Pork and Wild Rice Casserole

Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 60 min
Servings: 12
Yield: 12 servings

Description

This creamy wild rice and pork sausage casserole with bacon, celery, mushrooms, and parsley is a delicious way to use wild rice.

Ingredients

2 cups uncooked wild rice
6 cups water
6 slices bacon
4 pounds ground pork
2 tablespoons butter
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 cup celery, chopped
1/2 cup flour
3 1/2 cups half and half
1 (18 ounce) can ready-to-serve cream of mushroom soup
1 (8 ounce) can sliced mushrooms, drained, liquid reserved
1 cup slivered almonds
1 (2 ounce) jar diced pimento
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
salt and ground black pepper to taste

Directions

1 Place rice and water in a pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook 45 minutes.
2 Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
3 Place bacon in a large skillet over medium-high heat and cook until evenly brown. Drain, crumble, and set aside. Place pork in skillet and cook until evenly brown. Drain and set aside.
4 Reduce skillet heat to medium and melt butter. Stir in onion and celery, and cook until tender; set aside. Mix flour into remaining butter until smooth. In a bowl, mix the reserved mushroom liquid and half and half; stir into the skillet and cook until thickened. Stir in the soup. Mix in 6 cups cooked rice, cooked bacon, cooked pork, mushrooms, almonds, pimento, parsley, salt, and pepper.
5 Transfer into a 9x13-inch casserole dish. Bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes.