Instant Pot Mac and Cheese – This macaroni and cheese is every family’s favorite comfort food pasta recipe made easy in the Instant Pot! You can have creamy, mouthwatering, homemade mac and cheese for dinner in about 10 minutes!
Have I mentioned lately that I’m kind of in love with my Instant Pot? Although, I do love our classic Baked Mac and Cheese too! If you have been following me on Instagram you’ll know that I’ve documented my daily trials and errors using the thing. I was so skeptical of even getting one in the first place, and now, it’s pretty much all I want to use for cooking at all! It takes a lot of the in-between steps out of making simple recipes. Like this mac and cheese, the pasta cooks in just enough liquid, with no need to drain! If you’re looking for more amazing Instant Pot dinners definitely try out this Instant Pot Jambalaya it’s out of this world!!
My family absolutely LOVED this macaroni and cheese. Well, I did too. The flavor was absolutely perfect and it was super creamy, just like a good mac should be.
I made this recipe in my 8 quart Instant Pot, and it will definitely work just fine if you have a 6 quart as well. It makes a whole lot by the way. Yay for leftovers!
There was enough for my family of four to eat this as a main dish with a side salad for supper. Then, my kids took some for lunch in their thermos to school the next day. Even after that we had enough left to use up as a side dish later in the week!
How to Make Instant Pot Mac and Cheese:
- For the best flavor, I recommend using chicken broth as your cooking liquid. I used low sodium chicken broth. If you don’t have low sodium, leave out the extra addition of salt, then salt as needed when serving.
- Use seasoning! I add salt, pepper, garlic powder, and hot sauce to this before cooking. Don’t worry, the hot sauce does not make this spicy at all. It just adds an additional layer of flavor that’s amazing.
- Use a combination of cheeses for the best taste. I use a mixture of sharp cheddar, mozzarella. When you add the cheese, make sure to stir continuously so that it all melts in really well and you aren’t left with clumps.
- Don’t use canned milk. I used regular 2% milk, and I recommend that or whole milk for best results. Most of the recipes I saw for Instant Pot mac and cheese used evaporated milk which I am not a fan of at all.
Enjoy!
~Nichole
Instant Pot Mac and Cheese
Ingredients
- 16 Ounces Uncooked Elbow Macaroni
- 4 Cups Chicken Broth
- 2 Tablespoons Butter
- 1 Teaspoon Hot Pepper Sauce
- 1 Teaspoon Garlic Powder
- 1/2 Teaspoon Pepper
- 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
- 2 Cups Shredded Cheddar Cheese
- 1 Cup Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
- 1/2 Cup Shredded Parmesan Cheese
- 1/2 -1 Cup Milk
Instructions
- Add the uncooked macaroni, chicken broth, butter, hot sauce, garlic powder, pepper, and salt to the Instant Pot.
- Place the lid on the pot and set to sealing. Cook on manual function, high pressure for 5 minutes. Then, do a quick release.
- Add the milk, then the cheese to the pot in 3-4 handfuls, stirring in between each addition until smooth and creamy. Season as necessary to taste.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Looking for other great Instant Pot recipes? Try these:
This was absolutely delicious!!t it was so quick and so easy to make. The only deviation for me was that I used mezze penne instead of elbows because that’s all I had. Thank you so much. This will become a monthly side item.
I just bought a pressure cooker this week and this is the very first recipe I made in it. It turned out WONDERFUL! Thank you for this recipe! I will definitely be making it again.
Can this recipe be cut in half? If so, is the cooking time the same?
Wonderful recipe! I was in a hurry and put everything in the crockpot to cook. It turned out awesome anyway. My kids say that it was my 2nd best. It was for sure tge easiest!
Thank you.
Great recipe! Thank you.
Excellent recipe! I tweaked it a bit for personal taste (I love some spice in my food) adding a tablespoon of hot sauce to it and a teaspoon of dry mustard. I also used penne noodles as I was out of macaroni, so I added one minute of cook time to the IP timer. There was enough broth left in the noodles when I put the cheese in that I didn’t add any milk at all. I prefer my mac & cheese on the drier side anyway so again that’s just personal taste.
This is by far the best mac & cheese recipe for the IP I’ve tried, and I will not be searching any further. Thank you!!
Loved this! Made it with Cougar Gold from Washington State University and it was fantastic. My kids loved it and it was super easy! I don’t cook and even I could make it.
I want to make this for a birthday party tomorrow….. guests will start coming at 3:00 and we won’t be eating until 4:30…. and I am not super comfortable with my instapot yet. Suggestions for making sure I don’t mess up a new recipe??? And could I make it before 3:00… or will it get all lumpy while we wait to eat at 4:30???
Hi! This is such a simple IP recipe that I don’t think you will have issues. The best thing that you can do is to make sure you use freshly shredded cheese and not pre-shredded cheese from the bag for a great consistency. I haven’t made this in advance, but, since it doesn’t require much time to make I would probably wait until closer to when you are eating. I hope that helps! 🙂
Any tips on how to get the cheddar to be even and smoothly melted into the rest of the creaminess? I find that it tends to piece into each other and there’s like cheddar strings throughout as opposed to a blended creamy Mac and cheese
It does help to stir the cheese in a little bit at a time rather than all at once. The mozzarella also tends to make “cheese strings” so you can leave it out and do all cheddar if you prefer.
I searched for an IP Mac n cheese recipe since I’d made several but had never been knocked out (simple, yes, great, eh).
Yours looked fantastic and when I saw it was yours, having made your BBQ pork riblets a week before, that was all the endorsement I needed!
I browned some ground beef in the Instant Pot first, then added the ground onion powder & garlic powder etc. The only deviation was the addition of a 1/2 tsp mustard powder.
Your Mac is SUPERIOR, so creamy & flavorful. The scissored (I’m lazy) curly parsley on top added a lot of flavor. 5-Star!
Absolutely top-notch! PS warming stovetop next day with remainder of chicken stock made it just as delicious.