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Instant Pot Stuffed Peppers are so easy to make, and very tasty! A great weeknight meal. Nicely seasoned ground beef and rice in fresh bell peppers make pressure cooker Stuffed Peppers a win in my house!
Instant Pot Stuffed Peppers
Stuffed Peppers are total comfort food. I have fond memories of Mom making these in the tiny kitchen of my childhood.
The pressure cooker is a great way to cook stuffed peppers because they cook much quicker than in the oven.
If you don’t want to turn on the oven and heat up your kitchen, the Instant Pot is a great option, and cooks these stuffed peppers perfectly, keeping your kitchen cool.
Add the sauce to the peppers right before you close the lid.
If you want cheese melted on top, add that after pressure cooking.
Is the meat and rice cooked or uncooked to start?
For these pressure cooker stuffed peppers, the meat goes in uncooked, but the rice is already cooked. You can use parboiled white rice if you’d like.
Here I am using the “Pot-in-Pot” or PIP method, which means I put the peppers in a separate dish to cook in, and that dish goes into the pressure cooker’s cooking pot.
I like to do this when I have a sauce that I don’t want to get watered down. Normally, you will put the peppers directly on the trivet. PIP cooking requires a bit longer cook time.
When choosing your peppers for this recipe, try to get the smaller sized bell peppers so they will fit in your pot.
I can usually get 4 small or 3 medium sized bell peppers into my 6 qt pressure cooker.
Instant Pot Mexican Stuffed Peppers
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Instant Pot Chili
Instant Pot Pot Roast
If you make this yummy pressure cooker stuffed peppers recipe, please leave me a comment below. Let me know how you liked it!
Instant Pot Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients
- 1 cup Water, for the Pressure Cooker
For the Peppers
- 4 med-large Bell Peppers (any color, I like red)
- 1 cup Cooked Rice (or parboiled rice)
- ½ lb Lean Ground Turkey or Beef (85% to 93% lean)
- 1 Egg, beaten
- 1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
- ½ small Onion, diced (or 1/2 tsp Onion Powder)
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- ½ teaspoon Pepper
- 3 Tbsp Bread Crumbs
- 2 teaspoons Italian Seasoning
- 2 teaspoons Paprika (optional)
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce
- 1 cup Shredded Cheese, divided in half
- 1 (14 oz) can Tomato Sauce, divided in half
Instructions
- Put the cup of water into the inner liner of the pressure cooker. Also place the trivet in the pot for the peppers to sit on.
- Rinse the peppers and cut the tops off. Deseed and remove the membrane.
- Add the rice to the mixing bowl.
- Add the ground turkey or beef (raw) and all other ingredients (except for half of the tomato sauce and half the cheese) to the mixing bowl. Mix to combine thoroughly with the rice.
- Fill each pepper with enough of the meat mixture to come a little bit above the top of the pepper. Don't pack them too tightly or they won't cook evenly.
- Place stuffed peppers on the trivet in the pot. They will be sitting above the water.*
- Pour remaining tomato sauce on top of the peppers.
- Put the lid on and close it, turning the steam release knob to the Sealing position.
- Press the Pressure Cook/Manual button, and then the +/- button to select 9 minutes. High Pressure (Cook time may vary by size of peppers and how full they are stuffed).
- After the cooking cycle ends, turn the steam release knob to the Venting position to do a Quick Release of the pressure.
- When the pin in the lid drops and all of the remaining pressure is released you can open the lid.
- Check the internal temperature using an instant read thermometer. The temp should be at least 165° for ground turkey, and 160° for ground beef.
- If they aren't fully cooked, put the lid back on and wait for 2 to 5 minutes, then check again.
- Sprinkle reserved cheese on top of each pepper and put the lid on to melt it.
- Remove peppers with tongs to serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Loved this recipe. I used some leftover quinoa in place of the rice, through in some shredded Mexican cheese, also left over, filled 5 large red peppers, cooked for an extra 3 minutes and, Voila. Awesome supper!
I made these for dinner tonight in my 6 qt. Ultra Instant Pot. I have not eaten stuffed peppers since I was a kid, because as a child, I did not like them. My mother used green peppers and I thought they were kind of gross. But these were so good, I will definitely make them again. I made four stuffed peppers, using two red peppers, an orange and a yellow. I followed the directions and they turned out perfectly. Husband also liked them. Thank you for such a great recipe!
Hi Farrel! I’m so happy that this recipe worked for you! Sometimes it just takes a different version, and you find that you now like something you didn’t before! Thank you for your review!
I just made these today – yum!!! Easy recipe and easy instructions to follow!!! Thanks so much!!!
That’s great, Cheryl! Thank you for your review!
Just bought my 6qt instant pot. Finally after looking at it for several days I tested it. Works good. When you say put a pot in it ( example stuff peppers) will any pot do or are there accessories that one buys specially for this purpose .
Hi Robin, congrats on getting your pot out of the box! The Pot in Pot (or PIP) method as we call it, is when you cook something in an oven safe dish within the pressure cooker’s inner liner. If you look at this post on accessories, you can see several ideas. Also, the thrift store might have something! My friend, Neena, from Paint the kitchen Red, has a great article on PIP cooking, and some good recipes, too!
Nice job on the recipe the combination of flavors really worked phenomenally. Especially the tartness from the sauce . I’m a hard person to please when it comes to food and this just knocked it out of the ball park
Hi Jimmy! That’s so great! Nothing better than knowing someone who is hard to please enjoyed on of my recipes! I’m so glad! Thank you so much for taking the time to review these stuffed peppers! BTW, Bag of Donuts? If that’s literal, yes, please!
My peppers completely fell apart in here. Should I cook for less time? tastes great though!
Hi Rosemary, I would try doing a quick release and see if that helps. Just make sure the meat is cooked through. If that doesn’t work for you, use the time in the recipe as written, but cook the peppers in a dish (Pot in Pot) on the trivet (water underneath) and see if that helps. The PIP method will slow down the cooking a bit.
Did you just use a stainless steel bowl for pot in a pot? Can you use a glass dish? Thanks!
Hi Cathy, I like to use stainless, but you can try an oven safe dish that you have on hand. They can slow down the cook time a little, but if the peppers aren’t done enough for you, just pop them back in for a couple more minutes.
I bookmarked this recipe a few weeks ago because our family loved it! However now the recipe appears to have changed….can you post the original recipe? It was a little spicy but super flavorful. I also loved the speed of using uncooked rice and didn’t have trouble with it being cooked through.
Hi Kristen, yes, I updated it to Mexican stuffed peppers. I adjusted it a little as some people did have issues with the rice. But it works for me, and you say it works for you, so that’s great! Sorry for the confusion! https://www.simplyhappyfoodie.com/instant-pot-mexican-stuffed-peppers/
Just a question…my husband and I like a tomato soup sauce poured over our peppers, but even when I water it down ( 2 cups water/one can soup) the IP won’t come up to pressure before it starts cooking time countdown and actually starts to burn on bottom. Any ideas?
Hi Kathleen. The way I have found around this is to either use a pot in pot pan that doesn’t have holes in it, and put the peppers with sauce in them (water on bottom of pot). Or, as in this recipe, make the sauce separate, in a saucepan (or even the microwave). Tomato sauce burns very easily. I hope this helps.
Don’t water down the soup use it right out of the can or use tomato sauce like I do
Delicious! Love my Instant Pot and also tried your baby back ribs for dinner the other night. Amazing, and I love how simple you make the construction of recipes easy for everyone. I am 77 years young so more difficult to adjust to new ideas and ways of cooking. I remember how difficult the microwave was when it first came out and have two now when I didn’t think I would ever use one.
That’s great, Geraldine! I’m so glad you also liked the ribs. Yes, new gadgets often become essential parts of our lives. I can’t imagine not having a computer, or a cell phone!