Simple Cassoulet recipe inspired by Julia Child. Cooking challenge in Instant Pot vs Dutch Oven

By a lot of requests from my subscribers today I am making another cooking challenge of a very famous French dish called cassoulet. After I started watching this show on HBO Max called Julia, I was inspired to cook more Julia Child’s recipes. I am making some adjustments to original recipes to make them approachable for beginner cooks. 

 So, what is Cassoulet? Cassoulet is a French casserole dish of white beans slow cooked in a variety of meats. This dish has an amazing flavor or herbs and normally requires multiple and multiple hours of slow cooking time. 

So, today I will share with you a more simplified recipe of cassoulet, which you can make in about 40-50 minutes and make it out of widely available ingredients. It is a very easy recipe which I will make in Instant Pot and Dutch oven side by side to compare simplicity of cooking, taste and preparation time. 

It is a great dinner or a party dish. 

Step #1

Let’s start by cutting carrots, chopping onions and mincing garlic. Now, cut bacon into 1 inch pieces. 

Let’s start with Instant Pot: 

Turn on Saute mode, and fry bacon for 5-6 minutes, remember to stir in the process. Cook until crispy. 

Pro Tip: alway put bacon on the cold pan and cook on medium low, this way bacon will crisp evenly and not burn. 

When bacon is ready, take it out with a slotted spoon. Leave all the bacon grease inside the pan, we will use it to cook other ingredients. 

Now, season chicken with salt and pepper and fry starting with skin side down on Saute mode until golden brown on both sides….you don’t need to cook chicken through. Don't overcrowd  and cook it in several batches. Then take out the chicken and sear italian sausage until golden brown on all sides. Before cooking sausage, make a few cuts with a knife to prevent it from bursting when frying. When seared on all sides, take it out from the pan. 

Keep Saute mode on, add some oil and cook onions and carrots. After the onions are translucent, add garlic, cook for 1 minute, then add tomato paste and cook for another minute. Turn off Saute mode. 

Dutch Oven: 

With dutch oven the process is identical. 

Overall for the frying, my preference goes to dutch oven. Instant Pot does the job, but Dutch Oven makes skin crispier and nothing sticks in the process. Let’s see if it will make any impact on the taste of the dish.  

Step #2

Instant Pot: 

Now, put all the ingredients in the instant pot except breadcrumbs. Pro Tip: I recommend draining and rinsing canned beans to reduce the amount of sodium and starch. Close the lid and set the pressure cooker for 20 minutes on manual high pressure and wait for natural pressure release. 

I added sauvignon blanc but you can also substitute it with white or red wine of your choice. As Julia sad: 

“I enjoy cooking with wine. Sometimes, I even put it in the food.” Julia Child 

Dutch Oven: 

Process is the same. Add all ingredients in the dutch oven except bread crumbs and bring it to a simmer. Now, lower the temperature, cover with the lid and simmer for another 25 minutes or until chicken is cooked through to 165° Fahrenheit. 

So overall cooking this dish in Instant Pot and Dutch Oven takes about the same amount of time. Advantage of Instant Pot is that you can turn it on and leave the house. Please, never do it with the oven. 

Instant Pot: 10min to come to pressure + 20 min cooking time + 10 min natural pressure release = 40min

Dutch Oven: 10 min bring to seamer + 25min cooking time = 35min

Step#3

Now the final step. 

Instant Pot: 

Remove thyme sprigs. Move the cassoulet to the casserole dish. Mix store bought breadcrumbs with some parsley and a little bit of oil and sprinkle evenly on top of the casserole. Turn on the oven to broiler setting ( 450°F) and bake for 5-10 minutes or until the top browns and looks crispy. Be careful not to overdo it. 

By  the way, if you want to make your own breadcrumbs, it is very simple: 

• Grind down bread in the food processor to desired size

• Bake breadcrumbs on the baking sheet for about 7-8 min at 325°F

• Stir in the process until toasted and dry

Dutch Oven: 

With dutch oven the process is identical, except you don’t need to move the dish to another vessel, broil directly in the dutch oven. So with Dutch Oven one less dish to clean! 

Tasing: 

During blind testing process I had multiple family members to taste both options. Everyone was impressed with the art of french cooking, the amazing flavor and taste of this dish. However both Instant Pot and Dutch oven versions of this dish were equally good. 

Conclusion: for this particular recipe both cooking methods are great, and take the same amount of time. Use the one you personally prefer. 

You can serve this dish with french baguette and green salad.    

Bon appetit!