YOUR CART
- No products in the cart.
Subtotal:
$0.00
If you think something sounds too good to be true, you haven’t tried Instant Pot Mac and Cheese yet.
Or rather, you haven’t tried this Instant Pot mac and cheese.
After having multiple recipe fails on a dish that the internet assured me was foolproof, I can now attest this is the best, creamiest, most (actually) foolproof recipe of them all.
Water, noodles, four minutes of pressure cook time, add the cheese. BOOM.
Better-than-the-blue-box bliss is yours!
Part of what made this mac and cheese recipe tricky to get right is that I couldn’t let it be just any mac and cheese you can make in a pressure cooker.
In Well Plated style, I was determined to come up with a healthy Instant Pot mac and cheese that didn’t skimp on flavor and comfort.
(And if you don’t think that is possible, you clearly haven’t tried the Ultimate Creamy Mac and Cheese in The Well Plated Cookbook yet, but I digress.)
As Instant Pot Spaghetti demonstrates, making pasta in a pressure cooker has distinct advantages over the stove-top method.
When pressure cooking spaghetti, I found that you do not need to drain the pasta.
Any remaining liquid becomes a part of the robust, zest sauce.
With classic Instant Pot mac and cheese? Not so much.
No matter which pasta to water ratio I tried (usually 1 part pasta to 2 parts water is perfect), I could not reduce the water to where enough liquid was absorbed to make the mac and cheese thick, without triggering the Instant Pot “burn” warning.
It’s quite the Goldilocks situation!
The solution, it turns out, is obvious: drain the mac and cheese.
Every recipe I found online skipped draining, but even when I followed those recipes exactly, I still ended up with watery mac and cheese.
What I learned: if you open the lid to your pressure cooker after the pasta cooks and see a lot of liquid in the pot, go ahead and drain off some of it.
It will save you the frustration I experienced of trying to thicken the mac and cheese after the fact.
Ready for the fastest dream comfort dinner?
Let’s make easy Instant Pot mac and cheese!
Up to 1 week in advance, shred the cheese. Refrigerate it in an airtight storage container until you’re ready to finish the recipe.
Faster cook times, easy cleanup, and multiple cooking functions are just a few of the benefits of this appliance. It can even function as a slow cooker!
Easy, creamy, healthy Instant Pot mac and cheese.
Yes, it sounds TOO GOOD, and it is true!
Yes, you can swap the whole wheat noodles in this recipe for gluten free noodles. Since the cooking time can vary between these two types of noodles, I recommend checking them early and often to ensure they don’t overcook.
While regular cheddar cheese would work, its flavor is not bold enough to really make the dish taste its best. If you can’t find extra sharp cheddar cheese, the next best option is white cheddar.
I haven’t tried doubling the recipe myself, but I think it would work fine. The most important thing is to make sure you don’t fill the pot past the max fill line.
Place the pasta, water, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a 6-quart or larger Instant Pot or electric pressure cooker. Stir well. Set to cook on high pressure (manual) for 4 minutes (for elbow macaroni noodles) or 5 minutes (for shells). As soon as the timer goes off, release the remaining pressure.
Carefully open the lid to the Instant Pot. If it still looks very liquidy, drain off all but a thin layer of the pasta water, reserving any water you drain away. (I used an oven mitt to pick up the Instant Pot insert and drain a small amount of excess water into a liquid measuring cup with a spout.)
Stir in the butter until it melts. Then, stir in the mustard, black pepper, cayenne, nutmeg, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt.
Next, stir in the Greek yogurt.
Add the cheese by small handfuls (a few tablespoons at a time), stirring to completely melt between each addition. Don’t rush the process or your mac and cheese will be lumpy (your patience will be rewarded!). If at any point, the pasta cools too much, turn on the Saute function for a minute or two as needed. The mac and cheese should look very creamy and saucy, but if it is thicker than you would like, add a little of the reserved pasta water until your desired consistency is reached. Taste and adjust seasoning as desired. Enjoy!
Serving: 1(of 4)Calories: 504kcalCarbohydrates: 46gProtein: 26gFat: 26gSaturated Fat: 15gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0.2gCholesterol: 74mgPotassium: 225mgFiber: 0.1gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 771IUVitamin C: 0.1mgCalcium: 472mgIron: 2mg
Create an account to easily save your favorite projects and tutorials.