Jack O Lantern Stuffed Peppers are orange bell peppers carved into jack o lantern pumpkins and stuffed with ground beef and rice for Halloween! This versatile recipe can be made to your liking using various substitutions and additions. Without a doubt, Jack O Lantern Stuffed Peppers are sure to be a Halloween dinner hit!
Jack O Lantern Stuffed Peppers
Ordinary stuffed peppers are simply hollowed and packed with various types of seasoned meat mixtures, rice, and flavors. Halloween is right around the corner and there is nothing cuter than these little jack-o-lantern stuffed peppers! Just look at them!
Your kids or party guests are going to LOVE this! They are actually pretty easy and the whole meal comes together in about 45 minutes. This recipe is a quick festive meal to serve on or before Halloween! Need an even healthier dinner? Substitute ground turkey or chicken for the beef.
Ingredients:
- cooked white rice
- sweet onion
- garlic
- ground beef
- sausage
- Rotel
- salt
- pepper
- orange bell peppers
- mozzarella cheese
- parsley
- tomato sauce
- chili powder
- Italian seasoning
- red pepper flakes
Bell Pepper Stuffing Recipe
In a large skillet or pan, stir the sausage and beef, add onion, and simmer on medium-high heat. Add your Rotel, garlic, salt, black pepper, tomato sauce, chili powder, Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes, and rice to the saucepan. Add additional seasonings as desired to taste! Consider cumin, black beans, Worcestershire sauce, or additional cheddar cheese.
With a small knife, carve jack-o-lantern faces into your peppers. The trick is to not place the jack o’lantern face features and shapes too close together because bell peppers become tender when they cook. To make carving easier, I use an extra small vegetable carving knife. If your peppers won’t stand up well on their own, you can use the carving knife to shave off a small amount of pepper from the bottom to make it even.
Place the carved peppers, top on, into an 8×8 baking dish and into your oven and bake for about 30 minutes. If you prefer a more crisp pepper, remove them from the oven at 20 minutes. Spoon this filling into your cooked peppers until it is almost overflowing and top with mozzarella cheese.
Place the stuffed peppers upright into your oven without the tops. Then, bake for about 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the peppers are warm throughout. If you have picky eaters, consider filling the Halloween stuffed peppers jack-o-lanterns with any casserole filling that your family likes!
Can Stuffed Bell Peppers be Frozen?
You can freeze these stuffed pepper jack-o-lanterns, however, I recommend freezing the filling separately from the peppers. Store the filling in a freezer-safe container for up to 4 months. I don’t recommend freezing the peppers because the jack-o-lantern’s faces will sometimes become soft when thawing. If you do freeze your pepper, carve the faces after thawing. Makes sure to thaw them completely before assembling and reheating.
Stuffed Bell Pepper Variations
- Substitute the white rice with brown rice or quinoa.
- Swap the sweet onion with red, white, or yellow onion.
- Use minced garlic with powdered garlic if you’re in a pinch!
- Substitute the ground beef with ground turkey.
- For extra color, use green, red, and/or yellow bell peppers with orange bell peppers!
- Use various types of cheese in addition or in place of mozzarella cheese, like Monterey jack, Colby jack, cheddar, or provolone.
More Halloween Recipes by The Blogette to Try Next:
- 7 Layer Spider Web Dip
- Halloween Snack Mix
- Jalapeno Popper Mummies
- Halloween Punch
- Candy Apple Ghosts
- Halloween Ice Cream
Jack O Lantern Stuffed Peppers
Equipment
- 8"x8" baking dish
- small knife
- non-stick skillet
- stirring spoon
Ingredients
- 1 cup white rice, cooked
- 1 small sweet onion, chopped
- 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
- ½ pound ground beef
- ½ pound sausage
- 1 (10 ounce) can of Rotel
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 4 orange bell peppers, tops off and hollowed
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
- ½ cup tomato sauce
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
- ½ tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- Optional: parsley
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
- With a small knife, carve jack-o-lantern faces into your peppers. Be careful not to place the facial features too close together, you need the pepper to still hold its form once cooked.
- Place the carved peppers, top on, into an 8×8 baking dish and into your oven and bake for about 30 minutes. If you prefer a more crisp pepper remove them from the oven at 20 minutes.
- In a large non-stick skillet, mix your sausage and beef, add onion, and cook on medium-high heat until the meat is browned and the onion is translucent.
- Add your Rotel, garlic, salt, pepper, tomato sauce, chili powder, Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes, and rice. Mix well.
- Spoon this filling into your cooked peppers until it is almost overflowing and top with mozzarella cheese.
- Place the stuffed peppers back into your oven without the tops, for about 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the peppers are warm throughout.
- Top with parsley (optional)
Notes
- You can store these stuffed pepper jack-o-lanterns in your refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
- You can also freeze them, however, I recommend freezing the filling separately from the peppers. The filling can be stored in an airtight and freezer-safe container for up to 4 months. I don’t recommend freezing the peppers because the jack-o-lantern’s faces will sometimes become soft when thawing. If you do freeze your peppers, carve the faces after thawing.
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