Southwest Stuffed Bell Peppers

Southwest stuffed bell peppers with black beans, corn, anaheim chili, and enchilada sauce spice up your weeknight meals. Serve this dish with cotija cheese for a winning meal!

Every once in a while, I like to bring a little Southwest flair my kitchen for an exhilarating culinary adventure with rice, beans, corn, peppers, and the CHEESE.

I like to pretend I live in an adorable stucco home in the Arizona desert with margaritas flowing out of my refrigerator’s water dispenser, Aztec-print everything, all sorts of cacti in and around the perimeter of my bungalow, dessert wildlife perched on my patio and so, so much of the color peach.

Wait, don’t tell me: You do this too when you cook Italian, French, Moroccan, Indian, etc., etc. food, too?

There’s nothing like envisioning yourself in the food’s place of origin to really get your authenticity on.

Plus, a girl can fantasize, right?

Having grown up in Nevada, my family took many road trips through the Southwestern U.S. when I was a child. I even went to college in Tuscon, Arizona for a hot minute before transferring back to Nevada.

I have always enjoyed poking around the various restaurants and trying out all of the Southwest Mexican-influenced cuisine.

To this day, I can’t get enough.  

How could you? Rice + Beans + Corn + Salsa = gooooood!

Slap a hearty portion of grated cheese on top, and now you’re speaking my love language!

For me, preparing certain cuisines is just as fun as eating them, and these stuffed peppers are no exception.

The process is so simple, and they fill your house with the sweet and spicy scent of imminent deliciousness.

Let’s discuss the simple ingredients for this easy vegetarian dinner recipe. Something tells me you’re already familiar with all of them.

Ingredients for Stuffed Bell Peppers:

Bell Peppers: Pick out your favorite colors of fresh bell peppers. Any kind of bell pepper works here! I love red bell peppers and green bell peppers, but truthfully, I’ll enjoy any color of bell pepper any day of the week.

Onion, Garlic, Anaheim Chili: Fresh yellow onion, minced garlic, and an Anaheim chili are sautéed up to add a tremendous amount of flavor to this dish.

If you can’t find an Anaheim pepper, you can use a pasilla pepper, poblano pepper, or a couple jalapeno peppers. If you use jalapeno chilis, be sure to remove the seeds for a mild meal.

Canned Black Beans and Canned Corn: Open up a can of black beans and a can of corn and measure out one cup of each. You’ll have some left over, which you can use in other recipes, or you can enjoy with your meal.

Corn and beans are must-haves when it comes to Southwestern fare. Replace the black beans with pinto beans or garbanzo beans if you’d like.

Cooked Rice: We need two cups of rice that has already been cooked. Have leftover brown rice or white rice from a previous meal? Perfect! Use it.

If you don’t already have cooked rice on hand, you can steam up 1 cup of dry rice, which will give you about 3 cups of cooked. I recommend cooking at least 1 cup of dry rice at a time because I’ve found smaller amounts just don’t cook out the same.

Enchilada Sauce: The easiest all-star ingredient here? Canned store-bought enchilada sauce. This simple ingredient is what makes the filling so incredibly flavorful so that you don’t miss the meat.

If you enjoy making homemade enchilada sauce, feel free to use it instead!

Chili Powder and Sea Salt: A little chili powder adds some classic taco flavor to the meal and the sea salt enhances all of the flavors.

Shredded Cheese: We couldn’t possibly stuff a pepper without cheese, right?? Grate up as much cheese as you want to involve and sprinkle it on top of the peppers after they are stuffed.

I like using either grated cheddar cheese or Monterey Jack cheese, but any kind of melting cheese works here.

Cheese lovers, I have a secret for you. You can add as much grated cheese as you’d like to the rice and bean filling for an even more powerful cheesy experience.

Now that we’ve covered the basic ingredients for these easy stuffed peppers, let’s make them!

How to Make Southwest Stuffed Bell Peppers:

All I did after coring the peppers was sauté up Southwesterly ingredients (black beans, corn, Anaheim pepper, garlic, onion, chili powder) and combine them with leftover cooked rice and store-bought enchilada sauce.

The stuffing turns out packed with flavor and takes no time at all to make.

The peppers are then baked in the oven in a batch of enchilada sauce (which you can totally make homemade if you prefer it over store bought!).

Here are the step-by-step instructions, which you will also see in the recipe card below.

• Preheat to 350°F and lightly spray an 8-inch square baking dish with cooking oil.
• Wash, dry, and core the bell peppers. To do so, use a pairing knife to remove the stems from the peppers, creating a large enough hole for stuffing. You can also use a sharp knife to cut the whole tops off of the peppers, but I like to leave a little pepper around the hole for stability. If you have a bell pepper corer, put it to use here!
• Add the olive oil to a large skillet and heat to medium-high heat. Add the yellow onion and sauté 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the chopped Anaheim pepper, garlic, chili powder, and salt and sauté for another 2 to 3 minutes.
• Pour in 1/2 cup of the enchilada sauce, the cooked rice, corn, and black beans. Stir well and cook just until well combined and rice has absorbed most of the enchilada sauce, about 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from heat.
• Stuff each pepper with the rice and vegetable mixture, filling each cavity to the top. Top each pepper with grated cheese and place peppers in the prepared baking dish. The peppers should fit nice and snug in the baking dish and should hold each other up.
• Pour the remaining enchilada sauce and the water around the peppers, so that they’re sitting in a sauce bath. Place on the center rack of the oven and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until cheese has melted and the tops of the peppers have softened.
• Remove peppers from the oven and allow them to cool for 10 minutes before serving.

If you enjoy Southwestern inspired meals, also try my Southwest Turkey Burgers or my Southwest White Bean Veggie Burgers!

Viola – a fresh and funky meal that can be made any night of the week and yields great leftovers!

Southwest Stuffed Bell Peppers

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This easy vegetarian stuffed bell pepper recipe is huge on flavor and easy to prepare for a fun dinner! Mix it up by adding all sorts of fresh veggies and seasonings.

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Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 50 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 5 minutes minutes

Servings: 4 Servings

Ingredients

• 4 Bell Peppers cored
• 3 Tbsp Olive Oil or avocado oil
• 1/2 Yellow Onion finely chopped
• 1 Anaheim Pepper or pasilla pepper, cored and chopped
• 3 cloves Garlic minced
• 1 teaspoon Chili Powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt
• 2 cups Cooked Rice
• 1 cup Black Beans drained and rinsed
• 1 cup Corn drained
• 1 (10-ounce) can Enchilada Sauce divided
• 1/4 cup Water
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup shredded cheese such as cheddar or jack cheese

Instructions

• Preheat to 350°F and lightly spray an 8-inch square baking dish with cooking oil.
• Wash, dry, and core the bell peppers. To do so, use a pairing knife to cut a wide circle around the stems, creating a large enough hole for stuffing. You can also use a sharp knife to cut the full tops off of the peppers, but I like to leave a little pepper around the hole for stability.
• Add the olive oil to a large skillet and heat to medium high. Add the yellow onion and sauté 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the chopped Anaheim pepper, garlic, chili powder, and salt and sauté for another 2 to 3 minutes.
• Add 1/2 cup of the enchilada sauce, the cooked rice, corn, and black beans. Stir well and cook just until well combined and rice has absorbed most of the enchilada sauce, about 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from heat.
• Stuff each pepper with the rice and vegetable mixture, filling each cavity to the top. Top each pepper with grated cheese and place peppers in the prepared baking dish. The peppers should fit nice and snug in the baking dish and should hold each other up.
• Pour the remaining enchilada sauce and the water around the peppers, so that they’re sitting in a sauce bath. Place on the center rack of the oven and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until cheese has melted and the tops of the peppers have softened.
• Remove peppers from the oven and allow them to cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Notes

Peppers can be served in halves by placing them upright on a cutting board and chopping them in half using a sharp knife.

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Nutrition

Serving: 1bell pepper · Calories: 379kcal · Carbohydrates: 51g · Protein: 10g · Fat: 14g · Saturated Fat: 2g · Sodium: 584mg · Fiber: 10g · Sugar: 8g

Author: Julia Mueller

Course: Main Dishes

Cuisine: American

Keyword: healthy dinner recipes, southwest stuffed bell peppers, stuffed bell peppers, vegetarian dinner recipes

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