Calabrian stuffed peppers in an air fryer, as tasty as the classic ones but lighter thanks to the unique cooking method. Just hollow out the topepo peppers, also known as nicastrisi or riggitani, and fill them with a delicious filling of classic Calabrian meatball mix, the famous vrasciole di carne lametine which are actually prepared throughout Calabria, perhaps simply called meatballs. And then the cooking, some fry them, as tradition demands, some bake them, or stew them in a pot, but since we are in the age of air fryers let’s make use of this particular cooking method, so very little oil is needed and the result is guaranteed to be fabulous, so let’s prepare them together, I leave you to the recipe.
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Medium
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 12 Pieces
- Cooking methods: Air Frying
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients for Calabrian Stuffed Peppers
- 12 topepo peppers (or other small ones)
- 14 oz ground meat
- 1 slice stale bread
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp grated pecorino cheese
- 1 tsp grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 clove garlic
- to taste parsley
- to taste salt
- to taste olive oil
Tools for Preparing Calabrian Stuffed Peppers
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Air fryer parchment paper
- 1 Baking paper
Steps for Preparing Calabrian Stuffed Peppers
First, prepare the basic meatball mixture. I made them with the traditional Calabrian meat recipe, but you can also make them without and enrich them with capers and olives, or with tuna. Clicking through you will find the various recipes.
Soak the stale bread in cold water, when it’s soft, squeeze it strongly and crumble it in a bowl, add the meat, eggs, chopped parsley, salt, pepper, finely chopped garlic, grated cheeses and mix to obtain a soft dough.
Wash the peppers, for the recipe we need the topepo variety, known as pipi riggitani or pipi nicastrisi, which have a thicker flesh and a unique flavor, obviously if you can’t find them use the classic peppers available in the market, if they are larger you’ll have fewer, but one per serving is enough.
With a sharp knife, remove the cap of the pepper and hollow out the inside to remove all the seeds, place it open side down on a surface and give it a few taps on top to make the seeds fall out.
Sprinkle the inside of each pepper with a little fine salt and then stuff with the meatball mix prepared and left to rest in the meantime, covered with cling film, in the fridge.
Once all the peppers are stuffed, place them in the air fryer with a sheet of parchment paper at the base. Depending on the size of the air fryer, cook the peppers in multiple stages, I did 6 at a time, sprinkled with a little olive oil all around, using a dedicated oil sprayer or simply brushing with a kitchen brush.
Cook in the air fryer for 15 minutes at 392°F, I checked the cooking after 8 minutes, and continued without doing anything else until the end, and took them out as seen in the photo, perfect, well-cooked, and delicious as if they were fried, only much lighter with just one tablespoon of olive oil.
I used my Aigostar air fryer.
