Instant Pot sausage and rice
Italian sausage, peppers and tomatoes cook right into fluffy rice under pressure, a whole dinner from one pot with no watching.
- 50 min total
- 15 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $2.60 a serving
- 750 calories
- Good the next day
- Gluten-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1½ cups long-grain white rice
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 1 green bell pepper, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 lb Italian sausage, casings removed
- 1½ cups chicken broth
- 1 can diced tomatoes, with the juice
- ¼ cup grated parmesan
From your pantry
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- ½ tsp salt
Each serving has about 750 calories, 25 g protein, 69 g carbs and 42 g fat, and costs about $2.60 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No long-grain white rice? Jasmine rice or basmati rice works.
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No green bell peppers? Red bell peppers or yellow bell peppers work.
- No chicken broth? Vegetable broth or bone broth works.
- No diced tomatoes? Crushed tomatoes work.
- No grated parmesan? Parmesan wedge works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the rice in a mesh strainer until the water runs mostly clear. the onion and pepper and the garlic.
Rinse. Rinsing means running cold water over rice or canned beans in a strainer while you swish them around. It washes off loose starch and can liquid, so rice cooks up fluffy and beans taste clean.
How you’ll know: The water running out goes from cloudy to mostly clear; it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Dice. Dicing means cutting food into small, even cubes, usually a quarter to half an inch across. Pieces the same size cook at the same speed, so nothing burns while the rest catches up.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are little cubes about the size of a chickpea, and they all look close to the same.
Mince. Mincing means chopping something into the tiniest pieces you can, smaller than a grain of rice. Tiny pieces melt into the dish, so you get the flavor without biting into a chunk of garlic.
How you’ll know: Every piece is tiny and about the same size, and the pile starts to look almost like a paste.
Turn the Instant Pot to Sauté, add the oil and sausage, and cook 6 to 7 minutes, breaking it up, until with no pink left.
Brown. Browning means cooking until the outside turns brown, which is where a lot of savory flavor comes from. Give food room and time without stirring, or it steams and stays gray.
How you’ll know: The food looks brown rather than gray, and the kitchen smells toasty and savory.
Timer: 7 min
Food safety: Raw pork sausage is done at 160°F and raw chicken or turkey sausage at 165°F. Precooked sausage just needs heating until hot all the way through.
Add the onion and pepper and cook 3 minutes, then stir in the garlic for 30 seconds.
Timer: 3 min
Pour in the broth and from the bottom of the pot until it’s clean.
Scrape up the browned bits. It means loosening the brown bits stuck to the pan with a wooden spoon, usually right after adding liquid. Those bits are concentrated flavor, and they melt into the sauce.
How you’ll know: The bottom of the pan looks clean again, and the liquid turns darker and richer.
Dolly’s tip: A clean bottom is how you avoid the burn warning.Stir in the rice, Italian seasoning and salt, then smooth the rice so it’s all under the liquid.
Pour the tomatoes over the top and don’t stir.
Lock the lid, turn the valve to sealing, and pressure cook on high for 8 minutes.
Timer: 8 min
Let the pressure come down on its own for 10 minutes, then turn the valve to venting to let out the rest.
Timer: 10 min
Dolly’s tip: Those 10 resting minutes finish cooking the rice, so don’t skip them.Fluff the rice with a fork, stir in the parmesan, and serve.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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