Pasta with your choice of ground meat, chili beans, salsa and cheese. An easy recipe that can be made into a freezer meal. Mix and match what you have on hand to make an inexpensive dinner tonight!
As grocery costs rise and food bills go up it’s nice to have some dinner ideas that use less expensive pantry-friendly ingredients. This Instant Pot casserole uses items you’re likely to have in your kitchen with lots of substitution ideas. And guess what? It tastes amazing too! This casserole can be made and consumed immediately or frozen for later. Or an even better option is to double the recipe and eat half now and then make the other half into a freezer meal for another day when you don’t have time to cook. All the instructions are listed in the recipe card below.
Ingredients you’ll need + substitution ideas
- Ground beef, turkey, chicken or pork
- Diced onion or 1 Tbsp dehydrated onion flakes or 1 teaspoon onion powder
- Chicken broth or water and better than bouillon chicken base
- Orzo pasta or elbow macaroni or rice
- Taco seasoning or make your own from scratch
- Undrained chili beans or ranch style beans or pinto beans or kidney beans
- Salsa or 1 can of Rotel
- Shredded cheddar or Mexican blend cheese or pepper jack cheese
Steps
- Brown the meat: Turn Instant Pot to sauté setting. When display says HOT add in the meat and the onion. Cook for about 5 minutes. If there is excess grease, drain it off.
- Deglaze the pot: Pour in the broth and scrape bottom of pot so that nothing is sticking.
- Layer in the ingredients: Sprinkle in the pasta and taco seasoning. Dump in the beans and salsa. Do not stir. This will help prevent the burn error message.
- Pressure cook: Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 0 minutes for orzo pasta or 4 minutes for elbow macaroni pasta. When time is up let pot sit for 5 minutes and then move valve to venting. Remove the lid.
- Stir well.
- If making to freeze for later spread the contents into a 9×9 inch square baking dish. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and then foil. Label and freeze. When ready to cook, thaw in refrigerator overnight. Remove from refrigerator 30 minutes prior to baking. Preheat oven to 350 F. Remove the plastic wrap and foil and replace the foil. Bake, covered for 30 minutes. Uncover and sprinkle cheese on top and bake an additional 10 minutes. Serve with sour cream, if desired.
- If making to consume immediately then sprinkle the cheese on top. Replace Instant Pot lid and let sit on warm for 5 minutes to let cheese melt. Serve with sour cream, if desired.
Notes/Tips
- You can make this in a 3, 6, or 8 quart Instant Pot. If doubling the recipe you’ll need a 6 or 8 quart pot.
- This recipe makes a great freezer meal! Make one for now and one to freezer for another day.
- Make sure to NOT stir and layer the ingredients as stated in the recipe card to avoid the burn error message.
- I like to buy ingredients at Winco in the bulk section. You can find orzo, taco seasoning and dried onion there for a very affordable price.
More PANTRY FRIENDLY Recipes…
- Instant Pot Cheesy Beef Burrito Bowls
- Instant Pot 2-Ingredient Balsamic Chicken
- Instant Pot Mexican Quinoa And Black Beans
- Instant Pot Porcupine Meatballs
- Instant Pot Mom’s Goulash
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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Inflation Navigation Casserole
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
Description
Pasta with your choice of ground meat, chili beans, salsa and cheese. An easy recipe that can be made into a freezer meal. Mix and match what you have on hand to make an inexpensive dinner tonight!
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef, turkey, chicken or pork
- 1 cup diced onion or 1 Tbsp dehydrated onion flakes or 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 2 cups chicken broth or water and better than bouillon chicken base
- 8 ounces orzo pasta or elbow macaroni or rice
- 3 Tbsp taco seasoning or make your own from scratch
- 1 (16 ounce can) undrained chili beans or ranch style beans or pinto beans or kidney beans
- 1 cup salsa or 1 can Rotel
- 1 cup shredded cheddar or Mexican blend cheese or pepper jack cheese
Instructions
- Turn Instant Pot to sauté setting. When display says HOT add in the meat and the onion. Cook for about 5 minutes. If there is excess grease, drain it off.
- Pour in the broth and scrape bottom of pot so that nothing is sticking.
- Sprinkle in the pasta and taco seasoning. Dump in the beans and salsa. Do not stir.
- Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 0 minutes for orzo pasta or 4 minutes for elbow macaroni pasta. When time is up let pot sit for 5 minutes and then move valve to venting. Remove the lid.
- Stir well.
- If making to freeze for later spread the contents into a 9×9 inch square baking dish. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and then foil. Label and freeze. When ready to cook, thaw in refrigerator overnight. Remove from refrigerator 30 minutes prior to baking. Preheat oven to 350 F. Remove the plastic wrap and foil and replace the foil. Bake, covered for 30 minutes. Uncover and sprinkle cheese on top and bake an additional 10 minutes. Serve with sour cream, if desired.
- If making to consume immediately then sprinkle the cheese on top. Replace Instant Pot lid and let sit on warm for 5 minutes to let cheese melt. Serve with sour cream, if desired.
Notes
Double the recipe and eat half now and then make the other half into a freezer meal for another day when you don’t have time to cook. Double all the ingredients and keep the cooking time the same.
To make with rice instead of orzo add in 1 1/3 cups of long grain white rice or converted rice. Pressure cook for 5 minutes with a 10 minute natural pressure release.
- Category: Pasta
- Method: Instant Pot
*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.
Yummy! We didn’t have any Rotel, so I substituted with diced tomatoes and green chiles.
★★★★★
Thanks for the 5 stars Karen!
Easy and tasty. Had all the stuff in my pantry. My husband really liked it and is looking forward to leftovers tomorrow 😊
★★★★★
Yay! Thanks for the 5 stars!
awesome awesome so delicious 👍👍👍
Thanks Barbara!
Thanks for the tip! It turned out really good. Getting ready to make it again. When anyone asks me about IP recipes your blog is always my first recommendation
★★★★★
Thank you so much Jason!
I made this tonight and everyone loved it!! We think the leftovers will be good as burritos or nachos. Will definitely make again!
★★★★★
Thanks Cathie! I like that idea!
It’s awesome! Great flavor only I added some Tabasco to it the flavors just come together just a shake shake per bowl
★★★★★
I love tabasco! Good plan!
Why is EVERYTHING in an instant pot now. Newsflash, not all people own an instant pot so unfortunately, even though it sounds good, I can’t even try it.
Hi Daurte, I blog Instant Pot recipes on my site. If you’re looking for recipes that can also be made in the slow cooker you can go here: https://www.365daysofcrockpot.com/recipes/?fwp_method=slow-cooker
Sometimes they’ll be entitled instant pot but they do have the slow cooker instructions listed in the recipe card.
While not everyone owns an instant pot, you should consider getting one. Karen’s recipes for the instant pot are amazing!
Watch for IP sales on Amazon and for their “used” pots or check your thrift store, Nextdoor marketplace or Facebook marketplace. Or even borrow one from a friend.
The Instant Pot is a extremely handy tool to have in your kitchen arsenal. I use mine at least once a week and I also cook oven recipes, stovetop recipes, slow cooker, Sous vide etc. The Instant Pot does some things Very Well and I routinely cook for 8-9 people.
Yummy!! Used ground beef, orzo, homemade taco seasoning and cheddar from a block. Added sour cream at serving. Should have pulled some to freeze before adding the cheese, but sometimes my belly gets the better of my brain. I don’t think the cheese would freeze well in it. Thanks for another winner!
★★★★★
Sounds so good! Thanks for the 5 stars Nick!
If I want to cook double, what should I double besides the pasta?
Never mind, I just saw it in the directions!
I would double all ingredients but keep the cooking time the same.
Loved it. I used 30 oz can of beans and 2 cups cheese.
I don’t like to use my instant pot to brown meat. So I browned the meet on the stove and transferred to instant pot. Turned out perfect.
★★★★★
Sounds like a winning version! Thanks for the 5 stars!
Frozen meals such as this one are very easy to reheat from frozen by pressure cooking or steaming, as an alternative to your instructions of defrosting and cooking in the oven. You should also include IP instructions, in your section about freezing and note that you should freeze in a container sized to fit in the Instant Pot. I use round plastic becel margarine tubs. Pressure Cooking or Steaming from frozen works well for soups, stews and casseroles with the addition of a half to one cup of water and takes about 20 mins. Food is never dried out and quicker to prepare.
Oh yes! Good tip!
Hey Karen,
What would you suggest if you were wanting to use brown rice instead of white? Rice definitely sounds really good with this dish. Looking forward to making this weekend! Thanks
I like brown rice too! This will work well if you use 2 cups broth and 1.5 cups of brown rice. Pressure cook for 22 minutes with a 10 minute pressure cook time.
I have been subscribing to your newsletter for quite some time. I finally wanted to come out and post a comment to one of your recipes. I made this dinner exactly as instructed and the whole family loved it. I really appreciate the additional notes for using rice, as we were not in the mood for pasta. I used a can of ranch beans that I found in my pantry, and since I didn’t feel like chopping anything, I used the onion powder. I would also like to add that we made it stretch even further by putting this casserole on tortillas and eating it that way when we had seconds.
Thank you for always posting such wonderful casseroles on your website that the whole family can enjoy. I have a very picky eater and he usually enjoys most of your creations. I have your cookbook and make your recipes at least twice a week. We really appreciate you!
★★★★★
Thanks so much for the nice comment! I love how this recipe is so versatile and you made it work for you.
Hi Karen,
I know this is an instant pot recipe but, what would the instructions be if baking in the oven? This sounds like a terrific recipe and saving money on dinner is a HUGE bonus at the moment, but I don’t have an instant pot.
350 for 30 min. Cover the dish with foil. At the end of 30 min, uncover, top with cheese and bake 10 more minutes
I cooked for 30 minutes and the rice wasn’t done. Cooking it an extra 20 minutes. Rice was crunchy.
You’ll need to precook your rice and brown the ground beef before baking in the oven.
The oven instructions that are listed in the recipe card assume that you have precooked the orzo and meat. So do those steps on the stovetop first and then bake in the oven. I would follow package directions for boiling times on the orzo.
Do you decrease the liquid for this or use the original?
the original
Hi Karen! I like the sound of this recipe! Could we add some fresh vegetables like zucchini or bell peppers to this? If so, when in the process could we add them in?
I turn to your recipes every week and use my instant pot almost every day. I appreciate all your fantastic recipes. Thanks!
Since those are very tender vegetables I do not recommend pressure cooking them. I would sauté or steam first and then stir in after the pressure cooking time is up.