Sweet bell peppers create such a bright and beautiful rainbow of colors! I had so much fun just taking pictures of them for this recipe!
Stuffed peppers are a long-time classic meal, but I wanted to mix things up from my original recipe and give them a Mexican flare. One of my daughters follows a plant-based diet, so I made one version with meat and cheese and another without meat and dairy. Years ago I would cut off the tops of the peppers, remove the seeds, then stuff them from the top. Inevitably they would fall over because they were quite tall, so now I slice them in half, stuffing both halves individually. This works much better for me.
These stuffed peppers are easy, delicious, and Gluten-Free! I like to prepare them in a cast-Iron Skillet because Cast Iron can move from stove-top to oven with ease. In general, cast iron skillets are a favorite among many cooks because they provide sustained heat, they can keep food warm for quite some time after cooking because they hold-on to heat, and a small amount of iron is absorbed into the food during cooking. In particular, I like to sear Steak in cast-iron for that nicely chard exterior, then finish the steak in the oven. It’s easy for me to go on and on about cooking with cast-iron, but in this recipe for Stuffed Peppers, I cooked in cast-iron simply because I thought it would look pretty!
Hope you enjoy them!
Mexican Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients
- 3 Bell peppers
- 1 lb Ground beef or pork
- 1 Cup Black canned Beans
- 1 Cup Uncooked Rice of Choice I use Jasmin
- 2 Cups Corn
- 1/2 Large Red or Vidalia onion Diced
- 2 tsp Cumin
- 1 tsp Smoked paprika
- 1/2 tsp Ground black pepper
- Salt and cayene pepper to taste
- 1 Cup Shredded cheddar cheese (non dairy cheese if plant-based
- 2 Tbs Olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350'
- Prepare rice according to package directions. Set aside
- Heat Skillet on medium heat, add olive oil
- Saute onion in 2 tbs olive oil on medium until the edges are golden brown
- Brown ground beef or pork either in a separate pan or right in with the onions
- Add black beans and corn, mix thoroughly.
- Blend in the cumin, smoked paprika, black pepper, salt, and cayenne pepper. Simmer for 10 minutes to bring out the flavor of the spices.
- Combine the rice with the ground beef or pork mixture. Blend in the shredded cheddar.
- Slice each bell pepper in half, remove seeds and stem, then fill each one with all of the ingredients.
- Bake on 350' for 20 minutes