Stuffed Banana Peppers
A delicious stuffed banana peppers recipe filled with chopped beef, melty cheese and lots of seasonings. Great for an easy dinner, side dish, or party platter.
I get questions like this very often – “Hey, Mike! What can I make with banana peppers? My garden is exploding with them right now.”
Banana peppers are hugely popular peppers. They’re easy to grow and the plants are usually quite productive, producing a lot of peppers. You can use them in all sorts of ways, from chopping and sauteing them as part of your mirepoix, to making salsas, tossing them into salads, or pickling them. Or, you can use them up in one of my favorite ways – Stuffed Banana Peppers.
Banana peppers are excellent stuffing peppers. They’re just big enough to hold whatever stuffing you’re in the mood for. The pepper walls aren’t very thick, yet they offer a bit of sweet crunch when eaten raw, and soften up nicely during the cooking process.
A Bit About Banana Peppers
The banana pepper is a mild, medium-sized pepper with a tangy, slightly sweet taste. They offer very little heat, if any at all, and are considered more of a sweet pepper, not hot peppers. Compared to the mildest jalapeno pepper, it is 5 times milder. They’re also known as the yellow wax pepper or banana chili. You’ll find them commonly eaten on pizza, in Greek salads, on sandwiches, or stuffed with meat and/or cheese, which is one of my favorite ways to use them.
Learn more about banana peppers here.
Let’s talk about how we make the recipe, shall we?
Stuffed Banana Peppers Recipe
First, heat an oven to 400 degrees.
Slice your banana peppers in half lengthwise and core out the seeds and innards to make room for stuffing. Set them onto a large baking sheet.
Heat the oil in a medium pan and add the chopped steak. Season with garlic, paprika, salt and pepper. Cook about 5 minutes, or until the beef/steak is cooked to your liking.
Next, spoon the seasoned beef mixture into the peppers, then top each with shredded cheese.
Bake for 15 minutes. Alternatively, you can grill the stuffed banana peppers for 15 minutes, or broil them for 6-7 minutes, until the cheeses are nice and melty.
Remove from heat and set onto serving plates.
Top with chopped green onion, spicy chili flakes and hot sauce, if desired.
BOOM! Easy recipe, right? And quite satisfying. I love a simple stuffed pepper recipe.
Recipe Tips
- The Stuffing. I used chopped flank steak for these stuffed banana peppers, though you are free to use any cut of steak that you’d like. It also works for any ground meat, like beef, pork, turkey or chicken. I’ve made this recipe with leftover carne asada before, and it was extremely delicious.
- The Cheese. You can also use any type of cheese that you’d like, but it is best to use a cheese that is more melty, like cheddar or pepperjack. Harder cheeses won’t melt and you may not enjoy the consistency. You can also swap out the meat and go with a very soft cheese, like goat cheese or cream cheese.
- The Peppers. Your banana peppers are not very thick walled and should soften up nicely during cooking. However, if you’d prefer very soft stuffed peppers, blanch the cored out peppers in hot water for a couple minutes before stuffing them. This will soften them up even more.
That’s it, my friends! I hope you enjoy the stuffed banana peppers. They’re great for a simple weeknight meal, but they are also popular to serve as an appetizer. Time to get stuffing! Enjoy.
Try Some of My Other Popular Stuffed Pepper Recipes
- Cajun Cream Cheese Stuffed Anaheim Peppers
- Chicken and Cheese Stuffed Anaheim Peppers
- Easy Italian Sausage Stuffed Peppers
- Cream Cheese Stuffed Poblano Peppers
- Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers
- Cajun Chicken Stuffed Poblano Peppers
- Cajun Shrimp Stuffed Poblano Peppers
- See all of my Stuffed Pepper Recipes
Got any questions? Ask away! I’m happy to help. If you enjoy this recipe, I hope you’ll leave a comment with some STARS. Also, please share it on social media. Don’t forget to tag us at #ChiliPepperMadness. I’ll be sure to share! Thanks! — Mike H.
- 10 banana peppers or more as needed, depending on the size
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 8 ounces beef or steak finely chopped (*)
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 4 ounces shredded gouda cheese or use your favorite melty cheese
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Heat an oven to 400 degrees.
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Slice the banana peppers in half lengthwise and core them out. Set them onto a large baking sheet.
-
Heat the oil in a medium pan and add the chopped steak. Season with garlic, paprika, salt and pepper. Cook about 5 minutes, or until the beef/steak is cooked to your liking.
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Spoon the seasoned beef mixture into the peppers, then top each with shredded cheese.
-
Bake for 15 minutes. Alternatively, you can grill the stuffed banana peppers for 15 minutes, or broil them for 6-7 minutes, until the cheeses are nice and melty.
-
Remove from heat and set onto serving plates.
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Top with chopped green onion, spicy chili flakes and hot sauce, if desired.
Makes 10 half stuffed banana peppers.
** About the Beef/Steak. Use any cut of choice, as long as it is chopped finely so that it will easily stuff into each banana pepper. Leftovers are good here, too. I used a bit of flank steak I had leftover, just seasoned it up in the pan. Try it with ground beef or ground turkey, pork or chicken.
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This is my jam! I love any kind of stuffed peppers! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, Karly! Me too!
I know you wrote a couple of articles for Chile Pepper Magazine. Do you know if they closed down the magazine?
Matthew, yes, I wrote for them for a couple years. They definitely closed down the magazine. Bummer.