Mexican Stuffed Peppers Recipe

These healthy stuffed peppers have a Mexican flare, and the recipe uses clean ingredients. When you want an easy meal prep dinner idea, look no further than this recipe for Mexican stuffed peppers!

In my second year or so of blogging, I created a recipe for stuffed bell peppers that everyone really seems to enjoy (link below). But it had been a long time since I even made my own recipe, and because I needed to come up with new ideas for this blog all the time, I thought it would be fun to make stuffed bell peppers with a twist. This recipe for Mexican stuffed peppers is the result.

Mexican healthy stuffed peppers

They went over huge in my house. Mini Chef has never been so eager to eat a bell pepper. I was truly impressed. I left the cheese off for myself, and this would even work for those eating grain-free/paleo if you leave the corn out. This recipe is really quite flexible, so adjust it any way you like.

These wonderful, healthy stuffed peppers have just enough Mexican flare to make dinner super delicious! Serve half of one of these bad boys with a salad for a fabulously filling meal!

A single, Mexican Stuffed Pepper in a small, white bowl.

Other Healthy Stuffed Peppers Recipes:

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Mexican style healthy stuffed peppers

Mexican Stuffed Peppers

These wonderful healthy stuffed peppers have just enough Mexican flare to make dinner super delicious!
5 from 2 votes
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Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American, Mexican
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes
Servings: 3 servings
Calories: 437kcal

Ingredients

  • 3 large red bell peppers
  • 1 lb. ground turkey
  • 1 tbsp. coconut oil
  • 1 small red onion, chopped
  • 1 tbsp. garlic powder
  • 1 tbsp. onion powder
  • 1 tbsp. ground cumin
  • 2 tsp. chili powder
  • 1 cup frozen corn
  • 15 oz. can tomato sauce (or a jar of your favorite salsa)
  • 3 tbsp. grated cheddar cheese (or any cheese variety you prefer)
  • fresh, chopped cilantro ( for garnish – optional)

Instructions

  • Cut the tops off your bell peppers, remove the stems and chop up the lids. Set aside.
  • Sauté the onions first with the coconut oil, then add the turkey in a skillet and cook until just browned. Add the spices, chopped pepper tops and corn and continue cooking until the meat is finished. Don’t overcook it as it still needs to bake in the oven.
  • Stuff the peppers tightly with the meat filling.
  • In a small casserole dish, pour the tomato sauce into the bottom of the dish, then place your peppers upright. The casserole dish should be small enough to fit the peppers tightly so they stand upright for baking.
  • Sprinkle 1 tbsp. cheese onto of each pepper, then place the baking dish in the oven.
  • Bake at 350 for approximately 30 minutes. These taste best if the peppers are not overcooked. They should still be slightly firm when done.
  • Cut pepper in half, sprinkle with fresh, chopped cilantro and serve.

Notes

Please note that the nutrition data below is a ballpark figure. Exact data is not possible.

Nutrition

Calories: 437kcal | Carbohydrates: 34g | Protein: 45g | Fat: 15g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Cholesterol: 98mg | Sodium: 248mg | Potassium: 1227mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 6360IU | Vitamin C: 214.9mg | Calcium: 202mg | Iron: 6.7mg

Author: Tiffany McCauley

Title: Journalist

Expertise: Food, cooking, travel

Bio:

Tiffany McCauley is a nationally syndicated journalist and an award-winning cookbook author. She is also a food blogger. She has been featured on MSN, Huffington Post, Country Living Magazine, HealthLine, Redbook, and many more. She has helped thousands of people learn to cook simple, clean, and healthy foods in their own home kitchens. She lives in Maine and loves Elvis, sunflowers, and a good seafood chowder, as well as travel writing.

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43 Comments

  1. find it interesting that you are all about clean eating and yet your advertisements are red robin and oreo stuffed cookies?

    1. The Gracious Pantry says:

      Kathy – I offer my recipes and all my information here for free. I have to pay my bills. I belong to an ad network and they choose which ads are displayed. A girl has to make a living.

    2. oh my word! Most website, radio stations and tv stations have ads & commercials that advertise a multitude of things. If you are on the site for the recipes and all that it offers then that’s all that should matter. And I will also say that a lot of the ads on the internet websites are generated based on what the user (you Kathy) has previously searched.

      1. The Gracious Pantry says:

        Michelle – Very true. 🙂

    3. Elizabeth says:

      5 stars
      Rude woman. The only I had that shows me is Kroger. So maybe you need to lay off the Red Robin in oreos . Anyway it’s an oreo not pornography. Go pay for a cookbook if you don’t like the ads. Lord have mercy.

      1. The Gracious Pantry says:

        Elizabeth – Since posting my original response, I did indeed figure out that the ads shown to my visitors are based on what they usually search for themselves in other places on the web. Ads served are based on a person’s search history and activity online. So comments like the one above just make me laugh these days.

  2. Can you freeze these?

    1. The Gracious Pantry says:

      Jennifer – Yes you can. But if that is your intent, I recommend baking them without the cheese and adding that when you warm them. Thaw in the fridge.

  3. What a wonderfully simple, tasty sounding recipe! I am going to try this tomorrow. Today, I am making clean eating Swiss Steak, using turkey cutlets, a meal DH loves and requests several times a year.

    1. The Gracious Pantry says:

      Lora – Sounds wonderful!!

  4. Michele M says:

    I would also like to add that the ad networks display what are in your search engine history – my ads currently show Express and crystal beads – sites I visit most often. 🙂

    1. The Gracious Pantry says:

      Michele M – Really! So a lot is based on what I personally look at? That seems odd, but I guess it makes sense. Or do you mean to say that the ads are based on what the reader looks at?

  5. Michele M says:

    The readers’ web history (not yours – sorry!). If I click on a website that has an Amazon sponsored add – it will show me the last item on Amazon that I looked at….which are those beautiful green ball jars I just have to have. 🙂 I have been seeing them all over this morning….taunting!
    It is not always a direct match to something you have looked at but a close match. Advertisers have gotten pretty clever.

    1. The Gracious Pantry says:

      Michele – Oh right! Of course. Ya, they do have a few tricks up their sleeves! 🙂

  6. These had great flavor but the meat was so dry. There’s no broth in this one like the other one?

    1. The Gracious Pantry says:

      Lisa – Hmmm. You could add broth if you like, but I didn’t have an issue with it being dry. It could just be some small difference between your kitchen and mine. If you make it again, go ahead and add the broth. Also, watch the baking time. Your oven may cook a little hotter than mine.

  7. I am brand new to clean eating and am hitting a few roadblocks, two to be specific. My husband is allergic to all poultry and seafood. Would you recommend ground pork or perhaps bison as an alternative? Would the coon time still be the same?

    1. The Gracious Pantry says:

      Casey – Sure! Pork, beef, bison, just about anything like that. All you have to do is be sure that the meat is cooked in the pan before you put it in the peppers. Oven time is really just to get the cheese melted. Hope you enjoy it!

  8. I’m confused about the tomato sauce. Are you supposed to put it in the container or inside/on the bell pepper? Is this just sauce to add on top before you eat it?

    1. The Gracious Pantry says:

      Jenna – I put mine in the container around the bell peppers. But if you like, you can add a little to the filling too. I just ladle the sauce over the peppers when I serve them.

  9. I made these last night, and they were AMAZING! Thank you for sharing your recipes! Everything I have tried from your website has been very tasty 🙂

    1. The Gracious Pantry says:

      Jordan – My pleasure! I’m honored you tried them! 🙂

  10. I’ve made a few things off of your blog in the past few months including the pizza sauce & honey mustard and loved both! I made these tonight using deer meat & it was a huge hit! Will definitely be making these again! I plan to try your enchiladas this week too as well as the zucchini bread. The taquitos and Mexican shepherds pie are also on the list to try soon! Also loved the avocado pesto sauce!! I can always count on your blog!

    1. The Gracious Pantry says:

      Chelsea – Wow! Thank you so very much! I hope you enjoy them all! 😀

  11. Im having trouble getting the bell peppers soft enough, any tips?

    1. The Gracious Pantry says:

      Ali – How long did you bake them for? What kind of peppers are they?

  12. I love that you have these! I have been making them for years-adapted from a recipe that I could not eat due to food allergies. I always pre-cook the peppers a little before filllling them. I do not use any tomato sauce. I incorporate cooked rice (quinoa-whatever you like) into the ground meat/sweet onion mixture, and lots of minced garlic. We like it with and without the beans and corn. They freeze beautifully. I would add the cheese when cooking, not before freezing.

    1. The Gracious Pantry says:

      Debbie – Awesome! Your version sounds great!

  13. When do you cook the onion? I’m going to try adding it when I add the corn and spices-yum!

    1. The Gracious Pantry says:

      Jenny – Sorry about that! Just updated the recipe.

  14. I just found your site today and made these stuffed peppers! Wow! Thank you for creating such an amazing site! I have absolutely no culinary background and I was able to make something that was not only edible but DELICIOUS! I like that many of the recipes are super simple and I’m really excited to try more!

    1. The Gracious Pantry says:

      Heather – Thank you! I’m so happy you enjoyed it! 😀

  15. Sharon Llanas says:

    These were so yummy! Made them tonight for dinner. I love your recipes-they never disappoint my taste buds!

    1. The Gracious Pantry says:

      Sharon – Thanks so much! I’m so happy you enjoyed them! 😀

  16. Could u pls advise how many calories in a serving of this dish? I made it tonight & can’t wait to try it, but I count calories. Thank you!

    1. The Gracious Pantry says:

      Cris – Unfortunately, I can no longer provide nutrition data and am in the process of removing it all from my site. However, MyFitnessPal.com has a great recipe calculator you can use. Hope that helps!

  17. Alexandra says:

    Hi Tiffany, I’m planning on making these tonight for dinner but with lentils instead of meat (far too many steaks this past holiday weekend haha). I only have green French lentils – would you recommend I cook them first and then just assemble the peppers and broil them briefly, or is there a way to make them cook all together? Thanks!

    1. The Gracious Pantry says:

      Alexandra – I would just cook the lentils and then proceed to recipe instructions. It shouldn’t hurt anything to cook the lentils a little longer than usual.

  18. Can I make these without the tomato sauce or salsa in the bottom of the pan? We have a tomato allergy and I normally would just alter his portion but since they sit in it I can’t do that.

    1. The Gracious Pantry says:

      Mary – You could add a little chicken broth in the bottom just for moisture. You won’t have the sauce that goes over it, but it should still be pretty tasty. 🙂

  19. Mary Pat Filer says:

    My stuffed peppers were a little too hard, how do I get them softer for the next time? Thanks, everything else was good!

    1. The Gracious Pantry says:

      Mary Pat Filer – I’m guessing that maybe the dish was a bit too shallow. Just a guess though. The sauce helps cook the peppers. But if it only comes up the sides of the peppers a tiny bit, it won’t do it’s job properly. The other possibility is that your oven cooks differently than mine and you simply need to leave them in longer. Cooking times in recipes are always subjective.