Babysitter Casserole–ground beef and spaghetti noodles with vegetables, an amazing sauce and cheese. An easy Instant Pot weeknight dinner recipe.
Babysitter Casserole
Babysitter Casserole will save you time in the kitchen (no babysitting required thanks to your Instant Pot!) and is so satisfying. It’s a hearty combination of ground beef, tender vegetables, zesty tomato sauce, and gooey cheese, all in one dish. It’s definitely a crowd pleaser. There was only one serving left this morning and then Skyler ate it for breakfast!
One of the best things about Babysitter Casserole is its versatility. Customize the recipe to suit your family’s tastes by adding extra veggies (shredded carrots, zucchini, spinach), swapping out the type of pasta (try using a short cut pasta like penne instead), or experimenting with different cheese blends (Parmigiano-Reggiano). You can even make it ahead of time and refrigerate or freeze it for later (just scrape the mixture into a 9×13 inch pan and cover tightly with foil and freeze until ready to bake and serve).
This spaghetti casserole is also great as a baked casserole. Once the Instant Pot has done it’s thing scrape the mixture into a 9×13 inch dish, sprinkle with cheeses and bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. I love it both ways!
This casserole is a mix of two different recipes from Just a Pinch and Fountain Avenue Kitchen. Plus I changed it up to work in the Instant Pot.
Ingredients/Substitution Ideas
- Lean ground beef–I used 93/7. You can also make this with ground turkey or Italian sausage. If you make this with sausage you’ll want to cut the amount of salt a bit.
- Celery
- Dry minced onion–or 1 cup chopped onion
- Kosher salt
- Black pepper
- Italian seasoning
- Garlic powder–or granulated garlic
- Beef broth–or water and Better than Bouillon beef base
- Spaghetti–or thin spaghetti, angel hair
- Mezzetta Roasted Garlic Sauce–or another high quality sauce
- Mini sweet peppers–or 1 bell pepper
- Mozzarella cheese
- Parmesan cheese
Steps
Turn Instant Pot to sauté setting. When display says HOT add in the beef and break it up. Add in the celery, onion, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning and garlic powder. Brown for about 5 minutes.
Pour in broth and scrape bottom of pot so that nothing is sticking. Turn off Instant Pot.
Break the spaghetti in half and lay it in a criss cross pattern in the pot.
Dump the sauce evenly over the top and then add the peppers in.
Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 3 minutes. When time is up let pot sit for 5-10 minutes then move valve to venting. Remove the lid.
Stir in the cheeses.
Serve and enjoy!
Notes/Tips
- Serve with a green salad and a side of garlic bread.
- We served this on a track meet day which meant I made it at around 3 pm and didn’t eat it until 6 pm. It worked great and tasted just fine sitting on the keep warm setting for 3+ hours.
- This spaghetti casserole is also great as a baked casserole. Once the Instant Pot has done it’s thing scrape the mixture into a 9×13 inch dish, sprinkle with cheeses and bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.
- I’ve recently discovered Mezzetta Roasted Garlic Sauce at my grocery store (Winco is the cheapest) and LOVE it. So much flavor. Tastes better than homemade. Give it a shot, I think you’ll love it.
- I used my 6 quart Instant Pot*. You can also make this in an 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.
- Another recipe you can make with mini sweet peppers is Texas Casserole.
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.
Babysitter Casserole
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 3 minutes (plus 5 minute NPR)
- Total Time: 23 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
Description
Ground beef and spaghetti noodles with vegetables, an amazing sauce and cheese. An easy Instant Pot weeknight dinner recipe.
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef (I used 93/7)
- 1 rib of celery, diced
- 2 Tbsp dry minced onion
- 1 tsp kosher salt,
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 2 cups beef broth
- 8 ounces spaghetti
- 1 (25 oz) jar Mezzetta Roasted Garlic Sauce
- 4 mini sweet peppers, cored and diced (I used red and orange)
- 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Turn Instant Pot to sauté setting. When display says HOT add in the beef and break it up. Add in the celery, onion, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning and garlic powder. Brown for about 5 minutes.
- Pour in broth and scrape bottom of pot so that nothing is sticking. Turn off Instant Pot.
- Break the spaghetti in half and lay it in a criss cross pattern in the pot. Dump the sauce evenly over the top and then add the peppers in.
- Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 3 minutes. When time is up let pot sit for 5-10 minutes then move valve to venting. Remove the lid.
- Stir in the cheeses. Serve and enjoy!
- Category: Beef
- Method: Instant Pot
More Instant Pot Recipes with Spaghetti…
Instant Pot Red Eagle Spaghetti
A one pot meal of spaghetti and meatballs that comes together quickly.
Instant Pot Cowboy Spaghetti
Easy spaghetti recipe with bacon, ground beef, Rotel, barbecue sauce and cheese. A hearty pasta dish that comes together quickly with the help of your Instant Pot.
Instant Pot Bev’s Spaghetti
A thick and chunky spaghetti sauce with flavorful Italian sausage pressure cooked in your Instant Pot or slow cooked in your Crockpot.
Instant Pot Southwestern Spaghetti
An easy one pot spaghetti dinner with southwestern seasonings, geren bell pepper and cheese. A fun and delicious twist on normal spaghetti.
*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.
I’ll make this tonight, looks great, so thanks! I’ve been sick, and this looks good for the first time cooking dinner in two weeks other than popping things in the air fryers. We’re big Rao’s fans, but it will be fun to try Mezzetta. Finishing in the oven is a great tip since I can add cheese to part of the dish for my husband and leave my portion naked since I can’t generally eat cheese.
Question: best to add carrots with the onions/celery/etc. or just toss on the top with the red peppers?
Outstanding! I used penne and added a large chopped carrot, throwing it on top with the red pepper, and and did your 350 oven cheese melt after it was finished cooking in the Instant Pot. I left the cheese off of one side. It’s a really different and more layered flavor than regular spaghetti and is absolutely delicious. My husband gives it 5 stars too, so a total of 10.
Glad you figured it out! The carrots could be added at either time, really. So happy to hear you enjoyed this dish.