Check out my Jack O Lantern Stuffed Peppers made in the Instant Pot.
This fun and creative Halloween dinner idea will win over your kids.
Bell pepper is cut out like a Jack-O-Lantern and stuffed with seasoned beef, black beans, and more.
This Instant Pot stuffed peppers recipe is a hit for Halloween.
You can even let your older kids carve out their peppers for a fun activity.
Give these stuffed peppers a try today.
Halloween Dinner Idea with Stuffed Peppers Instant Pot
Are you looking for a fun and festive dinner idea?
Get ready for some serious flavor with this easy dinner idea!
These jack-o-lantern stuffed peppers can be made in the Instant Pot.
They’re easy to make, healthish, and the perfect dish for Halloween.
They’ll give your kitchen that autumn feeling with spices like cumin, oregano, bay leaves, and more.
This is a great recipe for a Halloween night or dinner party.
Ingredients You Need For Stuffed Peppers Instant Pot
Black Beans. The beans add flavor, fiber, and protein to the dish. With this Tex-Mex style filling, the beans complement the flavors.
Oil. You will use this to ensure the food doesn’t stick. Feel free to swap the olive oil with canola or even vegetable oil.
Onions and Garlic. The onions and garlic are going to enhance the filling nicely. Yellow. White or a sweet onion is what I recommend. Those three varieties bake up the best.
Orange Bell Peppers. To get the Jack-O-Lantern look, you will want to use orange bell peppers. They are going to give you that pumpkin color. However, if you want to add various colors, add green bell peppers and red peppers.
Seasonings. Cumin, oregano, and a bay leaf are what I used to help. (Alternative seasoning to use would be Italian seasoning.) This is an excellent combination of seasonings. Once the seasonings get warm, they will release more flavor, enhancing them.
Ground Beef. I wanted to add some meat, so I went with ground beef. You are welcome to use ground turkey, ground chicken, or lean ground beef if you would prefer. Make sure to drain the excess grease from your meat before mixing up the dish.
Mozzarella Cheese. A cheesy ending to the peppers. For us, we love that cheesy goodness to complete the filling mixture. You are welcome to omit it if you are not a fan of cheese.
A few notes before we get started.
I like to use a tri-folded strip of aluminum foil to help the pepper stand upright and allow space for all those delicious ingredients.
The bell pepper will tip forward if you use a straight piece, so this is an easy trick that takes seconds.
Also, cut off the top and bottom stem areas, which can be too thick and challenging, and remove as many seeds as possible by scraping them with a knife or spoon.
The key to a stuffed pepper has a nice, hollow space for the filling.
Check out our stuffed pepper recipe for Chili Stuffed Peppers Easy Recipe.
Tips for tender peppers
When using fresh peppers, I like to boil them first until they’re slightly tender before stuffing them with anything hot since it helps steam things inside the peppers allowing them to cook much faster and evenly once in the pressure cooker.
To blanch them, simply add them to a pot of boiling water for about 5-10 minutes.
Remove the peppers from the boiling water and use tongs to hold them while you gently scrape off the skin with a knife or vegetable peeler.
Proceed until all four sides have been peeled.
If you’ve never worked with fresh bell peppers before, this will remove most of the tough white membrane that coats the inside of each pepper, making things taste bitter when cooked.
Don’t worry if you happen to leave some behind by accident if it doesn’t bother your tastebuds.
Equipment you need for this recipe:
You will need an Instant Pot (or electric pressure cooker), a large bowl, a wooden spoon, and a sharp knife for this recipe.
Jack-O-Lantern Stuffed Peppers Instant Pot
Prep Time: 25 min (Before Instant Pot cooking time)
Cook Time: 35 min (Instant Pot time) + 20 min (Stovetop time)
Cutting Time: 30 min (Depending on skills)
Baking Time: 25 min
Total Time: 2 hours 15 minutes
Servings: 4 Stuffed Bell Peppers
Ingredients
- 1 cup black beans (Dry, no need to soak)
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1 small onion (Diced)
- 1 orange bell pepper (cored, seeded, and diced)
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 garlic cloves (Minced)
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 2 small bay leaves
- 3 cups water
- ½ lb ground beef
- 4 orange bell peppers
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese (you can also use Colby jack cheese or cheddar cheese)
- Dried parsley (For Garnish)
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 °F.
- Clean the black beans: rinse them and pick out any stones or bad beans. Once done, set aside.
- Set your Instant Pot to Sauté. Add the olive oil and wait for 5 minutes.
- Once the olive oil is hot, add the onion, the diced bell pepper, and the salt—Cook and stir for about 5 minutes or softened.
- Add the minced garlic and sprinkle the cumin, dried oregano, and bay leaves.
- Cook and stir for 1 minute or until softened.
- Add the beans and cups of water, and stir.
- Cover and make sure to seal the Instant Pot. Cook on HIGH pressure for 35 minutes.
- Let the steam release naturally when the timer goes off, and remove the lid.
- In a large skillet over medium heat, add the ground beef and add salt + black pepper to taste.
- Use a spatula to break the meat into small pieces and cook until brown.
- Add the beans over the cooked meat and combine. Make sure to add some broth from the beans to cover the meat. Cook for 15 minutes over high heat until all the water is consumed. Then, remove the bay leaves and discard them. Let it sit.
- Cut the top of the bell peppers to form a lid. To make it look like a pumpkin, follow the curves of the upper side of the peppers. Carefully cut the veins inside the peppers and remove them along the seeds using a spoon.
- Cut the faces of your bell peppers using a small knife or a cutting tool with a sharp and thin blade. Avoid knives or cutting tools with wide blades in this process. Fresh bell peppers are very moist and easy to break by hand. For this reason, remove the cut pieces slowly to avoid breaking details in your bell pepper’s face, like teeth.
- When the faces of your bell peppers are cut, it is time to fill them with the bean-meat mixture. Using a spoon, fill the bottom of the peppers with the bean mixture at ⅔ of its capacity.
- Then, top your bell peppers with mozzarella cheese.
- Move your bell peppers and the top of each bell pepper to a baking sheet with lined parchment paper and place them inside the oven. Make sure to lay the pepper tops on the baking sheet and not on the top of the peppers.
- Bake at 350 °F for about 25 minutes, or until warmed through and peppers soften.
- Remove the bell peppers from the oven and let them sit for 10 minutes before serving. To serve, sprinkle dried parsley over the top of the melted mozzarella cheese. Enjoy!
What to serve
Stuffed peppers can be a meal in one, but you can find ideas to serve with your peppers below.
- Green salad
- Veggies
- Cucumbers and Onions
- Cowboy Caviar
- Coleslaw
- Brown rice or white rice (or cauliflower rice)
Do you soak the black beans before using them in the recipe?
You don’t need to soak the beans before making this recipe.
You have to rinse and discard any stones or beans that look different from the others using dried black beans.
Then mix in and pressure cook.
Can I swap dried beans with canned black beans?
If you do not have dried black beans, use canned ones.
Drain and rinse the beans well. Then mix them in.
They will become a bit tender, but they will still work.
What does natural release mean?
Natural release of the pressure means that once the timer is done; and shows you have finished pressure cooking, you leave the pot alone.
Once done, the pin will drop on the lid, and you can open the pressure cooker.
It will begin counting, and you want it to release any pressure inside your Instant Pot.
Can I saute the mixture in an Instant Pot instead of stovetop?
The Instant Pot has a saute feature.
You are welcome to cook the ground beef mixture in the Instant Pot instead of on the stovetop.
The biggest thing is at the end, you need to clean out the bottom of the pot.
That way, you don’t get a burn notice when cooking.
I hope you enjoy this easy Halloween dinner idea and that it helps make your holiday even more fun.
You can also make this stuffed pepper recipe for a great weeknight meal idea, and don’t carve out a pumpkin face.
If you want to try another delicious Instant Pot recipe for the season, check out some of our popular recipes below.
More Instant Pot Meal Ideas:
Instant Pot Meatloaf And Potatoes
20 Instant Pot Ground Beef Recipes
30-Minute Recipe: Instant Pot Lasagna Soup
20 Stuffed Pasta Meals To Make Right Now
Ingredients
- 1 cup black beans Dry, no need to soak
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1 small onion Diced
- 1 orange bell pepper cored, seeded, and diced
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 garlic cloves Minced
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 2 small bay leaves
- 3 cups water
- ½ lb ground beef
- 4 orange bell peppers
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese you can also use Colby jack cheese or cheddar cheese
- Dried parsley For Garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 °F.
- Clean the black beans: rinse them and pick out any stones or bad beans. Once done, set aside.
- Set your Instant Pot to Sauté. Add the olive oil and wait for 5 minutes.
- Once the olive oil is hot, add the onion, the diced bell pepper, and the salt—Cook and stir for about 5 minutes or softened.
- Add the minced garlic and sprinkle the cumin, dried oregano, and bay leaves.
- Cook and stir for 1 minute or until softened.
- Add the beans and cups of water, and stir.
- Cover and make sure to seal the Instant Pot. Cook on HIGH pressure for 35 minutes.
- Let the steam release naturally when the timer goes off, and remove the lid.
- In a large skillet over medium heat, add the ground beef and add salt + black pepper to taste.
- Use a spatula to break the meat into small pieces and cook until brown.
- Add the beans over the cooked meat and combine. Make sure to add some broth from the beans to cover the meat. Cook for 15 minutes over high heat until all the water is consumed. Then, remove the bay leaves and discard them. Let it sit.
- Cut the top of the bell peppers to form a lid. To make it look like a pumpkin, follow the curves of the upper side of the peppers. Carefully cut the veins inside the peppers and remove them along the seeds using a spoon.
- Cut the faces of your bell peppers using a small knife or a cutting tool with a sharp and thin blade. Avoid knives or cutting tools with wide blades in this process. Fresh bell peppers are very moist and easy to break by hand. For this reason, remove the cut pieces slowly to avoid breaking details in your bell pepper's face, like teeth.
- When the faces of your bell peppers are cut, it is time to fill them with the bean-meat mixture. Using a spoon, fill the bottom of the peppers with the bean mixture at ⅔ of its capacity.
- Then, top your bell peppers with mozzarella cheese.
- Move your bell peppers and the top of each bell pepper to a baking sheet with lined parchment paper and place them inside the oven. Make sure to lay the pepper tops on the baking sheet and not on the top of the peppers.
- Bake at 350 °F for about 25 minutes, or until warmed through and peppers soften.
- Remove the bell peppers from the oven and let them sit for 10 minutes before serving. To serve, sprinkle dried parsley over the top of the melted mozzarella cheese. Enjoy!
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