No Hope Casserole

No Hope Casserole–creamy penne with smoked sausage, creole seasoning, mushrooms and spinach made in the Instant Pot.

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No Hope Casserole

Today’s recipe is a “fire” recipe according to my 16-year-old (that means it was good). He and I both were loving this creamy, slightly spicy, flavorful pasta dish. There is so much flavor with the brown mustard, cream cheese, banana peppers, smoked sausage and creole seasoning. It is definitely a winning dish.

I loosely adapted the dish from New Orleans Sausage Casserole. When I saw New Orleans I laughed because the only time I have been to New Orleans was for a football game. There was a man in front of Greg and I that kept yelling, “Give them NO HOPE!” He was rooting for our team to just keep piling on the score and give the other team absolutely no hope at winning. It worked and we crushed the opposition. Now Greg and I often yell “give them no hope!” at sporting events we attend 😉

Ingredients/Substitution Ideas

• Olive oil–or butter
• Beef smoked sausage–or andouille sausage
• Mushrooms
• Banana pepper rings–I used mild. You can also use chopped pepperoncinis.
• Chicken broth–or water and Better than Bouillon chicken base
• Garlic powder
• Creole seasoning–or cajun seasoning
• Black pepper
• Spicy brown mustard–or dijon
• Penne pasta–or another short cut pasta
• Cream cheese
• Spinach–fresh or frozen

Steps

Turn Instant Pot to saute setting. When display says HOT add in the oil and swirl around. Add in the sausage and brown for 2 minutes on each side.

Add in the mushrooms and saute for 3 minutes. Stir in the banana rings. 

Pour in the broth and scrape bottom of pot so that nothing is sticking. Turn off Instant Pot.

Add in the garlic powder, creole seasoning, black pepper, spicy brown mustard, pasta and cream cheese.

Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 5 minutes. When time is up let pot sit for 5-10 minutes and then move valve to venting. Remove the lid.

Stir in the spinach.

Serve and enjoy!

Notes/Tips

• Serve with corn on the cob and watermelon.
• I used my 6 quart Instant Pot*. You can also make this in a 3 or 8 quart pot. You can easily halve or double this recipe.
• Store leftovers in an airtight container* in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
• Other recipes you can make with banana peppers are slow cooker french dip tacos and slow cooker nacho soup.
• If you use another type of pasta you may need to adjust the cooking time. Here is the formula: look at the back of the box of pasta and see how many minutes it says to boil the pasta. If it’s 10 minutes you divide that number by 2 (=5) and then subtract 2 minutes. So you would pressure cook for 3 minutes. I usually use a 5-10 minute natural pressure release for pasta.

Did you know you can filter the recipes on my website to search by meat type, IP or Crockpot, low carb, gluten free, etc.? Use the filter to find exactly what you are looking for. 

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*Karen Petersen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.