Instant pot mac and cheese, made in the instant pot mini. Fun recipe for a small batch of pressure cooker macaroni and cheese!
When I first bought my instant pot mini, I thought I would only use it in the winter for comforting soups and stews. I thought of it as a replacement for my slow cooker. But I was so wrong about that!
Since summer hit, I'm using my instant pot mini all the time! I love being able to make dinner without heating up the house.
This instant pot mac and cheese is probably my daughter's favorite thing to come out of my instant pot (besides the instant pot chicken stock that I make weekly).
Here's my collection of instant pot mini recipes. I also have to mention that this is the perfect portion of mac and cheese for a Thanksgiving for two side dish.
All of the ingredients for this instant pot mac and cheese are pictured above, except the vegetable broth.
I adapted the recipe from Epicurious, and it has a slightly strange method to it: the noodles are cooked in broth and butter at high pressure for 5 minutes, and then the rest is stirred in and allowed to melt slowly.
I happen to love this method, because as the pot comes to pressure, it gives me plenty of time to grate cheese and measure everything out. When the timer goes off, I do a forced pressure release, and dump everything in and walk away.
It's basically a hands-off side dish that is so welcome this time of year.
Reasons to love instant pot mac and cheese:
-it's all made in one pot
-it takes just 20 minutes to cook, start to finish!
-the macaroni noodles cook in broth, so if you're out of milk, you can still make this mac and cheese!
This instant pot mac and cheese recipe makes about 2-3 big bowls of macaroni and cheese. For my family of 3, we use it as a side dish two nights in a row. (My toddler hardly eats more than 5 of 6 bites of anything). We occasionally enjoy it alone with a salad and a glass of white wine! Or, sometimes we pick up barbecue from our favorite place and use this as a side dish.
For those wondering, I haven't tried to scale up this recipe for anything larger than my 3-quart Instant Pot Mini. Small-batch recipes are what I do on this site, but if you double the recipe succesfully, please let us all know; I'd love to hear about it in the comments section below! (You can also check the full-size recipe on Epicurious, from which I scaled this one down for help).
This is the instant pot mini that I use and love!
Instant Pot Mac and Cheese
Instant pot mini mac and cheese.
Ingredients
- 4 ounces (about 1 cup) macaroni noodles
- 1 cup vegetable broth
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- 4 ounces grated extra sharp cheddar
- 1 ounce (¼ cup) grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons sour cream
Instructions
- In the pot of a pressure cooker or an instant pot mini, add the macaroni noodles, broth, butter and garlic powder. Give it a stir, and then clamp on the lid. Set the valve to 'SEALING.'
- Press 'PRESSURE COOK' and toggle to 'HIGH' pressure. Set the timer for 5 minutes.
- While the instant pot comes up to pressure and cooks, have all remaining ingredients pre-measured and ready to go into the pot.
- When the timer goes off, do a forced pressure release (be careful--use a towel to cover so you don't accidentally burn yourself).
- When the sealing valve drops, open the instant pot. Add all remaining ingredients (cheddar, Parmesan and sour cream), stir and let rest for 5 minutes.
- After 5 minutes the cheese should have melted and the macaroni and cheese mixture should be smooth. If not, turn on the 'KEEP WARM' function and heat until everything melts together.
- Serve immediately. Leftovers need to be reheated with a splash of milk.
Notes
I made this in the instant pot mini, but you can double the recipe both in the mini, or double it and make it in the 6 quart model, too.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
4Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 236Total Fat: 16gSaturated Fat: 9gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 46mgSodium: 480mgCarbohydrates: 12gFiber: 1gSugar: 1gProtein: 11g
Ashley says
Im excited to give this try, seems like most IP mac and cheese recipes use evaporated milk and it tastes off to me. Thanks!
Christina Lane says
YES, oh my gosh I so agree!! Evaporated milk is so gross to me! I hope you love this recipe :)
Sam says
This looks delicious and easy and I will for sure make it this weekend!
One question: are the ounce measurements by weight, or by by volume? I use a scale for accuracy whenever I can and I want to know if I should be measuring the pasta and cheese on my scale, or in a measuring cup. Thanks!
Susanna says
I don't have an instant pot, but this is pretty similar to the stove top method I use for quick mac&cheese on weekdays. I just boil the pasta, then add the rest and just let it melt and come together (all excep for teh sour cream which I replace by half and half because I cannot find sour cream in spain). I happent to like the pasta cooked in vegetable broth instead of chicken, but this is just me, who loves vegetables flavour on top of meat our poultry of any kind (luckily enough I have no compains from the rest of the family!). If I have some cooked veggies like broccoli or baby pease I also add them. Mac & cheese still make my day anytime! what's not to love about it!
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Samantha says
Delicious recipe!! Came together so quickly and made the perfect amount for a side dish for my family of 5 (3 small kids). Very happy to see no evaporated milk or mustard, both of those things are a no go for me when it comes to macaroni. This will definitely be my go to- thank you!!
Sherry says
Thanks so much for your small batch instant pot recipes! I have the big honkin' 8 quart instant pot but don't like to get the pot dirty (yeah,I have issues) so I do a lot of pot-in-pot cooking. Your recipes are perfect for that, and they don't leave a ton of leftovers. Please, please keep the instant pot recipes coming!
Tiffany says
I doubled the recipe for my girls' lunches for a few days (I'm freezing half) since I have a 6quart instantpot. I had a traumatizing experience with mac and cheese as a young kiddo, so I don't touch the stuff! I rely on bloggers I trust for good recipes. :) This was so easy! But they did pronounce it too cheesey. I had planned to add broccoli anyway, so that toned it down and they like it after that addition. Next time, I'll use 5 oz cheese and 3tbsp sour cream. Thanks for the recipe!!
Melissa Shultz says
I don't know if I should thank you or not. ;)
This mac n cheese recipe is amazing. I made it last night for my sweetie and me as a side to grilled meats and corn on the cob. I just wanted to eat the whole pot of mac n cheese and leave the rest for him. Of course I did the kind thing and shared. But now I'm afraid I might have to make this all of the time for dinner for just me during the week when he isn't around. And I could easily eat the whole pot. I guess if I pair it with some veggies that would be okay. I do plan to try adding broccoli to the pot when I make it next time. I think that would be a great healthy mix-in.
Seriously though, I am so so grateful that you are providing recipes scaled down for the IP. And I'm using mine for the same reason. Too hot to cook and use the oven. So the IP is perfect for making meals during the hot days of summer.
Brianna says
I tried making this recipe today and have to say that it turned out horrible! I followed the instructions and put the ingredients into my instant pot (I don’t have the mini version) and wound up with the burn signal. When I opened the lid the macaroni was burnt to a crisp on the bottom of my instant pot. After scraping it for a while, I tried the recipe again on the stove. This didn’t work out either. I’m not sure what happened here, but I definitely was not happy with how the recipe turned out. I love your blog and follow you on Instagram so I will definitely try another recipe, but I wanted to let anyone with a full size instant pot know that they should be careful when making this and try to avoid the burn signal!
Christina Lane says
Thanks for letting me know.
I didn't intend for this recipe to be used in the large instant pot. I cautioned against doing so in the recipe post, as recipes in the instant pot can't be easily doubled or halved with good results. I've had my fair share of instant pot failures doing this method, which is why I develop Instant Pot Mini recipes only.
Sorry about your failure, I hope it didn't ruin your pot!
Jennifer says
Oops. I weighed my pasta and thought it wasn't enough (should have just measured a cup). As a result it was far too liquid Next time I will know better. I am cooking it on saute' though as we speak and maybe it will cook out some. Looks good if I made it correctly!
Ronni says
I'm the annoying person who modified the recipe based on what I had - I used mini bow tie pasta, I used half smoked mozzarella/half cheddar, I used water instead of broth, and I used creme fraiche instead of sour cream - and it was still so good. The two of us consumed it all in one meal. Thank you *so much,* Christina for these mini recipes.
Christina Lane says
You're not annoying, Ronni! Thanks for letting all of us know that your modifications worked :)
Jan says
I doubled this recipe in my 6 qt. Turned out great. Next time I will use less cheese though.