The best 4 ingredient Instant Pot macaroni and cheese recipe ever! Just 10 minutes to the perfect pressure cooker macaroni and cheese with bacon.
OH MY….this 4 ingredient Instant Pot macaroni and cheese is one of our favorite meals! I’ve made it in the crockpot, stovetop, and today made it in my new pressure cooker and seriously it was amazing + only took 10 minutes total! Yes we’ve made the boxed version a lot, and I think I had it at least twice a week this way growing up, but making it from scratch is just amazing! You only really need 4 ingredients + some water too, that’s a easy meal win in my book. 😉 It’s one of my kids’ favorite Instant Pot recipes. Here’s the recipe. (affiliate links present)
Seriously…..amazing, and faster than the boxed version!! Now that’s a huge win. You can use a mixture of different cheese or just use cheddar which is what we usually do and did here. Really, I use what I have in the house…I’m that kinda’ cook. 😉
So the only thing you’ll need to “prep” is:
- shred 1 1/2 cups of either cheddar (we like sharp), or a mixture of jack and cheddar
- boil your noodles in the Instant Pot for about 3 minutes (longer for gluten free pasta)
- add the rest of your ingredients when noodles are done
- stir and enjoy
Instant Pot Macaroni and Cheese
The best Instant Pot macaroni and cheese recipe that is quick and a great way to make pasta in a pressure cooker. Load up the cheese and add bacon bits to the top too!
- 8 ounces or 1 3/4 c. of uncooked macaroni noodles
- 2 c water
- 1/2 c half and half
- 1/2 c milk 2% or whole is best
- 2 1/2 c cheese can use more of course
- pinch of salt
- 2 tbsp bacon bits optional
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Add your water, macaroni noodles, and salt. Put your Instant Pot or pressure cooker on manual, low pressure, for 3 minutes.
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Lock lid on and close pressure valve.
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Do a quick pressure release when time is up, turn IP off. Carefully open the lid. Drain remaining water if you want it thicker, or leave in for more liquid. Add your milk, bacon bits, and half and half, stir.
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Set IP to saute (less temp) and add 1/2 c. of cheese at a time allowing it to melt and stirring until all cheese is melted and your macaroni and cheese is the consistency you want.
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Turn IP off. By now sauce should be a bit thicker and ready to serve. Best when eaten immediately!
If you let it sit the sauce will thicken a bit more but we think it is perfect as soon as the cheese is melted and serve it immediately with a pinch of bacon bits on top. It serves the 5 of us just fine with a side of salad for dinner. Great as an after school snack too because it’s so quick and easy. Who doesn’t love macaroni and cheese???
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Your website has so many great recipes but also has sooooo many ads! They’re very distracting to the point of annoying. JMHO.
I love providing a free website for everyone to use and gather recipes. It is very expensive to run a website and ads provide the revenue necessary to keep it free for everyone to use.
So I rushed to make this about 3 min after my instant pot was delivered as dinner was late and i was depending on it to arrive earlier. I’m new to IP so I rushed reading the directions and doubled this and cooked it on Hugh. There was a LOT of water in the bottom. Was it supposed to be there? I am going to drain it to make the sauce but since that’s not in the directions I wanted to ask anyway.
If there is a lot of water yes I would drain it to make it thicker in the end. Different types of macaroni noodles cook a bit differently and some absorb more than others, thus the difference in amount of water left.
I have an 8qt ip yesterday I put A jar of spaghetti sauce and frozen meatballs in mY ip. I tried the soup stew button and it scoRushed on the bottom. What went wrong?
Also curious if there is enough room to double the recipe. My husband is an avid cyclist who is always trying to carb up before a long ride, and eats a lot of pasta.
There probably would be for this one, yes. You should try my Instant Pot spaghetti recipe too, that makes a lot in just 10 minutes flat!
In a 6 qt can you double? Total newbie
Instant pot is wonderful. A definite time saver!