This easy Taco Stuffed Peppers recipe is perfect for a quick dinner! Learn how to make taco stuffed bell peppers that are healthy & yummy!
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Growing up, my mom would make traditional stuffed peppers all the time. Think homemade tomato sauce, ground beef, breadcrumbs, and rice. YUM!
Years ago we started making lighter stuffed peppers and since we loved that recipe so much, we thought it would be fun (and delicious) to add a taco twist.
Stuffed peppers are such an easy dinner because you just brown your meat, mix your filling, stuff, and bake! Perfect for taco night!
You can get this delicious and healthy dinner on the table in under an hour. You’re going to love it!
Also, if you like stuffed peppers as much as we do, you need to try our Whole30 Stuffed Peppers, our Unstuffed Peppers, Stuffed Pepper Casserole, or our Stuffed Pepper Soup.
Why We Love Stuffed Taco Peppers
There is a lot to love about this recipe. It’s one of our favorite dinners because it’s:
- Easy to make – Cook the meat, mix the filling, stuff the peppers, and bake. That’s it!
- Simple Ingredients – Most of these ingredients are pantry staples and there are only 11 ingredients needed for this delicious dinner!
- Easy to substitute – You can substitute every ingredient in this recipe depending on your preferences or what you have on hand. Check the green shaded box below for our recommendations.
Taco Stuffed Bell Peppers Ingredients
To make these delicious stuffed peppers, you’ll need:
- olive oil
- onion, garlic
- ground turkey or ground beef
- bell peppers
- tomato sauce
- taco seasoning
- black beans, frozen corn
- white rice
- cheese
You can find substitutions for all of these ingredients below in the green shaded box.
How to Make Taco Stuffed Peppers
- Satué onions, garlic, and ground beef in olive oil until browned.
- Stir tomato sauce, spices, black beans, corn, and cooked rice in the ground beef or ground turkey.
- Stuff peppers with meat mixture and pack in with a spoon or your hands. Top with cheese and place in greased baking dish.
- Bake at 350° for 15-20 minutes until the cheese on top is melted and peppers can easily be pierced with a fork.
How Long to Cook a Taco Stuffed Peppers Recipe: You cook taco stuffed peppers for 15-20 minutes until the cheese on top is melted and bubbling on top.
Taco Peppers Substitutions
Olive Oil: You can substitute avocado oil, butter, or ghee.
Onion/Garlic: Help add flavor to this dish. Feel free to substitute with 1/2 teaspoon each garlic powder or onion powder
Ground Beef: We like 85/15 ground beef. Feel free to use leaner ground beef depending on what you like. Ground Turkey & Ground chicken will also work. To make vegetarian you can use cooked lentils or ground beef substitute. You’ll need to adjust your cooking time.
Bell Peppers: Red, orange and yellow bell peppers are sweeter than green peppers.
Tomato Sauce: I use plain, unsweetened canned tomato sauce.
Taco Seasoning: I like to make my own taco seasoning because it’s lower in salt. Here’s my Healthy Taco Seasoning Recipe.
Black Beans: You can substitute black beans with whatever beans you like or omit them all together.
Frozen Corn: You can omit frozen corn if you prefer.
Cooked Rice: Do not substitute with uncooked rice. Any type of rice will work. White, brown, jasmine, etc. I haven’t tried this with quinoa but I think it would work.
Cheddar Cheese: Cheese is optional, but recommended. Without it, the peppers might get dry. I haven’t tried making this with dairy free cheese.
To Make it Lower Carb: Substitute raw cauliflower rice for cooked rice. don’t use frozen cauliflower rice, it’ll be too watery. Check out our Whole30 Stuffed Peppers if you’re looking for a lower carb stuffed pepper recipe.
Storing Stuffed Taco Peppers
Storing: This will last in the refrigerator for up to 4 days in an airtight container
Can I freeze taco meat stuffed peppers? You can freeze this recipe for up to 3 months. We like these containers for freezing !
Reheating: You can reheat this recipe in the microwave, toaster oven, oven, or on the stove.
Serving Stuffed Peppers with Taco Meat
You can eat these stuffed peppers on their own, but they would also be delicious to top with your favorite taco toppings:
- salsa, pico de gallo, or diced tomatoes
- corn salsa
- avocado
- lettuce
- black olives, jalapeños
- sour cream
- hot sauce
- taco dressing
Here are some of our favorite side dishes with these peppers:
- Mexican Potatoes
- Avocado Ranch Salad
- Pineapple Salsa and chips
- with a Watermelon Mojito, Margarita, or Strawberry Mojito
Taco Meat Stuffed Peppers FAQ
Make sure you don’t overcook the stuffed peppers. This would lead to soggy peppers.
If you are following this recipe, do not cook your peppers ahead of time. If you do, you would need to adjust your cook time to not have soggy peppers.
You can, but this recipe doesn’t call for it.
You don’t have to soften them before cooking.
Yes, you definitely want to cook your meat before stuffing the peppers to ensure it is thoroughly cooked.
Other healthy dinner recipes:
Looking for other easy meals? Check out these 40+ Healthy Dinner Recipes or 30+ Ground Beef and Rice Recipes. Click here to grab our free healthy 30 minute dinners cookbook.
Taco Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 lb ground turkey or ground beef
- 4 bell peppers halved, redorange or yellow
- 1 cup tomato sauce
- 1 tablespoon taco seasoning
- 1 cup black beans
- 1 cup frozen corn
- 1.5 cups cooked white rice or brown rice
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- In a sauté pan on the stove, heat olive oil.
- Cook onions, garlic, and ground beef in olive oil until browned, about 10 minutes.
- While turkey is cooking – prepare peppers. Slice halfway and remove seeds and any white inner pieces.
- When ground turkey is cooked, stir in tomato sauce, spices, black beans, corn and cooked rice.
- Stuff peppers with filling (about ¾ cup filling per pepper) Try to pack the filling into the peppers using a spoon or your hands. Top with a sprinkle of cheddar cheese.
- Place stuffed peppers in a greased glass baking dish (I spray mine with olive oil)
- Bake peppers in the oven for 15-20 minutes until the cheese on top is melted and bubbling on top. The peppers should be able to be pierced easily with a fork.
Kathy tuttle says
I just made this I got it slightly different because I cooked the peppers for 12 minutes so they will be done in boiling water; and I put uncle bens fast cook rice in same pan I was boiling for same time ; next time I would love to put kidney beans in it but I did not put any beans
But anything else was pretty much for the recipe I used tomato sauce shredded cheese I did put a little no sugar catchup on top after I got them garnished with the cheese but they are absolutely delicious and quite easy to make I bake them at 3:50 for 20 minutes my husband does not like crunchy peppers so that’s why I cook them so that they would be done and all of my other meat was done with the onions garlic etc. great recipe thank you very much
Carlos says
Made these and they turned out great I added a small amount of sour cream on top of mine and it was complete. Thank you for the delicious recipe and idea.
Sandie Robinson says
Wow! This recipe is amazing. I added a chopped poblano and a diced jalapeño, and used ground chicken breast. Used two peppers for the two of us. I made the entire stuffing recipe so I can easily make another and another dinner for us!
Angela says
Loved these! So delicious. Omitted the frozen corn since we didn’t have any on hand – still turned out great! Also used your taco seasoning recipe for this. Will likely make again!