Taco Stuffed Peppers

When you have kids who love tacos and stuffed peppers, the obvious thing to do is make Taco Stuffed Bell Peppers. This dinner is a huge win because of its delicious and simple flavors. It is perfect for picky kiddos.

In addition to being a hit with the kids, I love this recipe because it comes together simply with easy-to-find ingredients. Finally, this recipe freezes really well, so it makes perfect leftover lunches for me.

Taco Stuffed Pepper Ingredients

These simple ingredients come together so quickly to make a great and easy dinner that your family will love. For the full recipe including all measurements and directions, scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of the post.

• Bell peppers: You want to look for bigger peppers that will hold a lot of filling since this recipe makes so much.
• Ground turkey: You could also make this recipe with ground beef, read more on this below.
• Olive oil: This is to prevent the turkey from sticking to the skillet. However, if you are cooking with ground beef, you can eliminate this.
• Taco seasoning: Homemade or store-bought, read more on this below.
• Black beans: Thoroughly rinsed and drained. If you want to use dry black beans you will need to soak them and cook them before using them in this recipe.
• Frozen corn: I love using frozen corn in recipes because it is actually already cooked. It typically can be thrown in at the last minute and the heat from the dish will warm it perfectly.
• Shredded cheddar cheese: See my tip below on shredding cheese from a block.
• Microwaveable rice: Another way we keep this recipe quick and convenient.
• Salsa: I love my homemade salsa recipe, but you could certainly use store-bought here as well.

How to Make Taco Stuffed Peppers

Here is a brief overview of how this stuffed peppers recipe comes together. For the full recipe including all ingredients, be sure to scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of the post.

• Prepare the peppers. Read more on this below.
• Cook the turkey. Add some olive oil with the ground turkey and taco seasoning, breaking up the meat. Cook until the meat is browned and cooked through.
• Make the filling. Mix together the browned taco meat, black beans, salsa, frozen corn, some cheese, and the cooked rice in a large bowl.
• Stuff the peppers. Put the peppers on a baking sheet and divide the mixture among the peppers. Bake for 30 minutes. Add the remainder of the cheese to the top of the peppers and bake for 5 more minutes.
• Serve and enjoy! Top the peppers with sour cream, diced tomatoes, cilantro, and pickled jalapeños.

Preparing Bell Peppers

The color of bell pepper that you buy is completely up to you. Green bell peppers tend to be less expensive, but also not as sweet and delicious in this recipe. I typically mix it up with some red, yellow, and orange.

In this recipe, I use four bell peppers, cut in half from top to bottom. I then carefully cut out the seed pod inside the pepper and remove the ribbing. We microwave them to soften them before baking, cutting down on the overall baking time of the recipe.

As noted in the recipe card, if your peppers are on the smaller side, you may have leftover filling. You could also add in an extra pepper or two, and simply remove the tops from the peppers and fill them whole, rather than after being cut in half.

Taco Seasoning

One of the things that brings great flavor to this recipe is the taco seasoning. I love using homemade taco seasoning because I can control the flavor of it so easily.

My recipe for taco seasoning contains instructions for making a big batch or a small amount. The small batch is enough to perfectly replace the amount that comes in a packet from the grocery store. The larger batch is great to keep on hand because we use it in so many recipes like my easy chicken tostadas, my taco spaghetti, and my taco pinwheels. Three tablespoons of the big batch will replace the store-bought packet.

Homemade Taco Seasoning

This Homemade Taco Seasoning comes together fast with measurements for one pound of meat or for a whole container to keep in your pantry! Make it extra spicy or keep it mild.

view recipe

Rice For Stuffed Peppers

When making stuffed peppers, I often use microwaveable rice. Uncle Ben’s makes an 8.5 ounce pouch that microwaves in 90 seconds. It’s such an easy solution that makes stuffed peppers much faster. Other options would be Minute Rice or making the rice ahead of time.

Whatever type of rice you use, you are looking for 2 cups of cooked rice.

Freezing Instructions

As mentioned above, this is a great recipe for freezing.

1. Prepare the peppers up to the point of baking them. Before baking, place the peppers that you want to freeze on a baking sheet or plate lined with wax paper.
2. Put the peppers in the freezer for one hour.
3. Transfer peppers into sandwich bags so they can be frozen individually.
4. Store in the freezer for up to three months.
5. When ready to eat, either thaw in the refrigerator overnight and bake as directed or bake right from the freezer at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Toppings For Stuffed Peppers

These stuffed peppers are great on their own, but we are in love with condiments around here. Some suggestions are:

• Salsa: The recipe calls for salsa in the filling, but more can be added on top.
• Sour Cream
• Pickled Jalapeños
• Olives
• Chopped Tomatoes

Other Great Stuffed Peppers

If your family can’t get enough of stuffed peppers, try out some of our other favorites:

• Turkey Stuffed Peppers
• White Chicken Chili Stuffed Peppers
• Fajita Stuffed Peppers
• Italian Stuffed Peppers
• Stuffed Pepper Casserole