Stuffed Peppers Pressure Cooked

I’ve made stuffed peppers in both the oven and slow cooker. Both came out edible, but I found that when I made them in the oven, the peppers came out a little “raw.” I think it’s because I didn’t par boil (precooked) the peppers first. When I made them in the slow cooker, the peppers came out too soggy. I looked online for examples of how to pressure cook them to find out how long it would take using my instant pot. There are many examples with their different recipes, but since I have my own recipe, I will use that. Up until now, I found these recipes I never thought about putting it together all raw and have it come out cooked to temperature (165 degrees). Serves 2-4. Here’s my process:

Ingredients

• 4 peppers (you can use whichever pepper you like.)
• 1 lb. ground meat (you can use beef, turkey, etc.)
• 1 1/12 Tbsp. sofrito
• 2 Tbsp tomato paste
• 1 can 15 oz tomato sauce with chunks (reserve 1/4 to 1/2 can for the topping)
• 1 Tbs adobo
• 1 packet of Sazon
• 1 packet of Sazon con achiote (for color)
• 1/2 cup of quinoa (you can use rice, but this is what I had on hand.)
• 1 cup water
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped (optional)
• 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese (or your preference)
• Salt and Pepper to taste

1. Clean and dry the peppers, cut out the tops and clean out the cavity. I sometimes trim a little from the bottom to make it stand upright. Try to keep the cut tops matched with the original so you can use it at the end.
2. In a bowl, put the meat and all the dry and wet ingredients at once. Use two forks to gently mix all ingredients together. If you use your hands, the meat might get overworked.

3. Stuff each pepper to top. I like a lot of stuffing so I made sure it went over a bit but the mixture is enough for four (4) peppers. Top off each peppers with cheese. Then cap the peppers with their tops. I added the remaining tomatoes sauce on top.

4. Add one (1) cup of water and the trivet from the instant pot. Cap the peppers with their tops. I added the remaining tomatoes sauce on top.

5. Close and set pressure cooker to 15 minutes. Quicks release pressure (I usually turn off the machine and then do quick release. Make sure you check the temperature. It should read 165 degrees. There will be a lot of juices released which you can collect and use as a sauce. Mine yielded almost 2 cups!

6. Let it rest a bit, about 5 minutes and serve with some of that juicy broth and additional cheese, if you like.

I didn’t expect this to come out completely cooked, tender and juicy as it did. I highly recommend that if you have an instant pot or pressure cooker to give this recipe a try. It’s a lot easier and quicker than some of the other recipes out there, in my opinion. I was really impressed how it was. I hope you give this a try soon. If you do, please comment below, like and share. Thank you again for stopping by. Buen provecho!