Instant Pot Stuffed Pepper Soup

Instant Pot Stuffed Pepper Soup has everything you love about stuffed peppers but cooked easier in one pot. Made with ground beef or turkey, bell peppers and your choice of rice, it’s a family-friendly meal for sure!

This Instant Pot stuffed pepper soup is stove top stuffed bell pepper soup meets Instant Pot stuffed peppers. I just updated this recipe with a bit shorter list of ingredients. If you have made it before, you won’t notice the change and soup tastes the same delicious!

My boys loved this Instant Pot soup recipe a lot!

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• One pot meal: Everything cooks in Instant Pot, even the meat, making clean up a breeze.
• Hands off method: The only thing you have to pre-cook is the ground beef. All other ingredients are added raw and then cooked under pressure.
• Budget friendly: I always buy a pack of 4-6 bell peppers because it is one of affordable off-season veggies with so much flavor!
• Comforting and delicious: Stuffed pepper soup made in Instant Pot is perfect on a cold day or busy weeknight.
• Versatile: You can use ingredients you have on hand and like, let’s go over them.

Ingredients for Instant Pot Stuffed Pepper Soup

You will need the following ingredients to make stuffed pepper soup. They are all fridge and pantry staples.

• Ground meat: I used extra lean ground beef but you can also use ground turkey or ground chicken. Even addition of ground sausage is welcome.
• Uncooked rice: I used brown rice but you can also use white rice. The cook time will differ and both options are noted in the recipe card below.
• Bell peppers: You will need four large sweet bell peppers. It can be a combination of yellow, orange or red bell peppers. You can replace them with as many green bell peppers as you like.
• Veggies: Onion, garlic and celery for flavor. Feel free to mix and match any of these vegetables and also add carrots.
• Broth: I use low sodium Instant Pot chicken broth. You can also use chicken broth, beef broth or vegetable broth.
• Diced tomatoes: I like my stuffed bell pepper soup a bit chunky, so I add one can of diced tomatoes. You can also replace them with fire roasted tomatoes or tomato sauce.
• Tomato sauce: It adds more flavor, liquid and acts as a thickener.
• Italian seasoning: I prefer to use my homemade Italian seasoning. Feel free to use a combination of dried herbs like oregano, basil and thyme with a pinch of red pepper flakes for some heat.
• Sugar: Just a pinch of any sugar to offset the acidity of tomatoes. Maple syrup or honey will also work.
• Vinegar: It adds another layer of flavor and makes soup taste a bit sweet and sour. It’s delicious! Use any vinegar you have on hand.
• Oil: You need it only for sauteing the ground turkey or ground chicken because it is more lean. I don’t use oil for sauteing the ground beef or ground sausage.
• Salt and pepper: I recommend to add salt and pepper to taste at the very end after cooking. It is because there are many canned ingredients with different levels of sodium, so you don’t want to end up with overly salty soup.
• Fresh herbs: Parsley or dill.

How to Make Stuffed Pepper Soup in Instant Pot

This Instant Pot stuffed pepper soup recipe can be made as written in 6 quart Instant Pot, 8 quart Instant Pot or 10 quart Instant Pot. For 3 quart Instant Pot, half the ingredients but keep same cook time.

Also you can use any brand of electric pressure cooker. Please find full recipe card below.

• Saute the meat: Press Saute and wait for Hot on a display. Brown ground beef until it is in small pieces. You would have to stir it and break with a spatula often. Add spices in this step as well to allow them become fragrant. Press Cancel.
• Add remaining ingredients: Add onion, garlic, celery, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, rice, sugar, vinegar and broth. No need to stir but if you did, it’s fine, Burn message shouldn’t happen because we have a lot of liquid in the pressure cooker.
• Pressure cook: Close the lid, set pressure valve to Sealing and pressure cook stuffed pepper soup in Instant Pot on high pressure for 8 minutes with white rice and 13 minutes with brown rice.
• Release pressure and let it stand: Then wait 5-10 minutes before releasing pressure, otherwise your counters will be covered in tomato soup. Just turn valve to Venting. Open the lid, give soup a stir and taste test. Add salt and pepper to taste, stir again and let it stand 5-10 minutes uncovered to allow flavors to “marry each other” and cool off a bit.

Tips and Variations

Instant Pot stuffed pepper soup has a few rules but otherwise is one of the most forgiving and flexible Instant Pot recipes ever!

• Don’t overcook the rice: After pressure cooking, don’t let soup sit and release pressure on its own, known as Natural Release. It is a lot of liquid and this process will take up to 45 minutes, while overcooking the rice and making it mushy.
• Don’t release the pressure right away: Known as Quick Release, do not turn valve to Venting immediately after cooking is finished. The liquids are still bubbling vigorously inside the pot, and pressure release will pull them along with rice, making it mushy. Be patient! There is that 5-10 minute sweet spot for the pressure release.
• Use any ground meat: Feel free to use ground chicken or ground turkey for a leaner stuffed pepper soup. You can also use ground beef, ground sausage removed from casing or ground pork.
• Drain the fat from beef: I like to use extra lean ground beef which doesn’t have to be drained. But if using regular ground red meat, I recommend to drain the fat, so the soup isn’t overly rich.
• To replace onion and garlic: Instead of fresh onion and garlic, you can use about 2 tablespoons of onion powder and 1 tablespoon of garlic powder respectively.

Should I Use White Rice or Brown Rice?

Good news is that to make this stuffed pepper soup, you can use white rice or brown rice. I have made it with long grain white rice and with long grain brown rice, the only difference is the pressure cooking time and the nutrition of brown rice is higher.

You may be able to use jasmine rice or basmati rice but it might fall apart a bit more than long grain rice.

Also please note we use uncooked rice. No need to precook your rice before adding it to the Instant Pot!

What Do I Serve Stuffed Pepper Soup with?

First of all, after the stuffed pepper soup cooled off a bit in Instant Pot and its flavors had a chance to melt, I add a big handful of chopped fresh parsley or dill to the pot and stir. You don’t want to add it to freshly cooked super hot pot of soup because herbs will “cook” and brown.

Traditionally stuffed bell pepper soup is served just like stuffed peppers with a dollop of sour cream or plain yogurt. And more parsley or dill into each individual bowl. A sprinkle of shredded mozzarella cheese would melt nicely in a bowl as well.

We like it with toasted or fresh whole grain bread or baguette. Hot sauce right in the bowl adds a bit of a heat kick too. Enjoy!

How to Store and Reheat

Store and meal prep: Instant Pot stuffed pepper soup is perfect for meal prepping for a week. It lasts in the fridge for up to 5 days as there are no veggies or pasta to get soggy.

Reheat: Always reheat only amount of soup you will eat at that time. Means don’t heat up entire pot, cool it and refrigerate again. It spoils the food.

Instead, pour desired amount of stuffed pepper soup into a small pot, heat on low heat while covered for about 5 minutes, stir and see if soup is warm enough.

You can always go the microwave route, and reheat a bowl of soup for 2-3 minutes.

If frozen, allow soup to thaw first in the fridge overnight or on the countertop for about 6 hours.

Can I Freeze It?

There is a big debate online how to freeze stuffed pepper soup but I personally think it’s actually very simple. I don’t think you have to cook rice separately or worry about it becoming mushy. Also bell peppers are already cooked and sort of limpy. I think this soup freezes just fine!

To freeze it, cook the soup and let it cool completely. Then transfer to a large airtight container leaving a few inches on top to allow room for expansion. Thaw in the fridge overnight or on a countertop for 5-6 hours.

FAQs

More Bell Pepper Recipes to Try

• Ground chicken stuffed peppers
• Baked chicken and peppers
• Cauliflower stir fry with bell peppers

More Instant Pot Soup Recipes

• Instant Pot zuppa toscana
• Instant Pot chicken tortilla soup
• Instant Pot taco soup
• Instant Pot minestrone soup
• Instant Pot beef barley soup

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