He and I Casserole

He and I Casserole–creamy, cheesy pasta and smoked sausage with sauerkraut. An easy Instant Pot recipe for 2 (or 3).

Pin this recipe for later!

He and I Casserole

Have you heard the song “She and I” by Alabama? It’s one of my favorites…ever since Greg and I have been married I’ve loved it. These days it’s often just he and I eating together. Our kids are busy doing stuff all the time and at dinner time they haven’t been around much this summer. I am trying to cook in smaller amounts so we don’t have so many leftovers all the time. This recipe serves about 2 large servings or 3 medium servings. It’s perfect when you just are serving He and I or She and I.

This is a tasty dinner with penne pasta coated in mozzarella cheese and salty and sour sauerkraut. The browed pieces of smoked sausage add a lot of flavor as well. You can save the other half of the package of smoked sausage in the freezer for a future dinner. Slice up the entire 12 ounces and then pop half of them into a ziploc bag and place in the fridge or freezer. You can also double this recipe if you’re looking to serve 4-6 people.

Ingredients/Substitution Ideas

• Butter
• Beef smoked sausage or kielbasa
• Chicken broth or water and Better than Bouillon chicken base
• Penne pasta or another short cut pasta
• Garlic powder
• Onion powder
• Black pepper
• Sauerkraut
• Dijon mustard
• Mozzarella cheese

Steps

Turn Instant Pot to saute setting. When display says HOT add in the butter and let it melt. Add in the smoked sausage and brown for about 3-4 minutes. 

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

Sprinkle in the penne pasta, garlic powder, onion powder, pepper. Dump the sauerkraut and mustard on top.

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 5-10 minutes and then move valve to venting. Remove the lid. 

Stir in the cheese.

Serve and enjoy!

Notes/Tips

• Serve with green salad or raw veggies and dip.
• I used my 3 quart Instant Pot*. You can also make this in a 6 or 8 quart pot. I like using the 3 quart pot when I cook for a small group of people or if I’m making a side dish like rice.
• 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. 
• 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 dijon mustard are slow cooker dijon chicken and Detention 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. 

Pin this recipe for later!

Print

Pin this recipe for later!

More Instant Pot penne recipes…

*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.