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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.
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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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New insta pot owner and cooker (I HATE cooking!!!). Easy to do!…
Switch out with marinara sauce for more flavor and maybe a bit less water. The peppers tend to water down and melt. Spot on recipe though and bookmarked!
Can you use Minute rice?
Yes, I do sometimes.
I made the stuffed Peppers tonight. I have the new 8 quart Instant pot The valve never came up but the peppers cooked, and then it said food burned Why didn’t the valve come up
Make sure to put water in the pot so steam can build pressure. Otherwise it will get too hot and give you the BURN error.
Loved my peppers, thank you for your recipe. I added ( because I had leftovers) spicy sausage 2.
Added the flavors I love!
Total disaster…peppers were completely soggy.
Oh no! Did you do a quick release? Were the peppers complete mush, or just softer than you like them?
Good Peppers. A little watery.
I’m one of those people who can’t help themselves and change recipes lol. I added mushrooms, cooked and used wild rice instead of white, replaced the ground beef with Italian sausage, and used a full jar of Aldi’s marinara. My husband, who isn’t fond of stuffed peppers, raved about it. Going on my favorites list!
Do I add tomato sauce to the meat mixtures
Yes, half of it. The other half goes on top.
This was my first Insta-pot meal and, thanks to you was a five start success! Thanks so much! For some reason it is not letting me select a star rating, though 🙁
Thanks Tina! It looks like the stars worked. I’m so glad you liked it.
This was my first Insta-pot meal and, thanks to you was a five start success! Thanks so much! For some reason it is not letting me select a star rating, though 🙁
I made this a little over a month ago and T that time I thought the recipe called for 3/4 lb. ground beef. Did you adjust it, or am I imagining this!
Hi Angie, yes, I did adjust the recipe a little after testing it again. I wanted to adjust so there was no meat mixture left over.