Instant Pot Southwestern Casserole–a hamburger casserole with beans, tomatoes, green chiles and orzo pasta. A fast recipe with only a 1 minute pressure cooking time.
Instant Pot Southwestern Casserole
I love this pantry-friendly casserole that uses items I have on hand. It’s mild flavors blend together nicely and it’s very satisfying. I love that it only has a 1 minute pressure cooking time (with a quick release!). This casserole freezes well also so you can have half tonight and half for another day!
Ingredients/Substitution Ideas
- Lean ground beef–or ground turkey
- Diced onion–or 2 Tbsp dried onion
- Jalapeno–this gives a bit of heat, but nothing too crazy
- Minced garlic–jarred or fresh, or you can use 1 teaspoon of garlic powder
- Kosher salt–or sea salt
- Black pepper–or white pepper
- Chili powder
- Cumin
- Beef broth–or Better than Bouillon with water
- Orzo pasta–you can also use macaroni noodles with a 4 minute pressure cook time
- Petite diced tomatoes–I like the petite diced tomatoes but you can also use regular diced tomatoes, stewed tomatoes or crushed tomatoes
- Tomato paste
- Tomato sauce
- Kidney beans–you can also use another type of bean like black beans, white cannellini beans, pinto beans, etc.
- Diced green chiles–I used mild
- Shredded Monterey jack cheese–or pepper jack or cheddar or Mexican blend
How to make
This is a fairly straight forward recipe to make. Just make sure to follow the directions as stated so that you don’t get the burn error message.
- Brown the beef, onions, jalapeno and garlic. If you have excess grease drain it off.
- Coat the meat in the seasonings.
- Deglaze the pot with broth.
- Sprinkle in the orzo evenly, do not stir. (This will prevent the burn error message).
- Dump in the tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, beans and green chiles on top. Do not stir (again, this prevents the burn message).
- Pressure cook and then quick release. If foam escapes the valve then turn it back to sealing for 20 seconds before trying again.
- Sprinkle the cheese on top and let it melt (you can use an air fryer lid* to melt the cheese).
- Serve, topped with any toppings you like.
Notes/Tips
- Store leftovers in an airtight container* in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. You can also freeze for up to 3 months.
- I used a 6 quart Duo Crisp* Instant Pot but you can also make this in a 3 or 8 quart pot with no changes.
- Try using a hamburger chopping tool* for breaking up ground meats. It’s the best!
- This recipe can be doubled. Double all the ingredients. Use warm broth, if possible, so pot can come to pressure quicker and the orzo doesn’t get overcooked. Keep the same cooking time of 1 minute with a quick release.
- If you like heat then double the amount of jalapenos and use hot green chiles instead of mild. You can also use a spicy salsa in the place of the tomato sauce.
- Orzo pasta is rice shaped pasta and it cooks very quickly in the Instant Pot. You can also use another type of pasta in it’s place like elbow macaroni, bowties, small shells, cavatappi, etc. Just increase cooking time for these types of pasta to 4 or 5 minutes.
- If you’d rather, you can use rice in the place of orzo pasta. Use the green chart below for cooking times and broth to rice ratios…
More Instant Pot Recipes with Orzo…
- Instant Pot Chicken Orzo Soup
- Instant Pot Garlic Chicken Sausage Orzo
- Instant Pot Chicken Spinach Parmesan Orzo
- Instant Pot Smoked Sausage With Parmesan And Orzo
- Instant Pot Green Chile Chicken Orzo Soup
- 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.
Want More Tried And True Instant Pot Recipes?
- Sign up to receive daily Instant Pot recipes (it’s FREE)
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Instant Pot Southwestern Casserole
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 minute
- Total Time: 21 minutes
- Yield: 4–6 servings 1x
Description
A hamburger casserole with beans, tomatoes, green chiles and orzo pasta. A fast recipe with only a 1 minute pressure cooking time.
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 pound lean ground beef or turkey
- 1 cup diced onion or 2 Tbsp dried onion
- 1 jalapeno, seeded and diced
- 1 Tbsp minced garlic
- 3/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 Tbsp chili powder
- 2 tsp cumin
- 2 cups beef broth
- 8 oz dry orzo pasta
- 1 (14.5 oz) can petite diced tomatoes
- 3 Tbsp tomato paste
- 1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
- 1 (16 oz) can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 (4 oz) can diced green chiles
- 1 cup shredded Monterey jack cheese
Instructions
- Turn Instant Pot to saute setting. When display says HOT add in the beef and break it up. Add in the onion and jalapeno. Brown for about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic. Turn off the Instant Pot.
- Drain off any excess grease. Then stir in the salt, pepper, chili powder and cumin to coat the meat.
- Pour in the broth and scrape bottom of pot so that nothing is sticking.
- Sprinkle in the orzo evenly, do not stir.
- Dump the tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, beans and green chiles on top. Do not stir.
- Cover the 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.
- Stir well. Sprinkle the cheese on top and let it melt (you can use an air fryer lid to melt the cheese).
- Serve and enjoy. Top with a dollop of sour cream and salsa, if you’d like.
- Category: Beef
- 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.
This is one of my favorites! I don’t care for kidney beans, but this recipe makes them very palatable. I like to throw some frozen corn in mine at the end, and let it “rest” till the corn is done.
★★★★★
So glad you liked it! You can also use pinto or black beans!
Do you have a cooking time suggestion if I were to substitute Basmati rice for orzo? I’ve never cooked rice in my IP. Thank you for sharing this recipe! It sounds delicious and I can’t wait to try it.
I would use 1.5 cups of basmati and 2 cups of beef broth water and then pressure cook for 4 minutes with a 10 minute natural pressure release time
I tried this tonight, but didn’t have orzo or tomato paste. I used rotini instead. My problem is the pot never came up to pressure. I set it for five minutes n it hissed n sputtered for 15 minutes n I released the valve. After I took off the lid I checked the seal n everything looked ok. I stirred the soup n checked one of the noodles n it seemed done. I put the lid back on n set it for two minutes n this time it came up to pressure. Hope it’s still tasty.
Sounds like the sealing ring wasn’t in place? Or maybe with the rotini you needed extra liquid? Not sure. Sorry that happened and I hope it was good.
Everything turned out fine. We’re enjoying it, and I’ll make it again. Thank you for all your help, and for your many delicious recipes!
★★★★★
Came out really well, nice and thick like a chili. I made no adjustments other than adding some additional veggies (sliced zucchini, mushrooms, bell pepper). Good way to use up some extra cans in the pantry and mix in some fresh stuff.
★★★★★
Love that idea!
This looks great. Are you supposed to drain the diced tomatoes, or add the liquid from the can too?
Ok I made it. Thanks for the nice recipe! I drained the diced tomatoes before adding, and cooked in an 8 quart InstantPot. I did get a burn notice at one point but added a few tbsp liquid and it was fine. Mine was a thick chili consistency – not as casserole-like as the one in the picture, but definitely not soupy. I used mostly unsalted canned stuff, and reduced the added salt, and it was good.
★★★★
I didn’t drain the tomatoes
This came out very soupy. Even if I drained the tomatoes, I think it would still be soupy. I had to serve in bowls. Next time I’ll make with Spanish rice and maybe cut back on broth.
★★★
Thanks for your feedback!
Did you weigh the orzo?
This recipe looks delightful but I do not have an Intant Pot. Could this be made in a crockpot? If so, what changes should be made if any?
Thank you in advance!
I’m sorry I haven’t tried this one in the CP yet. Not sure how it would do. I’ve had sketchy results with pasta in the CP.
I bet the chili fixins flavor Rotel would be killer in this! I will be finding out very soon!
Good plan Beth!
Hi Karen,
This looks and sounds yummy, a quick question, I use an organic orzo that requires 9 min. cook time, thinking I need a 4 min. Pressure time? Thanks for your help and all the wonderful recipes you share!
I bet it will still get done in the 1 minute. It cooks quick!