Homecoming Casserole

Homecoming Casserole–orzo with chicken, smoked sausage and vegetables in a creamy sauce all made in the Instant Pot.

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Homecoming Casserole

Today’s recipe doesn’t take much effort to put together but it will be gobbled up in no time! It has great flavor and my family all agreed it was a winner. My daughter came home from college to visit us and I was so excited to feed her something I knew she would like. She is forever a fan of pasta so I knew the recipe would be pasta based. She loved it and took the leftovers home with her to eat for lunch the next few days!

The cool thing about this recipe is that the orzo pasta gets completely cooked with just a 1 minute pressure cooking time (and a quick release!). There is just a bit of upfront work with chopping onion and browning the sausage but besides that it’s so easy I’m sure my daughter could make this one for herself at college. So far she’s been living on baked potatoes and brownies 😉

Ingredients/Substitution Ideas

• Butter–or olive oil
• Beef smoked sausage–or kielbasa
• Onion–yellow or onion
• Chicken broth–or water and Better than Bouillon
• Cooked, chopped chicken–I used rotisserie chicken from Costco
• Orzo pasta
• Frozen vegetables–I used a cauliflower, broccoli and carrot mix
• Cream of chicken soup–I always buy campbells brand rather than the store brand. You can also use another cream soup like cream of mushroom or cream of celery
• French fried onions

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 a couple minutes. Then add in the onions and saute for 2 more minutes. 

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

Add in the chicken evenly.

Then sprinkle the orzo on top of the chicken.

Dump the vegetables evenly over the orzo and finally scoop the cream of chicken soup over the top. 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 move valve to venting and remove the lid.

Stir well. Scoop onto plates and top each serving with a couple tablespoons of french fried onions. 

Notes/Tips

• This is an all-in-one-pot meal. However if you’d like sides I suggest garlic bread, a side salad and some cut up fresh fruit.
• 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 orzo are Instant Pot “Welcome Home” Soup and Instant Pot Million Dollar Meatballs.
• Don’t like “cream of” soups? You can try using a half cup of sour cream or greek yogurt instead (stir it in after the cooking time is over). Another option is to use 4 ounces of cream cheese (add in before pressure cooking).
• If you’d rather, you can use fresh broccoli or cauliflower florets instead of frozen vegetables.

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More Instant Pot Recipes with Smoked Sausage…

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. 

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*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.