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Are you looking for food to eat on Halloween or spooky stuffed peppers ideas? I would heartily recommend these Halloween buffalo chicken jack-o-lantern stuffed peppers! They are super-easy to make, fun to look at, and of course they’re delicious as well! This is a filling Halloween dinner recipe which will fill you up before the candies come out. These jack-o-lantern peppers are my favorite food to eat on Halloween. If you are looking for Halloween party ideas for adults or kids, give these tasty peppers a try.
Buffalo chicken stuffed peppers are so creative – they’re orange peppers with lantern faces you can have so much fun making with a small paring knife.
If you like this fun recipe, you might also want to try panna cotta eyeballs, black crust spider pizza, apple cider mojitos or monster pretzel treats.
Ingredients for Buffalo Chicken Jack-O-Lantern Stuffed Peppers
The main ingredient is of course the bell peppers. I use orange ones which are halfway between red and yellow sweetness-wise. You can mix and match the peppers but orange is Halloween-like.
Next up you will need some cooked chicken for the pepper recipe. This is going to be shredded so you could save time either using leftover chicken or even grabbing a rotisserie one from the store.
Further to that some shredded cheese goes into these Halloween buffalo chicken jack-o-lantern stuffed peppers. I like to use half mozzarella and half cheddar, but you can use whichever cheeses happen to be your favourite. You need cream cheese for Halloween stuffed peppers also.
Green onions add some bite to the recipe and then you also need rice and buffalo sauce. If you’re making these for kids you might want to sub tomato sauce for the buffalo sauce unless they like the spice. Again, you can pick any kind of hot sauce, buffalo sauce or tomato sauce you like. Anything goes in this Halloween dinner recipe.
How to Assemble Spooky Stuffed Peppers
This is one of the best Halloween party ideas for adults I’ve seen lately. It’s a complete meal and you will agree jack-o-lantern peppers look great. The first step for making Halloween stuffed peppers is to combine the cream cheese and buffalo sauce. You can do this in the microwave or in a pan on the stove.
Next up, add in the chicken, cheese, rice, and green onions. Give everything a good stir. Now for the fun part! Remove the tops from the bell peppers and pull out all the seeds and membranes. Use a sharp knife to cut the spooky faces into them.
Stuff the prepared bell peppers with the chicken and rice mixture and then bake until tender. Depending on your oven and the size of your peppers, this can take anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes. If you would prefer, you could make a similar style of vegetarian stuffed peppers.
Serving Ideas for Jack-o-Lantern Peppers
These are good served hot from the oven with some kind of contrasting sauce. Ranch or blue cheese dressing would be great. You could even serve them with extra buffalo sauce if you like the heat. If there is other food to eat on Halloween that you like, these peppers pair with anything. There are so many Halloween party ideas for adults and this is a great way to kick off the festivities.
Pair these with a simple green salad if you like or a contrasting side dish such as cauliflower cheese or homemade coleslaw. When you’re making food to eat on Halloween you might like to serve it buffet-style. That way you can make all kinds of tasty snacks for people to enjoy. If you’re having a party others can bring their own dishes too.
Why are Jack-o-Lanterns Called That?
Jack-o-lantern peppers are fun to prepare. The older kids could carve their own. But wait, why are they called that?
Here is a great story to tell while everyone is enjoying their Halloween buffalo chicken jack-o-lantern stuffed peppers.
Why is it called a jack-o-lantern anyway? An old Irish folk tale describes a man known as ‘Stingy Jack’. He had a drink with the devil but didn’t want to pay. According to legend, Jack asked the devil to become a coin so he could use it to pay.
As soon as the devil turned himself into a coin, Stingy Jack put the coin in his pocket with a silver cross so the devil couldn’t change back.
Finally Jack freed the devil as long as he didn’t bother Jack for a whole year and wouldn’t claim his soul if Jack died.
Next year Jack tricked the devil again, this time making him climb a tree to get fruit. Jack carved a cross into the trunk of the tree when the devil was up there so he couldn’t come down. At least not until he’d agreed not to bother Jack for another ten years!
When Jack did die, God wouldn’t allow him into Heaven. The devil wouldn’t allow him into Hell either. Jack was alone in the dark night with just a burning coal to light the way.
He put the burning coal inside a carved out turnip. This figure is known as Jack-o-Lantern. Potatoes and turnips were carved for Halloween many years before pumpkins or these spooky stuffed peppers made an appearance.
That is a great tale for your next Halloween party and your Halloween dinner party guests probably haven’t heard it before. You can remember this tale whenever you see a jack-o-lantern face!
Buffalo Chicken Jack-O-Lantern Stuffed Pepper Recipe
Halloween Buffalo Chicken Jack-O-Lantern Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients
- 4 bell peppers, orange
- 2 chicken Breasts, cooked and shredded
- 4 Oz. cream cheese
- 1/2 Cup cheddar cheese , sharp, heaping and shredded
- 1/2 Cup mozzarella cheese, heaping and shredded
- 1/4 Cup green onions , chopped
- 1/2 Cup Buffalo sauce
- 1 Cup rice, white rice, cooked
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- In a microwave safe bowl place the cream cheese and buffalo sauce and microwave until the cream cheese is soft enough to be mixed with the buffalo sauce. It is OK for there to be little chunks of cream cheese.
- Add in the shredded chicken, cheddar, mozzarella, green onions, and rice. Mix everything together well.
- Wash your orange bell peppers then using a small knife create triangle eyes and other facial features and cut off the tops just like you would a pumpkin for Halloween. Be sure to remove the seeds from the inside of the peppers.
- Fill the bell peppers with as much of the buffalo chicken mixture as possible, packing it in tightly.
- Place the bell peppers into an 8×8 baking dish (or you can place them on a baking sheet) lined with parchment paper. If your bell peppers are not flat enough on the bottom to stand on their own you can use balls of aluminum foil or stick toothpicks into the bottoms of the peppers to help them stand.
- Bake the peppers in the oven for 30 to 45 minutes or until the peppers are soft.
- Take out of the oven and serve with extra green onions and a drizzle of buffalo sauce or ranch for those who prefer something mild! Enjoy this Halloween chicken recipe served hot.
Notes
Nutrition
When serving this Halloween buffalo chicken jack o lantern stuffed peppers, share this spooky tale too! Halloween peppers such great addition to your dinner that everyone will love. This dish fits well with Halloween party ideas for adults, ensuring everyone is fed before the games begin. Add Halloween stuffed peppers to your menu on October 31st!
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Bella Bucchiotti
Bella Bucchiotti is a Canadian-based syndicated food, travel, and lifestyle writer, photographer, and creator at xoxoBella. She founded xoxoBella in 2015, where she shares her love for food, dogs, sustainability, fitness, crafts, outdoor adventures, travel, and philanthropy to encourage others to run the extra mile, try new recipes, visit unfamiliar places, and stand for a cause. Bella creates stress-free and family-friendly recipes for weeknight dinners and festive feasts.
I didn’t believe a Halloween recipe could be creepy, cute, tasty, and healthy but you’ve cracked it! These were really simple to make and even the kids ate every single bit. I will pin this to my Pinterest so I can find it again. Really good though. Recommended
Saving these to make this year!