This creamy Instant Pot mac and cheese is a quick Southern staple made easy -perfect for holiday gatherings or busy weeknights! It can be whipped up in just 10 minutes and 8 simple ingredients (including cream cheese and freshly shredded cheddar - from you and not a bag!), you'll have a cheesy crowd-pleaser with easy clean-up and big flavor everyone will love. Yields enough for 6-8.
Heather's Thoughts on Mac and Cheese
Listen. We all need a little carb-and-cheese action in our lives every now and then... you know you feel me on this! And mac and cheese is a go to in the ultimate comfort food. No matter if you live in the South or not!
And I have strong opinions about how to make mac and cheese - no baked casserole version for me! No way! My mom taught me how to make the best saucy cheesy stovetop mac and cheese ever growing up and it's truly the only way.
But when I need an easy version of that because #life and I am tired and I have a toddler who needs to eat, this instant pot mac and cheese with cream cheese is my personal go to. Let me show you just how quick and easy it is.
Reader Review
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
"Just made this and loved it! Left everything to sit for a few minutes after I added the milk which thickened the sauce and softened the pasta to my liking. Thank you!"
- Jennifer
Welcome to My Kitchen, Let's Cook!
‼️Note before starting - Using pre-shredded cheese for mac and cheese is not recommended. The bags of pre-shredded cheese have a powder coating on them that does not melt well in a sauce. The sauce will turn grainy and have a weird texture to it. I tried it while recipe testing and it was a no-go! It is much better to just take the extra 2 minutes (while the noodles are cooking) and grate your own.
NOTE - as the mac and cheese sits for a while (or when it is stored for leftovers) it will absorb the liquid. If at any time it seems to be thicker, just add a splash of milk to loosen everything back up.
- No more making a roux
- No more boiling the noodles separately
- Fewer pans
- Less mess
- Less clean up
- Made in 10 minutes
- creamy instant pot mac and cheese for the WIN!!
Recipe
Creamy Instant Pot Mac and Cheese with Cream Cheese
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 6-8 1x
Description
This creamy Instant Pot mac and cheese is a quick Southern staple made easy - perfect for holiday gatherings or busy weeknights! It can be whipped up in just 10 minutes and 8 simple ingredients (including cream cheese and freshly shredded cheddar - from you and not a bag!), you'll have a cheesy crowd-pleaser with easy clean-up and big flavor everyone will love.
Ingredients
- 1 Pound of Pasta (your preferred shape - shells, elbows, bowtie, etc.)
- 4 Cups Water
- 4 Ounces Cream Cheese
- 2 Tablespoons Butter
- ½ Teaspoon Salt +more to taste if needed
- ½ Teaspoon Pepper +more to taste if needed
- 16 Ounces Cheese - shredded (see notes for cheese instructions)
- ¼-½ Cup Milk
Instructions
- In an instant pot, add your noodles and water. Place the lid on and seal.
- Set to a custom pressure cook time of 5 minutes (note that it will also take 5-7 minutes to come to pressure before cooking times begin).
- While the pasta is cooking, shred your cheese.
- When the 5-minute cooking time is up, manually release the steam. You want to do this right away and not wait so that the noodles don't overcook.
- Remove the lid and add cream cheese, butter, salt, and pepper. Gently stir to start melting.
- Add in the shredded cheese. Stir for 1-2 minutes. As you stir, the heat of the noodles and pot will begin to melt the cheese. It will turn into a luscious, thick, and creamy sauce.
- Add ¼ cup of milk and stir-taste to see if more salt is needed. Add if so. Feel free to add more milk if preferred or needed to loosen and make it more creamy and "soupy". Keep stirring until all is melted together.
- This will be ready when all of the cheese is melted into a creamy sauce.
Notes
- You can use any combo of cheese you would like. In this recipe video, I used 8 ounces of mild cheddar and 8 ounces of white cheddar. You can use different types of cheese or just one kind. Use whatever you have or like. Note, if you use mozzarella or provolone, you will get a stringy cheese sauce, which is totally great if you like that - just FYI!
- Any shape of noodle can be used that you have. I usually use shells, bowties, cavatappi, radiatori, etc.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Instant Pot
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 scoop
- Calories: 525
- Sugar: 3.9 g
- Sodium: 436.1 mg
- Fat: 27.5 g
- Carbohydrates: 46.4 g
- Fiber: 1.8 g
- Protein: 22.3 g
- Cholesterol: 78.7 mg
It was perfect the first time. I learn so much from you as well! Keep it up great post.
Oh yay! This makes me so happy! It is a favorite around here and I always loved hearing recipes turn out right on the first try!
Just made this and loved it! Left everything to sit for a few minutes after I added the milk which thickened the sauce and softened the pasta to my liking. Thank you!
Thank you so much Jennifer for making and letting me know you enjoyed it!
You say a custom setting on the instant pot but don’t specify high medium or low pressure. So I’m trying with high pressure hopefully it is correct
I am sorry Kris, I know the Instant Pot or different pressure cookers can have different screens and functions on them. Hopefully, the high pressure worked - I would think it would. If not, the cooking time would just need to be adjusted down slightly.
If doubling this recipe - is the cook time doubled as well? Or does timing stay the same?
Nope, time stays the same. Hope this helps!
Perfect! After another creamy mac recipe seized up into a grainy solid loaf, I decided to give this one a shot due to the level of detail. It worked perfectly. I will say eating it promptly is recommended. We left some warming for about an hour and it started to clump a bit. Not to say reheating with milk wouldn't fix it. Since the crockpot seems to be a huge variable here, I came to say use a 6qt instant pot on the slow cook setting. It seems a lot of kitchens have the instant pot branded device and it may unify some of the guesswork in this recipe. We have also found the lid seal is much better than some of the glass crock pot lids & produce slow cook recipes with more moisture, which lends well to this recipe. Not to mention a more uniform heat to prevent burning or breaking of the sauce. Our instant pot has 3 temperature settings, medium seemed to equal low on a normal crock pot. Right at an hour the recipe was ready.
As far as ingredients; someone mentioned Aldi cheese. 12oz of Aldi extra sharp cheddar worked great. I used Aldi brand elbow pasta, but IMO a more robust pasta like Aldi Cavatappi could hold up better. Since Aldi doesn't have a deli counter, I went to walmart and got a chunk of Land O Lakes Yellow Deli American Cheese Product. The walmart employee looked at me crazy when I wanted a chunk of it. But tell them #24 on their slicer and you will end up with 8oz (2x the recipe).
If you have access to a smoker, try cold smoking the 4oz of American and 4oz of the Cheddar. That ratio worked perfect for adding smoke flavor without overpowering the dish.
Thank you for such an in depth review of how it went for you Chris - so helpful and good to know about those things! Thanks for making and I am so happy y'all liked it and it turned out for you!