Easy Instant Pot: Mac and Cheese
We love our Instant Pot. It is like a quick slow cooker. You throw a bunch of food in, and you let it go. But we also like to use it for the easy stuff that almost makes no sense. Almost. Today we are going to do Mac and Cheese from a box. Why? Because we get to throw the pasta elbows in the Instant Pot and walk away. We don’t need to stir the pasta or make sure our pot doesn’t boil over. We are busy. I mean like so busy we don’t know what to put off doing first! So, let’s do something else while it cooks, like read another post!
Equipment
- Instant Pot
Ingredients
- Butter
- Milk
- Oil
- Water
- Box of Mac and Cheese
Directions
This is going to be super easy. Take your pasta and put it in the Instant Pot. Now add a splash of oil and shake the pot. We want to make the pasta shiny to help reduce sticking and burning.
Add enough water to cover the pasta plus about a 1/4 inch.
Set the Instant Pot to pressure cook. Depending on how many boxes you are cooking, we have found the following cook times work. Just set the Instant Pot to the cooking time below
Number of Boxes | Cook Time |
---|---|
1 | 4 Minutes |
2 | 5 Minutes |
Now relax while you let the Instant Pot do the work.
Wait for it to finish and release the pressure.
*Pro tip: Do a controlled quick release. If it starts spitting, close the release allow it to sit a couple of seconds, and try again. Don’t throw open the valve and walk away. Pasta is starchy and can create excessive foam, which will be quite a mess if you just let it release without being controlled.
Add butter. We only add half of what is listed and haven’t noticed any difference, but you can start with what the package recommends and change it the next time.
Add in the milk.
Add in the cheese powder and stir to combine.
Enjoy your Instant Pot Mac and Cheese! And, hopefully, you enjoyed your extra free time while it cooked.
We made ours into Hamburger Mac and Cheese! Delicious!
Until next time,
Hubby