This meat lovers pressure cooker mac and cheese recipe is creamy and filled with bacon and sausage! A hearty Instant Pot dinner anyone will love for sure.
I was making this for lunch one day but realized I had leftover spicy ground sausage from the day before that needed to be used, and bacon just makes everything taste better so I combined it all and pressure cooker meat lovers mac and cheese is what I came up with. It was amazing!! On top of the list of hearty Instant Pot recipes here on The Typical Mom blog.
Meat Lovers Mac and Cheese
I know you love Instant Pot macaroni and cheese but adding sausage and bacon takes it to a whole new level! Super ooey gooey cheesy noodles packed with meat and cooked in no time at all. You can even start with raw meat and make this as well. Leftovers work well like we did it here though too.
You don’t have to use an IP though if that is not the brand you have at home. A Crockpot Express works great and it makes a wonderful Ninja Foodi recipe in that pot as well. If you have not made a lot of one pot meals yet in your electric multi cooker you are in for a treat with this one.
If you are new to pressure cooking we have a lot of easy one pot meal recipes for you here. To begin with let’s start with a few basic tips:
- Make sure to Bookmark our InstaPot recipes page. We add new ones each week!
- Then PRINT this —–> Instant Pot cooking times cheat sheet that will help you understand how long meat, vegetables and beans take to cook in your pressure cooker.
- I HIGHLY recommend you buy this non stick pot.
- You should still deglaze pressure cooker after sautéing but it won’t have as many issues with this better liner.
For reference, this is the pressure cooker I have (a 6 quart) and use for all recipe creations.
Instant Pot meat lovers mac and cheese.
If you have a meat lover in your house this will be a hit. It starts with 4 basic ingredients to make homemade macaroni and cheese, super simple. Since it’s made in your Instant Pot it takes no time at all and great football food if you’re having a party if you ask me.
There are a few proteins that work well with this. I will say that bacon bits and ground sausage is probably my favorite. Use ground beef if that is what you have on hand, or even leftover ham would work out well in this.
Meat lovers macaroni and cheese recipe
- Elbow macaroni noodles – or shells like we used here (I use what I have in the cupboard or what is on sale)
- Evaporated milk
- Butter
- Cheddar cheese – or you could use a few different cheeses, shredded
- Meat – precooked
- Ground sausage – spicy is great
- Bacon
- Anything else you have in mind
Now in our video in this post I had leftover sausage and bacon that was already cooked. If you don’t then start by setting your Instant Pot to saute and adding some olive oil with your meats and cook them first. Then you’ll remove them. Rinse your pot and start with step 1 below and continue from there.
After you make this try one of our other yummy Instant Pot sausage recipes!
Here are Ninja Foodi macaroni and cheese directions – load it up with meat too if you wish
- Add your water and noodles into your pot
- Close pressure cooker lid (one that isn’t attached) and close steam valve
- Turn machine on (bottom right button)
- Press pressure button (will automatically set to high)
- Set time to 2 minutes
- Press start
- Do quick release
- Drain majority of water out and set noodles aside
- Leave lids off and press the sear/saute button
- Add your butter until it melts
- Return noodles and add evaporated milk
- Pour in cheese, stir until it melts
- Add more evaporated milk if you want it creamier
- Sprinkle in precooked diced meat if desired to macaroni and cheese and turn pot off
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Meat Lovers Pressure Cooker Mac and Cheese
Ingredients
- 3 c pasta measurement made with uncooked noodles using measuring cup, elbow or small shells
- 4 c water
- 1 c evaporated milk or more
- 3 tbsp butter
- 1/2-3/4 c bacon precooked, diced
- 1/2-3/4 c sausage precooked, crumbled, spicy ground sausage is best
- 3 c cheese mix of cheddar and jack is great
Instructions
- Add your uncooked noodles and water to your pressure cooker. Close lid and steam valve and set to high pressure for 2 minutes. Then turn your pot off.
- Do a quick release, drain water and put cooked noodles back into your pot.
- Set your Instant Pot to saute low and add your butter until it melts.
- Then add your evaporated milk and cheese, stir until cheese is melted.
- Add your bacon and sausage (and any other precooked meats), stir in gently and serve immediately for best taste! Add more evaporated milk as you like to thin it out.
- ** Note – if you only want to dirty one pot then after you drain your noodles keep noodles out of your pot and put your pot back into your pressure cooker. Set to saute normal and cook your diced bacon and crumbled ground sausage in your pot, then drain grease (or keep in), add butter until it melts, and then continue with next steps. Add cooked noodles, evaporated milk, cheese, stir and then you’re done.
Video
Here’s another peek at our meat lovers mac and cheese!
Julie Evink
Monday 24th of September 2018
I was looking for a new IP recipe and found this one. My entire family loved it and there were no leftovers! WIN!
The Typical Mom
Tuesday 25th of September 2018
Awesome!!
Renee Goerger
Monday 24th of September 2018
My husband is not much of a macaroni and cheese lover, but this is a recipe that I think will change his mind. Thanks!!