Instant Pot Mexican Casserole
Instant Pot Mexican Casserole: A healthy and delicious Instant Pot Mexican recipe with rice, chicken, beans, spices, and fresh veggies.
Instant Pot Mexican Casserole: A healthy and delicious Instant Pot Mexican recipe with rice, chicken, beans, spices, and fresh veggies.
- 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 pound 93% lean ground chicken or turkey
- 1 small yellow onion diced
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup uncooked long grain brown rice*
- 1 large red bell pepper cut into wide strips (about 3/4 inch), halved if long
- 1 large green bell pepper cut into wide strips (about 3/4 inch), halved if long
- 1 can low-sodium black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 (15-ounce) canâ fire-roasted diced tomatoes in thei
- 1 cup corn kernels fresh, frozen and thawed, or drained from a can
- 2 cups of your favorite salsa (1, 16-ounce jar); i used
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 cup shreddedâ mexicanâ blend cheese divided
- for serving: chopped fresh cilantro diced avocado, chopped green onion, sour cream or plain greek y
- Carbohydrate 15.1883037571729 g
- Cholesterol 0 mg
- Fat 2.39663250073123 g
- Fiber 3.73763265064395 g
- Protein 2.75758326796169 g
- Saturated Fat 0.339437597559499 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (255g)
- Sodium 333.874442437709 mg
- Sugar 11.450671106529 g
- Trans Fat 0.276167093500096 g
- Calories 83 calories
Step-by-step
- Turn the Instant Pot to SAUTE and add the oil. Once the oil is hot and shimmering, add the chicken, onion, and salt. Cook and stir, breaking up the chicken as you go, until the meat is no longer pink, about 7 minutes.
- Add the brown rice, red bell pepper, green bell pepper, black beans, diced tomatoes in their juices, corn, salsa, chili powder, cumin, and garlic powder. Stir to combine.
- Cover and seal the Instant Pot. Cook on high pressure (manual) for 20 minutes. Allow the pressure to release naturally for 20 minutes, and then vent to release any remaining pressure.
- Remove the lid and stir. At this point, the rice may still have a bit of liquid at the bottom, but it will continue to absorb as the casserole sits. Taste and adjust any seasonings as desired.
- Stir in 1/2 cup of the shredded cheese, then sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top. Set the lid back on the Instant Pot (no need to seal; just make sure it is resting on top). Let rest 10 additional minutes to allow the cheese to melt and more of the liquid to absorb. Serve hot with any desired toppings.
Ingredient lists rarely explain how pressure cookers handle starches. Long-grain brown rice requires precise moisture control to soften without turning into starch paste, which makes layering the components inside a sealed pot critical for success. When ground chicken or turkey with a lean profile of ninety-three percent cooks directly alongside high-moisture canned tomatoes and thick salsa, the released juices provide the exact liquid volume needed to hydrate the bran layer of the rice during a twenty-minute high-pressure cooking cycle. Allowing a natural pressure release for twenty minutes prevents the starches from rupturing violently while stabilizing internal vessel temperature.
Adapting Proteins and Grains
Modifying the foundational components of this dish alters the required cooking physics. Swapping brown rice for white basmati or jasmine varieties introduces a failure point because white rice cooks in a fraction of the time and will disintegrate under twenty minutes of high pressure. For bean substitutions, canned black beans can be replaced with pinto beans at a strict one-to-one volumetric ratio, provided they are thoroughly rinsed to eliminate excess canning starches that might otherwise trigger the Instant Pot burn notice. Ground turkey substitutes seamlessly for ground chicken, though extra-lean variations below ninety percent fat require careful draining if excess grease pools during the initial sauté phase.
- If the display registers a burn warning, depressurize immediately, scrape up any browned meat stuck to the stainless steel insert, and add two tablespoons of water before resealing.
- Leftovers stored in an airtight glass container remain safe for consumption within three to four days in a refrigerator operating at or below forty degrees Fahrenheit.
- Reheat portions gently on a stovetop over medium-low heat, incorporating a splash of chicken stock to restore moisture lost during refrigeration.
