Depression Casserole–ground beef with potatoes, rice, tomatoes, carrots, celery and onions. An old fashioned recipe that’s been transformed into an Instant Pot recipe.
Depression Casserole
Today’s recipe is an all in one pot meal that uses easy to find ingredients. You may already have all the ingredients at your house right now! The original recipe is an oven recipe that I found over on Food.com. The author states, “I can remember my mother making this and how much I enjoyed it.” Apparently this depression era casserole has been around for decades. I spruced it up a bit with extra seasonings and instead of cooking in the oven for an hour cooked it in the Instant Pot with only a 3 minute pressure cook time. This is a solid one pot meal that I think you’ll enjoy!
Ingredients/Substitution Ideas
- Lean ground beef–or ground turkey, for ultra flavor try italian sausage
- Yellow onion–or white
- Celery
- Kosher salt
- Garlic powder
- Black pepper
- Smoked paprika
- Beef broth–or water and Better than Bouillon beef base
- White rice or converted rice–jasmine also works
- Carrot
- Red potatoes–or peeled Russet potatoes
- Crushed tomatoes
- Butter
Steps
Turn Instant Pot to saute setting. When display says HOT add in the beef and break it up. Add in the onion and celery. Brown for 5 minutes. Stir in 1 teaspoon of the salt, garlic powder, pepper and paprika.
Pour in the broth and scrape bottom of pot so that nothing is sticking. Turn off Instant Pot.
Sprinkle in the rice. Dump in the carrot, potatoes (sprinkle remaining ½ tsp of salt over the potatoes), crushed tomatoes and butter. Don’t stir.
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 and then move valve to venting. Remove the lid.
Stir.
Serve and enjoy! You may want to add a sprinkle of cheddar cheese to each serving.
Notes/Tips
- This is a one pot meal but if you’d like to add more vegetables to the meal consider serving alongside some green beans or a green salad.
- 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 4 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- Other recipes you can make with celery are Broccoli Cheddar Soup and Potato Salad.
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.
Depression Casserole
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 3 minutes (plus 5 minute NPR)
- Total Time: 18 minutes
- Yield: 4–6 servings 1x
Description
Ground beef with potatoes, rice, tomatoes, carrots, celery and onions. An old fashioned recipe that’s been transformed into an Instant Pot recipe.
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 small yellow onion, diced
- 2 ribs of celery, sliced
- 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt, divided
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1/8 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 cup beef broth
- 1/2 cup uncooked white rice or converted rice
- 1 large carrot, peeled and sliced
- 1 pound red potatoes, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
- 1 (14.5 oz) can crushed tomatoes
- 1 Tbsp butter
Instructions
- Turn Instant Pot to saute setting. When display says HOT add in the beef and break it up. Add in the onion and celery. Brown for 5 minutes. Stir in 1 teaspoon of the salt, garlic powder, pepper and paprika.
- Pour in the broth and scrape bottom of pot so that nothing is sticking. Turn off Instant Pot.
- Sprinkle in the rice. Dump in the carrot, potatoes (sprinkle remaining ½ tsp of salt over the potatoes), crushed tomatoes and butter. Don’t stir.
- 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 and then move valve to venting. Remove the lid.
- Stir. Serve and enjoy! You may want to add a sprinkle of cheddar cheese to each serving.
- Category: Beef
- Method: Instant Pot
More Instant Pot recipes with rice…
Instant Pot Bojangles Dirty Rice
A copycat recipe of the restaurant’s flavorful rice dish with sausage, seasonings and bell pepper.
Instant Pot Mexican Sour Cream Rice
A super fast, easy and flavorful rice dish with green chiles, corn and sour cream. Dump everything into the Instant Pot and walk away!
Instant Pot Mexican Black Beans and Rice
The easiest and tastiest rice ever! Brown rice is cooked in flavorful salsa with garlic salt, a bay leaf and cumin. Canned black beans make this recipe very convenient. And my favorite part is a squeeze of lime juice and a dollop of sour cream on top. Make this as a meal or as a side dish.
*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.
The weather was dark and dreary. The title of Depression Casserole matched my attitude so I made it for lunch. I used crushed garlic instead of garlic powder and diced tomatoes in place of crushed tomatoes. It was quick and easy to prepare. It was warm, comforting and delicious.
Thank you so much for the 5 stars Roby!
I would like to use sweet potatoes instead of the red or russet potatoes. Would that require changing the cook time?
I love your recipes and I cannot even count the number of them that I make. Thanks for making meal planning un-boring.
sweet potatoes cook very quickly. I would put them on the very top of the pot (so on top of the tomatoes). Pressure cook for 3 minutes with a 5 minute natural pressure release. Hopefully the rice will be cooked through and the sweet potatoes won’t be mush
can this be made in a crock-pot? what changes would I have to make?
you could try it. But you’ll need to brown the ground beef and onions and celery before adding them to the crockpot. Add all the other ingredients and stir. Cover and cook on high for 2-3 hours.