Instant Pot Wife’s Delight—An easy, 7 ingredient ground beef baked spaghetti casserole recipe that gets a fast start in the Instant Pot and then bakes until bubbly in the oven.
Instant Pot Wife’s Delight
When I posted an old recipe from a 1983 cookbook called Husband’s Delight I knew that eventually I would create a recipe called Wife’s Delight 😂. It’s only fair, right? Wife’s delight has some similar characteristics to the husband’s delight in that it’s a pasta dish with ground beef, a dairy binder and then topped with cheese. Both husband and wife’s delight are delicious and I recommend them for dinner any night of the week.
This recipe only has a handful of ingredients (ground beef, ranch dressing mix, broth, spaghetti, cottage or ricotta cheese, eggs, cheddar and parmesan). The flavor comes from the dry ranch dressing mix. I prefer using Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing Mix. I buy the big container at Costco for around $7. It’s much cheaper that way than the little packets which are around $2 each. I like to use ranch dressing mix in lots of recipes like…
- Instant Pot Ranch Mashed Potatoes
- Instant Pot Ranch Chicken Taco Rice
- Instant Pot Ranch Potatoes
- Instant Pot Mashed Ranch Cauliflower
- Creamy Tomatillo Ranch Dressing
- Instant Pot Beef And Cheddar Ranch Potatoes
- Instant Pot 4-Ingredient Pot Roast And Brown Gravy
- Instant Pot Ranch Pork Chops And Mashed Potatoes
For this recipe you’ll use the Instant Pot to brown the beef and cook the spaghetti. Then you’ll stir in the remaining ingredients and pour it all into a baking dish. Baking it binds everything together and makes it more like a spaghetti pie than just spaghetti. I haven’t tried using the air fryer lid for the baking part but I bet you could and it would work well! If you do try it let me know in the comments and how it goes.
More Instant Pot Casserole Recipes…
Instant Pot Church Supper Hotdish
Instant Pot Total Dude Casserole
Instant Pot Cheeseburger And Fries Casserole
Instant Pot Tater Tot Casserole
Instant Pot John Wayne Casserole
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Instant Pot Wife’s Delight
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes in IP and 25 minutes in oven
- Total Time: 49 minute
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
Description
A 7 ingredient easy ground beef casserole recipe that gets a fast start in the Instant Pot and then bakes until bubbly in the oven.
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 3 Tbsp dry ranch dressing mix, divided
- 2 cups beef broth
- 8 oz spaghetti (whole wheat is okay)
- 2 cups cottage cheese or ricotta cheese
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup shredded cheddar
- 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Turn Instant Pot to sauté setting. When the display says HOT add in the ground beef and break up*. Brown for about 5 minutes. Drain off any excess grease.
- Stir 1 ½ Tbsp of the ranch dressing mix into the meat. Pour broth into pot and scrape the bottom of the pot so that nothing is sticking. Turn off Instant Pot.
- Break the spaghetti in half and add it into the pot in a crisscross pattern. Push pasta down as much as possible so most of it’s covered in broth.
- Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 5 minutes. When time is up let pot sit for 5 minutes and then move valve to venting. Remove lid. Stir contents of pot, some of the spaghetti might be a little crunchy and that’s okay.
- Preheat oven to 350° F.
- Stir ricotta, remaining 1 ½ Tbsp of ranch dressing mix and 2 eggs together in a bowl. Stir the mixture into the spaghetti. Pour the mixture into an 8×8 baking dish. Sprinkle the cheeses on top.
- Cover the pan with foil. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes and then remove the foil and bake for 10 more minutes.
- Scoop onto plates and serve.
Notes
I used my 6 quart Instant Pot Duo 60 7 in 1*.
- Category: Beef
- Method: Instant Pot and 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.
It’s so hard to find recipes that please everyone (especially the kids), but the whole family loved this one!! Thank you so much for sharing it. I only had 1 cup of ricotta cheese, so I substituted 1 cup of mozzarella in lieu of the missing ricotta and it still turned out great.
★★★★★
Great substitution idea! Glad the family all enjoyed it. That is a challenge, isn’t it?
Can rice be a substitute for spaghetti? If so, how long does it cook? Thanks! Sounds delish! 😋
Yes that would work! Add 1 1/3 cups of white rice, jasmine rice, or converted rice into the pot. Cook for 5 minutes with a 10 minute natural pressure release.
When you double the recipe should the cook times change? I noticed when I changed it to 2x, the ingredients change but the instructions don’t which confused me for a sec when I saw 2 eggs and the ranch amounts. I’ve made this before, I didn’t double the recipe and it looked exactly like what’s pictured above and tasted great… But this time, I doubled and followed it exactly and there’s alot more liquid. Something seems off.
★★★★
The 2x function just changes the ingredients and nothing else. Good on you for using your common sense on that! The cooking time generally does NOT change when you double recipes. https://www.365daysofcrockpot.com/how-to-double-instant-pot-recipes/
I made this for my family last night and, they all loved it. I asked them how it was and they said it was delicious. I even made enough for leftovers and I can’t wait to eat them. Thank you so much!
★★★★★
So glad to hear it! I loved the leftovers too 🙂
Made this last night and everyone really liked it. I did find the ground beef a little bland so I added some salt, pepper, and chili flake to give it some pop.
★★★★★
Good idea!
Will it work to double this recipe in an 8 quart IP? ..Hungry boys need more food 😉
I made this last night even though I usually shy away from IP recipes that require baking in the oven. It was easy and tasty. We especially liked the crunchy, cheesy top. Next time I will put the spaghetti mixture in a larger than 8 x 8 pan and add more cheese to increase the surface area covered with the topping.
★★★★
I like how you think Susanne.
Can you substitute anything for cottage cheese or ricota?
I used dry curd cottage cheese, and it was great! I’m not sure what else would work, though- maybe cream cheese? The sauce turned out quite creamy with my adaptation, and I think regular cottage cheese would behave the same, if you’re concerned about cottage cheese curds staying whole.
Please don’t cancel reply. What can i substitute for cottage cheese and ricota
Perhaps some sour cream or plain yogurt?
Can you freeze it prior to baking?
I personally haven’t tried it. I wonder how cottage cheese/egg mixture would do? I bet it would probably be okay after it is baked. It might separate a little.
Can you make this on the stove if you don’t have a instant pot
Yes. Brown the ground beef in a pan. In a separate pot cook the noodles. Then combined all the ingredients in the baking dish and bake as directed.
Oki! Thank you very much!
Would it work to substitute Zoodles for the spaghetti noodles?
Perhaps. I wouldn’t pressure cook the zoodles. I would brown the beef and stir in the zoodles with them. Then bake in the oven.
Great recipe! Even using lentil spaghetti, this was wonderful! A perfect dish for cold weather and stuck indoors! Thanks!
Can I use other types of pasta for this other than spaghetti?
Sure thing. Penne, macaroni, cavatappi, rotini would all work.
Ok. Thank you very much!