Air Fryer Stuffed Peppers
Vegetarian stuffed peppers in the air fryer, cooked in just 7 minutes?! Count me in. These air fryer stuffed peppers are packed with fluffy bulgur wheat, nestled in a soft pepper boat, and coated in crispy melted cheese. Just perfect!

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Stuffed peppers are a vegetarian classic, and there’s no better way to make them than in the air fryer. The pepper roasts up beautifully, the filling gets piping hot, and the cheese melts and crisps up – in just 7 minutes!
I stuffed my peppers with a combination of bulgur wheat, black beans and sweetcorn – a simple mixture that doesn’t require much prep. I also added a good dollop of red pesto, which is such an easy way to amp up the flavour.
❤️ Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- It’s super customisable – feel free to change up the filling with whatever other flavours or ingredients you like. See below for some ideas!
- These vegetarian stuffed peppers are full of wholesome ingredients and heaps of flavour.
- They’re really versatile – you can serve these peppers as an appetiser (1/2 a pepper per person), a simple lunch with some salad, or as a more hearty main meal with some side dishes.
- Air fryers are a super quick way to cook – these stuffed peppers take just 7 minutes to cook!
🥗 Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make this recipe. You’ll also need a few cupboard staples, like salt and pepper. See the printable recipe card below for detailed ingredient quantities.

- peppers, obviously! Any colour would work, but red, orange and yellow peppers have the best flavour (green peppers aren’t as sweet).
- bulgur wheat. Bulgur cooks up in just a few minutes, so it’s a great quick and easy grain to use for these stuffed peppers.
- black beans
- sweetcorn – one of my favourite easy vegetables, since tinned sweetcorn is already cooked and ready to use – so convenient.
- red pesto – a super simple way to bring tons of flavour to your stuffed peppers.
- fresh parsley (cilantro would be good too)
- grated cheese. I like to use a mixture of cheddar (for flavour) and mozzarella (for gooeyness).

Becca’s Top Tip
If you don’t have any bulgur wheat on hand, rice would be another great option. You can use a sachet of microwave rice, or leftovers from a previous meal, if you don’t want to cook it from scratch.
🔄 Ingredient Swaps
Feel free to make this recipe your own – it’s really easy to customise.
Here are a few ways you could adapt this recipe:
- Use rice or couscous instead of bulgur wheat.
- Swap the black beans for chickpeas, tinned lentils, kidney beans, etc.
- Instead of red pesto, use green pesto, or another similar flavour-boosting ingredient, like pizza sauce, curry paste, or harissa.
- Add some other vegetables, especially those that don’t require much prep – e.g. frozen peas (just thaw before use), diced peppers or tomatoes, or black olives.
- Use romano peppers (sweet pointed peppers) instead of bell peppers, for a different look.
- Choose your favourite fresh herbs – leafy herbs like parsley, basil or cilantro are perfect.
🔪 Ninja Air Fryer Max

You’ll obviously need an air fryer to cook these stuffed peppers. I used the Ninja Air Fryer Max, which you can buy online from Very.
I love this air fryer – it’s super simple to use, with a few different pre-set cooking functions (Air Fry, Roast, Bake, Reheat, Dehydrate and Max Crisp), so all you need to do is choose your function, set the time, and off you go!
Air fryers cook up to 50% quicker than fan ovens – and in my experience, it often seems even quicker, since there’s no pre-heating required. The Ninja Air Fryer Max has a generous 5.2 litre capacity, so it comfortably fits 4 stuffed pepper halves. It’s also incredible at making a family-sized batch of frozen chips (French fries), for slightly lazier days!

📋 Instructions
Here’s how to make this recipe – see below for the printable recipe with detailed ingredients and instructions.

Step 1: Cook the bulgur wheat in boiling water until it’s just cooked. This doesn’t take long – less than 10 minutes.

Step 2: Add the black beans, sweetcorn, pesto, and some fresh herbs. Mix thoroughly.

Step 3: Cut the peppers in half, and remove the seeds (I like to keep the stalks on!). Stuff them with the bulgur wheat mixture, and add them to the air fryer basket.

Step 4: Top each pepper half with plenty of grated cheese.

Step 5: Cook in the air fryer for 7 minutes, until the stuffing is hot and the cheese is crispy.

Step 6: Serve!

Becca’s Top Tip
I always like to leave the stalks on the pepper when making stuffed peppers. It can’t be eaten, but it looks pretty, and also means you don’t end up with a hole on the side of the pepper for your filling to escape from!
💭 Recipe FAQs
Since these stuffed peppers already contain some vegetarian protein, veggies and carbs, I don’t find they need many sides – perhaps just a light salad. If you’d prefer a heartier meal, you could serve your stuffed peppers with some crispy potatoes, garlic bread, or roasted vegetables.
Absolutely – just construct the stuffed peppers, and store them in the fridge until you’re ready to cook them. If you’re cooking them straight from the fridge, you’ll need to cook them for a little longer, at a lower temperature, to ensure they end up piping hot in the middle.
Yep – these vegetarian stuffed peppers will reheat nicely in the microwave.


Air Fryer Stuffed Peppers
If you’ve cooked this recipe, don’t forget to leave a star rating!
Print Pin CommentIngredients
- 115 g (~ 4 oz) bulgur wheat
- 400 g tin black beans, drained (240g, or ~ 1 1/4 cups, when drained)
- 160 g (~ 2/3 cup) tinned sweetcorn
- 2 Tablespoons pesto (I used red pesto)
- Few sprigs fresh parsley, chopped
- Salt
- Black pepper
- 2 red bell peppers
- 75 g (~ 3/4 cup) grated cheese (I used a mozzarella and cheddar mix)
Instructions
- Cook the bulgur wheat according to the instructions on the packet. I use a small saucepan with about 400ml (~ 1 1/2 cups) water, and cook over a medium-low heat for about 10 minutes, until the bulgur has absorbed most of the water. You’ll need to stir regularly, particularly towards the end of the cooking time, to ensure the bulgur doesn’t burn on the bottom.
- When the bulgur is cooked, add it to a large mixing bowl, and add the black beans, sweetcorn, pesto and chopped parsley. Mix thoroughly to combine, and season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Cut each pepper in half, cutting directly through the stalk if possible. Remove the seeds and any thick ribs of pith from inside the pepper, retaining the stalk.
- Add a spoonful of the bulgur wheat mixture to each piece of pepper, pressing it down firmly to fill any nooks and crannies. Add another spoonful, and repeat. Continue until the pepper is filled with a heaped amount of filling. Place the stuffed peppers into the air fryer basket, nestling them against each other to hold them straight.
- Sprinkle the stuffed peppers with a little grated cheese, and air fry at 180°C (350°F) for 7 minutes, or until the cheese is crispy.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is approximate, and will depend on your exact ingredients. Please calculate your own nutritional values if you require accuracy for health reasons.
Very tasty meal – wondering if you can freeze left over stuffing as my peppers were quite small?
I haven’t tried freezing the filling, you could give it a try, but to be honest I think I’d be more tempted to just eat it up over the next day or two, maybe just scattered over salad or something :)
Tried it today. Very easy. I used couscous. I should have pre-air-fried my peppers though, to make them more tender, for like 5 minutes. Still worked. Made a delicious brunch. Will be using this quick idea again.
Thanks, so happy you enjoyed them :)
These came out great! I don’t like beans, so I substituted chopped up sautéed mushrooms which worked just fine.
Good idea, thanks!
Delicious, I found they needed 10 minutes rather than 7 but I suppose it all depends on the air fryer
Absolutely, these things are always a bit of an experiment! Glad you enjoyed them! :)
These came out great. I didn’t have the bulgur wheat so I subbed rice and it was delicious.
Thanks Colin, rice sounds great in these!