Instant Pot Hobo Hotdish–a casserole take on hobo dinners. Ground beef, carrots, onions and celery in a creamy sauce.
Instant Pot Hobo Hotdish
Have you ever had hobo dinners? They are also known as tin foil dinners. Usually they are made when camping over the campfire. They have ground beef, potatoes, carrots and onions in them. This casserole is a take on hobo dinners and has all the ingredients you’d expect but with the addition of a creamy sauce. It’s such as easy one pot meal that comes together quickly. I think you’ll really love it!
Ingredients/Substitution Ideas
- Lean ground beef–I used 93/7. You can also use ground turkey.
- Diced onion–I used frozen diced onion.
- Seasoned salt–I used Lawry’s brand.
- Pepper
- Garlic powder
- Beef broth–I used water and Better than Bouillon beef base
- Russet potatoes–you can also use another type of potato
- Celery
- Carrots–you can also use baby carrots.
- Cream of chicken soup–you can also use cream of mushroom soup or 4 ounces of cream cheese.
- Worcestershire sauce
Steps
- Brown and season the beef: Turn Instant Pot to sauté setting. When display says HOT add in the beef and break it up. Add in the onions. Brown the beef for about 5 minutes. Stir in the seasoned salt, pepper and garlic powder.
- Deglaze the pot: Pour in the broth and scrape the bottom of the pot so that nothing is sticking. Turn off sauté setting.
- Layer in ingredients: Dump potatoes, celery, carrots and finally cream of chicken soup into the pot. Don’t stir.
- Pressure cook: 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 the pot sit for 5 minutes and then move the valve to venting. Remove the lid.
- Serve: Stir in the Worcestershire sauce. Scoop onto plates and serve.
Notes/Tips
- Serve with a biscuit or some cornbread and honey butter.
- 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.
- To make this recipe gluten free leave out the cream of chicken soup and substitute it with 4 ounces of cream cheese instead.
- Other recipes you can make with Worcestershire sauce are Instant Pot Best Ever Beef Tips and Instant Pot French Onion Salisbury Steaks.
More Ground Beef Casserole Recipes…
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Instant Pot Popeye’s Cajun Rice
Ground beef, green pepper and rice with Cajun seasonings. An easy copycat recipe that you can make at home in your Instant Pot.
Instant Pot Taco Tuesday Casserole
An easy one pot meal of taco seasoned ground beef with rice, roasted garlic enchilada sauce, beans and corn. The casserole is topped with tomatoes, cheese, sour cream and Fritos for a delicious week night meal.
Instant Pot Amish Casserole
Egg noodles with seasoned ground beef, marinara sauce, cream cheese and cheddar. An easy dinner made in your Instant Pot that tastes like home.
Instant Pot Uncle Willie’s Casserole
Instant Pot Uncle Willie’s Casserole–an easy ground beef, long grain and wild rice and vegetable recipe that comes together very quickly with the help of your pressure cooker.
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.
Instant Pot Hobo Hotdish
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes (plus 5 minute NPR)
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 4–6 servings 1x
Description
A casserole take on hobo dinners. Ground beef, carrots, onions and celery in a creamy sauce.
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef (I used 93/7)
- 1/2 cup diced onion
- 1 tsp seasoned salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 cup beef broth
- 1 pound Russet potatoes (about 3 medium), peeled and cubed
- 2 ribs of celery, diced
- 3 carrots, peeled and sliced
- 1 (10.5 oz) can cream of chicken soup
- 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
Instructions
- Turn Instant Pot to sauté setting. When display says HOT add in the beef and break it up. Add in the onions. Brown the beef for about 5 minutes. Stir in the seasoned salt, pepper and garlic powder.
- Pour in the broth and scrape the bottom of the pot so that nothing is sticking. Turn off sauté setting.
- Dump potatoes, celery, carrots and finally cream of chicken soup into the pot. Don’t stir.
- 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 the pot sit for 5 minutes and then move the valve to venting. Remove the lid.
- Stir in the Worcestershire sauce. Scoop onto plates and serve.
- Category: Beef
- Method: Instant Pot
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What a flavorful great meal. No change at all made it just as written.
Served some flaky biscuits and loved every bite!!
I love your recipes❤️
I love the idea of the flaky biscuits! Thanks for the 5 stars 🙂
thank you for this easy pressure cooker recipe.
my whole family loved it and scraped their bowls clean. I will be making this again. I also love how cheap the meal is. I have saved it in my favourites now. 🙏
Thanks Alan!
Is the fat supposed to be drained? I used 1.5 lbs meat but kept everything else the same and it turned out very liquidy. Still super yummy but I think it had more liquid than it was supposed to.
If you have excess grease then I would drain it off.
Definitely a repeat recipe ! It had a little kick to it not sure if it was my chili powder, plus I made the home made cream of chicken !
Mmmm! Sounds great 🙂
can I cook this in the oven?
I’ve never tried it in the oven but you could experiment with it and see how it goes. I would brown the ground beef with the onions on the stove before stirring everything together in a baking dish and baking in the oven at 350 until potatoes are tender…maybe an hour??
So ya think i could brown the ground beef and add it all to the slow cooker together to cook all day? Want it done when I get home so thought I’d prep tonight. Thanks!
Yep!
I only cook it in the slow cooker
I’ve posted a few comments here so far, so I got a slow cookers version, just double the broth and the cream of soup and just monitor the liquid as it cooks if it’s on low you should be fine if in doubt toss in a1/2 cup water. I also use cream of mushroom since beef and mushrooms go well together. I serve it up with some crusty type of bread like frank brod, Italian bread or French bread, and to expand the meal since I have a hungry growing pack of mini me’s I also pour it over a bed of rice or egg wide noodles.
I used Beyond Meat instead of ground beef and it turned out great! Almost licked the pot clean.
Love all your recipes Karen.
I need to try that!
It is delicious! Thank you for this recipe. I followed it to a T and it is sooooo good!
Thanks so much Patricia for the 5 stars!
I don’t normally comment on recipes but this was an unexpected delightful meal. I do have to confess that I substituted ground turkey for the beef because of personal preference but I made no other additions or substitutions. We are putting it in our rotation!
Thank you for this beneficial site because I learn a lot. Although, it wouldn’t hurt my feelings to see a few healthier recipes in the mix.
Thanks Jayna! I’m glad you liked it. It is simple but delicious! Here’s a list of my healthier recipes: https://www.365daysofcrockpot.com/recipes/?fwp_dietary_restrictions=healthy
What a wonderful recipe! Hubby loved it. Will make it often. I used ground venison and left out seasoned salt to avoid MSG and excess sodium and it was still delicious without the extra sodium. Thanks so much, Karen, for bringing us this recipe].
Awesome! I am so happy you liked it with ground venison!
It was delicious, we’ll be making it again. It is inexpensive and a quick meal.
Yay! Thanks for the 5 stars Theresa!
Do you think I could brown the meat then put all ingredients together in ziploc or a freezer meal? I ask because this looks SO GOOD and I plan to make freezer meals for husband while hunting (they leave on low in slow cooker while out all day). The guys would love this. Your thoughts?
I think that is a great slow cooker idea!! Will taste so good I bet after a long day.
Absolutely delicious! Easy to make and very filling. I made this needing it to be gluten free and I was going to make a homemade cream of chicken soup and then I saw your “Or add 4 ounces of cream cheese”. Wow~ I did not know that trick! That was so much easier, less carbs, and I didn’t have to worry about the burn notice on my IP. Everyone loved the flavor of the ‘gravy sauce’ and I loved that everyone could eat it. Thank you for this awesome recipe. It will definitely go into my monthly rotation.
So glad to hear it! Thanks for the 5 stars Andie 🙂
Delicious! My husband never compliments me about my cooking but I noticed he had 4 helpings! He also didn’t make suggestions on how to make it better.
Yay! So glad to hear it. Thanks for the 5 stars!
Any ideas for a cream of chicken soup substitute to make this both gluten and dairy free?
Maybe try this recipe? https://www.yourhomebasedmom.com/dairy-free-and-gluten-free-cream-chicken-soup/
awesome, thanks!
I’m doing the x2 batch, it’s taking a bit longer and I’m using a farberware 9 preset pressure cooker. So either it’s the farberware, the x2 ingredient version or me accidentally mixing it… oops. Do you have any guidance for the farberware 9 preset version pressure cooker.
I might have a partial answer, look like with what I did and in the farberware it take about 2 to 3 times longer maybe 4 because I let ot sit for 5 minutes each round. But after eating it with the family looks like I can slow cook it also in an old traditional style crackpot for about 8 to 10 hours which I do prefer due to the flavors mixing and cooking into everything more and your house smell delicious al day so the anticipation of the meal to come make it that much more desirable.
That sounds like a good plan! I haven’t used that pressure cooker so I’m not sure why the long time?
Campbell’s now has a gluten free cream of chicken soup
oh that’s great! Thanks for letting me know!
Goodie Goodie Gumdrops! Can’t wait to try this one. Man, does this take me 100 yrs back to my childhood, or what?? When I was 9 yrs old my Mom would let me get this meal wrapped up in the aluminum foil and all ready for her to cook when she got home from work ( I wasn’t allowed yet to turn on oven or stove). And my hubby & I cook it all the time out camping. He’s gonna love this one. Will be back with stars.
I love the phrase goodie goodie gumdrops!! That just took me back 100 years 😉
You nailed it yet again, girl! So EZ, so delicious. I used Cream of Mushroom w/Garlic. Hubby did the “helicopter” thing as soon as he could smell the IP start cooking….he just hovers around the kitchen. Real subtle, huh? Thanks again for another winner!!
Greg totally is a helicopter…the minute he hears the pressure releasing he comes running!
Hmmm? Maybe Pavlov WAS onto something with those dogs, huh? ;-}
Also super good with tomato rice soup instead of cream of chicken.
Oooooh! That does sound good, Nancy. Will try that next time. Thanks.