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Orange bell peppers carved into jack o lantern pumpkins and stuffed with ground beef and rice for Halloween!

Jack O Lantern Stuffed Peppers

Orange bell peppers carved into jack o lantern pumpkins and stuffed with ground beef and rice for Halloween!
Servings: 4 stuffed peppers
5 from 1 vote
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Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Total Time 1 hour

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 8x8 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

Storage Instructions:
  • 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.