Pizza-Stuffed Bell Peppers

This recipe features all the awesomeness of pizza, stuffed into a bell pepper, for a weeknight meal that’s ready in no time. The raw ground beef is cooked directly in the pepper without being browned first, so use very lean ground beef (5% fat or less) or the peppers will be too greasy.

Cuisine

American

Course

Dinner, Main Course

Difficulty

Easy

Duration

15-30 min

Cooking Technique

Pressure Cook

Keywords

15-30 min, 4 servings, 95% lean ground beef, american, bell peppers of different colors, can sliced black olives, canned tomato sauce, chicken stock, contributed, cook 10 min, dinner, dried italian seasoning, easy, fennel seeds, garlic powder, instant pot, Instant Pot Culinary Team, italian-style dried bread crumbs, kosher salt and black pepper, main course, prep 15 min, pressure cook, shredded mozzarella cheese, sliced pepperoni, stuffed peppers

Prep Time

15 min

Cook Time

10 min

Servings

4 servings

Ingredients

1 cup canned tomato sauce
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 1/2 tsp dried Italian seasoning
1 tsp garlic powder
kosher salt and black pepper
1 lb 95% lean ground beef
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup Italian-style dried bread crumbs
1 can sliced black olives
1 tsp fennel seeds
4 bell peppers of different colors
2 oz sliced pepperoni

Instructions

n a large bowl, stir together the tomato sauce, stock, Italian seasoning, and garlic powder, and season with salt and pepper. Pour 1 cup (240 ml) plus 2 tablespoons of this mixture into the pot. Place a steam rack/trivet with handles in the pot.
Add the ground beef, ½ cup (60 g) of the cheese, the bread crumbs, olives, fennel seeds, and ½ teaspoon each salt and pepper to the remaining tomato sauce in the large bowl.
Cut ½ inch (12 mm) off the top of each bell pepper; reserve the tops. Scoop out the seeds and inner membranes. Finely chop the tops, discarding the stems, and add to the meat and sauce mixture in the large bowl. Add the pepperoni slices and stir until everything is thoroughly combined. Spoon the mixture into the peppers and place them upright on the trivet. Gently press the remaining ½ cup (60 g) cheese onto the filling.
Lock the lid in place and turn the valve to Sealing. Press the Pressure Cook button and set the cook time for 10 minutes at high pressure.
When the cooking time is up, turn the valve to Venting to quick-release the steam. Carefully remove the lid. Using tongs and a large spoon, gently remove the peppers from the pot; they will be very tender. Remove the trivet and stir the sauce in the pot. Spoon the sauce over the peppers and serve right away.

Notes

TIP Be careful when topping the peppers with the mozzarella cheese; any that falls off may burn on the bottom of the pot. It’s best to gently press the cheese onto the meat filling.

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