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Stuffed mini peppers are sweet mini peppers stuffed with a ground beef, tomato and rice mixture for an adorable “mini” version of traditional stuffed peppers. Perfect for a unique appetizer or as a delicious meal.
If you like stuffed peppers, you’re going to love this mini version! Bite-sized Stuffed Mini Peppers are adorable and fun because you can play around with the fillings and flavors to make your own unique take.
Why We Love This Recipe
Customizable – Use your own unique fillings and flavors, like ground turkey teriyaki or chopped up chicken instead of the ground beef.
Versatile – Since these are bite-sized, they are perfect for serving as an easy appetizer or as a light and fresh meal.
Adorable and fun – Whether you pick them up and eat them, or use a fork and knife, you can’t deny how cute these stuffed mini peppers are!
Main Ingredients For Stuffed Mini Peppers
- Ground Beef – Browned with diced onion and garlic.
- Diced Tomatoes – Canned and drained of juices. Feel free to use spicy, fire roasted, or regular tomatoes.
- White Rice – Steam some rice fresh, or this is a great way to use up leftovers.
- Mini Sweet Peppers – These colorful mini bell peppers are usually sold in 1 pound bags in the produce department.
- Sharp Cheddar Cheese – Freshly grated off the block.
How To Make Stuffed Mini Peppers
See the recipe card below for full, detailed instructions
Stuffed mini peppers couldn’t be easier to make!
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees and spray a baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
- Prepare the peppers. Cut the peppers in half longways and remove the seeds and the ribs. A small teaspoon will make easy work of scraping them clean. Arrange them in your baking dish, cut side up.
- Cook the ground beef. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and saute the onions and garlic. Add the ground beef and cook until no longer pink. Drain as much grease as possible, using a slotted spoon or by sopping it up with paper towels. Season with kosher salt and black pepper.
- Make the filling. Stir in the rice and tomatoes to the beef mixture, then use a cookie scoop or a spoon to fill the peppers with the beef mixture.
- Bake. Cover with foil and bake at 400℉ for about 20 minutes. Uncover, top with cheese and bake for a few more minutes.
FAQs
No, the peppers do not need to be cooked first. The baking time is sufficient to soften them.
It’s not completely necessary as they are not spicy, but I prefer to remove them because I don’t care for the texture.
Serving Suggestions
I had some homemade Ranch on hand that I spooned over some of the peppers and it was pretty tasty. Of course they are amazing on their own, too.
These make a nice, light meal on their own. Serve with a Garden Salad and some Air Fryer Texas Toast to make a complete meal.
Variations
- Meat: Swap out the ground beef for leaner ground chicken, pork, or turkey. Or try a ground chorizo or other type of sausage.
- Rice: Use white rice, brown rice, or even quinoa.
- Mexican: Use Mexican Rice instead of plain, and add taco seasoning to the meat. Chop up a jalapeno and toss it into the mix for a spicy version.
- Tex-Mex: Swap out half of the meat for black beans, add some corn, and use a southwest or Mexican seasoning blend. Garnish with green onions.
- Vegetarian: Swap in beans for the meat.
- Creamy filling: Add a few ounces of cream cheese to the filling to make it creamy.
Storage
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3-4 days. Reheat in the microwave at 30 second intervals.
More Recipes with Ground Beef
- Ground Beef Enchiladas
- Easy Tamale Pie Recipe with Seasoned Ground Beef
- Ground Beef Quesadillas
- Ground Beef Tacos
- How to Quickly Thaw Ground Beef
Stuffed Mini Peppers
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1/2 onion finely diced
- 1 garlic clove minced
- 1, 14 ounce can diced tomatoes with or without spice
- 1 cup cooked white rice
- 12 mini peppers
- Salt & pepper
- 1 cup shredded Sharp Cheddar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Cut the peppers in half top to bottom and remove the seeds and ribs. Set aside.
- Heat a large pan on medium-high heat with a little olive oil. Add onions and saute until soft, about 4 minutes. Crumble in ground beef and garlic and cook until beef is no longer pink. Remove from heat and drain grease. Add salt and pepper to taste, about a teaspoon of each.
- Stir rice and tomatoes into ground beef mixture.
- Using a small cookie scoop, fill each pepper with about 1 tablespoons of the meat mixture. Line the stuffed peppers in a 9″x13″ pan. Cover the dish with foil and bake for 20-25 minutes.
- Remove the foil and top with shredded cheddar. Bake for another 5 minutes, or until cheese is completely melted.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer Kristin Maxwell of “Yellow Bliss Road” is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. For accurate calorie counts and other nutritional values, we recommend running the ingredients through your preferred online nutritional calculator. Calories and other nutritional values can vary depending on which brands were used.
can you make ahead and put in fridge or freezer?
Yes, let the peppers cool completely and transfer them (in the baking dish) to the freezer for about an hour. Once they are firm you can transfer them to a freezer bag and store in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw in the fridge overnight and bake at 350 degrees until heated through.
Made it for dinner tonight it came out great! Very delicious and really simple! I hurt my leg today can’t really walk but was still able to cook this recipe for my family! They loved it ? thank you!
What is the white sauce in the photo? It looks yummy!
It’s a homemade Ranch dressing. I link to it in the post, but it’s not part of the recipe.
List of ingredients says “I cup cooked rice”, but in the instructions we are told to cook the rice in a medium saucepan…. So are we using one cup of cooked rice, or one cup of rice cooked? (There’s a BIG difference!)
That was meant to have you cook the rice if you hadn’t already, but I can see how that was confusing. I’ve edited that out of the recipe.
What do you recommend for a substitution for those that don’t eat rice?
This looks delicious! I will have to try this. Thanks for sharing.