock full of beef, rice, corn and beans. Sub ground turkey or chicken for an even leaner meal!
This beautiful colorful dish is so easy to make and chalk full of veggies and lean meat!
How to make Southwest Stuffed Peppers
Cut the ends off of your rainbow of peppers. Save those tops because we are chopping them up and tossing them in the meat mixture. More veggies!
This recipe calls for rice but who wants to spend 30 minutes watching it cook. I got a secret! OVEN BAKE YOUR RICE! While you are cooking up the beef filling on the stove top your rice is cooking away in the oven. Once you make your rice like this, you will never go back to pot watching!
You can also Oven Bake Quinoa and Brown Rice!
HOW TO OVEN BAKE RICE:
Combine rice, hot water, cover and bake for 25 minutes. It will come out fluffy every time! (see recipe card below for exact instructions).
So your rice is ricing in the oven and you are working on the stuffing. Hang in there..you are almost done and you just got started!
Cut the tops off the peppers and remove the seeds and veins. Add a bit of water to the casserole dish, cover with plastic wrap and microwave on high for 2-3 minutes. This will soften up the peppers and they will be perfectly done when the dish bakes in the oven.
So you have done all your chopping, mixing and TASTING FOR SEASONING! Especially when working with seasonings like chili powder and cumin. They vary greatly in their intensity.
Now its time to stuff ’em!
Your all stuffed up and ready for the oven! Bake about 20 minutes, top with cheese and you have a hearty but healthy meal!
We eat these for days. I chop up the leftovers and toss them in salads and stuff them in tortillas. They make a great lunchbox treat as well!
We love our Southwest and Mexican flavors around here…check out two of our most popular recipes:
One Pan Southwest Chicken and Rice – Even the uncooked rice goes in the same pan!- made with store bought rotisserie chicken and a handful of ingredients you probably have in your pantry !
Healthy Mexican Casserole – made with ground chicken, turkey or beef along with black beans and Enchilada sauce for a super flavorful but healthy dinner…oh and fast!
To Easy Dinners with Tons of Flavor!
Clink!
Kathi
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Southwest Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef ground chicken or turkey
- 1 cup cooked white rice brown rice, quinoa or couscous
- cup yellow onion, chopped
- 2 large garlic cloves, chopped
- 6 whole peppers 2 green, 2 yellow, 2 red
- 1 poblano pepper, seeded and chopped or one 6 ounce can roasted chilies
- 1 cup tomato puree or tomato sauce
- 1 cup yellow corn fresh or thawed frozen
- 1 cup black beans, drained and rinsed
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1/2 cup grated mexican blend cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- For the one cup of rice, you can follow my easy oven bake recipe or just follow the directions on the package. To oven bake rice. In small casserole dish combine 1 cup rice with 2 cups very hot water. (I microwave water on high 2 minutes before adding to rice). Cover tightly with foil and bake for 25 minutes. You will not need all of the rice for this recipe. Remove one cup and save the rest for another use.
- Slice tops off of green peppers . Remove seeds and veins. Remove the stems from the tops of the pepper and chop up to use in the filling.
- Place peppers in baking dish. Add 1/3 cup water. Cover with plastic wrap and cook in microwave on high for about 3 minutes or until slightly soft. Discard remaining water from baking dish.
- In large skillet, brown ground beef over medium high heat. Drain fat if any. Add chopped onion, the chopped pepper tops, and garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Saute until onions and peppers are soft. Add tomato puree, cooked rice, corn and beans.
- Add chili powder and cumin. Taste for seasoning. More salt, pepper or spices?
- Using a large spoon, divide beef mixture into the peppers. Bake uncovered for 25-30 minutes until filling is heated through and peppers are tender.
- Top with cheese. Put back in oven for 5 minutes and serve with your favorite southwest toppings like sour cream, avocado and salsa!
- Store leftovers in the fridge. These are great chopped up and thrown on a salad or in a tortilla!
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