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!
Delicious Instant Pot Stuffed Peppers are made with ground beef or turkey and rice, and are easy to make, and very tasty! A great weeknight meal.
- 1 cup Water, for the Pressure Cooker
- 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
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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.
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Rinse the peppers and cut the tops off. Deseed and remove the membrane.
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Add the rice to the mixing bowl.
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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.
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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.
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Place stuffed peppers on the trivet in the pot. They will be sitting above the water.*
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Pour remaining tomato sauce on top of the peppers.
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Put the lid on and close it, turning the steam release knob to the Sealing position.
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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).
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After the cooking cycle ends, turn the steam release knob to the Venting position to do a Quick Release of the pressure.
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When the pin in the lid drops and all of the remaining pressure is released you can open the lid.
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Check the internal temperature using an instant read thermometer. The temp should be at least 165° for ground turkey, and 160° for ground beef.
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If they aren't fully cooked, put the lid back on and wait for 2 to 5 minutes, then check again.
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Sprinkle reserved cheese on top of each pepper and put the lid on to melt it.
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Remove peppers with tongs to serve.
*If using the "pan in pot" method where the peppers are cooked in a stainless pan that sits on the trivet, add about 2 minutes cook time. This may vary with size of peppers, etc.
Updated 6/2019
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Angie
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!
Sandy
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.
Heather
Great recipe as I love stuffed peppers. I have a Crock-Pot brand pressure cooker instead of the Instantpot, so I didn’t know what to do when you said to press the “pressure cooker/manual” button as mine doesn’t have that. I used the rice/risotto button, but had to let it sit a little longer as the temperature only went to 150°F and didn’t look all the way cooked. Any suggestions? Otherwise it was very tasty!
Sandy
Hi Heather. Whatever button you have on that model that gives you high pressure, and allows you to dial in the tim is the one to use. Often times the rice setting is low pressure. I’d try to look it up in the user manual or maybe online?
NoTimeMamma
Hi! Can you use uncooked rice with the uncooked meat? Will it cook? If not… Can you precook it altogether and lower the cook time in the IP?
Thanks!
Sandy
You can use parboiled rice, or cooked rice. If you want to also use cooked meat, lower the cook time to about 5 minutes. Depends on how soft you want the peppers.
Shawn McCarty
I only have 80% lean raw ground beef. Should I cook the beef it a little first since it has more fat?
Shawn
Sandy
That might be a good thing to do!
Anna Volkova
Sience when stuffed peppers and cabbage became an American cuisine? Just out of curiosity? Last time I checked it was slavic (Russian, Ukrainian, Belorus)
Sandy
Hi Anna, thank you for that info. I grew up in America, a melting pot of different cultures. We ate these stuffed peppers often. I’m sure these ones are not the authentic Slavic version, but I will add that to the recipe card. 🙂
Karen Martin
I made these tonight and will do so again. They were delicious. I used ground chicken and the 8 minutes was plenty despite having stuffed them a little more (I used the whole pound).
Sherry
Hi! We tried this tonight for supper and we all loved it! I had three huge yellow peppers and I did pack in the meat pretty tight, so I increased the time to 12 minutes. They we’re all cooked through and perfect! We didn’t add the cheese, but it still had a great balance of flavors! Thanks for the recipe!
Sandy
That’s great, Sherry! Thank you!