Empty Nester’s Casserole–a bright, colorful and flavorful dish made in your Instant Pot! With orzo, chicken, tomatoes, asparagus this is a quick and healthy meal.
Empty Nester’s Casserole
Lately I feel like an empty nester! Half the time Skyler’s gone doing teenage stuff with friends, work, etc. Sometimes Greg works late and doesn’t make it home for dinner. Reagan’s gone to Kentucky. So I don’t need to always make a huge amount of food. But it’s still good to nourish my body with an actual dinner and not just chocolate chex (although I do love me so chocolate chex). This recipe was the perfect solution. It is basically a dump and go recipe (I had cooked chicken on hand) and it’s got some bright flavors with some good nutrition (28 grams of protein and 14 grams of fiber). This makes 2 to 2.5 servings…so you can easily double the recipe if you’d like! Enjoy!
Ingredients/Substitution Ideas
- Chicken broth–or water and Better than Bouillon chicken base
- Cooked, chopped chicken–or rotisserie chicken
- Orzo–or quinoa (make sure to rinse it)
- Olive oil
- Garlic powder
- Kosher salt
- Black pepper
- Spicy brown mustard–or dijon
- Balsamic vinegar–or red wine vinegar
- Asparagus
- Sour cream–or plain greek yogurt
- Avocado
- Grape tomatoes–or cherry tomatoes
- Parmesan cheese–optional but yummy
Steps
Pour broth into Instant Pot. Add in the chicken and sprinkle in the orzo. Add in the olive oil, garlic powder, salt, pepper, mustard, vinegar and finally the asparagus. Don’t stir.
Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 1 minute. When time is up let pot sit for 5 minutes and then move valve to venting. Remove the lid.
Stir in the sour cream, avocado and tomatoes.
Top each serving with a bit of parmesan cheese. Serve and enjoy!
Notes/Tips
- This was an all in one pot meal for us but if you’d like something else on the side try serving with a dinner roll or cornbread.
- If you like the taste of crisp uncooked asparagus (rather than soft, cooked asparagus) stir it in when you stir in the tomatoes and avocados instead of pressure cooking it.
- For the chicken I bought a package of chicken breasts from the grocery store and baked them in the oven. Then I sliced the chicken into cubes. I put the chicken cubes into little ziploc bags and frozen them. These bites of cubed chicken come in handy for salads at lunch time or for recipes. I love how much protein I can get with just a few bites of chicken.
- I used my 3 quart mini Instant Pot*. You can also make this in a 6 quart pot.
- More tips on how to cook in your 3 quart mini instant pot
- Cooking for two? Visit how to halve recipes.
- 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 grape tomatoes are chicken margherita pasta and Greek green beans.
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.
Empty Nester’s Casserole
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 minute (plus 5 minute NPR)
- Total Time: 16 minutes
- Yield: 2 servings 1x
Description
A bright, colorful and flavorful dish made in your Instant Pot! With orzo, chicken, tomatoes, asparagus this is a quick and healthy meal.
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup chicken broth
- 5 ounces cooked, chopped chicken
- 1/3 cup orzo
- 1/2 tsp olive oil
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp spicy brown mustard
- 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
- 8 spears of asparagus, cut into 2 inch pieces
- 2 Tbsp sour cream
- 1 small avocado, cubed
- Handful of grape tomatoes, halved
- Parmesan cheese, for topping
Instructions
- Pour broth into Instant Pot. Add in the chicken and sprinkle in the orzo. Add in the olive oil, garlic powder, salt, pepper, mustard, vinegar and finally the asparagus. Don’t stir.
- Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 1 minute. When time is up let pot sit for 5 minutes and then move valve to venting. Remove the lid.
- Stir in the sour cream, avocado and tomatoes.
- Top each serving with a bit of parmesan cheese. Serve and enjoy!
- Category: Pasta
- Method: Instant Pot
More Instant Pot recipes with asparagus…
Pure Michigan Casserole
Mushrooms, garlic, asparagus and rice in a creamy sauce made with your Instant Pot.
Instant Pot Last Minute Dinner
Spinach and cheese filled ravioli in a lemon sauce with asparagus, chicken and parmesan cheese. This recipe can be made so fast with the help of your Instant Pot!
Instant Pot Garlic Rice and Chicken
Brown rice is cooked with fresh garlic and tender bites of chicken. Parmesan cheese and asparagus (or broccoli) are stirred in to make a perfect one pot meal.
Instant Pot Chicken Asparagus Potato Dinner
Moist bites of chicken, cubed potatoes and crisp bites of asparagus are tossed with a seasoning blend of smoked paprika, garlic powder and more to create a well seasoned one pot dinner. Use the Instant Pot to make this dinner quickly.
*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.
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