How to make air fryer stuffed peppers for dinner tonight with ground beef or sausage and lots of rice and cheese. Comfort food at it’s best done in no time.
Air fryer stuffed peppers 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 The Typical Mom blog.
I mean you have got to try these! 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 blanching beforehand or preheating your house involved.;)
Ninja Foodi Stuffed Peppers
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- THIS is my Favorite Air Fryer!
- You can find more Air fryer recipes here, we have Ninja Foodi recipes as well; bookmark them both!
- This is the best air fryer cookbook. It’s important to know and remember how to preheat air fryer for best results.
- Here’s a printable air fryer cook times chart here for your fridge.
- It has temp. and times for making the best frozen foods for air fryer too.
- Then join our Facebook page where you can share and find more ideas you’ll love. We have a Foodi social media group as well.
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.
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. Then add other ingredients before stuffing inside.
What country are stuffed peppers from?
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.
Here are a few questions you might have before getting started:
Should I blanch peppers before stuffing?
It isn’t necessary but you can blanch bell peppers first, cool, and then stuff them. This method takes some of the bitterness out and softens the outsides. I do this when baking stuffed green peppers in the oven.
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.
We are going to use ground beef this time, but spicy ground sausage is pretty amazing too. If I find Jimmy Dean spicy in a roll on sale I will opt for that every single time.
Adding diced onions and/or diced tomatoes is optional but a great add in. If you want them quite plain you can just stick with the tomato sauce.
- A great alternative to a can of plain tomato sauce is spaghetti sauce! This will lend more flavor to the dish, I use this if I have it on hand.
Air fryer stuffed bell peppers
- Ground beef or sausage
- Onion
- Diced tomatoes
- Tomato sauce or use spaghetti sauce for more flavor
I typically have half of a jar that is left over from making something else in the fridge and use that in the mixture. Then there are already a bunch of seasonings inside and I don’t have to add much from there.
Then as I stated above use any color bell peppers you want. 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.
- Cooked white rice (make this at the same time you’re browning your meat)
- Salt and pepper
- Onion powder
- Garlic powder
- Basil
- Parsley
Cheese on top is a must for us but could omit to be dairy free.
Air Fried Peppers
There is a wide range of different stuffed pepper recipes out there. 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!
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.
I do love our Instant Pot stuffed peppers too but there’s no crisp at all with those.
- Once the cheese is melted on top you’re ready to serve!
I don’t add a lot of seasonings because there is plenty with the spaghetti sauce. I just add a bit of salt and pepper in with the meat, or whatever I have on hand that sounds good.
Here are quick step by step directions but I have a printable recipe card at the bottom of this post as well for your reference.
Time needed: 25 minutes.
Stuffed Bell Peppers in Air Fryer
- Prepare ingredients
Cook your rice and brown your ground beef with some olive oil and diced onions on the stovetop.
- Cook
Once your meat is done, drain grease. Add cooked rice, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, 1/2 cup of cheese and any seasonings you like.
- Prepare bell peppers
Slice tops off bell peppers and remove seeds inside. Put in air fryer basket and make sure they will fit when drawer is closed. Fill the hollow insides with your prepared ground beef mixture.
- Preheat air fryer
Preheat air fryer to 350 degrees F for 5 minutes.
- Air fry
Put filled and stuffed peppers in the air fryer basket that has been sprayed with non stick cooking spray. Cook for 10 minutes. Then sprinkle on remaining cheese on top and cook another 5 min.
Then you’re done in less than 20 minutes y’all!! If you want the top of the cheese more browned you could increase temp at end to 360 degrees to 400 for a few minutes.
Ready for more air fryer ground beef recipes in under 30 minutes, we have them!
- Our air fryer empanadas are great as an appetizer or main dish. Using pie crust they’re super simple to throw together. Using spicy sausage instead of hamburger works great too.
- We’ve made frozen taquitos in air fryer before. Those can have a beef or chicken filling. Either way it’s the best way to get them crispy.
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.
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Air Fryer Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients
- 4 bell peppers seeds removed, cut in half
- 1 lb ground beef or ground sausage, or half and half
- 1 onion diced
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp basil
- 1 tsp parsley
- 2 tomatoes diced
- 1 c rice cooked
- 1 c cheese shredded
- 1/2 c tomato sauce or spaghetti sauce
Instructions
- Cook one cup rice in rice cooker. In a medium pan (or use saute function on your Ninja Foodi to do this part) brown your ground beef with diced onions and seasonings.
- Fold in diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, cooked rice and 1/2 c. cheese
- Cut bell peppers in half lengthwise and clean out centers. Scoop this ground beef mixture inside each one and place inside air fryer basket.
- Put as many in that fit without overlapping. Set to 350 degrees for 10 minutes.
- Sprinkle remaining cheese on top and continue cooking for 5 minutes so it melts and peppers are tender.
- Serve
Carolyn
Saturday 9th of April 2022
Thank you for this tasty and easy recipe for the air fryer. I made it using orange, red and yellow peppers and included fresh herbs from our garden, diced red onions and replaced rice with mushrooms. 😋
The Typical Mom
Saturday 9th of April 2022
Sounds fantastic
Breanna
Thursday 20th of January 2022
How do we reheat? Microwave?
The Typical Mom
Thursday 20th of January 2022
Yes that is usually what I do, slice in half so inside warms well too and heat for 1 minute or so. can top with added cheese too
Sheri Smith
Monday 27th of September 2021
Delicious! So much easier than the oven
The Typical Mom
Wednesday 29th of September 2021
For sure
Nancy Mccullough
Monday 8th of February 2021
Thank you for this recipe, I'm new @ the air fryer, but I try to use it every day. I'm making these today!! With pork sausage. Have a great day!
Marci
Sunday 11th of April 2021
We love them.. like the firmer peppers!
The Typical Mom
Tuesday 9th of February 2021
Sausage is amazing
Dianne
Monday 25th of January 2021
Used hot Italian sausage, leftover rice, mozzarella, parmesan and peas. So good, husband raved, ate 2 peppers. And then again for lunch today. Thanks for recipe.
The Typical Mom
Tuesday 26th of January 2021
Awesome