Air Fryer Stuffed Peppers

Stuffed peppers with ground beef, rice and cheese are the bomb. Using hamburger meat or spicy ground sausage you’ll love them too. One of our favorite easy air fryer recipes here on Zopago blog. (affiliate links present)

I mean you have got to try crispy stuffed green peppers this way! It doesn’t matter what brand machine you have, they all work pretty much the same and come out fantastic every time.

Much easier than in the oven because there is no need to blanch bell peppersbeforehand or preheating your house involved either. You just create your favorite filling, stuff, and air fry to as browned as you like. If you do have a Foodi you don’t have to dirty more than one pot. Just saute to prep right in there.

How Long to Cook Stuffed Peppers in Air Fryer

I honestly choose whatever colors are on sale when choosing these. Yellow, red and orange are a bit sweeter than green but we don’t really care. There is a bit of precooking required with the meat and rice, keep that in mind. Once prepped though they only take 15 minutes to air fry!

You could just use the other ingredients and skip the carbs, for us this is a must though. White, brown or even quinoa works though if you wanted to swap it out and try different versions here and there to see which is your fave.

Ninja Foodi Stuffed Peppers

If you need Ninja Foodi recipes this is a great one. With this type you want to use the lid that is attached with the air crisp button on the front. You can do this another way though too with the lid that is not attached using our Instant Pot stuffed peppersrecipe instead.

Best Meat to Use

I will typically use Ground beef, or we love Jimmy Dean spicy sausage too if I am looking for some heat in the dish. I mean typically I just use whatever I have on hand and since we buy half a cow at the beginning of each year we have a LOT of beef.

A great alternative to a can of plain tomato sauce to make these is spaghetti sauce! This will lend more flavor to the dish, I use this if I have it on hand. Marinara or garlic is usually my favorite choice.

Onions and Diced tomatoes (canned) I add into the mix for texture for sure and more and more flavor.

Do you have to add rice?

No but we suggest that you do and start with uncooked rice made as our Ninja Foodi rice instructions or or pressure cooker quinoafirst. It needs to be moist and fluffy, folded together with the other ingredients gently so it doesn’t become mushy. You could make cauliflower rice instead, from scratch or they sell it frozen and you just microwave it

As for seasonings really you should sprinkle in what you love, here I use; Onion powder, Garlic powder, Basil and some Parsley is a pretty touch for the top to bring more color to the overall dish when served.

How to Make Cheesy

AND Cheese on top is a must for us but could omit. I have made these dairy free for my husband at times, Daiya has great choices of cheddar and mozzarella to choose from that are surprisingly delicious.

I don’t add a lot of seasonings because there is plenty with the spaghetti sauce. Just add a bit of salt and pepper in with the meat, or whatever I have on hand that sounds good. Ready made taco seasoning or fajita packets work really well too in order to add a bunch of flavor when cooking ground beef with some olive oil and diced onions on the stovetop.

Do you have to cook meat before stuffing peppers?

Yes. Whether you use hamburger meat or ground sausage it will need to be browned in a pan on the stovetop first typically. Then add other ingredients before stuffing inside. We do share the alternative where you add it raw in our baked stuffed peppers.

Should I blanch peppers before stuffing?

It isn’t necessary but in general you do want to blanch peppers first, cool, and then stuff them. This method takes some of the bitterness out and softens the outsides. In the event that you don’t the veggie flavors just won’t be as tame and the outsides will be firmer, that is the difference.

Variations

The meat can vary as I spoke about above. If you wanted to make healthier versions the ground choices would be turkey or chicken, like we used to make chicken stuffed bell peppers. If using leftover meat just fold that in at the very end as it doesn’t need to be cooked any longer.

You could totally use cauliflower rice instead if you wanted to. I typically will buy it frozen and bagged at the store. It is faster than cooking rice really because most of the time you can microwave the bag and have it ready in minutes.

There is a wide range of different recipes out there for these. You can really tweak things here and there to create your favorite filling. If you want brown cooked rice instead, by all means use that! You can even add eggs like our air fryer breakfast stuffed peppers. The great thing about using this method and cook time is you get a nice bit of crisp on the edges but the filling stays soft and moist.

FAQ

Instead of boiling you can use your microwave! Cover with plastic wrap, cook on the high setting for 5 minutes to soften bell peppers. Remove dish and take off the plastic wrap, then stuff or eat as is.

They actually were originated in Spain to begin with. There, piquillo peppers are used. In the US people typically use bell peppers with the tops removed and cored out.

You can totally use any color bell peppers you want, that doesn’t matter really it is just that yellow or orange are sweeter. I would however try to choose ones that will sit flat. Look at the bottoms, 4 bumps on the bottom seem to balance a bit better standing up than just 3.

Another great dinner idea is to make a stuffed bell pepper casserole. All you do is precook the meat and then throw everything together, no stuffing necessary. Give these a whirl and let us know if you “tweak” them in a way we might want to try the next time we make these. There are SO many variations I tell you, and they’re all so good.