Instant Pot Creamy Mac and Cheese

Look, I know I’m usually all about healthy recipes with lots of veggies, but sometimes you just need comfort food. And when you want mac and cheese, you want something fast and easy that (hopefully) doesn’t come out of a blue box. (:

This recipe is SUCH a winner with my husband, who has simple taste and doesn’t like his food to be complicated. In fact, the night I perfected the recipe, he had just come home from work where he’d run a tournament and eaten a big meal that was catered on-site. I asked him to try it and tell me what he thought about the recipe, and he said he was too full. Well, I convinced him to take one bite. One minute later, he followed me into the living room with a heaping bowl of mac and cheese in his hands. Haha.

This recipe takes almost no time to make. It tastes like the homemade, oven-baked kinds you might have had in the past. It’s a super easy weeknight meal you can throw together with some broccoli and chicken sausage in about fifteen minutes. Win win win.

Hot sauce optional. Click any of the photos below to shop!

You Will Need:

-1/2 bag gluten-free Tinkyada brown rice pasta shells (I’m sure you can use whatever you have or non-GF, but these hold up well to Instant Pot)
-1/2c heavy cream
-1c chicken broth or stock
-2T cream cheese (optional)
-1.3c cheddar cheese, shredded (I like sharp 0r extra sharp)
-2T butter
-1c water
-1/4t salt

*This makes four servings according to the Tinkyada package, but about three servings realistically haha. Just double it if you have a bigger family!

1. Place the pasta, chicken broth, water, salt, and butter in your Instant Pot, no trivet.
2. Close and seal the lid, and hit “Manual” and select 5 minutes on high.
3. When the IP beeps, hit cancel and carefully quick release. You may experience a little bit of spray through the vent here, since pasta foams a little. That’s okay. You can read a bit more here on safety and releasing. Select “saute.”
4. Stir in your heavy cream, cream cheese, and shredded cheese. There will be a little stock/water in the bottom of your pot, but that helps make the sauce creamy!

Super super easy! I think the chicken stock really adds some dimension to the flavor. Add a splash of hot sauce on the top if you’re a hot food fanatic (maybe try it on a spoonful first, just to make sure you like it).

Check out the ingredients on this Tinkyada pasta: brown rice, rice bran, water. And it earns my non-gluten-free-picky-eater husband’s seal of approval. Another GF favorite for him are pretzels. He says they taste better than regular.

Let me know in the comments the BEST mac and cheese you have ever eaten and where you had it! Have you tried truffle, loaded, vegan, white cheddar, lobster… tell me everything!

 

-Allie

 

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