Add a little Halloween fun to a delicious weeknight meal.

Stuffed Bell peppers are always a great option for dinner, because it has all the things: lots of veggies, meat and with this version: rice and beans. Here’s a fun way to make it cute during the Halloween season: make the bell peppers look like little Jack O’ Lanterns! Bell peppers that look like pumpkins! Just like our favorite stuffed pepper soup recipe, I think you’re going to love these too.

Stuffed Peppers with Black Beans and Corn:

Loaded with lean ground beef, rice, veggies, black beans and white kidney beans, these stuffed peppers are packed full of flavor. If you want to leave out the meat, there is still so much goodness, with or without the ground beef.

Ingredients:

bell peppers (for stuffing)
olive oil
cooked white rice
lean ground beef
white onion, diced
1 can Mild Rotel (diced tomatoes with green chiles), drained
tomato sauce
frozen corn
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can white kidney beans, rinsed and drained
chili powder
ground cumin
smoked paprika
dried oregano
fresh cilantro, chopped *optional
jalapeño seeded and diced *optional
salt and pepper to taste
grated Mexican blend cheese + more for topping

How to Make Southwest Stuffed Bell Peppers:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Prepare the bell peppers: cut the tops off the bell peppers. Remove the inside ribs and seeds. Keep the tops with the stems. Use a small pairing knife to make a Jack O’ Lantern Face if desired.
Fill a large baking dish with 1/2 inch of water. Place the peppers cut-side down in the water and bake for 20 minutes.
Make the filling: In a medium pan add the olive oil and lean ground beef. Cook the ground beef until browned. Drain excess grease if needed. Add in the diced onion and cook until translucent.
Stir in the cooked rice, diced tomatoes + chiles, tomato sauce, grated cheese and spices.
Add in the frozen corn, beans. Cook until heated through and stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Remove the peppers from the oven and drain the water from the baking dish.
Divide the mixture evenly between the peppers. Top each one with more grated cheese.
Return stuffed peppers to the oven to bake for 10-15 more minutes, until peppers are tender and the cheese is melted. Serve warm.

Variations:

Add shredded seasoned chicken rather than ground beef.
Swap the ground beef for ground turkey for a ligher option.
Make it vegetarian and leave out the meat altogether.

How to make Bell Peppers look like Jack O’ Lanterns:

Just like you would carve a pumpkin, you can have fun making faces on a bell pepper. We chose orange bell peppers just because orange looks more like a pumpkin, but you can use red, yellow or green for this too. It helps to have a sharp pairing knife to create the Jack O’Lantern face in the side wall of the bell peppers. It might be helpful to draw out the face you want on paper before you cut into the pepper, to minimize mistakes. If you do make a cut that was unintended, you can always make a face on the other side of the bell pepper. Crazy faces make this fun, so don’t worry about being too precise, just have fun with it.

Tips and Tricks:

Find peppers that are big and round. Look for peppers that have four bumps on the bottom (rather than three bumps on the bottom) which can help the peppers not be wobbly.
Make Ahead: These peppers can be made up to 1-2 days ahead. Make them up to the step of stuffing them and adding cheese on top and then place them in the baking dish and cover with plastic wrap until ready to bake and serve.
If choosing to make the peppers to look like Jack O Lanterns, it’s helpful to add the mixture to a strainer before adding to the peppers, to let excess liquid out before adding to the peppers. If there is too much liquid, it will leak out of the holes of the face of the Jack O’Lanterns.

Southwest Style Stuffed Peppers

Full of flavor, we love this southwestern style stuffed pepper recipe for an easy weeknight meal.

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Author Kami | NoBiggie.net

Ingredients

4-6 bell peppers for stuffing
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 cup white rice cooked
1 pound lean ground beef
1 medium white onion diced
1 14.5oz. can Mild Rotel (diced tomatoes with green chiles) drained
1 8oz. can tomato sauce
1 cup frozen corn
1 14.5oz. can black beans rinsed and drained
1 14.5oz. can white kidney beans rinsed and drained
1 teaspoon chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/3 cup fresh cilantro chopped *optional
1 jalapeño seeded and diced *optional
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup Mexican blend cheese grated (+ more for topping)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Prepare the bell peppers: cut the tops off the bell peppers. Remove the inside ribs and seeds. Keep the tops with the stems. Use a small pairing knife to make a Jack O’ Lantern Face if desired.
Fill a large baking dish with 1/2 inch of water at the bottom. Place the peppers cut-side down in the water and bake for 20 minutes, (add the pepper tops too if desired)

Make the Filling:

In a medium pan add the olive oil and lean ground beef. Cook the ground beef until browned. Drain excess grease if needed. Add in the diced onion and cook until translucent.
Stir in the cooked rice, Mild Rotel diced tomatoes + chiles, tomato sauce, grated cheese and spices.
Add in the frozen corn, beans and cheese. Cook until heated through and stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Remove the peppers from the oven and drain the water from the baking dish.
Divide the mixture evenly between the peppers. Top each one with more grated cheese. Return stuffed peppers to the oven to bake for 10-15 more minutes, until peppers are tender and the cheese is melted. Serve warm.

Recipe Notes

Make Ahead Option: These peppers can be made up to 1-2 days ahead. Make them up to the step of stuffing them and adding cheese on top and then place them in the baking dish and cover with plastic wrap until ready to bake for dinner.

Making This Recipe? Tag us on Instagram: @NoBiggie using the hashtag #NoBiggieRecipes, so we can see what you are making in the kitchen!

What to serve with stuffed bell peppers:

This really is an all in one meal, but if you’d like to add something on the side, I’d suggest:

side salad like this wedge salad
chips and salsa (easy blender salsa)
fresh fruit with dip

More Halloween inspired food:

More recipes like this we love:

Let us know if you make it! Leave a comment and star rating on this recipe!