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Instant Pot Stuffed Peppers are a hit for busy weeknights! The cheesy beef and rice filling is so satisfying and bakes beautifully in brilliant green or red peppers. Your family will love them!
Featured with this recipe
Stuffed Bell Peppers are one of those classic dinners that remind me of my childhood. Full disclosure: as a kid I only liked the beefy rice filling, so I would scoop out the stuffing and leave the peppers on the plate, much to our mom’s chagrin. Luckily, I got over myself and learned to love the crisp peppers along with that hearty filling. The peppers are the star of the meal, after all. Using the Instant Pot for this stuffed peppers recipe keeps the peppers crisp, yet tender with bubbly filling inside. A delicious Instant pot meal every time!
If you haven’t jumped on the Instant Pot train yet – YOU NEED TO! It is one of the most convenient kitchen appliances I have ever owned. This recipe is just one of the MANY Instant Pot recipes that I have incorporated into my regular meal rotations.
Ingredients in Stuffed Peppers
This recipe is healthy and wholesome, made with simple ingredients. The fresh bell pepper, alone, is chock full of vitamins and flavor. In addition to that, the possibilities are endless. Try any combination and enjoy experimenting!
Basic ingredients
- Bell peppers – We like using red, orange, and yellow for the sweet flavor and the pop of color. Green bell peppers work great as well.
- Ground beef – ground sausage or ground turkey can also be used, or a combination of two.
- Rice – Cooked white rice or brown rice.
- Vegetables – onions and diced tomatoes. If you are trying to get more veggies into your meal, celery and/or diced carrots can also be added.
- Tomato sauce
- Seasonings – Parmesan cheese, oregano, garlic powder, salt and pepper.
- Cheese – Sharp cheddar, mozzarella, Colby Jack.
Optional add-ins and variations
- Ground turkey, chicken, or sausage
- Feta cheese
- Bacon and eggs
- Lamb or pork
- Couscous
- Corn
- Black beans
- Cauliflower rice
- Fresh parsley
- Quinoa
- Ham and cheese
- Fresh basil, parsley, or thyme
How to Slice Peppers for Stuffed Peppers
Vertical or horizontal, which is best for Instant Pot Stuffed Peppers? There are pros to each.
- If you slice horizontally down the middle, you can get two stuffed peppers out of one. Costco prepares their stuffed peppers this way. If you simply cut off the top and fill the entire pepper, the filling can overpower the pepper ratio. This is how I cut the peppers in the recipe below.
- Slicing the pepper vertically will allow you to fit a lot into one pan, so it’s ideal for baking. How you cut the peppers really boils down to personal preference. But you can definitely fit in more in the Instant Pot when cutting vertically.
Does the Ground Beef Need to be Cooked?
Nope! Lean ground beef or ground turkey can go in UNcooked! That is the wonderful thing about this recipe. Of course, if you would like to pre-cook the beef, you absolutely can. The only reason for pre-cooking the beef would be so you can drain the grease from the beef if you are using ground beef with a higher fat content. In this picture below, actually, I lightly browned the beef JUST enough to get some of the excess grease off but it is not necessary. If you pre-cook the beef, you can reduce the pressure time to only 3-5 minutes.
What Kind of Rice to Use for Stuffed Peppers
Using leftover cooked rice is definitely the way to go when making stuffed peppers. I honestly just use whatever leftover rice is on hand. Brown or white, seasoned or plain, it really isn’t going to make a huge difference. I especially love using leftover Mexican Rice and Garden Vegetable Rice. Seasoned rice just kicks it up a notch. When I don’t have leftover rice on hand, I usually just cook up rice quickly in the Instant Pot and then wash the Instant Pot out before using again for the stuffed peppers (you can also use a rice cooker).
Frequently Asked Questions About Stuffed Peppers
No, they will cook in the Instant Pot.
Yes! This Instant Pot Stuffed Peppers recipe is ideal to serve to anyone on a gluten-free diet. All the ingredients, from the ground beef to the rice to the tomatoes are naturally GF. Just make sure to leave out the breadcrumbs. Enjoy!
Absolutely! Once baked in the Instant Pot, cool them down, then wrap and store in the freezer for up to two months. These are wonderful to make and freeze so they’re ready when you are.
Read Next: 27 BEST Instant Pot Recipes
What To Serve With Stuffed Peppers
Instant Pot Stuffed Peppers are a simple meal all on their own, but we love to serve a light fruit salad alongside. Your family would also love potato chips, a green salad, green beans, fruit, or some nice, crusty bread.
Instant Pot Stuffed Peppers
Video
Equipment
- Instant Pot Pressure Cooker
Ingredients
- 4 bell peppers (I like using red, orange, and/or yellow)
- 1 1/2 pounds ground beef (see notes above)
- 2 cups rice (pre-cooked, see notes above)
- 2 cups mozzarella cheese shredded
- 1 onion finely diced
- 1 cup diced tomatoes
- 8 ounces tomato sauce
- 1/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs (omit for gluten free)
- 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- kosher salt to taste
- ground black pepper to taste
- shredded cheese for garnish
Instructions
- Wash bell peppers. Remove stem (cutting JUST around the stem) and slice horizontally (see notes above). Remove seeds and membranes.
- Combine remaining ingredients in a large mixing bowl (except shredded cheese for garnish) and mix until well combined.
- Divide mixture evenly between the 8 halves (it’s ok if they are heaping).
- Place trivet in Instant Pot and pour in 1 cup water, covering the bottom of the Instant Pot. Place 4 of the stuffed peppers onto the trivet (I did this in my 6 qt). Now, you can cook them 4 at a time OR you can cook them all at once if you place the trivet with handles with the handles DOWN making kind of a table over the other trivet and first layer of peppers– the "table" will seem wobbly or lean to one side but it won't fall over, it has nowhere to go. Place the remaining 4 stuffed peppers over the top.
- Place the lid on the Instant Pot and seal, placing the tab to "sealing". Manually pressure cook on high pressure for 9 minutes. Slow release for about 1-2 minutes and then quick release. Open the Instant Pot and place cheese over all of the stuffed bell peppers (if you did 2 layers with the 2 trivets do this carefully removing the top layer and adding cheese to all the peppers and putting the top layer back).
- Place lid back on Instant Pot for about 3-5 minutes or until cheese has melted. Serve hot.
Notes
Tips for this recipe:
- Instant Pot Note: We use a 6-quart Instant Pot brand pressure cooker that we bought in 2016. Different or newer versions may be more sensitive to the “BURN” notice. If you are concerned about the burn notice, please refer to this article: “What Does ‘Burn’ Mean on My Instant Pot?“
- If you slice horizontally down the middle, you can get two stuffed peppers out of one. Costco prepares their stuffed peppers this way. If you simply cut off the top and fill the entire pepper, the filling can overpower the pepper ratio.
- Slicing the pepper vertically will allow you to fit a lot into one pan, so it’s ideal for baking. How you cut the peppers really boils down to personal preference. But you can definitely fit in more in the Instant Pot when cutting vertically.
If I make this recipe with only 2 peppers (4 servings), do I cook for same amount in Instant Pot? TYIA for reply.
I’m not sure – we haven’t tested it that way. Let us know how it turns out if you try it!
Cut the ground meat back to 1 lb and the rice and cheese to 1 cup each. The peppers were very amply filled with the reductions. I used both the trivit and a rack for the two layers.
I just made this recipe for dinner and it’s delicious! I doubled it bc we are meal prepping the peppers from the garden before frost. I love both the flavor and the texture. Some of our peppers were small so I have additional meat mixture left. I plan to make porcupines with it tomorrow. Thanks for a great recipe!
I meant to do that with my comment
I’m trying this recipe tonight for the stuffed peppers, I hope everyone likes them.
Absolutely delicious! I love stuffed peppers! I always feel like I’m eating just a little bit healthier when I eat this dish! Bonus that it also tastes SO good!
My husband loved these! I was happy to try them in the Instant Pot!
I added a little of the cheese to the filling, and it made them nice and cheesy all the way through. So yummy!
Going to make this tonight but please make a note that bread crumbs are not gluten free as the article states the recipe to be gluten free.
Thank you for catching that! I added a note!
Making this today with a cup of ground chuck and half a cup of fresh pork sausage! Fresh from our local meat market.
Yum! Let us know how it turns out!
The Stuffed Green Peppers came out absolutely delicious 😋 I will make these again and I highly recommend this recipe. Basic ingredients, great home coming.
So glad you liked them! Thanks for the kind comment and for the 5-stars!
Going to make this tomorrow
Let us know what you think!
Do you have a video showing how to make the stuffed peppers?
We don’t have a video for this recipe yet. It is on our “to-do” list. Thanks for the suggestion!
I’m wanting to try this recipe. If I use the peppers whole (slice to top off and clean out), do I adjust the cooking time?
Thanks!