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This Instant Pot stuffed pepper soup is healthy, hearty, and simple to make. Your family will love this comforting easy weeknight dinner!
I have a stove top stuffed pepper soup on here, and I liked it so much that I wanted to try it out in the ‘ole Instant Pot. Now that it’s chilly out, I have soups/stews/cozy food on the brain. And in the freezer. So many blog leftovers in the freezer. You can expect plenty more of these types of recipes from me as the colder months approach.
Stuffed pepper soup is way less fussy than making actual stuffed peppers, and I’m all about things being easy. The shift from warm weather to cold always throws me into hibernation mode, and I pretty much just want to eat warm carbs. *shrugs*
On a sorta related note, I just ordered a new sealing ring for my Instant Pot (actually, I ordered four of them from Amazon). I was testing a different recipe and my IP stopped working! It wouldn’t come up to pressure, and then I saw how the sealing ring had warped.
I suggest keeping some extra sealing rings on hand, because you never know when yours may need replacing. I wish I listened to my husband when he suggested I should get extras. Oh well. That recipe will have to be re-tested since timing got totally messed up, and I ended up having to cook it like 3x as long to get the meat to be tender, but at least I know the flavor was there. 😛
Try my sausage stuffed peppers or these Mexican stuffed peppers.
How to make stuffed pepper soup in an Instant Pot
- Sauté the onion with the olive oil for 3 minutes; add the beef and continue cooking for another 3-4 minutes.
- Add the remaining ingredients to the electric pressure cooker and cook on high pressure for 10 minutes.
- Do a quick pressure release and add salt & pepper and any garnishes as desired.
Pro tip: I used 3/4 cup of rice and the soup was very thick… perfect for a hearty meal. If you want it to be more soupy, I suggest using 1/2 cup of rice (or even less if you want it to be lighter).
Can I use cooked rice in this recipe? You can use cooked rice, but then I suggest adding it once the soup has been cooked (the pressure cooking will turn it to mush). You will end up with an overall thinner soup if you do this method, though, so you may want to try the stovetop recipe instead.
I hope you’ll give this easy electric pressure cooker stuffed pepper soup a try.
Questions about this soup? Let me know in the comments below!
Love easy Instant Pot soups with beef? You may like my Instant Pot beef taco soup or this Instant Pot cabbage soup.
Instant Pot Stuffed Pepper Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/2 medium onion chopped
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3/4 cup uncooked rice (I used jasmine)
- 1.5 pounds extra lean (95% lean) ground beef
- 1 red bell pepper chopped finely
- 1 green bell pepper chopped finely
- 1 (13.5 fluid ounce) can tomato sauce
- 1 (28 fluid ounce) can fire-roasted diced tomatoes (with juices)
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 3 dashes Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- Salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Chop your onion and add it to your Instant Pot along with the olive oil. Press the sauté button and cook for about 3 minutes, then add the ground beef and continue cooking for another 3-4 minutes or so, stirring occasionally.
- Add the remaining ingredients to your Instant Pot and give it a stir. Rinse the rice (put it in a sieve and run it under the tap) prior to adding it to your Instant Pot. Important note: The soup in the photos is quite thick and hearty. If you prefer it to be less thick, use 1/2 cup of rice. The soup gets pretty close to the fill line of my 6-qt. Instant Pot, so be sure not to go over.
- Close the lid and set the valve on "sealing". Cook on high pressure for 10 minutes. It will take at least 10-15 minutes for the Instant Pot to get up to pressure. Once the countdown is over, do a quick release of the pressure.
- Season soup with salt & pepper as needed.
Notes
- Serves 6-8 depending on how much people eat.
- You can use regular diced tomatoes if you wish, but the fire-roasted ones give it extra flavor.
- I use this 6-quart Instant Pot.
- Inactive time indicates the time it'll take the Instant Pot to come up to pressure.
- I have a separate recipe for the stovetop version of this soup.
- Crockpot version: You can definitely make this stuffed pepper soup in a slow cooker. Brown the beef first, and then transfer it to your Crockpot, along with everything except for the rice and salt & pepper. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours. About 20-30 minutes prior to serving, add the rice. Stir it every now and then so it doesn't stick to the bottom of the Crockpot.
- Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy only and should be construed as an estimate rather than a guarantee. Ingredients can vary and Salt & Lavender makes no guarantees to the accuracy of this information.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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I made this, and it’s pretty darn good. The next time I make it, rather than tomato sauce, I will use V-8 or some type of vegetable juice, as I do when I make stuffed peppers. I will also serve it with sour cream, again, as I do when I make stuffed peppers. It still gets 5 stars.
Thank you, Cindy!!
Nevermind….you can delete my previous request to post. I get it now….duh
I’ll leave it up in case anyone has the same question, but I’m glad you figured it out. 🙂
When you say “once the countdown is over, release the pressure manually” I’m not sure what countdown you mean. (Fairly newbie IP user) Does that mean just leave it to natural release, and then when the valve goes up, open that puppy up?? Thanks. Looking forward to tasting it in a bit!
Hi! So, once the cooking time has elapsed (it starts the countdown once you’ve reached pressure and counts down from the time you set it to… so in this case it counts down from 10 minutes), you would manually release the pressure by turning the steam release handle, and then open the lid up once you hear the pin drop and the pressure has fully been released. This is a quick release vs. a natural release. A natural release takes longer and isn’t great for certain recipes like this one that has rice. I’m sure you could see it in action if you look on YouTube – videos really helped me understand when I was first learning my IP. I hope you enjoy the recipe! 🙂
I made this and loved it! Spicy, flavorful, hearty….the perfect stuffed pepper soup. Two notes I would make: (1) I used Basmati rice and I thought it was a little undercooked so would add 2-3 minutes to cook time if using Basmati rice (2) As Natasha says in the recipe, it is definitely on the stew-ier side, so I added chicken broth to it when heating up leftovers. Amazing recipe, will definitely make it again!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!! Thanks, Ellie!!
I have tried this recipe twice and both times my instant pot said burning and the rice sure was burnt to the bottom! How do I fix this issue? It smells so good.
Hi Elena! Some of the newer Instant Pots seem to be very finicky and give burn warnings. I can honestly say that I have never encountered a burn warning before in my older model IP. It’s frustrating to hear when this happens to readers. You could try soaking the rice (or at least rinsing it) beforehand, and be sure to stir it very well before sealing up the IP so there’s nothing sticking on the bottom. If all else fails, I have a stovetop version of this soup here: https://bit.ly/3iHvV6S
How would using brown rice or basmati rice change the cooking time?
Hi Amy, I don’t know… I have not tested it. Perhaps look up a similar IP recipe that uses basmati rice and it may give you an indication? I’m reluctant to say since I have never cooked brown rice in my IP before, and I don’t want to guess wrong and for you to get a burn warning/have issues.
SO GOOD! I made several freezer kits of this meal before I gave birth, and it was such a delight to thaw it out, throw in the Instant Pot, and have a delicious meal with no effort while dealing with a newborn.
That’s awesome!! I’m so happy the recipe made your life a little easier. 🙂
I make this at least once a month from October-March. I do add 3 T. of brown sugar and a 1 t. of crushed red pepper. I also use Mild Italian sausage. I’ve used both jasmine and brown rice. If I use brown, I cook it 5 minutes longer.
Awesome!! Thanks for the tips. Love the brown sugar idea!
Love this recipe! A tried-and-true fave in our house. Over time we have made slight adjustments, but not much! My husband likes things hearty instead of soupy, so we use 2 pounds of ground beef, a little extra rice, and use 1 extra pepper that we leave in larger chunks. Makes it more of a stew than a soup, but he loves it that way! Thanks for the great recipe! As a side note on the burn notice, I had to get a new instant pot because my old one finally died. Never got a burn notice with the old pot. The new pot seems to be much more touchy, gives me a burn notice every time. I just open it up, use a rubber spatula to scrape the bottom really well. If I get a 2nd burn notice, I scrape again and add a little more water. Hope that helps to those that get the burn notice!
Wonderful! Thanks for your detailed comment, Melissa! 🙂 It’s so annoying how those new Instant Pots seem to be. Really frustrating for me as a recipe developer since I have never (like ever) received a burn warning on my older IP.
Omg, Natasha! I totally forgot to rate it. 5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Stars! Amazing recipe, as always!
Thank you!!! 😀