These Instant Pot Stuffed Peppers make healthy and easy weeknight dinner with ground turkey and quinoa instead of rice. So much easier than on the stove.
I love my Instant Pot! Other easy one pot meals would be Instant Pot cabbage rolls and Instant Pot turkey chili. Browse all of my healthy Instant Pot recipes and kiss “What’s for dinner?” dilemma good-bye.
Pressure Cooker Stuffed Peppers
Instant Pot stuffed peppers are easy-peasy comfort food my mom used to make all the time. Only thing easier is stuffed pepper soup and lazy cabbage rolls. This is 100% childhood memories right here. I bet for you as well.
Tender meat, flavorful sauce, cooked peppers deconstructed on your plate with a bit of yogurt or sour cream and a healthy dose of freshly cracked pepper. Who can resist?!
Ingredients You Will Need
- Bell peppers: Pick large and more straight bright colour bell peppers. Red, orange and yellow are sweeter. But green pepper is less ripe and a bit more bitter, which I personally love. Make sure peppers have no soft spots and are firm to the touch. If packed in a bag, look closely inside because “bad boys” can hide behind all the packaging.
- Ground turkey: I make chicken stuffed peppers and ground beef works too. Poultry is more lean of course but we use beef once in a while as well.
- Quinoa: I used quinoa because it is a quick cooking grain. But if you want to use rice, I talk about how to substitute quinoa with rice a bit down below.
- Tomato sauce: I use plain low sodium canned tomato sauce. Nothing expensive or with many ingredients.
- Onion and simple seasonings: Raised in Ukraine on very simple food, I still cook the same way – same 30 ingredients. Because tasty food doesn’t have to be complicated. So, no Worcestershire sauce, friends.
How to Make Stuffed Peppers in Instant Pot
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This Instant Pot stuffed peppers recipe is made in 8 quart Instant Pot Duo. 6 quart should fit all of peppers as well, don’t be afraid to pack them tight. 3 quart might fit 4 peppers, so just cut recipe in half and keep same cooking time.
- Cut pepper tops off, chop them along with onion and saute right in Instant Pot. Nothing goes to waste. Remember I am from Ukraine?! LOL
- Make stuffing with ground turkey, uncooked quinoa, spices and sauteed veggies.
- Stuff peppers, layer and top with half of the tomato sauce. Repeat.
- Cook on high pressure for 15 minutes (8 quart) or 20 minutes (6 quart).
- Release pressure right away, top with juices and yogurt.
Can I Use Rice Instead of Quinoa?
You can use pre-cooked white or brown rice. I would cook 1/2 cup rice with 3/4 cup water for 20 minutes after boiling. That’s brown rice. Cook white rice for 15 minutes or so.
You can’t use uncooked rice because once mixed with meat it will be undercooked and peppers and turkey overcooked in 15-20 minutes under high pressure. Rice needs longer cooking time.
How to Store, Reheat and Serve Stuffed Peppers
To warm up stuffed peppers, place them in a pot with the juices, cover and cook on low for 10 minutes. Steam will warm them through. I do not own a microwave, so that is how we reheat food.
We serve stuffed peppers with plain yogurt and rye bread. Toasted whole wheat bread mimics freshly baked rye bread as well. I like to break stuffed peppers on my plate, mix with yogurt and dip bread into the sauce.
Stuffed peppers are a meal on its own. We usually do not make any sides to go with the recipe besides green smoothie, if we feel like.
More Healthy Instant Pot Dinners
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- Instant Pot chicken and rice kids can’t get enough of.
- Instant Pot chicken and potatoes with lots of leftovers.
- Instant Pot bolognese sauce with half less meat.
- Instant Pot spaghetti – 15 minutes and even pasta cooks in same pot.
- Instant Pot stir fry using frozen chicken and veggies.
Looking for more dinner ideas? Check out my most popular collection of 30 healthy Instant Pot recipes.
Instant Pot Stuffed Peppers
These Instant Pot Stuffed Peppers make healthy and easy weeknight dinner with ground turkey and quinoa instead of rice. So much easier than on the stove.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Instant Pot
- Cuisine: American Ukrainian
Ingredients
- 8–9 large bell peppers
- 2 lbs ground turkey
- 1 cup quinoa, uncooked
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp oregano, dried
- 1 tsp thyme, dried
- 1 tsp basil, dried
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
- Ground black pepper
- 15 oz can tomato sauce, low sodium
- 1 cup water
- Avocado oil, for frying
Instructions
- Cut the tops off of peppers and remove + discard the seeds. From the cut off tops remove and discard “the tail” and chop the tops (nothing goes to waste). Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, add ground turkey, uncooked quinoa, soy sauce, oregano, thyme, basil, salt, red pepper flakes and ground black pepper.
- On Instant Pot, press Sauté and preheat until it says Hot. Swirl oil to coat, add onion and sauté for 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add chopped pepper pieces and sauté for another 3-4 minutes.
- Press Cancel and transfer sautéed veggies to the bowl with other ingredients. Using a spatula, mix all ingredients really well.
- Stuff the peppers diving the filling between them equally.
- In an Instant Pot, add water and place the rack inside.
- Arrange 1 layer of peppers and top with half of the tomato sauce. Lay remaining peppers and top with remaining sauce.
- Close the lid, turn release vent to Sealing and press Pressure Cooking on High for 15 minutes (8 quart Instant Pot) or 20 minutes (6 quart Instant Pot).
- After peppers are cooked, turn the valve to Quick Release and release the pressure.
- Serve with plain yogurt and juices from the bottom of the pot (turkey baster is the best to suck those up).
Store: Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 3-4 days.
Make Ahead: Refrigerate stuffed uncooked peppers for up to 2 days and cook when ready.
Notes
- I have 8 quart Instant Pot and it’s large enough to cook all peppers at once. If yours is 6 quart, cook in 2 batches.
- You can use pre-cooked white or brown rice. I would cook 1/2 cup rice with 3/4 cup water for 20 minutes after boiling. That’s brown rice. Cook white rice for 15 minutes or so.
- You can’t use uncooked rice because once mixed with meat it will be undercooked and peppers and turkey overcooked in 15-20 minutes under high pressure.
Did you make this recipe? Please give it a star rating in the comments.
I froze them thinking it was a freezer meal like your others I have made. So it was watery the first time. I have another batch to make, should I thaw and bake?
Hi Kelly. Yes, it used to be… sigh. Then me and a few readers have discovered peppers lose a lot of juice in Instant Pot when cooked from frozen. I’m so sorry – my bad. Yes, I would thaw and bake.
These were the best stuffed peppers I’ve ever made. It was the first time to try quinoa and my husband was okay with it.
I stumbled onto your website somehow yesterday and then spent many happy hours browsing your recipes. I am thrilled with your Instant Pot recipes, your low carb recipes, and especially for the recipe for thawing meat in the Instant Pot! After spending so much time browsing I needed to quickly thaw the ground turkey for the stuffed peppers.
Your house and studio are awesome! Your family’s story is encouraging to all. Thank you for sharing and a special thank you for providing this wonderful web site!
★★★★★
Thank you so much for your kind words and well wishes, Deanne!!! So happy you enjoyed and hubby approved the quinoa. He will come around haha.
Can you freeze these?
Unfortunately not. Watery mess.
Made this tonight. It was amazing. Didn’t see the part about using cooked rice, so I let it naturally release for 20 minutes. There’s none left. I did cut the recipe in half and used a 6qt. Will make again with my own tweaks.
★★★★★
Fantastic! Glad you enjoyed the recipe!
These are amazing! I love stuffed peppers and I couldn’t believe how great these were. I also made a meatloaf inspired by the filling on these peppers and it is my new go-to recipe.
★★★★★
Yay. I made a lot of meatloaf this week too. Glad you enjoyed these.
These recipes look great. For he stuffed peppers…in your directions it says Before: add triver+ 1Cup water. I’m guessing triver is a typo. What am I supposed to add?
Yes, trivet.
Loved this! So easy and delicious. Next time I would actually add a bit more salt. I don’t love a ton of salt, but I think a bit more would bring out the flavors. I halved the recipe for my 6 qt and put 4 in the pot and froze one for later 🙂 Thanks for the recipe!!
★★★★★
You are very welcome! Sure. Sometimes I add more salt to a meal, depends on a day and my taste buds that day.:) Glad you enjoyed!
Please understand that I modified this recipe as follows to suit our tastes.
First, I used ground beef (85%) ,instead of turkey. I did not dice and include the pepper tops. I used Uncle Ben’s Ten Minute Brown Rice as well. Further, I used Italian spiced tomato sauce and mixed half of the can in with the stuffing. I also left out the red pepper flakes. As I have a 6 quart pot I made six peppers. Could probably have gotten eight in there tho. I did not change any of the ingredient amounts or proportions.
Cooked the dish for 35 minutes. Came out great, maybe a bit dry, but I will up the amount of tomato sauce and tweak the spices a bit next time.
All in all a good and satisfying dish.
★★★★★
I think because you didn’t use pepper tops the stuffed peppers were a bit dry. But main reason think you cooked them way too long. It’s a pressure cooker so it cooks food faster. Try 15 mins as I did and see. They will be cooked otherwise I wouldn’t be serving raw peppers to my family. Im not crazy. I’m sure they will be less dry.:)
Only reason I cooked them that long was the rice. I wanted to be sure it would be cooked. Will surely cut the time on the next try.
★★★★★
Ooooh, you made them with the rice and not quinoa…My bad, missed that. Maybe 20 mins will be enough since it’s 10 minute rice. Try and see.:)
Deee-licious! My husband and 14 year old daughter had TWO each! This is saying a lot because my husband doesn’t usually like stuffed peppers I had 1.5.
I served this with yogurt that I made in the Instant Pot 🙂
Good tip from your Chicken and Rice recipe to vent the Instant Pot outside. I’m sure the neighbors are wondering why there is steam coming off my deck so frequently recently!
I’m going to try making the Beef Stew next…
That’s awesome! Not to mention your entire neighbourhood smells amazing.:) I always have 2 of those peppers too. Glad it was a hit!!!
Any suggestions for an alternative to the tomato sauce? Can I just use water or broth? Thanks!
Yes, for sure. 1-2 cups would do it and give nice juices to pour over.
OK, I might have just raved to all my friends about these instant pot stuffed peppers for 2 full days LOL. Yum!
★★★★★