Easy cream cheese stuffed mini sweet peppers are the best appetizer. Add spicy ground sausage for a Super Bowl party finger food or make year round for a fun snack.
Whether youโre throwing a party for the holidays or want to make a finger food dinner, these are easy to make. Wrapped in crescent roll dough you can also make them look like a mummy Halloween appetizer that kids love. (affiliate links present)
Ok so there are tons of different ways of cooking air fryer stuffed peppers, in the oven or pressure cooker. Since these are tiny and you want a bit of crisp weโre going to use a baking sheet this time. You can fold in cooked rice, make creamy like we did here, or use diced tomatoes for a lower fat version.
Once you get the hang of how they are done you can let your imagination run wild as to what else youโd like to spoon into the middle. Have leftover chicken? Make chicken stuffed bell peppers this way. Of course since these are smaller they are generally served as an app. vs. a meal but either way.
Notes
Youโll need 12 sweet mini peppers with the tops removed, sliced lengthwise with seeds removed too. This is the prepping you will want to do first.
If you do want to add meat I would recommend lean ground beef or add spicy ground sausage, or half Italian sausage to add a bit more fat and flavor into the mix.
You do want your Cream cheese to be softened or else it will be too hard to incorporate everything together and when pushing it will become mushy. We also like to add Cheddar cheese shredded into the mix but any variety will work.
I like to make freshly roasted air fryer garlic, mince, and use that but garlic in a jar works too. As for seasonings, Onion or garlic powder and paprika are easy ones to add but use what you love.
Youโll want a baking sheet with some parchment paper for baking, and a knife to prepare these sort of air fryer appetizer for stuffing. The ends will be cut off and discarded as well as the seeds inside. You want a cavity to fill essentially, with whatever you want. This is what was used this go around.
Stuffed Mini Sweet Peppers Recipe
Equipment
- 1 baking sheet
- 1 Bowl
- 1 knife
Ingredients
- 1 roll sausage, ground, precooked before adding
- 12 mini sweet peppers, mini, tops removed, sliced lengthwise with seeds removed
- 1 pkg cream cheese, softened
- 1 c cheese, shredded
- 2 tsp minced garlic
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 tsp paprika
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1 roll crescent rolls, optional if you want to wrap them
- 1 can olives, sliced if you want to add mummy eyes
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375 F. Prepare baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. In a skillet over medium heat on the stovetop, brown the sausage, breaking it into crumbles, until fully cooked.
- Remove from heat and drain grease. Set aside. While the sausage is cooking, wash and cut off the stems of the sweet peppers. Slice them in half, lengthwise, then remove and discard the ribs and seeds.
- Arrange them, skin side down, on your prepared baking sheet. In a mixing bowl, combine the softened cream cheese, browned sausage crumbles, shredded cheddar cheese, minced garlic, onion powder, black pepper, and paprika.
- Spoon about one tablespoon of mixture into each pepper slice, spreading from edge to edge. * If you want to wrap with dough * Unroll the crescent dough onto a lightly floured or parchment lined surface, and cut into ยฝ inch wide by 2 inch long strips.
- Arrange the strips over the filled sweet peppers, in a zigzag pattern to mimic the strips of gauze wrapped around a mummy. Place two black olive slices toward the top edge of each pepper to make eyes, then place on baking sheet.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until the crescent dough strips are baked golden brown and the peppers are softened, then serve.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Do Peppers Need to be Cooked Before Stuffing?
In this case and when making Instant Pot stuffed peppers the answer is no. You do want a bit of a crunch to them so you can pick them up or they would be floppy. In the case of larger versions in the oven you do in fact want to blanch bell peppers first to get the bitterness out and the texture should be soft.
Super great football party food idea too because it takes less than 20 minutes to make. I you are making โplainโ and not for the holidays you can sprinkle green onions diced over the top to bring some color to the dish.
If you want to make these wrapped, use 1 roll of crescent dough. You could use rolls but youโd want to push together the perforations, then slice into strips and wrap all the way around. You can use a can of sliced olives, drained, 2 on each one if you want to add mummy eyes
What color mini pepper is the sweetest?
The red mini pepper is generally the sweetest. As peppers ripen, they change color from green to yellow, orange, and finally red. During this process, the sugar content increases, making red colors the sweetest compared to their yellow, orange, or green counterparts.
If you do want to go a step further you can. I mean even if it is Christmas you can wrap them but just leave off the olive eyes to make it easier to eat and a bit heartier with the fluffy dough. I would use 375 degrees F for this method so the dough can cook at a bit lower temperature to brown and not get too dark.
So fun right?? Want to make a matching dessert finger food that looks like this too? Make our mummy haystacks with peanut butter. They are a really fun less than 30 minute no bake treat to make in the Fall.
If you still wanted to make them tender beforehand you could. Just do all the prepping, rub with olive oil, lay on a baking sheet with the cut side facing down and bake at 350 F for 10-15 minutes. Timing will depend on how tender you want to get them. If you want to stuff the insides, go for 10, then stuff and bake for a few more minutes until browned on top.
Mini peppers tend to have thinner walls and a crunchier texture. Smaller versions of standard bell peppers have the characteristic blocky shape and a mild, sweet taste but tend to be slightly less sweet as their counterpart.
