Texas Casserole

Texas Casserole–chicken and rice with a creamy tomatillo, sweet pepper and green chile sauce and then topped with cheddar cheese.

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Texas Casserole

Today’s recipe is for Texas-style casserole made with the help of your Instant Pot. There is so much flavor in this dish thanks to the green chiles, tomatillos, garlic and more. The dish starts with a bed of rice, then a creamy chicken sauce with lots of flavor, finally it is topped with shredded cheddar cheese. Bake it until it is warm and bubbly. We loved this dish and the leftovers were just as good the next day!

Ingredients/Substitution Ideas

• Chicken broth–or water and Better than Bouillon
• Bay leaf–I buy these in the bulk section at Winco
• Chicken tenderloins or chicken breasts–frozen or fresh
• Garlic powder–or granulated garlic
• Dried thyme leaves
• Kosher salt
• Black pepper
• Water
• Converted rice–or long grain white rice
• Olive oil
• Tomatillos–they look like small green tomatoes with a papery husk
• Mini sweet peppers (red, yellow, orange)–or one diced bell pepper
• Garlic cloves
• Diced green chiles–I used mild
• Flour–or cornstarch
• Sour cream
• Chili powder
• Cumin
• Kosher salt
• Black pepper
• Shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Steps

Add chicken broth, bay leaf and chicken into Instant Pot. Sprinkle the chicken with garlic powder, thyme, ½ tsp of salt and pepper.

Place a long legged trivet* into the pot. Place an oven safe dish* on top of the trivet.

Add the water and rice into the dish. 

Cover the Instant Pot. Secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 5 minutes (for tenderloins) or 12 minutes (for breasts).

Meanwhile, heat a pan over medium high heat on the stove. Add in the oil. Add in the tomatillos and  peppers and saute for 4 minutes. Add in the garlic and saute for 30 seconds. Then stir in the green chiles.

Sprinkle in the flour a little at a time and whisk or stir it in. Stir in the sour cream, chili powder, cumin, 1 tsp salt and ½ tsp pepper. Turn off the heat.

When time is up on Instant Pot let the pot sit for 5-10 minutes and then move valve to venting. Remove the lid. Set aside the rice pan and trivet. 

Use a spoon to break up the chicken or shred it. Stir the sour cream mixture from the pan into the Instant Pot. Turn Instant Pot to saute setting to thicken the mixture a bit and let the flour taste cook out. Turn off Instant Pot.

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Spread the rice into a 9×9 inch baking dish (I used a glass pan). Then pour the creamy chicken mixture over the top. Sprinkle the cheese evenly over the top. Bake for 20 minutes. 

Let sit for 5 minutes and then serve. 

Notes/Tips

• Serve with green salad, cornbread, fruit, steamed vegetables, corn on the cob or sliced avocado.
• I used my 6 quart Instant Pot* and a 9×9 inch glass baking dish*.
• Store leftovers in an airtight container* in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
• Do I have to do the “oven” step? No. If you choose you can layer the cooked rice and then pour the creamy chicken mixture over the top. Sprinkle cheese on top and serve immediately instead of baking in the oven.
• Variation idea: Leave out the rice. Instead layer the creamy chicken sauce with torn up corn or flour tortillas in the 9×9 inch pan.
• This recipe can be gluten free if you use cornstarch instead of flour.

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*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.