If you need a quick bite-sized appetizer for a gathering or dinner party, these stuffed mini peppers can be ready in minutes. You make them by halving and deseeding mini peppers, and filling the halves with a mixture of cream cheese, soft goat cheese (optional), lemon, dill, and chives. Topped with crushed pistachios, the peppers have a delightfully rich, zesty, and creamy flavor, with a satisfying crunch to compliment the creaminess of the filling. I’ve also included variations to give your dinner guests choice if you have a little more time.

zoomed in overhead view of mini stuffed peppers on a white plate against a dark wooden background

Ingredients You’ll Need

To make these stuffed mini peppers, you’ll need the following (for 16 mini pepper halves):

top down view of ingredients needed to make mini stuffed peppers on a wooden board

Mini Peppers – 8 mini peppers (8 oz/225 grams)
Cream Cheese – 4 oz cream cheese
Goat Cheese – 4 oz soft goat cheese, plain, see notes for substitutions
Lemon – zest and 1 tsp lemon juice
Fresh Dill – 1 tbsp when finely minced, plus more dill for decorating the tops
Fresh Chives – 1 tbsp when finely minced
Pistachios– 3 tbsp pistachios, chopped (salted and roasted, measured before chopping)
Salt & Pepper, a pinch of salt and pepper, to taste

Notes:

Mini Peppers: If making them for Easter, you can choose just orange mini peppers to make them look like carrots. Otherwise, you could go for the multi-color ones (orange, red, yellow).
Goat Cheese: Pick a soft (and mild) goat cheese without rind that can be easily mixed with the cream cheese. If you don’t like goat cheese, you can substitue the goat cheese with creamy feta or labneh. You can also use just cream cheese (while it will lack the tang of the goat cheese, the recipe will still be delicious).
Cream Cheese: I recommend the full-fat cream cheese as it’s creamier and has a better flavor.
Pistachios: You can substitute pistachios with other nuts you have on hand. Use roasted and salted nuts for extra flavor. Good choices include almonds, pine nuts, walnuts, and pecans.
Fresh Herbs (Dill & Chives): I highly recommend fresh dill and fresh chives for this recipe. In a pinch, you could use dried dill & dried chives but remember to use less when using dried herbs (1 tsp dried dill and 1 tsp dried chives).
Variations: I’ve provided 2 other recipe variations after the instructions below.

Step-by-Step Instructions with Photos

Step 1. Wash and pat dry the mini peppers. Cut them in half. Leaving the stem on, remove the seeds.

top down view of red mini peppers being halved and the seeds removed with a knife and a spoon on a chopping board

Tip: I find it easiest to do this with a pairing knife and clean up any remaining seeds with a little teaspoon. But you can also clean them with just a teaspoon.

Step 2. Mince the dill and chives using a knife. Combine the minced fresh dill, chives, and lemon zest with the cream cheese and goat cheese and mix together. Taste and add a pinch of salt and pepper (if needed, to taste).

overhead view of the ingredients needed to make the filling for the stuffed mini peppers, including goat cheese, cream cheese, salt, chives, lemon zest, and dill

Step 3. Fill the mini peppers with the mixture.

top down view of cream and goat cheese filling in a bowl about to be scooped into halved mini peppers

overhead view of halved mini peppers stuffed with a goat and cream cheese filling on a white board

Step 4. Chop the pistachios and top the mini peppers with the chopped pistachios. I use a chef’s knife to chop the pistachios and like to chop some finely for a fine pistachio crumb but also leave some bigger pieces for a stronger taste and crunch of the pistachios.

close up view of crushed pistachio topping a set of stuffed mini peppers

Step 5. Decorate with the dill to make them look like carrots (great for Easter).

stuffed mini peppers topped with pistachio and dill displayed in a fan effect on a plate against a wooden background

Variations

While developing this recipe, there were a couple of other combinations that I loved as well.

Option 2: Mini Peppers Stuffed with Cream Cheese and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

This is another option with some Mediterranean-inspired flavors. For this variation, you need 8 mini peppers, 4 oz cream cheese, 3 oz soft goat cheese (or substitute with more cream cheese), 4 sun-dried tomatoes (chopped), zest from one lemon, fresh basil (thinly sliced/chifonade) (about 2 tbsp when measured after slicing), and pistachios (chopped). Mix the cream cheese with the gost cheese, chopped sun-dried tomatoes, lemon zest, and fresh basil chifonade/finely-sliced basil. Add a pinch of salt and pepper to taste. Fill the pepper halves with the mixture and top with chopped pistachios.

variation of the stuffed mini peppers recipe using a filling with sundried tomatoes, with the peppers displayed in the same way on a white plate

Option 3: Mini Peppers Stuffed with Cream Cheese and Bacon (or Pancetta) Bits

For this variation, use 8 mini peppers, 8 oz of cream cheese, and cooked crispy bacon. Add 2 tbsp of chopped (cooked) crispy bacon to the cream cheese and salt and pepper to taste. Fill the cleaned pepper halves with the bacon cream cheese mixture. Top with more crispy bacon bits. I lived in Texas for almost 10 years, so the bacon variation is inspired by that. To put a Mediterranean spin on it, use pancetta instead of bacon and use half cream cheese and half goat cheese in the mixture instead of just cream cheese.

variation of the mini peppers recipe using bacon bits as a topping displayed on a white plate

Here you can see all three different variations together. They make for great party appetizers and are ideal for spring or summer get-togethers.

overhead view of three plates of three different types of stuffed mini peppers displayed on a wooden surface

If you made these and enjoyed them, let me know in a review below. Also, if you made more than one of the variations, I’d love to know which was your favorite in the comments.

Recipe Card

Don’t forget to save this recipe to one of your appetizer or party food idea boards, ready for the next time you’re hosting.