Cheesy Chicken Enchilada Stuffed Peppers {With a Slow Cooker Variation}
These cheesy chicken enchilada stuffed peppers with a slow cooker variation are fantastic! Cheesy, creamy, and full of simple flavors.
So. Stuffed peppers. Do you love or hate?
Until about, oh, say Tuesday of last week, I would have to put myself in the big, huge camp of those who greatly dislike stuffed peppers. As in, I don’t think in my long history of loving food that I have ever, ever craved a stuffed pepper. Know what I mean?

Chalk it up to a combination of the ones I’ve had in the past always being green peppers (I like the sweetness of the other colors better, what can I say) and the not so enticing ground beef/rice/tomato mixture. It just doesn’t speak to me (but I still love you very much if it speaks to you).
Knowing I wanted to figure out a version that did speak to me and since I just posted about this fabulous homemade condensed cream of chicken soup, I thought that a creamy version might do the trick.
Variations on the ol’ stuffed pepper are endless and this white enchilada version has done wonders to replace my prejudices against the humble stuffed pepper.
These babies are fantastic! Cheesy, creamy, full of simple flavors.
It’s as easy as mixing a bunch of ingredients in a large bowl and then, well, you know what comes next: stuffing the peppers. Cover, bake, and you’re done.
I’ve also included a simple slow cooker variation in the notes of the recipe in case you need to simplify even more. Simplifying = Beauty. Beauty = Cheesy Chicken Enchilada Stuffed Peppers.
What to Serve With This
- 5-Minute Skilet Broccoli
- Honey Lime Fruit Salad or seasonal fresh fruit
One Year Ago: Cinnamon Roll Cake
Two Years Ago: Lemon Cupcakes
Three Years Ago: Red Chile Sauce Chicken Enchiladas
Cheesy Chicken Enchilada Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients
- 4 ounces light or regular cream cheese, softened
- 1 ⅓ cups homemade condensed cream of chicken soup, (the equivalent of 1 10.75-ounce can cream of chicken soup)
- 1 ½ cups cooked quinoa or rice
- 1-2 cups cooked diced chicken
- 1 can Great Northern beans, rinsed and drained
- ½ cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- ½ cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
- ⅓ cup chopped fresh cilantro
- Juice of 1 lime, about 1 tablespoon
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 6-8 bell peppers, any color
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly grease a casserole dish with cooking spray (like a 9X13-inch or slightly smaller).
- In a large bowl, stir together the softened cream cheese and the cream of chicken soup. Add the quinoa (or rice), chicken, beans, cheeses, cilantro, lime, salt and pepper. Mix until well combined.
- Slice the top of each bell pepper off and discard the tops and the seeds.
- Spoon the mixture into each bell pepper, packing lightly (confession: I mostly used my hands). It’s ok to mound it slightly above the top of the pepper.
- Place the stuffed peppers in the baking dish (if you don’t have enough peppers to fill up the dish, aluminum foil rolled into small balls and placed in between the peppers help them stand up straight).
- Cover the dish with lightly greased aluminum foil and bake for 40 minutes. Uncover and bake for 15 minutes more until the peppers are tender and the filling is hot. Let the peppers rest for 5 minutes or so before serving.
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe (inspired by this recipe at Cinnamon Spice)
For some reason, it took so long for my stuffed peppers to finish cooking. Maybe I over stuffed them? Not sure – they cooked nearly 90 minutes though and the peppers still had a lot of bite. Plus the prep took me longer than I was expecting. They tasted so delicious though. Worth the effort but this recipe won’t be for an easy week night dinner when I need something quick and easy. Thanks Mel – you never let me down!
When I made these I only stuffed four bell peppers (they were yummy!) and with the rest of the filling I quickly wrapped in about ten flour tortillas and put them in the freezer. A few weeks later I put them in the oven with some green enchilada sauce and they made delicious enchiladas! (Obviously, since that’s in the name of the recipe haha. I just loved that I got two different meals out of one recipe!)
Yum!!
I made these a few weeks ago and they were awesome! We’re also not usually stuffed pepper lovers, but this recipe rocks. I’d like to try a vegetarian version and was thinking of adding chopped broccoli to keep it hearty. Would you recommend adding it raw? Would it cook enough in the peppers (or would it cook too much)?
I’d probably throw it in raw but I like pretty crisp-tender broccoli. If you like it on the softer side, I’d steam it lightly before adding (be careful not to add any extra water when using the broccoli in the recipe). Happy you loved this one!
This recipe was excellent! I added a can of drained chopped green chiles and will also add chopped red onion next time. I did not have fresh cilantro so I used dry instead, which worked just fine. Served with sliced pineapple and corn on the cob for a tasty dinner that I will definitely add to the rotation (albeit a very large rotation!). Thanks for another great one, Mel.
These were yummy and worked out perfectly for one of my Halloween meals in October. I cut faces in the peppers to look like jack o’lanterns.
Made them tonight for dinner – delicious! Thank you for another winner!
In the words of my husband, “this is a winner!” 🙂 Thanks for sharing this recipe. It is admittedly the first time I’ve ever had stuffed peppers (I never thought the ground beef versions were appealing enough to make), and it was a great first experience! I made them with different colored peppers. My husband, like you, prefers the sweeter non-green bell peppers, so I saved those for him. I ate the green ones and still liked the recipe, so I will try another color the next time I make them!
Mel, I am not familiar with Great Northern beans (even though I live way up north in Canada 9 hours from the USA border). What are they? Thanks.
Not Mel and maybe not 100% right, but… Great Northern beans: They are like white kidney beans. I bet you could replace with cannellini beans – those are a little softer and creamier, I think, but similar size and color and mild flavor.
Hi Nancy – they are small white beans. Any type of white bean will work – like white navy beans or cannelini beans. Do you have access to either of those?
Thanks to both of you. Yes, I can access white beans. Off to try the recipe. Any Mel recipe is always a winner
I love all of the recipes you are posting with your homemade condensed cream of chicken soup recipe, Mel! These stuffed peppers look delicious!
Oh, yum! You just keep cranking out delicious recipes. I’m going to try very soon. Thank you for all your hard work and the skill you share with us in re-creating recipes to make them even more excellent.
Can’t wait to try these – thinking of adding black beans (or maybe pinto), and some chopped jalapeno with some of your homemade green enchilada sauce on top? Yes!
I’m with you on the “traditional” stuffed green peppers. I do like to stuff poblano, pasilla and Anaheim’s though…rice and beans and cheese – sometimes some taco spiced meat.
This recipe sounds good and I do like red peppers.
OOH, JNE – that sounds good also.
Good inspiration all around!
Mmmm…. these sound great! I’m not a big fan of traditional rice/beef stuffed peppers either – I hated when they were served for dinner when I was little, but these sound delicious! I do make a philly cheesesteak version of stuffed peppers which I love! I use small peppers, slice them the other way and lay each half down. Then I line them with a slice of provolone and add pre-cooked sliced onion and thin sliced beef, then top with another slice of provolone and bake until melty and wonderful. I will definitely try these enchilada stuffed peppers and try to get another stuffed pepper into our family recipe box! Thanks you!
Oh my gosh, your Philly cheese steak peppers sound delish! I’m going to have to try both recipes!!
What a great idea. I’m tempted to add some chili powder or cumin or Rotel tomatoes. Have you tried it with anything spicier?
My hubby picked up 10 cans of Rotel at the store today because they were on sale for $1 each, and I’m going to try your idea, too! That sounds really good! I have not used 10 cans of Rotel in my 50+ years of cooking, LOL! I am hooked on Mexican/Southwestern dishes though!
Amy, sorry for the delayed response! No, I haven’t, but I bet it would be delicious amping up the spice factor. Did you try it?
I was never a fan of stuffed peppers until my husband randomly requested them for a weekly menu several months ago. He never requests things, so I thought I’d give them a go– and I ended up loving them! The recipe I used had a rice+Italian sausage+parmesan vibe going on and were topped with mozzarella. No ground beef and tomatoes over here. I found out I love a good stuffed pepper. Excited to try this version out next.
This sounds really good, and I, too, am tired of the usual ground beef and rice version even if my hubby isn’t! I would think that this could freeze well, too; what do you think, Mel? I love to make vacuum sealed freezer meals because I’m having hand reconstruction surgery soon and Hubs will be doing the cooking (shudder) for a few months. I prefer to cook a largish meal, eat half and freeze half. I’ve found that pre-cooked meals taste better than those frozen before cooking as so many are doing now.
I’m sorry to hear about your upcoming surgery, Barbara! Best of luck! I haven’t frozen these but I agree that it seems like they would freeze well after they have been baked and cooled.
I had to chuckle as I was reading the recipe and wondered “hm, could these be frozen?” and then I read your comment:) Interesting that you prefer pre-cooked meals. I don’t do much freeze cooking at all but am looking to stock my son’s new apartment with freezer meals and would like to try this one. We’ll go with the pre-cooked!