Stuffed Bell Peppers

This is a spicy, no rice, stuffed bell pepper recipe. Much of the heat comes from the Ro*tel tomato mixture. In addition to the Ro*tel, you can add a couple diced fresh Serranos, or any other hot pepper, if you like. Ro*tel has several flavors and heat level options these day. I personally love the Hot Ro*tel with habaneros. Their original also packs a good amount of heat. So grab a couple cans of your favorite. Like extra sauce? Go with three cans!

Any ground meat you prefer can be used for this recipe; beef, chicken and turkey all work. I usually use ground beef. You’ll need 1lb of ground meat to fill the bell peppers.

Cut 3 large bell peppers in half lengthwise, any color of choice. I recommend using red, orange or yellow bell peppers. They tend to be sweeter and more flavorful than green bells in my opinion. Remove the seeds and ribs. You can keep the stems on for presentation if you like. It’s not always possible and certainly not required. 

Preheat oven to 400°F. After prepping the bell peppers, prepare the tomato mixture. This mixture is incorporated into the ground meat and is also spooned over the top of the peppers in the final stage.

Combine two or three cans of Ro*tel, a couple diced hot peppers (optional), 2 cloves of finely minced garlic, 1 tbsp dried oregano, and 2 tsp ground cumin in a bowl. Set aside.

Thoroughly combine ground meat, egg, onion, salt and black pepper in large bowl. Stir in half of the tomato mixture. I prefer to combine the filling ingredients by hand using food prep gloves.

Spoon meat filling evenly into pepper halves. I use a heaping portion.

Spray sheets of heavy-duty foil, around 14 x 14 inch, with nonstick cooking spray. No cooking spray? Simply brush each piece of foil with olive oil. Center each pepper half onto the foil sheet. Double fold sides and ends of foil to seal the packets. Not sure how to create this foil packet? Here are step by step photos for creating a foil pouch. My pouches are in no way this perfect, but they still get the job done. 👍🏻

Place packets on a baking sheet. I foil line the backing sheet just in case any of my packets leak. Bake until meat reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees and vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven.

Carefully open one end of each packet to allow steam to escape. I use tongs to avoid burning my hands. Open packets and transfer pepper halves to a baking dish. At this point you can warm the remaining tomato mixture in the microwave or in a saucepan and spoon over each pepper.

Want to take it up a notch? Add cheese! Top each peppers with the remaining tomato mixture, then add cheese over the tomatoes (mozzarella or parmesan works well) and pop into the oven just enough to warm the tomato topping and melt the cheese. Enjoy!