How Dolly Parton Fans Can Make the Queen of Country’s Famous 5-Layer Casserole in an Instant
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
- Dolly Parton’s 5-layer casserole dish is loaded with meat and potatoes.
- The dish only has five ingredients — beef, potatoes, onion, green pepper, and canned diced tomatoes.
- Fan can cook it low and slow in the oven, or turn it out quick using an Instant Pot.
Dolly Parton is a national treasure thanks to her legendary music career. But it looks like she also has some serious talent in the kitchen. A five-layer casserole recipe that’s been attributed to the Queen of Country has been making its way around the internet lately. It takes just five ingredients, a few spices, and two hours in the oven. However, there’s another method that allows you to make this delicious dish in an instant.
Dolly Parton’s famous 5-layer casserole is loaded with meat and potatoes
The list of ingredients for Parton’s five-layer dish is incredibly small. You’ll need three large russet potatoes (sliced), a pound of seasoned and browned ground beef, two onions sliced with the rings separated, a can of diced tomatoes, and chopped green bell pepper. You’ll also need a generous amount of salt and pepper on hand.
The only kitchen tools needed for this dish are a cutting board, a chef’s knife, and a 9×13 inch glass baking dish (if you are using the traditional two-hour cooking method). If you don’t want to leave the skin on your potatoes, you’ll also need a potato peeler.
The first step is peeling and slicing
Begin by peeling and slicing all of your vegetables — potatoes, green peppers, and onions. If you really love tomatoes, you can add a sliced tomato to the recipe along with the can of diced tomatoes for extra flavor and texture.
The recipe calls for sprinkling salt on each layer in this dish. But, according to a review on Insider, you can get maximum flavor by soaking your potato slices in saltwater while preparing the other ingredients. You can also pre-season your ground beef with salt and pepper instead of seasoning the meat layer as you put the dish together.
How to make Dolly Parton’s famous 5-layer casserole in an instant
Instead of layering your ingredients in a glass baking dish and cooking this dish in the oven, you can make Parton’s five-layer casserole in your Instant Pot.
Start by adding your seasoned ground beef and sliced onions into the insert pot of the Instant Pot. Then, use the Saute function to cook the beef until it’s brown, and break it apart with a spatula while it cooks. When the beef is browned, drain the excess grease and set it aside.
Next, add your sliced potatoes to the bottom of the insert pot. You can add more salt and pepper to the potatoes. Or, you can customize to your taste preferences with steak seasoning, thyme, or garlic salt.
Keep layering and seasoning
Top your sliced potatoes with a layer of beef and onions, then add a layer of tomatoes and peppers and sprinkle with more seasoning. If you don’t have a can of diced tomatoes and are using just sliced tomatoes, you’ll want to add some beef broth as a liquid component for binding.
Finally, close the lid of your Instant Pot and set the vent to the sealed position. Set the cook time to four minutes at high pressure. And when the cook time is over, do a quick pressure release.
You can customize Dolly Parton’s famous casserole dish
Once the pressure has released and the valve has dropped, carefully remove the lid. If you want to thicken the liquid to make it more gravy-like, add a tablespoon of cornstarch and water. And if you want a little cheesy goodness, you can serve it topped with shredded mozzarella.
The result is a delicious, easy dinner filled with protein and veggies. No creamy sauces needed. We should also mention that even if this recipe didn’t actually come from the country music legend, we’re sure she would love it.
“Every diet I ever fell off of has been because of a potato,” Parton once confessed on Good Morning America. “Either French fries, or mashed potatoes, or baked potatoes. Potato, potato, potato! I never met a spud I didn’t like.”
