Easiest ever Stuffed Pepper Skillet one-pot meal. All the flavors of classic stuffed peppers made super quick and easy in just 20 minutes in a skillet on your stovetop!
For more one-pot, super easy, super delicious meals, consider these popular options: One Pot Chicken Parmesan Pasta, One Pot Creamy Pesto Chicken Pasta, or One Pot Cashew Chicken Ramen.
It’s that time again — time for more one-pot meals. When I just can’t do one more dish, or, rather, I guess it’s more like I only want to do ONE dish, I turn to these trusty one-pot meals. Not only do they make for easy clean up but I also try to incorporate easy ingredients that you’ll already have in your pantry/fridge/freezer. Ingredients like ground beef, bell peppers, cheese, rice, tomato sauce, and spices.
Meals like these give you all the flavors you love in your favorite, classic dishes (in this case, a stuffed pepper casserole) but all together to make it as easy as possible on your time, and also your wallet, as these meals are super budget-friendly too.
You could also substitute any other ground meat that you like, ground turkey or chicken will work great too. To make this stuffed pepper recipe vegetarian, you could use crumbled tofu or two cans of black or white beans.
HOW DO YOU MAKE STUFFED PEPPER SKILLET?
When I say this dish is easy, I mean it! Take your one-pot dish you want to create this meal in (a large skillet or Dutch oven works well), and add the oil, ground beef, bell peppers, and jalapeno (which is optional if you don’t like the heat; though the heat from one seeded jalapeno is truly negligible).
Cook the beef mixture for about 6-8 minutes, stirring frequently to break up the ground beef as it cooks and to incorporate everything well. The peppers should be tender and the beef should be all browned.
From there, add in the tomato sauce, spices, and beef broth, turn the heat down on the burner and let this unique ground beef recipe simmer for 5-10 minutes. After this time, the liquids should have reduced and thickened.
Add in the rice, stirring to mix it in. Then top the entire stuffed pepper dish with cheese and add the lid on to your skilled to let it cook another 2-3 minutes so that the cheese can melt.
It’s now ready to serve! It really is that easy! I like to garnish this dish with cilantro and green onions, but you could leave them on the side for people to add as desired.
ARE STUFFED PEPPERS KETO-FRIENDLY?
While this particular recipe contains rice, which isn’t recommended on the Keto diet, there are some easy changes you can make to make this dish fit into your Keto meal planning.
You’ll want to cook everything as directed, except for two minor changes:
- Cut the beef broth to ¼ of a cup.
- Omit the rice.
That’s it! Otherwise, make as directed and enjoy this delicious, low-carb, Keto-friendly stuffed pepper recipe. 
HOW DO YOU DICE BELL PEPPERS?
There’s really no one “right” way to dice a bell pepper, but here’s the easiest way I’ve discovered through trial and error, of course:
- I take my knife and slice kind of in a backwards “C” from the outside of the stem down to the bottom of the pepper, so that I can cut around the stems and membranes. I do this all the way around, so about four times.
- Discard the stem, membranes, and seeds.
- Lay your pepper quarters cut side up (shiny side down) and slice each piece into strips.
- Turn the strips perpendicular to your knife and cut each strip into small pieces.
WHAT SIDES GO WITH STUFFED PEPPER SKILLET?
I’m a big fan of a side salad with a lot of my one-pot meals. It takes no time at all to make a salad while this simmers, and my Simple Tossed Green Salad is my go-to.
Roasted Broccoli is healthy, full of fiber, and also a good option for a Keto or low-carb diet.
Not into broccoli? How about Sauteed Brussels Sprouts? Cook right alongside your Stuffed Pepper Skillet. Okay now you have two skillets to clean, but it’s worth it!
Feeling fruity? How about a delicious Winter Fruit Salad to go alongside this warming pepper skillet?
Stuffed Pepper Skillet
Easiest ever Stuffed Pepper Skillet one pot meal. All the flavors of classic stuffed peppers made super quick and easy in just 20 minutes in a skillet on your stovetop!
- 1 pound lean ground beef see note
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 3 bell pepper, diced any color
- 1 jalapeno, seeds and stem removed, finely chopped
- 1 cup tomato sauce
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 cup beef broth
- 3 cups prepared Spanish style rice 2 packets of Spanish style minute-rice works great
- 1 cup shredded fiesta blend cheese or Monterey Jack cheese
- cilantro and green onions for garnish optional
In a large skillet over medium-high heat, add oil, ground beef, diced bell peppers, and chopped jalapeno.
Cook for 6-8 minutes, stirring and using a spatula or spoon to break up the ground beef, until meat is completely browned and peppers are becoming tender.
Stir in tomato sauce, salt, cumin, chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, and beef broth.
Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 5-10 minutes til reduced and thickened.
Stir in rice. Top with shredded cheese. Cover for 2-3 minutes until cheese is melted.
Garnish with cilantro and green onions if desired and serve.
In place of the ground beef, I often use ground Italian sausage. It might seem a little strange to use “Italian” sausage in place of ground beef in a tex-mex flavored recipe, but trust me, it works!
