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

Scale

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

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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