Dinner

Jack-O'-Lantern Stuffed Peppers

Stuffed peppers, but make them pumpkins. Big orange bell peppers get carved with jack-o'-lantern faces — triangle eyes, jagged grin — then filled with a smoky beef, rice, black bean, and corn filling, baked with their tops on, and finished with a broiled cheese cap. The original from California Olive Ranch is vegetarian; this version browns a pound of ground beef with the shallot (the swap the original caption suggests) to land around 30 grams of protein a pepper. Halloween dinner the kids will actually eat — and ask for again in November.

Ingredients

• 4 large orange bell peppers
• 1 lb ground beef
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 shallot, diced
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup long-grain rice
• 1¾ cups vegetable broth
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• ½ tsp paprika
• ½ tsp dried oregano
• Salt, to taste
• 1 cup corn kernels
• 1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained & rinsed
• 1 cup baby spinach, chopped
• 2 green onions, sliced
• ½ cup shredded Mexican cheese

Steps

1. Brown the beef: Heat the olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven. Brown the ground beef with the shallot, breaking it into small crumbles. Stir in the garlic and diced red bell pepper and cook 1 minute more.
2. Cook the rice: Stir in the rice, vegetable broth, chili powder, cumin, paprika, oregano, and salt. Cover and simmer about 20 minutes, until the rice is tender.
3. Carve the peppers: While the rice cooks, cut the tops off the orange peppers and set them aside. Scoop out the seeds, then carve jack-o'-lantern faces with a paring knife — triangle eyes and a jagged grin.
4. Finish the filling: Fold the corn, black beans, spinach, and green onions into the rice until the spinach wilts.
5. Fill & bake: Spoon the filling into the carved peppers, set their tops back on, and bake at 400°F for 30 minutes.
6. Cheese & broil: Remove the tops, sprinkle each pepper with cheese, and broil until melted and bubbly. Serve with the tops leaning alongside.

Dad tip: carve the faces before you fill the peppers, and keep the cuts simple — big triangles read best after baking, and small details soften in the oven.

▶See the original recipe

Recipe adapted from California Olive Ranch’s Jack-O'-Lantern Stuffed Peppers (@californiaoliveranch) — original post. The ground beef addition and the protein figure are our adaptation and an estimate, not the creator’s.