Sunset Park Stuffed Cubanelles

  4.7 – 43 reviews  • Gluten Free
Level: Easy
Total: 1 hr 40 min
Prep: 35 min
Inactive: 5 min
Cook: 1 hr
Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

  1. 1 packet sazon seasoning
  2. 1/2 cup warm water
  3. 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
  4. 1/2 Vidalia or sweet onion, chopped
  5. 1/2 yellow bell pepper, chopped
  6. 1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped
  7. 1/4 cup long-grain rice, rinsed and drained
  8. 2 cloves garlic, minced
  9. 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  10. Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  11. 1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce, divided
  12. 1 pound ground beef, 80/20 ratio
  13. 8 cubanelle peppers, stalk and seeds removed

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. In a small bowl, dissolve the sazon in warm water and set aside. Warm 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, bell pepper and jalapeno and saute for 5 minutes. Stir in the rice and garlic. When the garlic begins to brown, add the sazon water, cumin, and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Saute until the aromas blend, about 3 minutes more. Remove from the heat, add 1/2 cup of the tomato sauce and set aside to cool slightly, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl and add the ground beef. Mix until evenly incorporated.
  3. Stuff the cubanelle peppers with the ground beef mixture, using the end of wooden spoon to help ensure stuffing is tightly packed in. Brush the outside of the peppers with remaining olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper, to taste. Pour the remaining tomato sauce into an 11 by 9-inch baking dish and arrange the stuffed peppers in the dish. Bake until the peppers are golden brown and the internal temperature registers 140 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer, about 50 to 60 minutes.

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 1 of 4 servings
Calories 524
Total Fat 34 g
Saturated Fat 10 g
Carbohydrates 33 g
Dietary Fiber 7 g
Sugar 12 g
Protein 25 g
Cholesterol 81 mg
Sodium 1341 mg

Reviews

Melissa Oliver
I’ve made these twice now and have figured out I will have to make a few adjustments next time. I used 3 poblano, 3 cubanelle & 2 small green peppers (for my wimpy husband who thinks poblanos & cubanelles are too hot. I liked the cubanelles and poblanos equally, but thought there wasn’t a whole lot of kick to it. I liked the idea of using half chorizo in lieu of 100% ground beef. That might add a little flavor. And monterey jack cheese or extra jalepeno mixed in could add the kick I was looking for. I was pleased with the recipe “as is” but just need to tweak it to suit my own personal taste.
Jane King
This recipe is SOOO great! In the past I have tried stuffed peppers only to find that they are bland and not worth the time or effort to make. Since I am not always one to stick 100% to a recipe, I did make some slight changes…I added freshly chopped cilantro to the meat mixture before stuffing the peppers (since I love a little extra cilantro flavor and cooked the pepper/onion/rice mixture a little longer to minimize the chance that the rice wouldn’t be fully cooked after baking, and used ground turkey instead of beef to attempt to make the recipe a little healthier. One last additional change was to use a chile spiced tomato sauce instead of plain tomato sauce, as I was afraid it would decrease the overall impact of flavor. The Sazon added a great flavor, but use sparingly and beware of using it frequently in other recipes as it contains MSG.
Susan Mercer
I love Sunny but this recipe promised more and delivered less. I will stick to my previous recipe where I precook the rice. Adding uncooked rice to the meat stuffing left the rice too al dente and wasn’t even visible in the stuffing. The sauce was so runny in the baking dish I had to pour it into a pan and reduce it to sauce consistency. I liked her use of the seasoning, the sazon packets; that I usually have handy. I used some cubanelles to stuff, as well as some zucchini (scooped out the seeds and made zucchini ‘boats’ to stuff and I filled one large portobello mushroom as well. I also sprinkled melting cheese on top at the end to gussy it up a bit more. All in all, altho’ some parts of the recipe I liked, I would not make this one again as written. I’d have to tweak it with the changes above..
Laurie Edwards DVM
These are awesome, can’t get cubanelles where I live, but have used the Pasilla chiles and they are just awesome. Recently for fun, I’ve used the little appeztizer peppers,”colorful little peppers avail at Costco” by cutting out a little tear drop shape cut and adding a little shredded cheese and mexican oregano in the mix. After cutting the peppers, I drop them in boiling water for about five minutes and then drain and cool and stuff with filling and bake about 40 – 45 minutes. Everyone loves these as an appetizer and always asks for the recipe. Thanks Sunny for such a versatile recipe.
Christopher Cherry
Fantastic! I have made traditional stuffed peppers forever. When I saw this show I decided to try on company dinner. It went over like crazy! What a hit. I have made this 3 times over past few months and it is family favorite.I will only use this recipe from here out. Delicious!
David Little
Taking advantage of the farmers markets, I got some beautiful cubanelle peppers and made this last night. Made recipe as written; no substitutions. This is very delicious. Worth searching a few markets to find the sazon seasoning.
Nichole Pacheco
Very tasty! I made these the same day I saw them on Sunny’s show, my husband and 10 year old were so pleased. I had never seen sazon and am glad I have found it, I have used this with other recipes it adds great flavor so easily. Thanks!!
Heather Gillespie
These are just great! I made them 3 times in two weeks. I added Feta Cheese to one recipe along with Goya Hot Picante tomato sauce. They came out awesome. On another I added shredded Cheddar on top. So tasty. I did let the rice stay warm longer than the recipe states, and this seemed to solve the problem of the rice being undercooked.
I slit the cubanelles down from top to bottom and this allowed me to really pack the stuffing in.. I put some of the sauce on top.
Next time I will add some olives just for added flavor.
Heather Price
Delicioso!!! I just made this dish and my husband and 5 years old son loved it!!! I used anahaim peppers and followed the recipe as written the only change i did was that used 1/2 cup of rice and mix the tomate sauce with some mild salsa about a cup! I will make it again and again!!
Thank you Sunny for this yummy recipe!!
Barbara Stevenson
I loved this dish! I couldn’t find cubanelles so I stuffed pablanos and Italian frying peppers since they’re the same shape. I also used ground turkey instead of beef. I also placed them in a cast iron griddle and cooked them on a closed lid grill. Delish!

 

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