These Instant Pot Stuffed Peppers are made with ground turkey and quinoa making them a low carb dinner choice. Vegetarian? No problem, just swap the turkey for some black beans.
Don’t have an instant pot? Not a problem. Vegetarian? No worries. Check the notes below the recipe for both of these substitutions.
When I think stuffed peppers, I think quick and easy. These instant pot stuffed peppers with turkey are no joke. Dinner in one pot? I'm in. If you are on the fence about purchasing an instant pot, check out this post where I discussed the pros and cons!
How to Make Stuffed Peppers in an Instant Pot
Cook ground meat using the sauté function on the instant pot. After it’s cooked, remove it from the pot and transfer it to a large bowl. I like to drain out the grease before I do this.
Once the meat is cooked, transfer to a large bowl and add the remaining ingredients. Arrange the hollowed out peppers in the instant pot. You will end up with one of the six peppers on top in the middle, that's okay.
Next, fill up the peppers with the meat and quinoa filling. Then push the pressure cook or manual function on your instant pot and set it for 10 minutes, making sure the valve is set to sealing. Then wait 🙂
I love to top mine with some shredded colby jack cheese, avocado and scallions for a good crunch!
Nutrition
The serving size is one pepper, which has about 20 grams of protein. If you are a vegetarian, just swap out the turkey for black beans. Not only do black beans add protein and fiber, but also molybdenum, folate and fiber.
More nutritional information is listed below the recipe. It doesn't always show up on google chrome, so if you want to know and don't see it, try switching to a different browser.
PrintInstant Pot Stuffed Peppers {with turkey and quinoa}
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 6 1x
Description
These Instant Pot Stuffed Peppers are made with ground turkey and quinoa making them a low carb dinner choice.
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground turkey
- 1 tbsp chili powder
- 2 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp pepper
- 6 bell peppers, tops cut off and insides hollowed out
- ½ cup quinoa
- 1 cup corn
- 3, 10oz cans enchilada sauce
Optional toppings: shredded colby jack cheese, avocado, scallions, cilantro, lime and sour cream
Instructions
- Place turkey in instant pot on sauté setting. Add chili powder, salt, ground pepper, cumin, garlic and onion powder to the ground meat.
- While the turkey is cooking, cut off the tops of the peppers and hollow out the inside of each pepper.
- Once the turkey is fully cooked, pull out chamber of the instant pot and drain out the grease from the turkey with a lid or the back of a spoon.
- Place meat in a large bowl and mix in corn, quinoa and 1.5 cans of the enchilada sauce. Mix to combine.
- Return the pot to the chamber of the instant pot. Nest the peppers in the instant pot until they all fit. An 8 quart instant pot should fit 6 peppers.
- Fill each pepper with turkey & quinoa mixture. Top each pepper with remaining enchilada sauce until the rest of the can is used. Since peppers are different sizes, you might need more liquid in the pepper to fully cook the quinoa, I would suggest adding some water if you already used all of the enchilada sauce.
- Press the manual function then set the time to 10 minutes. Cover and make sure the valve is set to SEALING.
- When the instant pot is finished cooking, it will beep. Turn the valve to VENTING and place a dish towel over it to avoid the steam. Sprinkle cheese on top of each pepper and place lid back on the instant pot to melt the cheese. Enjoy!
Notes
No instant pot: Cook meat and quinoa prior to baking. Stuff peppers and bake in oven at 400F for 25 minutes. Add cheese and cook for another 4 minutes.
Vegetarian: Swap out turkey for black beans!
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 10
- Category: Dinner, instant pot
- Method: instant pot, pressure cooker
- Cuisine: Southwestern
Andrew
I needed to add a little water underneath the peppers, so that the little bits that spilled out didn't burn. After a couple tries, it worked. Flavor is really good.
Brooke PETERSON
Quinoa didn't cook, even added water ahead of time so it ended up runny/watery after 10 minutes...pressure cooked for another 3 to see of I could get thr quinoa to cook... no luck.
Maggie
Brooke, so sorry it didn't cook for you! I made the recipe last night to see if any modifications need to be made to the recipe and my quinoa cooked with adding in 3 cans of enchilada sauce. I will be updating the recipe, thank you for letting me know!
Laurie
I just made these in my instant pot. The quinoa did not cook at all, was I supposed to cook it first?
Maggie
Hello Laurie! So sorry this didn't work out for you! No you do not need to cook the quinoa first. Sometimes depending on the ratio of meat/quinoa in each pepper you might have needed more liquid for the quinoa to fully cook. I will add this to the recipe notes- thank you for commenting!
Julia
I love instant pot recipes, this one sure is on my list 🙂
Maggie
Thank you Julia!
Stephanie | 31Daily.com
Always looking for new quinoa recipes and Instant Pot recipes. These stuffed peppers look delicious -- and I can't WAIT to try them!
Maggie
Thanks Stephanie! I hope you love it!