Conveniently make classic stuffed peppers with ground beef and rice in the air fryer. You won’t believe how fast they cook and how easy it is to do!
Stuffed peppers are one of my all-time favorite comfort food meals. I love that they’re so customizable, and you can put whatever you want inside! In fact, on my sister site, TheCookful, I have an entire series dedicated to stuffed peppers.
I don’t think I could pick a favorite if I tried! But did you know you can air fry stuffed peppers too?
Scroll down to read more about how it all comes together or click here to jump straight down to the recipe.
Faster Stuffed Peppers
The only thing that is a drawback to stuffed peppers is how long they take to make. My Classic Stuffed Peppers take about 45 minutes to bake, which kind of puts them out of the weeknight category. I try to make things that take about 30 minutes or less on the weeknights to save time.
Recently, I’ve found a way around that. And that’s the air fryer! I’ve been loving my air fryer for just about everything the Instant Pot can’t do. I’ve even made seafood in it.
The air fryer is great because it uses hot air circulation to cook things really quickly, so the peppers get nice and soft, the filling sets, and the cheese melts in half the time it takes to cook stuffed peppers in the oven.
Do I Need To Pre-Cook The Filling?
While some stuffed pepper recipes can be assembled with raw meat and fillings, since the peppers are not going to be in the air fryer for long, we do need to pre-cook the ground meat and rice.
You can cook rice in the Instant Pot in advance of making your stuffed peppers, or use the stovetop or a rice cooker.
For the rest of the filling, we’ll sauté the onion on the stovetop, then brown the ground beef with seasonings. The cooked rice and tomato sauce gets mixed in before assembling in the bell peppers.
Making Air Fryer Stuffed Peppers
I find that slicing the peppers in half for the air fryer really helps things, as well. This way, they aren’t as thick, and everything cooks really evenly. I love the way the skin roasts a little on the bell pepper, it adds an amazing flavor.
You’ll assemble the beef and rice filling, stuff the pepper halves, and slide the air fryer tray in. After they have cooked for 15 minutes, slide out the tray, top with cheese, and insert again to melt.
A perfect and easy dinner made for you in just about 30 minutes. Enjoy!
Substitutions
You can absolutely substitute in different ingredients for this air fryer recipe. Try using ground chicken or turkey in place of the ground beef. Sub in riced cauliflower for a lower carb solution.
Switch up the seasonings and cheese. Maybe you want more Italian seasoning or maybe you want some taco seasoning and Cheddar cheese instead? You can even make Pizza Stuffed Peppers or Buffalo Chicken Stuffed Peppers!
Have fun with it and let me know what you come up with in the comments.
More Air Fryer Dinners
You can browse all my amazing air fryer recipes, or try one of these favorite dishes below.
- Air Fryer Steak Fajitas
- Burgers in the Air Fryer
- Air Fryer Pizzas
- Air Fryer Chicken Parmesan
- Air Fryer Pork Cutlets Recipe
Podcast Episode: Air Frying Stuffed Peppers
Listen to me explain briefly about how to make stuffed peppers, along with some other great tips, by clicking the play button below:
Listen to more Recipe of the Day episodes here.
Print
Air Fryer Stuffed Peppers Recipe
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 17 minutes
- Total Time: 32 minutes
- Yield: 3–4 servings 1x
- Category: Entrée
- Method: Air Fryer
- Cuisine: American
DESCRIPTION
Conveniently make classic stuffed peppers with ground beef and rice in the air fryer. You won’t believe how fast they cook and how easy it is to do!
Ingredients
- 1 tsp. olive oil
- 1/2 cup diced onion
- 1/2 lb. ground beef
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. black pepper
- 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
- 1 cup (8 oz.) tomato sauce
- 1 cup cooked rice (I like to use brown rice)
- 3 bell peppers, halved
- 3/4 cup mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
- Once hot, add the onion and sauté for 5 minutes before adding the ground beef, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
- Cook until the ground beef is browned, about 10 minutes, and then add the rice and tomato sauce.
- Stir until well combined and remove from the heat.
- Place the pepper halves into the bottom of the air fryer tray. Fill each with the beef and rice mixture.
- Slide the tray into the air fryer, and set the temperature to 360ºF.
- Set the timer for 17 minutes.
- After 15 minutes has passed, slide out the tray and sprinkle the cheese on top of the peppers.
- Slide the tray back in and let the cycle finish.
- Carefully remove the peppers and serve!
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This post originally appeared in April 2019 and was revised and republished in September 2023.
I take any “extra” mixture and roll it into balls, ( One child doesn’t like bell peppers ) and cook them in the sauce, just like the peppers.
I LOVE this recipe! So easy and delicious. I make it with group turkey ?
Ground turkey instead of beef? Great, Jennifer!
Well I decided to make this today, I usually make my stuffed peppers in an Instant Pot..well after 17 minutes my peppers were still raw..another 17 minutes and they were still raw and the insides were all burnt…dinner just got tossed in the garbage!
I’m so sorry about that, Celeste! Which air fryer do you have?
When I make stuffed green peppers in any way, I do not precook anything. I add raw burger, uncooked rice, carrot sticks or slices, onions, and stuff the peppers. I add a large can tomato soup, a little water and smaller can of diced tomatoes s&p. Then once all is in cooker, I use a Teflon knife and cut each pepper in half.
Then I turn the air fryer to roast at 325 and bake approximately 20-30 minutes, depending how many peppers there are.
Add cheese as desired.