Tennessee Pride Casserole–Instant Pot dinner with sausage, rice, Rotel tomatoes and green peppers. An easy and fast recipe for “unstuffed” peppers.
Tennessee Pride Casserole
Today’s recipe is an adaptation from the Tennessee Pride sausage website. I took the recipe for stuffed poblanos and make it into a deconstructed stuffed peppers one pot meal made fast in the Instant Pot. Using sausage instead of ground beef took the level up a ton! This is a winning dinner and then leftovers can be packed and used for lunches the next few days. This dinner is going to be a favorite because it offers all the comfort and flavor of traditional stuffed peppers with a fraction of the effort. By simplifying the cooking process and minimizing cleanup, this recipe is sure to become a staple in your weeknight meal rotation.
- Spice it Up: Add some diced jalapeños or a pinch of red pepper flakes for a spicier kick.
- Cheese Varieties: Experiment with different types of cheese for topping, such as cheddar or Monterey Jack.
- Extra Veggies: Amp up the nutritional value by adding zucchini, corn, lentils or spinach to the mix.
Ingredients/Substitution Ideas
- Tennessee Pride sausage–or another brand of sausage you like
- Onion–yellow, white
- Beef or chicken broth–or water and Better than Bouillon
- Converted rice–or long grain white rice
- Rotel tomatoes–I used mild
- Tomato sauce
- Garlic powder
- Italian seasoning
- Green pepper–or another color or bell pepper
- Mozzarella cheese–or cheddar cheese
Steps
Turn Instant Pot to saute setting. When display says HOT add in the sausage and break it up. Brown sausage for 5 minutes. Add in the onions and saute for 4 more minutes. Drain off excess grease.
Pour in the broth and scrape bottom of pot so that nothing is sticking. Turn off Instant Pot.
Sprinkle in the rice.
Dump in the tomatoes, tomato sauce, garlic powder, Italian seasoning and bell peppers. 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 well. Sprinkle the cheese on top and let it melt. Serve and enjoy!
Notes/Tips
- Serve with a green salad or a side of fresh fruit and garlic bread.
- 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 4 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- Other recipes you can make with converted rice are Carolina Casserole and No Peek Casserole.
- 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.
- This recipe is gluten free. To make it dairy free leave out the mozzarella cheese.
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.
Tennessee Pride Casserole
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 3 minutes (plus 10 minute NPR)
- Total Time: 23 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
Description
Instant Pot dinner with sausage, rice, Rotel tomatoes and green peppers. An easy and fast recipe for “unstuffed” peppers.
Ingredients
- 1 pound Tennessee Pride sausage
- 1 cup diced onion
- 1 1/2 cups beef or chicken broth
- 1 1/4 cups converted rice
- 1 (10 oz) can Rotel tomatoes
- 1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1 bell green pepper, cored and large diced
- 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Turn Instant Pot to saute setting. When display says HOT add in the sausage and break it up. Brown sausage for 5 minutes. Add in the onions and saute for 4 more minutes. Drain off excess grease.
- Pour in the broth and scrape bottom of pot so that nothing is sticking. Turn off Instant Pot.
- Sprinkle in the rice. Dump in the tomatoes, tomato sauce, garlic powder, Italian seasoning and bell peppers. 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 well. Sprinkle the cheese on top and let it melt. Serve and enjoy!
- Category: Sausage
- Method: Instant Pot
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Can I use instant rice or brown rice (without saute the sausage first)
You could use instant rice with a 1 minute pressure cook time and 5 minute natural pressure release. The brown rice would need a 22 minute pressure cook time with a 10 minute natural pressure release.
My instant pot would not come to pressure when I made this recipe. Do you have any idea why that would happen? The rice cooked and we were able to eat it fine, but I don’t know why it didn’t come to pressure.
interesting! I think that it’s probably the rice that causes this. I haven’t experienced this myself but I have heard others say they have issues with rice and their instant pot. That’s why I try to create a barrier with the sausage in the bottom. But I’m not 100 percent sure!
Do you have any instructions for this recipe and crockpot? I would sure appreciate it if you could share.
Hi Lynda, you could do what Pam is going to do…cook rice according to directions, brown sausage and onion then combine everything in slow cooker for 2 hours on low
I do not have an Instant Pot. Would it be possible to cook rice according to directions, brown sausage and onion then combine everything in slow cooker? How long would it take.
Sure you could do that. I would slow cook on low for 2 hours.
How long do you think this would take on the stovetop?
So you’d want to cook the rice according to package directions on the stove. Then brown sausage in a separate pan and the onions too. Stir everything together (no broth needed) and let it cook on low with a lid on for 10 minutes.