Nom Nom Casserole–a hearty and savory dish made in the Instant Pot featuring the flavors of Italian sausage, creamy cannellini beans, tomatoes, rice, aromatic spices, lemon and parmesan.
Nom Nom Casserole
Let’s create a meal tonight that will have everyone saying, “Nom nom!” This is sort of a tuscan rice dish. With flavorful Italian sausage, cannellini beans and parmesan cheese you can’t go wrong. I had a container with leftovers in the fridge when I went to bed and when I woke up in the morning it was gone. This is what I face a lot lately. Teenage boys, am I right? 🤷♀️
Ingredients/Substitution Ideas
- Italian sausage
- Onion
- Garlic
- Chicken broth–or water and Better than Bouillon*
- Converted rice–or long grain white rice, basmati, jasmine
- Cannellini beans–or great northern
- Petite diced tomatoes–or fire roasted tomatoes
- Black pepper
- Dried thyme leaves
- Kosher salt
- Spinach–fresh or frozen. You can also use kale.
- Lemon juice–fresh is best
- Parmesan cheese
Steps
Turn Instant Pot* to saute setting. When display says HOT add in the Italian sausage and break it up*. Add in the onion. Brown for about 5 minutes. Drain off excess grease. Add in the garlic and saute for 30 seconds.
Pour in the broth and scrape bottom of pot so that nothing is sticking. Turn off Instant Pot.
Sprinkle in the rice evenly.
Dump in the beans, tomatoes, pepper, thyme, salt.
Add spinach. Don’t stir.
Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 3 minutes. When time is up let pot sit for 10 minutes and then move valve to venting. Remove the lid.
Stir in the lemon juice and parmesan cheese.
Serve and enjoy!
Notes/Tips
- Serve with roasted vegetables or a salad.
- If you don’t like spice then use mild Italian sausage instead of hot.
- This recipe is gluten free.
- 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.
- Other recipes you can make with spinach are Instant Pot Creamy Tortellini, Spinach And Chicken Soup and Instant Pot Garlic Parmesan Chicken.
- What is converted/parboiled rice? Don’t confuse converted rice (or sometimes it is called parboiled rice) with pre-cooked or minute rice. Parboiled rice has been processed in its husk by soaking, steaming, and drying. As a result, all the nutrients from the husk are absorbed into the grain before it’s removed. The starch content alters in the process, making cooked parboiled rice less sticky than regular white rice. The rice kernels aren’t clumpy and glued together instead they are more separated. I found a bag of parboiled rice at Walmart next to the normal long grain white rice. Sometimes I buy it at Winco in the bulk section. I have also found it in the orange box (Ben’s brand) next to other rices.
- Why do you say not to stir? Burn problems happen when you start adding things that thicken and stir them into your liquid (examples would be tomato sauce or other tomato products, cream soups, thick sauces, etc). When you do that, now that liquid is too thick to boil without burning on the bottom of the pot. Once that happens, the pot will never come to pressure until you scrape off anything burned on the bottom and add more liquid to thin it out.
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.
Nom Nom Casserole
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 3 minutes (plus 10 minute NPR)
- Total Time: 23 minutes
- Yield: 6–8 servings 1x
Description
A hearty and savory dish made in the Instant Pot featuring the flavors of Italian sausage, creamy cannellini beans, tomatoes, rice, aromatic spices, lemon and parmesan.
Ingredients
- 1 lb Italian sausage
- 1 cup diced onion
- 1 Tbsp minced garlic
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 1 1/2 cups converted rice
- 1 (15 oz) can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 (14.5 oz) can petite diced tomatoes
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme leaves
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 2–3 cups chopped spinach
- 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Turn Instant Pot* to saute setting. When display says HOT add in the Italian sausage and break it up*. Add in the onion. Brown for about 5 minutes. Drain off excess grease. Add in the garlic and saute for 30 seconds.
- Pour in the broth and scrape bottom of pot so that nothing is sticking. Turn off Instant Pot.
- Sprinkle in the rice evenly. Dump in the beans, tomatoes, pepper, thyme, salt and spinach. Don’t stir.
- Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 3 minutes. When time is up let pot sit for 10 minutes and then move valve to venting. Remove the lid.
- Stir in the lemon juice and parmesan cheese.
- Serve and enjoy!
- Category: Sausage
- Method: Instant Pot
More Instant Pot Rice Dishes…
Instant Pot Hibachi Fried Rice
The yummiest fried rice similar to what you order at your favorite hibachi restaurant only it’s made at home in your Instant Pot!
Instant Pot Dynamite Rice
If you like sushi you’re going to love this rice! It’s inspired by a sushi roll but is seriously so fast and easy to make with no crazy ingredients.
Instant Pot Smothered Chicken and Rice
Creamy rice with chicken smothered in cheddar and bacon crumbles. An easy recipe that takes only a few minutes to prep and cook!
Instant Pot Bojangles Dirty Rice
A copycat recipe of the restaurant’s flavorful rice dish with sausage, seasonings and bell pepper.
*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.
Maria says
lots of great and fast meals.
Karen says
Thanks Maria!
Kim B. says
Karen, can’t wait to try this one, sounds so yummy. Will be back with stars. I can’t thank you enough for adding all these wonderful Instant Pot recipes to your website, they are always so easy & so delicious. If I’m using my Instant Pot it will be with YOUR recipes!!
p.s. I think my leftovers will be safe when I go to bed…..Skyler’s not here. hahaha
Karen says
Haha! I hope so! Leftovers are never safe at my house 😉
Nikki says
Hello! Can you use regular rice? Basmati or long grain and would this alter the cooking time? Thank you!
Karen says
yes you can and I would use the same cooking time as listed in the recipe card
Katie says
How about brown rice ? Assuming that would alter time
Karen says
I would use a 22 minute pressure cook time with a 10 minute natural pressure release.
Karen says
Can this recipe be made in a slow cooker?
Karen says
I haven’t tried this one in the slow cooker. Sometimes I have trouble with rice dishes in the crockpot. You could definitely try it. You’ll need to brown the sausage on the stove top before adding it into the crockpot. I would slow cook on high for 3 hours.
Sandy biscardi says
How do you make this recipe in a regular pot?
Edie says
why do you advertise as “slow cooking” when I looked at your casserole receipes they were for ALL instant pots.
Karen says
Hi Edie, here are all my slow cooker recipes. https://www.365daysofcrockpot.com/recipes/?fwp_method=slow-cooker Sometimes the titles are “Instant Pot _____” but then the slow cooker instructions are also listed in the recipe card at the end of the blog post.
Karen says
I would cook rice according to package directions.
Heat the sausage in a large pan. Add in the onion. Brown for about 5 minutes. Drain off excess grease. Add in the garlic and saute for 30 seconds.
Stir in the cooked rice, beans, tomatoes, pepper, thyme, salt, spinach.
Heat through on medium heat.
Stir in the lemon juice and parmesan cheese.
Serve and enjoy!
Cheryl says
Looks delicious. Could the white rice be completely omitted OR substituted with brown rice and adding more cook time?
Janis Olson says
I think if you omit the rice you wouldn’t have to pressure cook it at all. You could just use the sauté setting and cook until it’s done. At least that’s what I would do without the rice.
Karen says
Brown rice can be used. Use a 22 minute pressure cooking time with a 10 minute natural pressure release. And I would stir in the beans after pressure cooking instead of before.