Mexican Chipotle Beef Stuffed Peppers
Try this Mexican Chipotle Beef Stuffed Peppers recipe, or contribute your own.
Try this Mexican Chipotle Beef Stuffed Peppers recipe, or contribute your own.
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 tbsp cumin
- 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 tsp chili powder
- 1 plum tomato diced
- 2 tsp garlic minced
- 1/2 tsp chipotle powder
- 3 bell peppers halved and deveined
- 1/2 cup corn kernels canned or frozen
- 1 lb ground beef*
- 1 tsp coarse sea salt
- 1/2 cup cooked brown rice**
- 2 tbsp cilantro chopped plus more for garnish
- 6 tbsp mexican shredded cheese
- Carbohydrate 4.60938023653008 g
- Cholesterol 0 mg
- Fat 1.02968914055018 g
- Fiber 0.820103825196013 g
- Protein 0.886483508660173 g
- Saturated Fat 0.140181517450729 g
- Serving Size 1 1 -6 (136g)
- Sodium 590.483146192471 mg
- Sugar 3.78927641133406 g
- Trans Fat 0.0761544216770669 g
- Calories 27 calories
Step-by-step
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Place bell peppers cut side down in large baking dish and bake in oven for 10 minutes.
- While peppers are baking, heat olive oil in large skillet over medium-high heat.
- Add garlic and corn. Saute for about 1 minute until garlic is fragrant.
- Add ground beef and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add cumin, chipotle powder, oregano, chili powder and sea salt. Mix in and cook for about 5 minutes until beef is fully cooked and browned.
- Remove skillet from heat. Mix in rice, diced tomatoes and chopped cilantro.
- Remove peppers from oven and turn them over, cut side up.
- Spoon chipotle beef mixture into each pepper, sprinkle with shredded cheese and bake in oven for 15 minutes.
- Remove from oven and garnish with cilantro.
- Eat up!
Charred bell pepper skins blister slightly under 375 degrees Fahrenheit, releasing sugary aromatics that contrast against smoky, cumin-spiced beef and melted cheese. Too many attempts at stuffed peppers fail because home cooks mismanage moisture, resulting in watery puddles inside the baking dish. Precise technique prevents this common culinary failure.
Controlling Moisture and Meat Texture
Pre-baking bell peppers cut-side down for exactly 10 minutes removes trapped internal humidity before the filling goes inside. Skipping this step guarantees liquid will pool at the base of the baking dish as the pepper walls collapse. Brown the ground beef over medium-high heat for five minutes without crowding the skillet to develop a proper Maillard reaction on the protein. Adding spices directly to the hot fat for the final five minutes of browning blooms the fat-soluble compounds in the chipotle powder and cumin, maximizing flavor extraction.
Managing Fillings and Substitutions
Stirring cooked brown rice and diced plum tomatoes into the hot skillet off the heat prevents the starches from turning gummy and absorbing all the pan juices. Cooks often swap ground turkey for beef without adjusting fat content; lean poultry requires an extra teaspoon of neutral oil in the skillet to prevent dry clumps. Substituting quinoa for the brown rice changes the liquid absorption ratio completely, requiring a pre-cooked grain measurement to avoid a dense, pasty filling inside the pepper cavity. Bake the assembled peppers cut-side up for 15 minutes to melt the Mexican shredded cheese without overcooking the pepper walls.
