Mac and Cheese in the Instant Pot

Updated March 2019 – what was I thinking?? I wasn’t using enough CHEEEEEESE.

Updated September 2018 – I was getting inconsistent results (due to my lack of cooking instincts) so I’ve changed it up a little bit.

Inspiration – Eat at Home NYT Platings and Pairings

Reading the New York Times guide to mac and cheese got me wanting to make some, but in the Instant Pot, so I googled around to get a consensus. 1 lb of noodles + 4 cups liquid at about 4 minutes was common. Some recipes included dry or prepared mustard in the cooking; one recipe said to use a regular timer instead of the IP timer (?) and another said the time should be 1/2 the time indicated for boiling on the stove, which in my case would be 3 – 3.5 minutes. The NYT was not an IP recipe, and includes the advice to cook al dente and not overcook, since it cooks a little more in the cheese sauce, indicating the starch left in the noodles helps thicken the sauce. Of course, in the IP, there is no draining – all the liquid goes into the noodles – so the starch doesn’t get washed down the drain.

I was tempted to try using whey (from yogurt) for cooking liquid – maybe another time. NYT says to use water “as salty as the sea” (since the water isn’t drained, this is TOO SALTY) and some of the recipes did use broth or bouillon. The sauce is made in the pot with the noodles, instead of using a separate pot on the stove.

The first time, I didn’t use butter like Pinch of Yum suggests. What was I thinking? Other recipes say to use instant release, but Pinch of Yum suggests 10 minutes natural release, because of the butter shooting out in the steam. Hmmmmm.

Then there’s the whole debate of what kind of milk: evaporated, whole, 2%, skim, half-and-half. I just bought whole and heavy cream so I could also whip up some ice cream. The amounts vary A LOT from 1/2 cup to 3 cups of milk, so I’m going middle of the road with 2 cups total this time. NYT is the only one suggesting cream cheese to make it seriously creamy, and I’m all about seriously creamy.

Print Recipe

Instant Pot Mac and Cheese

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Serves: 8

Ingredients

• 4 cups chicken broth or salted water (1 TB salt in water seems about right)
• 1 lb macaroni
• 16 oz grated sharp cheddar cheese or a mix of cheeses, totaling 1 lb
• 2 oz cream cheese in 1 inch cubes
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 cups of milk total - no more than 1 cup whole milk, with buttermilk and/or heavy cream making up the rest; some recipes use evaporated milk
• seasonings like Tony Chacheres, turmeric, black pepper, ground mustard

Instructions

1

Add salted water/broth/bouillon and macaroni to the Instant Pot and stir to mix it all up.

2

IS THE RING IN PLACE IN THE LID?

3

Lock the lid, select Manual - High Pressure - 4 minutes*** (or more time, see notes!!). Be sure release valve is on Sealing. (Be sure the ring is in it!)

4

Quick release - mind you, especially with bouillon in the water, this is messy!

5

It might look like there's still a lot of water in the pot - stir, stir, stir - it incorporates.

6

Turn on Saute to heat up milk with noodles. Add butter, milk, cream and stir until it's bubbling again.

7

Add cream cheese, stir.

8

Add shredded cheese in handfuls, stirring in between to incorporate.

Notes

*** that worked well for macaroni, but for shells it wasn't enough time! Looks like the rule of thumb is 1/2 the time the package instructions say to boil - for shells that was 10-12.
also, when I first opened the pot, it looked like the water wasn't 100% absorbed, however, it's an illusion, I guess, because it was quickly all gone!

WAIT A MINUTE dang it. Am I the only person who forgets to put the stupid sealing RING back in after washing? This is the second time I’ve ruined a recipe by starting up the IP without it. OK, not ruined (but messy) since I caught it after just a few minutes. I ended up adding some more water and doing high pressure for 2 more minutes. All was well! Very creamy