Our air fryer stuffed peppers recipe makes for a quick dinner loaded with beef, sausage, rice, and cheese! These stuffed peppers in the air fryer cook in half the time as they do in the regular oven!
I was never a huge bell pepper fan growing up, but now I’m a sucker for the red ones!
I’ll leave the green bell peppers for literally anyone else, but you’ll have to fight me for the sweet red peppers! Whether they’re raw and crisp or cooked and tender, I love them!
We make stuffed peppers often here, filled with a blend of beef and sausage, loaded with rice and cheese, and baked until tender. Baked?! Yeah…not anymore. Now we’re making them in the air fryer!
Air Fryer Stuffed Peppers cook in about half the time they would in the oven!!
Ingredient Notes:
Peppers -You’ll need 4 large peppers. Look for ones that are somewhat flat on bottom so you can stand them up. Any color works – we prefer the sweeter red variety, but green, yellow, or orange are all fine.
Filling– We’re using a mixture of lean beef, Italian sausage, rice, and tomatoes.
Seasoning – We keep things simple and season with onion, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, and Italian seasoning.
Cheese– We usually go for shredded cheddar, but whatever cheese you have in your fridge should work fine.
How to Make Stuffed Peppers in an Air Fryer:
Brown the meat – Brown the beef and Italian sausage together, crumbling it as it cooks.
Filling – Add the onions and garlic to the skillet and let those soften. Stir in the rice, tomatoes, tomato sauce, and seasoning. Mix well.
Prepare the peppers- Rinse the peppers and dry them off. Cut the tops and make sure they fit in your air fryer standing upright. Remove the seeds and membranes from the peppers and throw them away.
Air fry the peppers- Add your peppers to the air fryer keeping them upright. If you are struggling to keep them upright you can use little balls of foil to help them stand upright. Spoon the filling from your skillet into the peppers. Air fry for 12-15 minutes at 360 degrees F. Sprinkle the tops of the pepper with cheese and let it sit in the air fryer for one additional minute.
FAQ:
This recipe does not require boiling the peppers before cooking them. We fill them and let the raw peppers cook in the air fryer. They’ll be tender crisp when done.
A simple green salad or steamed or roasted vegetable is the perfect side dish for stuffed peppers.
YES! You can freeze them in individual freezer bags and then reheat them in the air fryer when ready to eat again. Reheat at 350 degrees F for 10 minutes.
Recipe Tips and Substitutions
If you are a pepper lover, you can save the tops of the peppers and dice them up. Then later add them to the filling in the pepper or save them for another use.
Did you know that red bell peppers are just a more ripe green bell pepper? The more red the pepper, the riper it is and the sweeter it will be!
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Air Fryer Stuffed Peppers
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 bell peppers any color
- ½ pound ground beef
- ½ pound Italian sausage
- ¼ cup diced onion
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 ½ cups cooked rice
- 15 ounces canned diced tomatoes
- 4 ounces canned tomato sauce
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Rinse the bell peppers and pat dry. Remove the tops and make sure the peppers will fit in your air fryer standing upright. Remove as much of the top as necessary to ensure they fit. Remove the seeds and membranes from the peppers and discard. Set peppers aside. Dice the tops, if desired, to add to the filling.
- Add the beef, sausage, onion, and diced pepper tops, if using, to a large skillet over medium heat. Cook, stirring often to break up the meat, until meat is cooked through.
- Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more, stirring often.
- Add in the rice, diced tomatoes (undrained), tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, Italian seasoning, and salt. Stir to combine.
- Arrange the peppers in the air fryer basket, using small balls of foil if necessary to help them stand up straight. Leave space between each pepper for air to low.
- Carefully spoon the filling into each pepper.
- Air fry at 360 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until peppers are as tender as you'd like.
- Sprinkle the tops of the pepper with cheese and return to the air fryer for 1 minute to melt the cheese.
Notes
Nutrition
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Comments & Reviews
Chrissy says
I used your recipe to boost mine. Thanks for all the instructions!
Gypsy says
I tried this in the airfryer and loved it… I used the red peppers (so happy to find I’m not the only one who doesn’t like the green ones😜) and precooked the cups as recommended… The final dish was absolutely delish!!!! Thank you sooo much!
Karly Campbell says
I’m so glad you enjoyed this one! Thanks, Gypsy!
wayne says
I’m a beginner using af the filling was great but the peppers weren’t all the way cooked after 20 min I even preheated the af I are the remaining peppers the following day and cooked for 20min @ 360 they still weren’t cooked
Karly Campbell says
Hi Wayne! Sorry to hear these weren’t done to your liking. Did you try cooking the peppers without the filling a bit before stuffing them (as directed in the notes for a more tender pepper)? We like the peppers to be more tender crisp so we don’t usually do that ourselves, but it will help soften them up a bit if you like them more tender.
Sue Foster says
After air frying for 15 minutes, the bell peppers were cold, raw and the stuffing was cold.
I’m trying the recipe again, I will pre cook the pepers and increase cooking time to 20 minutes
Karly Campbell says
Hi Sue! I’m sorry to hear that – I’m not sure how they’d possibly still be cold after 15 minutes in the air fryer. Did you stuff them earlier in the day and refrigerate them? They’d need more time in the air fryer in that instance. Very strange!
Brandy says
Delicious recipe. I accidentally added the rice before cooking the meat. They were still good. The rice just absorbed all the grease.
Cheryl A Renwick says
Soooo good I cooked the stuff peppers 10 minutes instead of 12 it was Ok the peppers were kind of tuff, all in all they were yummy, excellent taste.
Cindy says
Stuffed peppers were delicious!! I followed the recipe except I used Rotel fire roasted diced tomatoes w/ green chilies. I planned to make these again!
Karly says
So glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Ortha says
I haven’t tried the Stuffed Peppers yet but I’m planning on it
Can you still send me the recipe
Thank you
Karly says
The recipe is there in the blog post.
Diane Stillwell says
Can you also bake them?
Karly says
Yes, I’m sure you could.
Rose says
Was wondering if the rice is cooked first before adding it to the meat mixture or do we add it raw…
Karly says
The ingredients list calls for cooked rice. 🙂