Mom's Secret Casserole - 365 Days of Slow Cooking and Pressure Cooking (2024)

Mom’s Secret Casserole–ground beef with vegetables in a rich gravy, topped with mashed potatoes and melty cheese…all made in your Instant Pot!

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Mom’s Secret Casserole

Today’s recipe is a spin off of Mom’s Secret Casserole from Heartland Cooking the author states, “Our mom always taught us it’s not good to keep a secret… but for some reason, she would never tell anyone what all she put into her famous bake; she humorously titled it Mom’s Secret Casserole.”

I switched the recipe up and made it into an Instant Pot recipe. My version uses extra seasoning and more “from scratch” ingredients. The result was a delicious beefy base with fresh vegetables that was topped with creamy mashed red potatoes and a sprinkling of cheese on top. It was the perfect, homemade comfort food for dinner on a January night. I think you’ll love this dinner and I hope you try it out soon!

Ingredients/Substitution Ideas

• Lean ground beef–I used 93/7. You can also use ground turkey.
• Minced dehydrated onion–or 1 cup of diced onion
• Mushrooms–white, baby bella
• Worcestershire sauce
• Kosher salt
• Black pepper
• Garlic powder–or granulated garlic
• Red pepper flakes
• Tomato paste
• Beef broth–or water and Better than Bouillon beef base
• Carrots
• Fresh green beans–or frozen green beans
• Red potatoes–or peeled Russet potatoes
• Butter
• Milk
• Tomato sauce
• Heavy cream
• Potato flakes–or1 Tbspcornstarch
• Colby jack cheese–or cheddar

Steps

Turn Instant Pot to saute setting. When display says HOT add in the beef and break it up. Add in the onions, mushrooms, Worcestershire, 1 tsp of kosher salt, 1 tsp of black pepper, garlic powder and red pepper flakes. Brown for about 5 minutes.

Stir in the tomato paste and the beef broth. Scrape bottom of pot so that nothing is sticking. Turn off the pot.

Layer the carrots and green beans on top.

Add the potatoes into a steamer basket and place the steamer basket into the pot on top of the green beans.

Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 4 minutes. When time is up move the valve to venting and remove the lid.

Remove the steamer basket and dump the potatoes into a mixing bowl. Mash the potatoes. Stir in the butter, milk, 1 tsp kosher salt and 1 tsp of pepper. Set aside.

Stir the tomato sauce and heavy cream into the Instant Pot. If you’d like to thicken the mixture you can do that by stirring in the potato flakes or make a cornstarch slurry and stir it into the pot on the saute setting.

If you have an air fryer lid:Spoon the mashed potatoes over the top of beef mixture and smooth with a rubber scraper.

Place air fryer lid on top and bake at 350 for 8 minutes.

Sprinkle the cheese on top and bake for 2 more minutes.

Serve and enjoy!

Notes/Tips

• This is pretty much an all in one pot meal but if you’d like to have sides try serving with some fruit, bread and a side salad.
• I used my Duo Crisp 6 quart Instant Pot*. It’s handy for recipes like this one! It comes with an air fryer lid so you can brown up the top of casseroles.
• 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 fresh green beans are Instant Pot Greek Green Beans and Instant Pot Cajun Sausage, Potatoes and Green Beans.

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See Also

5-Ingredient Crescent Roll Chicken Casserole - The Seasoned Mom5-Ingredient Dump-and-Bake Beefaroni - The Seasoned Mom5-Ingredient Dump-and-Bake Reuben Casserole - The Seasoned Mom

More Recipes from “Mom”…

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 filterto find exactly what you are looking for. 

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Mom’s Secret Casserole

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• Author: 365 Days of Slow and Pressure Cooking
• Prep Time: 25 minutes
• Total Time: 25 minutes
• Yield: 6 servings 1x

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Description

Ground beef with vegetables in a rich gravy, topped with mashed potatoes and melty cheese…all made in your Instant Pot!

Ingredients

Scale

• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 2 Tbsp minced dehydrated onion
• 4 ounces mushrooms, chopped
• 2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• Kosher salt
• Black pepper
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• Pinch of red pepper flakes
• 1 Tbsp tomato paste
• 1 cup beef broth
• 3 carrots, peeled and sliced
• 6 oz fresh green beans, ends trimmed and cut in half
• 1 1/2 pounds red potatoes, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup potato flakes or 1 Tbsp cornstarch
• 1/2 cup colby jack cheese

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

1. Turn Instant Pot to saute setting. When display says HOT add in the beef and break it up. Add in the onions, mushrooms, Worcestershire, 1 tsp of kosher salt, 1 tsp of black pepper, garlic powder and red pepper flakes. Brown for about 5 minutes.
2. Stir in the tomato paste and the beef broth. Scrape bottom of pot so that nothing is sticking. Turn off the pot.
3. Layer the carrots and green beans on top.
4. Add the potatoes into a steamer basket and place the steamer basket into the pot on top of the green beans.
5. Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 4 minutes. When time is up move the valve to venting and remove the lid.
6. Remove the steamer basket and dump the potatoes into a mixing bowl. Mash the potatoes. Stir in the butter, milk, 1 tsp kosher salt and 1 tsp of pepper. Set aside.
7. Stir the tomato sauce and heavy cream into the Instant Pot. If you’d like to thicken the mixture you can do that by stirring in the potato flakes or make a cornstarch slurry and stir it into the pot on the saute setting.
8. If you have an air fryer lid: Spoon the mashed potatoes over the top of beef mixture and smooth with a rubber scraper. Place air fryer lid on top and bake at 350 for 8 minutes. Sprinkle the cheese on top and bake for 2 more minutes. If you don’t have an air fryer lid: Spread the beef mixture into a baking dish. Spoon the mashed potatoes over the top of the beef and smooth with a rubber scraper. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Top with the cheese and bake for 5 more minutes.
9. Serve and enjoy!

• Category: Beef
• Method: Instant Pot/Air fryer lid

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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.