Slow cooker stuffed peppers with chicken, rice, black beans, corn and southwest seasonings are an easy, hands-off dinner with big flavor!

Today, I’m excited to be sharing a revamp of these slow cooker stuffed bell peppers.

It’s one of the very early recipes I published here on Family Food on the Table. I’m talking way back, a month into me learning how to publish recipes online. Back before I had told anyone but my husband that I even had the site.

The photos were atrocious. (I kept one at the very bottom of this post, under the recipe card, so you can laugh at me.)

And the recipe was written just for two. I guess because my kids were babies so I was just cooking for my husband and I? And I thought that was good enough?

And basically, no one ever knew the post existed. I never did share it anywhere.

But it’s actually very delicious so I had to finally show it a little love, dust it off and get it ready to share at last.

And here we are.

Now, the photos still aren’t that fabulous. Turns out slow cooker stuffed pepper are just sorta tricky to photograph. For me at least. I’ve still got lots of practicing and learning to do.

But the recipe is super yummy!

Cooking stuffed peppers in the crock pot instead of the oven ensures that you get perfectly cooked peppers that are soft and tender all over.

(I’ve made several oven versions where the peppers are still crunchy. Not my favorite.)

And we’ve got a fun southwestern filling for these peppers with rice, chicken, black beans, corn, cheese and just the right mix of seasonings.

It’s all on-hand ingredients and some familiar flavors that combine to create a dinner everyone will cheer for!

They’re cheesy, soft, hearty and so yummy!

Plus, after they are prepped, they go into the slow cooker and you can go about your life. Gotta love that!

(Oh, and you can even prep them ahead. Details on that below so keep reading.)

OK, let’s get to cooking.

Now, I’ve got some notes and substitutions coming up below on how to make slow cooker stuffed peppers. Just tryin’ to be helpful.

If you want to jump on down to the recipe, simply scroll right on through the rest of the text. The recipe card is near the bottom of the page, above the comments section.

Notes on making slow cooker stuffed peppers:

• Peppers: Feel free to use any color bell pepper you would like, or use a variety like I did here. The red are my favorite because of their sweetness, but any will work. It does help to make sure you get some large, fat peppers that are evenly sized and sit up well on their own.
• Rice: Brown or white rice will work fine here. You could even try substituting some quinoa or another grain if you prefer.
• Chicken: You need 1 ½ cups of cooked, chopped chicken for the recipe. That can be a rotisserie chicken from the store or some leftover grilled or roasted chicken. It’s also fine to use Instant Pot shredded chicken or crock pot shredded chicken if you have some on hand.
• Beans: The recipe calls for black beans, but you could substitute pinto beans if you prefer.
• Cheese: White cheddar cheese is our favorite, but you could use regular cheddar or substitute Monterey Jack or a Mexican blend cheese if you prefer.
• Spicy: Like it spicy? Feel free to add some cayenne pepper or red pepper flakes to the filling mixture. You can also serve these peppers with hot sauce.

Lots of ways to mix and match here, depending on your preferences.

Oh, and as I mentioned, you can definitely prep these ahead if needed.

You can prep the peppers - get the tops cut off and the insides cleaned out - and store those in a covered container in the refrigerator. They should be good for a day or two.

You can also mix and prep the filling - cook the rice and combine it with the chicken, beans, corn, cheese and seasonings. That’ll store in the refrigerator for several days too.

And in fact, you can stuff the peppers as well and have them ready to just plop into your slow cooker when you’re ready. Just store them upright in a covered container in the refrigerator. (Or place them on a plate and cover tightly in plastic wrap.)

It can be such a help to have these ready to just stick in the crock pot on a busy day.

OK, let’s get ready to serve these up. I’m getting hungry!

The southwestern filling mixture for these peppers is flavorful and filling all on its own.

But of course, I’ve just got to give you some topping ideas.

Pick and choose your favorites and really take these stuffed peppers over the top!

Toppings for southwestern stuffed peppers:

• Extra shredded cheese
• Greek yogurt or sour cream
• Salsa or pico de gallo
• Sliced avocado
• Guacamole
• Chopped fresh cilantro
• Fresh lime juice

You are in for a serious treat.

Last thing, let’s talk about what to do with any leftovers.

Leftovers will keep, in a covered container, in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days.

As you might imagine though, the stuffed peppers don’t really stand up to reheating as is. After they’ve cooked and cooled, they are soft and will start to sorta slump.

However, all the amazing flavors are still there, just waiting to be heated and revived.

So what I do is just dump the filling out onto my plate or in my bowl, then slice up the pepper and mix it all together. Reheat in the microwave, add your toppings and dig in!

Sure, it’s more of a deconstructed stuffed pepper bowl, but I promise it’s delicious. Makes a great lunch later in the week!

And if you like these flavors and need a super fast dinner, check out this 15-minute southwestern chicken skillet. Easy and so good!

I hope you give these southwestern slow cooker stuffed peppers a try for a fun flavor twist and a family dinner everyone will want to dig into!

Enjoy!

XO,

Kathryn

This recipe was originally published in February 2015. It has been updated with new photos, expanded text and a revamped recipe for more deliciousness.

Here is one of the original photos so you can see why this was needed. (Feel free to laugh, it was a horrible picture!)