Instant Pot Husband’s Delight could be called wife’s delight or kid’s delight too! Everybody loves this noodle bake with egg noodles, ground beef, red sauce, cheese and sour cream. Speed up the prep process of this casserole with your Instant Pot.

Instant Pot Husband’s Delight
With only 8 ingredients you can have an amazing tasting dinner that your whole family will love. My family scarfed this down like it was nobody’s business last night after fasting all day. My mom used to make a recipe similar to this when we were growing up called mock lasagna. We all loved it so much. The worst was the one time when my mom accidentally dropped the glass casserole pan on the ground and the cooked casserole went everywhere along with shards of glass. Leftovers it was that night for dinner!
Usually when I make this casserole it’s on the stove. One pot of boiling water for the egg noodles, one pan for browning the ground beef and another pan for the casserole to bake it. The process of prep in the Instant Pot cuts down on one of those dishes and allows you to walk away while the noodles cook instead of worrying about them boiling over on the stove. I preferred this method and will definitely repeat it in the future!
Why is it called Husband’s Delight? I thought this name was so funny and laughed out loud when I saw it called that on several websites. Apparently the name Husband’s Delight comes from the original Junior League cookbook, called “Sunflower Sampler,” published in 1983. Other names I’ve seen for this casserole are hamburger casserole, mock lasagna and sour cream noodle bake.

More Beef and Pasta Recipes…
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Instant Pot American Chop Suey
Instant Pot Dump and Go Meatball Lasagna
Instant Pot Million Dollar Spaghetti

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Instant Pot Husband’s Delight
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes in oven
- Total Time: 0 hours
- Yield: 6–8 servings 1x
Description
Instant Pot Husband’s Delight could be called wife’s delight or kid’s delight too! Everybody loves this sour cream noodle bake with egg noodles, ground beef, red sauce, cheese and sour cream. Speed up the prep process of this casserole with your Instant Pot.
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 tsp garlic salt
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 2 3/4 cups chicken broth
- 12 oz bag of uncooked egg noodles
- 1 (24 oz) jar spaghetti sauce
- 1 (16 oz) container sour cream
- 2 cups grated cheddar
Instructions
- Turn Instant Pot to the sauté setting. When display says HOT add in the beef and break it up. Add in the garlic salt and Italian seasoning. Brown ground beef for about 5 minutes. Soak up any excess grease with a paper towel by moving meat to one side of the pot and placing paper towel on other side of pot and use the spoon to move the paper towel around and then discard. Turn off Instant Pot.
- Pour in the chicken broth. Scrape bottom of pot so that nothing is sticking. Add the egg noodles into the pot and pat down so that most of submerged.
- 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 perform a quick release by moving the valve to venting. Remove the lid.
- Stir the noodles. Some may not be quite done and that is okay.
- Heat oven to 350° F. In a 9×13 inch pan layer half of the noodles/meat, half of the spaghetti sauce, half of the sour cream (spread on as best as possible, I used a butter knife) and half of the cheese. Repeat.
- Bake in oven for 30 minutes. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
I used my 6 quart Instant Pot Duo 60 7 in 1*.
- Category: Beef
- Method: Instant Pot/Oven

*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.
Replying to the pre-shredded cheese. Since I found out that shredded cheese in a bag has stuff added to it, I buy a block and shred by hand. I can’t get over what might be in my cheese! I know it’s supposed to keep it from clumping but I have heard chefs say “you don’t really know what they use”. I did break my right arm badly. Over a year before I could really do much of anything so I bought pre-shredded then but I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I never thought about it before. Just thought it was convenient.
It is convenient! So sometimes I still use it but for the most part I buy it in the block now.
For those who don’t like sour cream…I personally love it! I think you could use ricotta cheese. I eat it right out of the container and put it on my toast. I use Galbani. Used to be Sargento. It’s sweeter but blends well with the cheeses and sauce making it more like lasagna. Just a thought to keep the picky eaters happy. Now, I am starving for Lazy Pierogi!
Good idea!
This looks great. I did notice no one mentioned using the IP Duo browning lid. I’m all about the least amount of pots and pans to clean as possible. I think I’ll give it a try!
Good idea! Let me know how it goes!
How did you do with the air fryer lid? I’d like to try it. I have a lid just begging to be used.
Oops, I should have said 4 ounces of egg noodles for the recipe.
I would l like to make this in a 3 qt instant pot to serve two. When cutting the recipe in half, how much chicken broth should I use with 6 ounces of uncooked egg noodles ? Last night I made the ravioli lasagna and my husband loved it — so delicious!
I would use 1 cup of broth with 4 oz of pasta
I tried this recipe tonight and my husband liked it. I had no Italian seasoning so I substituted dried oregano and basil for the Italian seasoning. And I upped the chicken broth to 4 cups because we have the larger insta pot. and I wanted the noodles to be “mostly covered”. I also subbed some shredded Mexican blend cheese for 1/2 the cheese. After putting it together in the pan I crumbled “loaded baked potato” potato chips on top. Next time I might sub taco seasoning for the Italian seasoning and use crumbled tortilla chips as a topping.
Yum. I changed a few things (for convenience). Let the meat brown long enough that there wasn’t much grease. Mixed the sour cream & sauce. We love sour cream so I kept the same amount. Put more cheese than the 2 cups and sprinkled some shredded mozzarella cheese as well. The top came out toasty and the inside gooey, cheesy and delicious!!
★★★★★
Sounds like an amazing version Mimi!!!
Hey Karen this dish looks amazing and would love to try it but can’t have the tomato sauce in it do you have a suitable replacement for it or would it turn out if I just omitted the spaghetti sauce?
hmmm, that is hard. the spaghetti sauce is a really important part of the recipe. I would try something like this instead: https://www.365daysofcrockpot.com/instant-pot-tuscan-chicken-pasta/
Do you think you could mix spaghetti sauce and sour cream before spreading on noodle mix? Picky eaters snub nose at sour cream….thinking it would alter the taste a bit…thanks.
Yes you could do that for sure. Also perhaps cutting amount of sour cream in half would be helpful. It’s a lot of sour cream.
Substitute question, help please? I don’t have ‘egg noodles’ but other pasta in 16 oz. bag, shells or twisted shape pasta. The brand is Allegra ‘rotini’ macaroni product (besides pasta shape what the difference is between that and ‘egg’ noodles’?)
Just a matter of preference I suppose. Egg noodles are very thin and therefore the very short cooking time. the shells will take a couple minutes longer to cook.
This was really great, Off the subject when will I receive your cookbook for the instant pot, which I paid for. Love your recipes that is why I ordered it!
★★★★★
Looks like it will come December 17th. Thanks for ordering!
Made instant pot husbands delight. Came out really good. Got lots of complements. Thanks so much. I haven’t cooked in a long time .
★★★★★
Oh, it’s nice to hear you are cooking again. Keep up the good work!
Made as written and it was a hit in our house. My 4 year old gave thumbs up after each bite!! Next time I think I’d like to try it with ground Italian sausage.
★★★★★
I think that is a GREAT idea. Italian sausage is my jam
Just went in oven. Had to make a few changes, based on availability in my kitchen: macaroni noodles for egg noodles, ground bison sausage for ground beef, and pizza cheese for the cheddar. Looks good, we’ll see.
Sounds like a winning combination to me!
Made this per the instructions with the exception of subbing ground turkey for the ground beef, which doesn’t change too much. Jury’s out with my picky eater. He (and I) found the sour cream a little overwhelming…I might try it again with half of the sour cream…8 ounces instead of 16. I like the creaminess but the taste of it was a bit much.
★★★★
Yes you could totally do this with only half as much sour cream and it would still be great!
Winner! The 2 3/4 cup of chicken broth barely covered the noodles which made me nervous, so I added the rest of the 4 cup carton, and my noodles turned out perfectly.
Hubby’s on his 3rd helping already, and I’m sure it will make yummy left overs 🙂
★★★★★
Good to know about the noodles! I’m glad hubby liked it and it was a delight to him 😂
Recipe looks AMAZING !!!!
Thank you for sharing !
Question …..
I do NOT own an Instant Pot YET 😁
You mentioned that for this recipe you used the Instant Pot Duo 60 7in 1.
If I were to buy a Pot, is this the best and most useful size ?.
I want to only buy one size so is this the best or a bigger one ?
I would be feeding a family of 3 very hungry appetites 😁
Hi Tam, I have a 3, 6 and 8 quart pot. I use the 6 quart pot more than the others. The 8 quart is big and harder to clean, etc. The 3 quart doesn’t fit a lot of food. I serve a family of 4. But the 6 quart is big enough for a family of 6. I would get the 6 quart pot. The duo is a great model which has the yogurt making setting, which I love! Enjoy!
Hahahaha! I’m glad I’m reading this & not my husband. We have a 6 & 8 quart and he’s been trying to get me to agree to the little one as a third! I thought he was crazy. 😂
Thanks so much !!!
Now I know what my husband is getting for Christmas !!! 🙂 🙂
😂
This looks jummy, do you think it would be ok to substitute ricotta cheese or cottage cheese for the sour cream? I’m a cheese nut and I sometimes will saute spinach and mix with ricotta cheese when I make lasagna or other layered dishes
Oops, meant to say yummy 😋
Yes absolutely! I have made this recipe with a mixture of sour cream, cottage cheese and cream cheese and it was really good. Use what you like!
Did anyone that rated this recipe actually make it?
Looks amazing. I don’t have an Insta Pot brand pressure cooker so it doesn’t have a saute button. Any advice of how to deal with that?
Hi Jackie, what kind of pressure cooker do you have?
I turn my pressure cooker ON. I use any setting as long as it gets hot. If it gets too hot i turn it off. Sautes fine.
Could I just mix everything together in the pot instead of transferring to a baking dish. Then slow cook instead of baking in the oven? It wouldn’t have layers, but things get mixed together in the end.
Sure absolutely!
If I wanted to do this in a slow cooker, what would you recommend (please, spare NO details)?
For the slow cooker…hmmmm. You could try putting it uncooked noodles with some liquid and hope that over time the pasta gets cooked. But I would worry that it would be the wrong texture. You could brown the meat on the stove, boil the noodles on the stove. Layer in the crockpot. Then cook on high for 2-3 hours instead of baking in the oven. It wouldn’t cut down on steps but it would keep it warm and ready to go whenever you are ready to eat.
This looks good. I know you say Egg Noodles but they looked like plain curly pasta. I am thinking that other shapes will do OK. Was there any reason for putting the Noodle things on top as opposed to mixed in? Will they still get the broth or am I being daft? Got to look back to see if you suggest a size of dish to bake in. i have a choice.
★★★★★
I put them on top of the meat so that they don’t stick to the bottom of the pot and get the burn signal. You could use another pasta type but I would pressure cook for 4 minutes instead of 1.
Is the cheddar grated or shredded? Recipe says grated, picture shows shredded.
Hi Nancy, I honestly thought grated and shredded were the same thing. What is the difference in your opinion?
Next time you’re at the grocery check out the grated parmesan (powdery) and shredded (stringy) parmesan and you can easily see the difference. I realize you are using cheddar and not parmesan but parmesan illustrates the point better. Might make a difference in the finished product. When I try a new recipe, I try to make it exactly by recipe and that is why I asked. When a recipe is being rated I think it’s important to use the recipe as written so everyone is comparing the same recipe. Then they can tweak it the next time they make it but it is unfair to the recipe author to tweak it so much it’s not at all like the original.
★★★★★
Okay I googled it and it says, “A shredded item appears like long strips while a grated item appears like tiny fragments to the point of being powdery in nature.” So I used shredded cheese. Not grated. I will correct. Thank you.
Karen,
Pre-grated (aka shredded) ‘stringy’ cheese is ‘treated’ w/ cellulose (wood pulp / other plant fibers) to coat the cheese & prevent clumping: https://www.thekitchn.com/cellulose-the-wood-pulp-in-you-146276
‘Grated cheese’ implies you buy the block (cheddar, swiss, etc.) & shred it yourself.
I usually always grate it myself off the block with my salad master grater.
Turned ok great.
Never knew pre-grated cheese WAS coated. Explain some of my issues when applying melted cheese.
Thanks,
I wish I had known years ago. Oh well !
★★★★
Omg…how silly and only asking a silly question…just look at the picture.
Looks great but could the egg noodles be substituted with Zoodles or anything else to lower the carbs? If so what would you suggest for PC and oven cooking times. Thanx
I bet you could do raw zoodles and not pressure cook them at all…just do the baking step. Then all you’d have to do if brown the ground beef in the instant pot or on the stove top. Let me know how it turns out!
it seems to me that you could use uncooked zoodles when you are putting the casserole together before baking. No need to cook other than baking enough to heat zoodles and melt the cheese. I haven’t tried it but I will. I’ll follow up with how it works. Since there are just 2 of us, I’ll cut the recipe in half and warm it up a couple of days later for another dinner. I’d try freezing part if I were using regular noodles but I don’t think the cooked zoodles would freeze well.
Nancy, I would bet the raw zoodles would freeze beautifully after being baked. I have frozen cooked, ready-for-use spaghetti squash and it cooks up perfectly! Try it!
thanks Debbi – I’ll try it.