Instant Pot Stuffed Peppers
This Instant Pot Stuffed Peppers recipe is made with ground beef, rice, mozzarella cheese, Italian seasoning, onions and tomato sauce. You don’t even need to pre-cook the beef and rice beforehand!
A STUFFED PEPPER RECIPE FOR THE INSTANT POT
For this Instant Pot Stuffed Pepper recipe I decided to go with an Italian twist. This is one of the simplest recipes for stuffed peppers! It comes together quickly and all gets cooked quickly in the instant pot!

TIPS FOR MAKING STUFFED PEPPERS:
- You need to use an extra lean beef for this or it will produce too much grease while cooking in the instant pot.
- It’s also important that you use instant rice. Long grain rice won’t cook properly in this recipe. You can, however, use leftover, precooked rice in this recipe.
- You could also use ground turkey, chicken or a lean ground pork or sausage – just make sure you use a lean meat.
- Top with cheddar cheese instead of mozzarella. Whatever your family enjoys.
- Red or yellow bell peppers can be substituted for the green peppers.

INGREDIENTS NEEDED: (FULL RECIPE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POST)
- green bell peppers
- onion
- tomato
- extra lean ground beef (90/10 or higher)
- boil-in-bag white
- large egg
- salt and pepper
- Italian seasoning
- garlic powder
- tomato sauce
- water
- shredded mozzarella or cheddar cheese

HOW TO MAKE INSTANT POT STUFFED PEPPERS:
Slice tops off green peppers and hollow out the peppers.

Dice up the remaining pepper (this recipe makes 5 stuffed peppers.) Mix diced peppers, onion and tomato with ground beef, egg, instant rice, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, 1/4 cup tomato sauce and 1 cup shredded cheese.

Fill peppers evenly with meat mixture.

Pour 1/2 cup tomato sauce into the bottom of a 6 quart or larger Instant Pot and stir in 1/2 cup of water.

Put trivet into the Instant Pot and place stuffed peppers on top.

Then take remaining tomato sauce left in the can and pour it on top of the stuffed peppers.

Lock lid, making sure the nozzle is turned to “sealing” and cook on high pressure for 20 mins. Note: It will take about 10-15 minutes for the Instant Pot to come to full pressure before cooking. Once finished cooking, do a quick release of the pressure (be very careful, steam will come out fast and hot).

Open lid and sprinkle shredded mozzarella cheese on top of each pepper.`

Close lid for a couple of minutes to melt cheese.

Serve stuffed peppers with some of the tomato “broth” and sprinkle with a bit of dried parsley.

CRAVING MORE RECIPES? GIVE THESE A TRY!

Instant Pot Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients
- 6 bell peppers, divided use
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 tomato, diced
- 1 pound extra lean ground beef, (90/10)
- 1 boil-in-bag white or brown rice, uncooked
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 1 ½ teaspoons Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 15 ounce can tomato sauce, divided use
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella or cheddar cheese, divided use
- ½ cup water
- dried parsley, for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Slice tops off green peppers and hollow out the peppers.
- Dice the remaining pepper (this recipe makes 5 stuffed peppers)
- Mix diced peppers, onion and tomato with ground beef, egg, rice, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, 1/4 cup tomato sauce and 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese.
- Fill peppers evenly with meat mixture.
- Pour 1/2 cup tomato sauce into the bottom of a 6 quart or larger Instant Pot and stir in 1/2 cup of water.
- Put trivet into the Instant Pot and place stuffed peppers on top. Then take remaining tomato sauce left in the can and pour it on top of the stuffed peppers.
- Lock lid, making sure the nozzle is turned to “sealing” and cook on high pressure for 20 mins.
- Note: It will take about 10-15 minutes for the Instant Pot to come to full pressure before cooking.
- Once finished cooking, do a quick release of the pressure (be very careful, steam will come out fast and hot).
- Open lid and sprinkle remaining cup of shredded mozzarella cheese on top of each pepper.
- Close lid for a couple of minutes to melt cheese.
- Serve stuffed peppers with some of the tomato “broth” and sprinkle with a bit of chopped parsley or basil.
Notes
- You need to use an extra lean beef for this or it will produce too much grease while cooking in the instant pot.
- It’s also important that you use instant rice. Long grain rice won’t cook properly in this recipe. You can, however, use leftover, precooked rice in this recipe.
- You could also use ground turkey, chicken or a lean ground pork or sausage – just make sure you use a lean meat.
- Top with cheddar cheese instead of mozzarella. Whatever your family enjoys.
- Red or yellow bell peppers can be substituted for the green peppers.
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
“The Country Cook” is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and other nutritional values can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
Long time favorite recipe. The peppers and stuffing came out delicious! I will forward this recipe to my daughter who is just starting out with an insta-pot.
Thank you for taking the time to come back and comment Leslie – I really do appreciate it!
I was amazed at how delicious this was – thanks so very much!
I am a newbie with the instant pot. It’s a rainy day outside, I’m not working and for some reason I was craving stuffed peppers for dinner. I researched recipes, found yours and thought man this sounds delicious so gave it a whirl. I was pleasantly surprised and it was absolutely delicious. Easy to prep, easy cleanup and had the meal ready when my wife came home. Thank you very much. I look forward to trying your other recipes! I am now a super fan of the instant pot.
This makes me so happy to hear Ed! Trust me, I will always try to make recipes as easy as possible with as few dishes as possible. Ha! I appreciate you taking the time to come back and leave a comment!
I love stuffed peppers, and that is a perfect recipe. It is just me and my wife, so we can’t eat more then one a piece…. So i am stuffing some yellow squash with the remainder of the meat. Thanks for the recipe.
Truly amazing awesomr recipe 1st time making them in instant pot love them
Thanks so much Scott!! I really appreciate you taking the time to come back and leave a review!
This is the easiest stuffed pepper recipe and SUPER yummy! Thank You!
This recipe is delicious! I’m making it for the second time in two weeks; that’s how good it is! I use Uncle Ben’s Original Converted Brand Rice instead of the Boil-in-Bags. I use 1 cup of rice/4 servings for this recipe. It’s so easy! Thank you!
Thanks so much for taking the time to come back and leave feedback! I’m so happy you enjoyed this one!!
Our air conditioner is out right now so needed something that wouldn’t heat up the whole house. I came upon this recipe, made it, and it IS delicious. Definitely a Keeper, thanks so much! I did sub spaghetti sauce for the tomato sauce because thought we were out of tomato sauce, which I did find a can of after I made it. .
I have always HATED stuffed peppers… until I came upon this recipe 2 years ago. I gave it a chance based on the 5 star rating, and I’m so happy that I did. My husband and I LOVE these stuffed peppers. I follow the recipe to a T, using fresh produce from our garden and it is a family favorite.
Thank you so much!
YES!! This makes me so happy to read!! Thanks so much for taking the time to come back and comment. It really means a lot!
This was absolutely yumm-o! And you can’t get any easier. You just throw everything in and the Instant Pot does the rest! This was my first meal cooked in my new Instant Pot and I thank you Brandi for walking me through step by step and explaining what to expect! Wouldn’t change a thing!
Does anyone know what size of boil in bag rice I’m suppose to use for this recipe? Some boxes have 2 bags, some 4 bags.
I’ve found that stuffed peppers work fine with widely varying amounts of rice. Anywhere from 1/3 to 1 cup of raw rice.
I am fairly new to Instant Pot cooking. (In fact my brand is Yedi) It is made by Instant Pot manufacturer ,I believe. That said, I am very happy with it & have had no problems using it.
I just finished fixing your Italian Stuffed Peppers. They are delicious! My husband enjoyed them too! I will definitely make them again.
Thank you so much for the recipe. I am sure I will be making more of your recipes in the future.
Hi Gloria!! This is so awesome to hear. I actually love hearing how recipes turn out with different brand pressure cookers. It can help others too. Thanks so much!
Hi Gloria! Thank you so much for coming back and taking the time to comment! This really made my day to hear. I am so thrilled you love this recipe – yay!
I’m really looking forward to making this recipe. However, I have a question. Some boxes of boil in bag rice have 2 pouches, some have 4 pouches. Which size do I use?
I made the stuffed peppers, Absolutely delicious. Will make it again!!
I love this recipe. Made one with a th Turkey. Absolutely delicious. Using sausage today. Bu th was wondering should my pressure time be longer with the raw ground sausage?
Enjoying your recipes. I am an instant pig newbie.
I followed the recipe and these were delicious! I have been looking for more one pot meals that are easy and quick with the instant pot and I’ll definitely make this again! Can’t believe it takes out all the steps of boiling the peppers, browning the meat, cooking the rice, etc and lets you do it all in one.
The package of rice has 4 individual bags.
How many bags do I use
What size IP did you use? I couldn’t fit 5 in my 6 at…..
This was a 6 quart IP. Just the standard one. You might’ve had really large peppers…
What if I don’t have boil in a bag rice? Can I just use regular rice? Do I need to cook it first? And how much should I use? Thanks!
Can this be made in a crock pot slow cooker?
I also like the boil in bag rice. The bag of rice is just opened and added to the recipe?
Hi Rose! Yes, that is correct!
I love your recipies! Everything I have tried in the crock pot or Instant Pot has been a huge success! My husband says getting it for me was the best idea he ever had! Thanks so much. Keep up the good work.❤️
So sweet! Thanks so much Debbie!!
I learn something new to make in my instant pot. Yay