Why you’ll love these easy unstuffed peppers
- Much quicker and easier than traditional stuffed peppers, you only need about 30 minutes and one pan for a filling, flavor-packed meal.
- Simple seasonings and a handful of ingredients combine to make the perfect family-friendly weeknight meal.
- It’s a versatile recipe that you can customize with your protein of choice, add in additional veggies and herbs if desired, and keep it dairy-free.
Related ->> Check out this roundup of 30 Healthy One Pan Meals.
How to make deconstructed stuffed peppers
Ingredient notes and variations
- Ground beef – Substitute any ground protein you prefer. Chicken, turkey or bison work great.
- Peppers – Bell peppers are the classic option, but other mild peppers like poblano, banana or anaheim peppers will work too.
- Diced tomatoes – Marinara sauce could be used instead of diced tomatoes.
- Other veggies – Feel free to add in some other veggies if you want. Peas, carrots, broccoli and mushrooms are good options.
- Rice – Substitute another grain like quinoa or millet if desired. The cooking time may need to be adjusted or simply add it in at the end (when you add the beans) if it’s pre-cooked.
- Cheese – The cheese in this recipe is totally optional. It tastes great with or without it.
Tips from an expert home chef
Rice – Different types of rice may have longer cooking times. Long-grain white rice or jasmine rice work best for this recipe. If using brown rice, the cooking time might be longer.
Scale it up – This is a great healthy meal prep recipe to make a big batch of. Just click the 2x or 3x button below in the recipe card and the ingredients will adjust automatically.
Storage – This will last 4-5 days in the fridge in an airtight container. Or, it can be frozen for several months.
Re-heating – From the fridge, warm it up in the microwave or in a skillet on the stovetop. From the freezer, allow it to completely thaw in the fridge before reheating. Add a splash of water before reheating if it seems dry at all.
More quick and healthy ground beef recipes
- Healthy 20-Minute Korean Beef Bowl
- Meatza (Easy 10-Minute Prep Recipe)
- Keto Big Mac Salad
- Bunless Burger Recipe
- Easy Ground Beef Taco Salad Bowl
We hope you love this easy one pan recipe!
Don’t forget to leave a quick star rating and review below, we read every comment and truly appreciate your feedback. Also, be sure to browse the rest of our healthy one pan recipes to find some other favorites too!
Get the Recipe:
30-Minute (One Pan) Deconstructed Stuffed Peppers
These one-pan deconstructed stuffed peppers are a quick and healthy recipe that's super easy to make. All the flavor of stuffed peppers without all the work. Loaded with goodies like ground beef, rice, diced tomatoes and black beans, you'll love these unstuffed peppers.
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil, (or cooking oil of choice)
- 1 lb ground beef
- 2 bell peppers, sliced into strips
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 can diced tomatoes, (~15 oz)
- 1/2 cup uncooked white rice, (see notes)
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 can black beans, (~15 oz)
- 1 cup shredded cheese, (optional, omit for dairy-free)
Instructions
- Prep the bell peppers, onion and garlic as noted.
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add in the oil. Once the pan is hot, add in the ground beef, onion, garlic, chili powder, cumin and salt. Break the beef up into smaller bits and cook, stirring occasionally, until the beef is browned, about 6-7 minutes.
- While the beef is cooking, gather the remaining ingredients.
- Once the beef is browned, add the bell peppers, diced tomatoes, uncooked rice and water to the pan. Stir to mix well and evenly distribute the rice. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer for 20-25 minutes, or until the rice is fully cooked.
- Stir in the black beans and mix well. Simmer for another 2-3 minutes to warm the beans. If using cheese, add it over the top of the skillet and cover for 1-2 minutes to melt. Serve immediately.
Notes
You can substitute 1.5 cups of cooked rice for the uncooked rice. If doing so, omit the water from the recipe and you can cut down the simmering time (step#4) to about 5 minutes. Then, simply add in the cooked rice with the black beans after simmering (step #5).Â
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This recipe looks good but not a fan of black beans. What can I sub it with?
You could omit them completely or substitute any kind of canned beans you do like.
This was so good! I added a bag of cauliflower rice when I added the beans for some extra nutrition. I plan on making this again and when I do I think I will chop the peppers and leave the tomatoes out because of personal preference. My husband loves it just the way it is though!
Glad you enjoyed it!
These were easy to make and delicious! We tend to eat toward Paleo, so I subbed quinoa (1/4 cup) for the rice and didn’t use the cheese. Also, I didn’t have black beans (which we eat occasionally) and subbed with sliced mushrooms. Will definitely make this dish again!
Glad to hear you made it work for you! Thanks for coming back to leave a review, we appreciate it đŸ™‚