Mini Taco Stuffed Peppers
Mini Taco Stuffed Peppers are miniature bell peppers stuffed with taco meat and drizzled with a cilantro cream sauce. This Mexican dish can easily be made prepared ahead of time for an easy healthy appetizer!
MINI TACO STUFFED PEPPERS
Everyone loves stuffed peppers but don’t always want to commit to an entire stuffed pepper. I thought it would be a great idea to make them mini!
Then they can be party food, which I’m always drawn too. My husband bought a huge bag of mini bell peppers at Costco which was the inspiration for this recipe but they can also be used in this One-Pan Chicken Fajita Rice.
Don’t get rid of the part you slice off. We’re going to use them later.
In the end you will have these.
Dice up those reserved bell pepper slices and add them to your meat for some flavor and crunch!
After you’ve browned up the meat and cooked the peppers, add your taco seasoning mix.
Stuff as much of the taco meat as you can into the prepared bell peppers.
Bake these babies and then sprinkle on some cheese and put them back in the oven for a minute or two until the cheese melts.
Next, we’re going to make the cilantro cream sauce. Just add some cilantro, sour cream, garlic, and a little lime juice to a food processor. Done.
Drizzle the sauce on top of the stuffed peppers for a cool compliment to the spicy peppers.
Of course you can add any of your favorite toppings like guacamole or salsa.
OTHER MEXICAN RECIPES:
- Horchata
- Taco Pizza Rolls
- One-Pan Chicken Tortilla Bake
- Taco Lasagna
- Baked Chicken Chimichangas
- Pico De Gallo
- One-Pan Mexican Chicken and Rice
Mini Taco Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients
- 1-1/2 lbs mini bell peppers
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 (1 ounce) package package taco seasoning mix
- 3/4 cup water
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Cilantro Cream Sauce:
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup fresh cilantro
- 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 ° F.
- Slice 1/3 of the pepper off lengthwise, reserving for later use. Seed the peppers. Peppers naturally have one side that is straighter than the other. When slicing the top of your bell peppers, try to slice the side that is curvier off so that the flat side remaining is the side we are stuffing.
- Chop the reserved peppers finely and set aside 3/4 cup.
- In 10-inch skillet, cook beef and reserved 3/4 cup chopped peppers over medium-high heat 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until beef is brown; drain. Stir in taco seasoning mix and water. Cook over medium heat about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Let mixture slightly cool.
- With a small spoon, fill each pepper as full as possible with the beef mixture over the skillet so the meat can fall back in if it doesn't fit and place on a baking sheet. Bake peppers for 8-10 minutes.
- While peppers are baking, make the Cilantro Cream Sauce. If you don't want to make this sauce you can just top with taco toppings like sour cream, guac, and salsa.
- For the Cilantro Cream Sauce: In a food processor, pulse the sour cream, cilantro, garlic, and lime juice until smooth. Chill in the refrigerator until ready to serve. If you don't have a food processor, chop by hand.
- Remove peppers from oven and top with cheese. Return to the oven for 1-2 minutes or until cheese is melted. Top with a dollop of cilantro cream sauce.
Notes
The peppers can be assembled ahead of time and then popped in the oven when ready to bake. The Cilantro Cream Sauce is almost better when made a day ahead of time so the flavors can blend.
Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Old El Paso. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Hi…loved this recipe, except the cilantro sauce came out really watery. Â Is it really 2 tablespoons of lime juice? Â Or is it 2 teaspoons? Â Thanks
Yep. It’s supposed to be a drizzle but you can use less if you want.
Made these for a Super Bowl party last night, they were a hit and the first to go! Â Not only did everyone love them, when some found out it was low carb, they wanted the recipe! Â Thanks for sharing!
You’re welcome. So glad you liked them.
Do these taste good reheated the next day?
I’m making these for a party next week, and it doesn’t appear it will take 5 hours and 50 minutes of prep and cooking time . . . at least I hope not!
Sorry no. THere’s a bug in the recipe card. It’s fixed npw/
I’ve been DYING to find something interesting to make with those beautiful little peppers for so long!! These are PERFECT!!!
Planning on making these tonight but just realized I need a food processor for the cilantro sauce. Is there any other way to make the sauce without the food processor?? Maybe a silly question, but I’m not master chef or anything.. lol. 🙂
Oh sure! Hope it’s not too late. You definitely could just chop the cilantro finely and stir it together. Same flavors!
There are 67 calories per serving, however how many peppers do you consider one serving?
Each pepper is a serving.
I noticed on the nutritional information (thanks for including that btw) it tells how much calories, fat etc., per serving, but it doesn’t specify what a serving size is. Is it per finished piece (the pepper half with stuffing and cream sauce) ?
Thanks!
Thanks, so the way we do the nutritional info for the recipe is for the whole recipe including sauce divided by servings (32). So the info is for one pepper with 1/32 of the sauce.
The cilantro cream is what makes these so good, otherwise you have just stuffed peppers with taco meat.
Loved the combination of everything together. They were great! Will definitely make these again.
I made the recipe exactly as written except may have had a bit more garlic in the cilantro cream. All around, a really good and very simple and easy to simple to make recipe.
Thank you so much!! I appreciate it.