Creamy easy Ninja Foodi macaroni and cheese recipe that is the BEST pressure cooker mac and cheese you’ll ever make in under 15 minutes! Cheesy and homemade vs. our Kraft macaroni and cheese in a pressure cooker your family will love.
Have you tried making a pot of easy Ninja Foodi macaroni and cheese yet?? I have TWO different recipes for this. The quick low fat version and the REALLY creamy and incredible version. I suggest you not count the calories and go straight to the recipe card one, then try more easy Ninja Foodi recipes next. (affiliate links present)
Table of Contents
- Homemade Ninja Foodi Mac and Cheese
- How to Make Macaroni and Cheese Ninja Foodi
- Pressure Cooker Homemade Macaroni and Cheese
- How to make 3 ingredient Ninja Foodi Macaroni and Cheese
- Ninja Foodie Mac and Cheese Ingredients
- Can you make Ninja Foodi mac and cheese dairy free?
- Beware the Ninja Foodi baked macaroni and cheese recipe
- Homemade Macaroni and Cheese Ninja Foodi
- Can you make Ninja Foodi Macaroni and Cheese with Velveeta?
- What do you serve with baked macaroni and cheese recipe?
- Ninja Foodi Macaroni and Cheese Recipe
Homemade Ninja Foodi Mac and Cheese
Ok so you just got your pot and you relied on the recipe in the recipe book that came with your pot. OMG, I know, everyone else figured out they made a typo with the amount of salt they published too. NO good….that is why I created this one. I just had to help.
This and our Ninja Foodi spaghetti are easy one pot meals I grew up on. I mean I didn’t get it homemade like this, mine was out of the box. Okay but definitely not nearly as great as this one is. Have little ones who will only eat this and nuggets? I assure you that they will rave about this one friends.
If you too are obsessed with your pressure cooker and air fryer machine, here are a few resource to start with:
- You can bookmark our Ninja air fryer recipes page, we add to that weekly.
- Here’s an air fryer cooking times chart here for your fridge.
- Be sure to save this link to Instant Pot recipes for beginners too. You can use any of those in your pot too.
- Grab a set of wooden utensils to work with. They are great so your pot doesn’t get scratched!
- Then join our Facebook group where you can share and find more ideas you’ll love. Thousands of others share easy recipe ideas.
How to Make Macaroni and Cheese Ninja Foodi
Want to make this completely OVER the top??!! Add some bacon into the mix too!! I mean you can add all sorts of things into the mix if you want. Sliced hot dogs works too and a family favorite for sure.
You don’t need any accessories to make this which is nice. Just throw in your liquid and uncooked elbow macaroni noodles and let those soften. Then you incorporate your cheeses and wait until they melt before serving. We have 2 recipes below.
Pressure Cooker Homemade Macaroni and Cheese
Let me share the really quick low fat version of mac and cheese first. (2nd version to make it from good to AMAZING is below in recipe card).
- Macaroni noodles
- Butter
- Cheese
- Then you’ll need 3 cups of liquid, water is fine to use but chicken broth is better
Instructions to recipe #1 is below. Why do I share the easy homemade macaroni and cheese recipe above if I say the one below is so much better? I do so because you can make it a dairy free mac and cheese with margarine instead of butter. It is without milk and has no heavy cream inside.
How to make 3 ingredient Ninja Foodi Macaroni and Cheese
- Add your water and elbow macaroni into your pot, stir.
- Close your pressure cooker lid & steam valve. Set to high for 2 minutes. Allow to naturally release pressure for 1 minute 30 seconds, then release rest of steam.
- Lift lid and stir in 2 tbsp of butter, allow this to melt. Then sprinkle in 1 1/2 c. of your cheese and stir until melted. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper, stir. Can serve now or follow next steps to melt more cheese on the top.
- Sprinkle 1 c. of cheese on top of cooked mac and cheese. Can add diced green onions at this time if desired.
- Close air crisp lid, push air crisp button at 400 degrees for 3 minutes. Check, add additional minutes if desired (to crisp up further).
Ninja Foodie Mac and Cheese Ingredients
We’ve made both. Pressure cooker pasta recipes are seriously the best for hectic evenings. BUT what if you want to go ALL OUT and make the best Ninja Foodi macaroni and cheese recipe ever?? You will need to pick this up:
- Elbow macaroni noodles, or small shape
- Heavy whipping cream will make creamy and thick
- Chicken broth is better than water
- Cheese – sharp cheddar, parmesan, Mexican blend
- Garlic salt is optional
- Butter salted or dairy free alternative
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Diced chives is optional
You can use a blend of any cheeses you want, above is what I choose. A mixture of a few will add more flavor, if I can find a Mexican blend that is my all time fave.
1. Sliced hot dogs
2. Bacon bits
3. Fresh cooked bacon, crushed
4. Chives
5. Diced onions
6. Bits of cooked ham pieces
7. Onion and/or garlic powder
Can you make Ninja Foodi mac and cheese dairy free?
Absolutely. Just like with our pressure cooker Mexican casserole we made in this the other night with a layer of ooey cheese on the top you can use Daiya lactose free varieties and coconut milk. The biggest difference is the sauce won’t be as thick and the cheese doesn’t melt as well but works!
Beware the Ninja Foodi baked macaroni and cheese recipe
If you have followed the one in the book it is incorrect and has way more salt than you need. You may have caught it before adding as it didn’t seem right but if not and you were super disappointed, this one will make you a believer that this meal works great.
I mean you can add heat and make it kinda’ spicy with tobasco for adults, add diced meat of any kind too. It’s a great way to use up leftovers for sure. If you dice up broccoli or cauliflower you could add 1/2 c. of that too and they’ll never know there were hidden vegetables inside.
I would add any and all of these after you stir in your cheese and let it melt, and before you air crisp. Pressure Cooker Shrimp just takes 0 minutes to defrost or cook, from frozen to perfect and is a fun add in too.
Homemade Macaroni and Cheese Ninja Foodi
No need to add anything else though, this is packed with flavor as is. Can you make boxed Kraft macaroni and cheese in a pressure cooker? YES!!! A surprising thing about this is there is NO draining required! You basically make Ninja Foodi butter noodles, and the cheese packet and it’s ready to serve! I have instructions if you want to add hot dogs inside too.
Can you make Ninja Foodi Macaroni and Cheese with Velveeta?
Yes, you totally could. That is a great way to make it super creamy. It is a shelf stable preservative heavy cheese food of sorts so typically if you are going for homemade you want to use ingredients that aren’t as processed but I agree it is pretty delicious. I have added some to our air fryer mac and cheese at times.
What do you serve with baked macaroni and cheese recipe?
Pressure cooker broccoli takes just 1 minute! This is a great way to cook vegetables right in the same pot. Of course you would need to remove the cheddar cheese noodles and wash it first but this can be done as it cools down a bit to enjoy together.
If you wanted to serve this with some meat you could make air fryer whole chicken in Ninja Foodi in your machine some night with it too. Falls apart and is so tender it will become shredded but could even be folded into the dish like a sort of casserole.
- A few air fryer frozen chicken nuggets are always a favorite pair.
- Ninja Foodi crack chicken is amazing and creamy with a block of cream cheese into the mix.
- Other one pot meals you should try are this teriyaki chicken broccoli and rice recipe too. As well as our cheesy Ninja Foodi spaghetti recipe (linked above) gets five stars from everyone who tries it.
Ninja Foodi Macaroni and Cheese
Equipment
- 1 pressure cooker ninja foodi
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 c elbow macaroni, small size is what we use
- 2 c chicken broth
- 3 tbsp butter
- 3 c cheese, I use 2 1/3 c. sharp cheddar, 1/3 c. parmesan, and 1/3 c. Mexican cheese blend
- 1 1/4 c heavy cream
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp garlic salt
- 1 pinch pepper, you can add more, I just like a small pinch
Instructions
- Add your chicken broth, 1 cup of your heavy whipping cream and elbow macaroni into your pot, stir.
- Close your pressure cooker lid & steam valve. Set to high for 3 minutes. Allow to naturally release pressure for 1 minute 30 seconds, then release rest of steam.
- Lift lid and stir in 3 tbsp of butter, allow this to melt. Then sprinkle in 2 c. of your cheese and stir until melted. Add remaining 1/4 c of whipping cream. Season with a pinch of pepper, salt and garlic salt, stir. Can serve now or follow next steps to melt more cheese on the top.
- Sprinkle 1 c. of cheese on top of cooked mac and cheese. I use 1/3 c. of each: sharp cheddar, parmesan, and Mexican cheese blend. Can add diced green onions at this time if desired.
- Close air crisp lid, push air crisp button at 400 degrees for 5 minutes. Check, add additional minutes if desired (to crisp up further).
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Perfect! Thank you. Can I add peas or ground chicken to it? How would that work?
you could but I would precook meat and only add 1/2 cup if adding either at the beginning before pressure cooking, or fold in at the end.
I have made this before and it was lovely. I wanted to try putting hotdogs in but could not find when you put them in in the recipe. Many thanks
you can saute at beginning, set aside and add at the end
This was probably the best Mac n Cheese I’ve ever had! I used ham chunks, and for the remaining 1/4 cup of the whipping cream I used sour cream.
The noodles were cooked to perfection!!
Oh ya glad it was a hit
Made this Mac & cheese recipe in my Ninja Foodi. Used Colby Jack and Swiss cheese. Added diced ham with the last of the cheese – delicious! Will definitely make this recipe again!
I have always made oven baked Mac and cheese. My hubby and kiddos (2 boys) were hesitant on trying a pressure cooker version of “baked” Mac and cheese. Let me tell you, WE WILL NEVER GO BACK! We all absolutely love it! Thank you for sharing 😊🥳