Jackpot Casserole

Jackpot Casserole–seasoned ground beef with shells, corn and cheese made fast in the Instant Pot.

Pin this recipe for later!

Jackpot Casserole

Today’s recipe is a win! It’s a saucy ground beef and shells seasoned with taco seasonings. The corn adds a bit of sweetness and the cheddar cheese is melty and delicious. It’s an easy but flavorful, tasty dinner that you probably have the ingredients for at home. My family all loved this one and my son just came home from school and ate up the leftovers. Jackpot!

This recipe adapted from Just a Pinch. The original author stated, “My mother use to make this as an oven casserole when I was a child. I decided to jazz it up a little bit and cook it on the stovetop to avoid heating up the oven during the summer. It’s a quick after work dinner to make that will please adults and children.”

Ingredients/Substitution Ideas

• Lean ground beef
• Onion–yellow or white
• Kosher salt
• Black pepper
• Cumin
• Chili powder
• Smoked paprika
• Oregano
• Beef broth–or water and Better than Bouillon
• Medium shells–or elbow macaroni
• Spaghetti sauce–use what you like best
• Frozen sweet corn
• Sharp cheddar cheese

Steps

Turn Instant Pot to saute setting. When display says HOT add in the beef and break it up. Add in the onion. Brown for 5 minutes. Drain off excess grease. Stir in the salt, pepper, cumin, chili powder, paprika and oregano. 

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

Sprinkle in the shells. Pour in the spaghetti sauce and then dump in the corn. Don’t stir.

Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 4 minutes. When time is up let pot sit for 10 minutes and then move valve to venting. Remove the lid. 

Stir in the cheese.

Serve and enjoy!

Notes/Tips

• Serve with green salad, raw veggies and dip or roasted vegetables.
• I used my 6 quart Instant Pot*. You can also make this in a 3 or 8 quart pot.
• 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 frozen sweet corn are Holy Moly Casserole and Welcome Back Casserole.
• 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. 

Pin this recipe for later!

Print

Pin this recipe for later!

More Instant Pot recipes with shells…

*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.