Instant Pot Mac And Cheese

This is such an easy Instant Pot recipe you will love! The best part is it is all done in the IP no extra dishes to wash!

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I know right now things are tough with COVID-19 going on so I thought what is more comforting than Macaroni and cheese. I’m not going to lie when I was a kid we just ate macaroni and cheese from the box. My mom is a great cook but my dad was usually working and she didn’t care for it so boxed it was for my sister and me. I’m not complaining though because as a kid I was an extremely picky eater, like no joke pasta and butter or cringe ketchup and pasta, really really picky eater. I made this comfort food with her in mind and I hope you enjoy my instant pot mac and cheese as much as I do!

This Instant pot recipe is on the simple side, I just wanted to keep this super easy knowing the IP can throw some people for a loop. I also decided to use Rotini for this instead of the elbow but you can use what you prefer, just keep in mind I haven’t tested with other kinds like gluten-free, wheat or vegetable pasta. I just like the rotini shape here, all the yummy cheesy sauce all over the curls of pasta, YUM! Feel free to add whatever you’d like I prefer bacon but you can add chicken, or some other protein or even some vegetables. There’s an extra bonus step you can skip if you don’t care about a yummy crispy top but if you are like me I’d highly recommend the last step. I like to put Instant pot mac and cheese into a baking dish and broil for 5 minutes with some bread crumb or better yet panko… Oh my god! Just really amps up this recipe!

Instant Pot Mac and Cheese Ingredients List

For this instant pot recipe I used:

• Rotini pasta but as mention earlier, you can use whatever shape but I have not tested with gluten-free, wheat, or vegetable pasta
• Use vegetable stock, I’ve done recipes in the past just using water but I love using veggie stock or chicken stock in place of most of the water. I don’t like to waste so instead of opening another can I do use some water in conjunction with the stock.
• Butter! Don’t skip the butter this little bit of fat helps the pasta not stick and well just helps with the flavor of course.
• Seasonings, salt, pepper paprika, garlic powder, Dijon mustard. Don’t skip the seasonings or it will be boring.
• Cheeses, for this recipe I used a mixture of Sharpe cheddar and Mild because my husband isn’t a huge fan of Sharpe but you can use all sharp I basically just did half of both. There is also a little bit of parmesan and cream cheese as well you can really make this recipe your own and do what you please but for traditional purposes I’d say stick with cheddar, cream cheese and parmesan. Don’t skip the cream cheese it really is a great addition.
• Milk, the milk with the cheeses and cream cheese just makes this so nice and creamy.
• Bread crumb or panko, again this portion is optional but I highly recommend it!
• Additional add-ins, Bacon is my favorite but you can make this your own. Add some cooked ground beef, sausage, chicken or some roasted vegetables whatever you please!

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Instructions for Instant Pot Mac and Cheese

Making this recipe in the IP is super easy you just…

• Add the Rotini (or other pasta) into the inner pot with the vegetable stock, water, ¾ tsp salt, garlic powder, mustard, paprika and butter. Give it all a nice stir.
• Once you’ve stirred cover the IP and cook it for 4 minutes on high pressure. If you don’t get to it right away no biggie it will automatically go on keep warm but once the 4 minutes of cooking is up do a quick release but make sure you use a kitchen towel or a glove as the starch may squirt everywhere.
• Next you want to stir in the cheese including the cream cheese and parmesan and stir in the milk. Now you can adjust the milk to what you’d like but I recommend sticking between a half and a quarter cup. Season with salt and pepper and serve or you can do the extra step below.
• Put your oven on broil and prepare a large baking dish with either PAM spray or butter. Take the Mac and cheese add it to the baking dish add extra cheese if you’d like then add your desired amount of panko bread crumb sprinkle a little extra paprika and broil for a few minutes, I did about 5. Enjoy!