Chicken Stuffed Peppers make the perfect quick, easy, healthy, and low carb weeknight meal! With only 10 minutes of hands-on time and 30 minutes in the oven, you’ll have dinner ready in no time!

This recipe was originally posted on September 3, 2019 and was updated on November 4, 2020.

Chicken Stuffed Peppers

Here’s the thing about stuffed peppers – even though they seem like a simple meal, they can take a long time to make once you factor in the cooking time for the filling.

Not with this recipe! We’re using rotisserie chicken and a super quick homemade enchilada sauce as the filling, so there’s no need to cook rice, soak and cook beans, or saute any vegetables or protein.

I think that’s why I love this recipe so much. It really is so easy to pull together on a busy weeknight, and I’m all about the fast recipes for the (pretty frequent) occasion when my time just seems to disappear during the day.

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How to Make Chicken Stuffed Peppers

This stuffed pepper recipe is one of the easiest I’ve seen, and it’s full of delicious flavor.

Start by making a “T” shaped slit in each pepper. You can do this by making a horizontal cut underneath each stem across the top half of each pepper. Then make a vertical slit down the front of the pepper and remove the seeds.

I used sweet twister peppers, because they most closely resemble the classic enchilada shape and are readily available where I live. Don’t worry, they may look like it, but these aren’t hot peppers!

You could use poblano peppers and follow the exact same steps, or you can even use red bell peppers!

If you’re using bell peppers, cut them in half (from stem to bottom) and serve them as “boats” (open stuffed instead of closed stuffed). You’ll only need three peppers if you use bell peppers.

If you want to make these into little appetizers, you could even shred the chicken really finely and make these with jalapeno peppers. Seriously, I’m loving this idea and am dying to try it – if you try it please let me know what you thought!

Next, stuff each pepper with 1/2 cup shredded cooked rotisserie chicken. Place each pepper into a nonstick 9 x 9 metal baking dish. As long as you use a non-stick pan, there’s no need to grease your pan before adding the stuffed peppers.

Pour the sauce over the peppers. Open each pepper a bit as you do this so you get plenty of sauce inside each one. I’d recommend using my Easy Healthy Enchilada Sauce for this recipe to keep this dinner healthy, low calorie, and bursting with delicious flavor!

You can definitely use store bought enchilada sauce if you want, but once you try homemade enchilada sauce you’ll be amazed at how much more flavorful it is.

Sprinkle the shredded cheese over the stuffed peppers. Do your best to only sprinkle the cheese in the middle of the peppers. This helps keep it from melting over the edges where it would disappear into the sauce.

Be sure to tent your aluminum foil before baking! If you don’t, the cheese will stick to the aluminum and create a mess.

Optional Alterations and Add-Ins

I think the most common change people wonder about with this recipe is whether or not they can use bell peppers instead of sweet twister peppers, and the answer is yes!

I talked a little bit about how it would change the recipe in the section above, but the main thing to note is that this will taste best with red, orange, or yellow bell peppers than it will with green bell peppers.

Some other ideas are:

• Mix some softened cream cheese with the chicken before stuffing the peppers.
• Substitute your favorite ground meat (beef, chicken, or turkey all work) for the rotisserie chicken. I love using my Turkey Taco Meat recipe here!
• Experiment with the cheese you use. I used a shredded Mexican cheese mix for convenience when I wrote this recipe, but I also love it with freshly grated cheddar or mozzarella.

What to Eat With a Stuffed Pepper

Plate each pepper and pour over some of the remaining sauce. Serve it with a side salad and your favorite side dishes. If you leave the chicken out of this Southwest Chicken Salad, it would make the perfect Mexican Chopped Salad to pair these with.

These would also be great served with rice and beans! Cauliflower rice would be awesome, too, if you’re looking for a low carb option.

Do Stuffed Chicken Enchilada Peppers Reheat Well?

Yes! Stuffed peppers reheat very well. You can make a large batch of these and eat them throughout a busy week.

Can You Freeze These Stuffed Peppers?

Definitely! Stuffed peppers are such a freezer friendly meal. I’d store them in an airtight container to avoid freezer burn though.

You can freeze them before or after baking them, both will work. Unless you’re freezing leftovers, I’d probably opt for freezing them before baking them just to save some prep time.

When you’re ready to eat them, you can either let them thaw in the fridge overnight and bake them as instructed, or you can even bake them straight from frozen.

How to Make These Peppers Vegan or Dairy-Free

The enchilada sauce for these peppers is already vegan, so the only alteration you’d need to make is to use vegan shredded cheese for the topping.

How to Make This Recipe Gluten Free

This recipe is gluten free as it’s written and doesn’t need any alterations. If you use a different enchilada sauce, it’s important to check and see if it’s gluten free or not (some may be thickened with flour instead of starch).

More Mexican Recipes

If you love Mexican food, be sure to check out our entire Mexican recipe category!

Some of my favorites are:

• Restaurant Style Salsa
• Steak Fajitas
• BEST Ground Turkey Taco Meat
• Chicken Taco Seasoning
• Chicken Tinga Tacos

I’d love to hear what you thought of this recipe in the comments or on Instagram! @KeyToMyLime #KeyToMyLime

Be sure to pin this recipe for later!

Try making these easy chicken stuffed peppers for a quick low carb weeknight dinner!