Taco Stuffed Peppers make an incredible dinner any night of the week. Tender and colorful bell peppers are filled with a seasoned beef and rice filling and enchilada sauce. Add a sprinkle of cheese and bake until perfectly golden.
Serve these easy peppers with your favorite Mexican or Tex Mex style side dishes… fresh corn tortillas, homemade salsa and a big scoop of guacamole!
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Taco Stuffed Peppers
My family loves making classic stuffed peppers or even unstuffed peppers for dinner! This recipe is one of those dishes that draws your family to the table! They are filling, absolutely delicious and they can be prepared ahead of time.
This recipe puts a southwestern spin on a classic stuffed peppers recipe, creating a new family favorite! These stuffed peppers aren’t Mexican at all but are seasoned with a simple spice blend and lots of enchilada sauce for flavors reminiscent of my favorite Mexican-inspired meals.
It’s a satisfying meal that everyone will enjoy.
Tips for Stuffed Peppers
- Stuffed peppers can be prepared ahead of time, covered and refrigerated for up to 24 hours before baking. If preparing ahead of time, be sure to let the beef mixture cool before filling the peppers. You may need to add 5-10 minutes to the bake time if these are refrigerated prior to baking.
- If you’re watching carbs or calories, Cauliflower Rice. You can also replace the cheese with a lighter version. If you’ve never had cauliflower rice before, you have to try it! It’s easy to make, delicious, and a great substitute for white rice!
Taco Night Stuffed Peppers!
These taco stuffed peppers with ground beef are a great option for a Taco night. Adding lettuce, onion, tomato and other toppings like sour cream offer even more fresh and delicious flavors to this dish!
We love serving these peppers with jalapeno cornbread muffins, filled with a little surprise!
More Taco Inspired Dishes You’ll Love
- Beef Taco Pasta Skillet – Delicious!
- 5 Minute Taco Dip
- Homemade Taco Seasoning Recipe -Healthy & quick!
- Taco Stuffed Pasta Shells – Kid Approved!
- Instant Pot Chicken Tacos (Pressure Cooker)
- Slow Cooker Barbacoa Beef – a family favorite
Ingredients
- 4 bell peppers red or green
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 small onion diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- 10 ounces canned diced tomatoes with chilies such as Rotel, 1 can
- 1 can enchilada sauce divided
- 2 cups cooked rice or Cauliflower Rice
- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Wash and seed bell peppers and cut in half from top to bottom. Place in a greased 9×13 baking dish and set aside.
- Brown ground beef, onion and garlic. Drain any fat. Stir in chili powder, cumin, diced tomatoes, ⅔ cup of the enchilada sauce. Let simmer 2-3 minutes, remove from heat and stir in cooked rice.
- Divide beef mixture into the pepper halves. Top with remaining enchilada sauce and cheese.
- Bake uncovered for 30-35 minutes or until peppers are cooked and cheese is melted.
- Top with your favorite taco toppings and serve.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Main Course
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Those peppers look absolutely delicious, and sure will test even better. Love how easy the recipe is. Thanks for sharing.
Good day
Am looking forward to try your Recipes
Will do the stuffed peppers
And the mini meatloafs
Wish me success
I love this recipe! It’s our new favorite.
Great recipe!!
Thanks Christine!
Delicious recipes that make you want to cook and then eat all of it. I will definitely try some of these dishes!!
Thank you!
Loved these! Some things I did differently / more details for people that don’t know how to cook that well (like me)…
I cut three peppers vertically and placed down on pan and the stuffing fit perfectly
I used 10oz can of herdez enchillada sauce
10 ounce can of rotel (mixed in to ground beef after I drained the fat)
When it comes to spices, I like mine to have a-lot of flavor so for Mexican meat my husband taught me to drain fat, spread brown meat and sprinkle cumin over so that the top is lightly covered, do the same with chili powder, add a few “stripes” of garlic powder and onion powder, about 5 pinches of salt, stir and add to taste. I also added crushed red peppers (not a-lot because they add quite a bit of spice). Taste as you go and don’t be afraid to add more spice, the older your spice the more you will need to get the flavor you want.
To save time I use the Uncle Bens ready rice (it comes in bags you can pop in the microwave for 90 seconds). I used brown basmati, but the Mexican rice would be good too.
I used the pre-shreded Mexican cheese, I put one layer of meat mix then topped with cheese, I repeated with the last layer, poured more enchilada sauce on top and then topped with cheese. It’s kind of like making a lasagna and makes sure you get cheese in every bite…
I’m glad that you loved the peppers. Thank you for sharing your tips on how you made them Mary Beth!
I added black beans & corn and some diced chilies … I bake the peppers in about an 1inch of water on 400 for 20 minutes while meat cooking then drain water & add filling and finish baking.. great recipe
Thanks for sharing
I’ve made these twice and they are delicious! Thank you!
You’re welcome! Glad you enjoy them
What size can of enchilada sauce do you use?
I use a 10-14 ounce can.
Enjoy, Bella!
Hi, what size can of rotel and what size enchilada sauce? Thanks
I use a 10 ounce can of rotel and a 10-14 ounce can of enchilada sauce.
Wonderful twist on traditional stuffed peppers. This recipe is easy to make and I had most of the ingredients on hand. Definitely a keeper.
I am glad you enjoyed this recipe Carolyn!
Recipe says to grease pan. My question is what do you grease with????
I usually add water when baking stuff peppers
You could grease it with oil, butter or non-stick spray.
Can you use ground turkey instead of ground beef?
I’m making them right now with ground turkey….will let you know :)
I made these today with the listed ingredients but found that there was too much filling for only 4 peppers. I ended up just putting the remaining filling on the side for my meal prep. I think maybe you might need 6-8 peppers or half the filling amount. Despite that minor hiccup, I’m super excited to have these for lunch this week! :)
Gorgeous pictures. I made these mexican stuffed peppers for the super bowl party and it was a crowd favorite. I’m also gonna pin this post on my Pinterest board my followers will love it. Thanks for sharing, Holly!
So glad you loved them!
This recipe is excellent. I made a few changes to it and it came out really good. Since most enchilada sauces have a little heat to them I replaced it with Ragu’s plain spaghetti sauce or the meat sauce. I took the opportunity to get healthy here and sneak in grains the kids might normally eat, so I bought Minute Multi-Grain Medley Rice (brown rice, red rice, wild rice, and quinoa). I used Hidden Valley Onion Powder instead of diced unions as I have a child who likes the flavor of an onion and garlic, but doesn’t want to chew/taste the onion or garlic clove itself no matter how diced it is.
I made this for my family today, and we all loved it! Great recipe, I will be making this again soon. Thanks for sharing
I am so glad your family enjoyed the recipe!
can you freeze these before cooking? or even after they are cooked?
You sure could Myriah!
Anyone ever tried freezing these? Would be so easy to make a big batch and have them ready to pop in the oven! Would love to know if it would work!
My daughter freezes them all the time
Hi Holly, these stuffed peppers look tasty and easy to make. Thank you for sharing your recipes.
You’re welcome! Enjoy Sylvieann!
Holly I love this idea of stuffing peppers with Mexican rice and meat filling!! So filling and I bet it tastes so good!! Pinned!
Love this and that you can prep them ahead of time til you’re ready to bake!
And your last post about cauli rice, huge fan. I usually just pulse it in my food proc for a few seconds and I’m done. Now TJ’s has started selling it in bags. I know you don’t have one in your area but it’s a nice shortcut for me :)
Ohhh, I’ll have to look and see if I can find the cauli rice in bags, I use it for fried rice probably twice/week for lunch!! I think that’s my favorite lunch!