Until yesterday, I had never made stuffed peppers. But I love bell peppers, and so when I went grocery shopping with Rachel on Sunday and she bought all the materials for stuffed peppers, I figured I might as well too.
Oh man was that a good decision. I’d sen a couple recipes for stuffed peppers around, but I ended up kind of making this recipe up and using the techniques I’d seen online. And it was super easy! I baked the peppers while I made rice as well as a ground beef and bean mixture, mixed everything together, filled the peppers, topped them with cheese, and baked them again just to get everything all melty.
The peppers end up being sweet and soft but still with a little bite to them, the rice and meat mixture is salty and hearty, and melted cheese just makes everything better. I made 4 stuffed pepper halves and ended up eating just one of the bigger halves topped with guac for dinner. The number of servings you get depends on how hungry you are/how big your peppers are, but I’ll be getting quite a few meals out of this 🙂
A side note: this is super easy to adjust to your tastes and make vegetarian or even vegan, or just using whatever meat or vegetables you have. Also feel free to season with taco mix! That would be super easy and super delicious. But regardless, just cook everything up and stick it in your peppers and you’re golden!
Ground Beef and Black Bean Stuffed Peppers
Cook time: 30 minutes
Serves: 3-4
Ingredients
- 2 bell peppers, any color
- Olive oil
- 1/2 pound ground beef
- 1 16 ounce can black beans, drained
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
- Salt
- Black pepper
- 3/4 cup rice, cooked
- Shredded cheddar cheese
- Guacamole (optional, for serving)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Cut the bell peppers in half and remove the seeds. Drizzle with olive oil and bake on a sheet pan for 20 minutes, flipping them over halfway through.
- In a medium pan over medium heat, cook the ground beef until brown, seasoning with paprika, garlic powder, and red pepper flakes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Add the black beans to the ground beef, season with salt and pepper, and cook until warmed through and thick. Mix in the rice and taste for seasonings.
- Once the peppers are out of the oven, fill them with the meat mixture (you may have leftover depending on the size of your peppers). Top with cheese and bake for 5 more minutes until cheese is melted.
- Serve with guacamole (or salsa or sour cream!)
College Cooking with Celia 