The Best Instant Pot Creamy Mac and Cheese
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If you are looking for the best, this is The Best Instant Pot Creamy Mac and Cheese recipe. It is easy, cheesy and loved by everyone!
How to Make The Best Creamy Mac and Cheese in an Electric Pressure Cooker
Aunt Lou here.
We love mac and cheese around here. One of my family’s favorite recipes for mac and cheese is this Creamy Crock Pot Mac โn Cheese recipe. So this was a natural choice for trying out in our electric pressure cooker! It takes the best mac and cheese recipe and makes it faster! And, if your life is as hectic as ours, and I’m sure it is, some days you just need a quick and easy recipe that will be loved by everyone!
The Best Instant Pot Creamy Mac and Cheese Notes:
- This recipe gives you a TON of sauce. We love it this way. If you would rather not have as much sauce, you can cut back on some of the liquid ingredients. However, having the full amount of sauce makes reheating leftovers so easy and tastes of perfection!
- If you would like to have the full amount of sauce, but less in a particular serving, you can always serve it with a slotted spoon!
- Looking for more recipes? Our Recipe Finder can help you find exactly what you need.
- Check out all our favorite recommendations for cookbooks, slow cookers and low carb essentials in our Amazon Influencer Shop.
- As with any of our recipes, carb counts, calorie counts and nutritional information varies greatly. As a result, your nutritional content depends on which products you choose to use when cooking this dish. The auto-calculation is just an automated estimate and should NOT be used for specific dietary needs.
- Finally, all electric pressure cookers cook differently, so cooking times are always a basic guideline. Recipes should always be tested first in your own electric pressure cooker and time adjusted as needed.
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What Home Cooks are Saying About The Best Instant Pot Creamy Mac ‘n Cheese
Mary says: โI have made it a few times, and it is a great tasting easy meal.โ
Tyler M. says: โWas delicious. We doubled the recipe and turned out great!โ
Jill says: โThis is the best mac and cheese!!! My family loved it!!โ
Vicki says: โThis is the homemade Mac and cheese I’ve been looking for. I love it! Family loved it! I added the milk slowly to get it where I wanted it. wasn’t soupy at all. So good reheated too!โ
The Best Instant Pot Creamy Mac โn Cheese
Ingredients
- 16 oz elbow macaroni
- 4 cups water
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 12 oz can of evaporated milk
- 1 1/2 cup milk
- 16 oz Velveeta cubed
- 1/2 cup melted butter
- Optional: 1/4 c shredded cheddar cheese garnish
Instructions
- Melt your 2 tablespoons of butter in your 6-quart Instant Pot on saute, moving it around to make sure the entire bottom is coated
- Turn off your saute feature
- Add in your water and macaroni and stir well
- Seal and cook on high pressure for 4 minutes
- Quick release, add in your remaining ingredients and stir until your cheese is melted
- Sprinkle some shredded cheese on top, if desired, and serve
Video
Notes
- This recipe gives you a TON of sauce. We love it this way. If you would rather not have as much sauce, you can cut back on some of the liquid ingredients. However, having the full amount of sauce makes reheating leftovers so easy and tastes of perfection!
- If you would like to have the full amount of sauce, but less in a particular serving, you can always serve it with a slotted spoon!ย
- Looking for more recipes? Ourย Recipe Finderย can help you find exactly what you need.
- Check out all our favorite recommendations for cookbooks,ย slowย cookers and low carb essentials in ourย Amazon Influencer Shop.
- As with any of our recipes, carb counts, calorie counts and nutritional information varies greatly. As a result, your nutritional content depends on which products you choose to use when cooking this dish.ย The auto-calculation is just an automated estimate and should NOT be used for specific dietary needs.
- Finally, all electric pressure cookers cook differently, so cooking times are always a basic guideline. Recipes shouldย always be tested first in your own electric pressureย cookerย and time adjusted as needed.
Nutrition
Serve This Recipe With:
If You Enjoy This Recipe, You Might Also Like:
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- Crock Pot Cheesy Potato Soup for Two - January 22, 2026
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Add onion powder,garlic powder with the mustard powder as well.
Yummy! Easy to make and a grandchildrenโs favorite!
This our favorite mac n cheese. Some in my family didn’t like how soupy it was but we discovered if you make it a day ahead and reheat, it’s perfect!! I do add additional seasoning such as salt, garlic powder, pepper and ground mustard. ๐
The best. So easy, so quick, and my grandkids request it now over the boxed stuff!! Even the adults say itโs their new favorite! I added tsp each of garlic and onion powder and a half tsp of dry mustard powder. So good! Thank you!
I made this today. The only thing i changed was adding some salt, pepper, garlic n onion powder. Was delicious and very creamy!!
I have made it a few times and it is a great tasting easy meal.
Was delicious. We doubled the recipe and turned out great!
What size instant pot did you use to double? And did you double all ingredients?
This is the best mac and cheese!!! My family loved it!!
If I wanted to double the recipe, would I just double all the ingredients????
I haven’t tried doubling this recipe, but we have had readers double it with success. If I did double it, I would double all the ingredients and watch it closely to see if the timing needs adjusted for the larger quantity of ingredients. Enjoy!
Is the cook time the same if I double the recipe?
We haven’t tried doubling this recipe in one batch. If I did, I would start with the original cooking time, check the pasta’s tenderness and cook for additional time as needed to reach desired tenderness. If you give it a try, let me know how it goes.
This is the first instant pot Mac n cheese recipe I tried and itโs the ONLY one Iโll ever use. Itโs perfect, in every way. Sometimes we use medium shell pasta or cellentani and still it never fails. My family requests this every holiday and multiple times in between. Thank you so much for this recipe ๐
I make this all the time. Everyone loves it!! It does look soupy when first done. I usually make an hour ahead of serving and place a clean dish towel over the pot and replace lid. I do not keep on warm as sauce gets too thick. Within 1/2 an hour, sauce is absorbed to a perfect, creamy consistency. IF there are leftovers they reheat beautifully without having to add extra milk, etc. Thank you for a great recipe!
Very good first time insta mac and cheese!! I misread the recipe and didn’t add the 1.5 C milk, just the evaporated milk. It still came out saucy and delish!! Thank you, I’ll be making this again and again…forgetting the milk intentionally now!!
I’m so glad you made it in a way that you love!
Aunt Lou
You said it was good but it is VERY GOOD
Added some salt and little smokies
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Love the addition of little smokes. That sounds yummy!
so the taste was great but super soupy for us even get I added 2 cups of grated cheese and stirred it in. I will be cutting the liquid if half for next batch. Other than the liquid it tasted great.
I’m glad you enjoyed the taste! If you have any leftovers, they will be super creamy versus having more liquid. We always encourage our readers to switch up our recipes to meet their personal tastes though. Enjoy!
The whole family loved it and they are picky!
I’m so happy to hear it Breanne! We love it too. Thank you for taking the time to let us know you and your family enjoyed this. It makes my day to hear that a reader loves a recipe I have posted!
First time I made this. I didnโt drain the macaroni. Thought it was too soupy so I mixed a little bit of cornstarch and cold water. Poured it in and stirred, the sauce was amazing. We had a large family that was together for my mother-in-laws soon to be passing. She came home in congestive heart failure. The family cleaned out every drop!! She passed 3 days later, I made a double batch for the funeral,but used cheddar. l didnโt have much velvets. The texture wasnโt as creamy and the taste was a bit different but again every drop was eaten! This time I cut up smoked sausage and added when I added milk and velvets….. Oh my goodness it was amazing!
I’m so sorry for your loss April. I hope this recipe brought some comfort to you and your loved ones during your time of grief.
Aunt Lou
Will definitely make this again! The left overs are awesome! Noodles are whole and not falling apart… Just enough sauce. My 2 yo. Loves it.
I’m so glad you and your little one enjoy it! Thank you for taking the time to come back and let us know you enjoyed it!
Aunt Lou
This mac and cheese is delicious. I didn’t add the can of milk and added whole milk until it was the consistency I liked. Everyone loved it. Huge Hit. I will definitely make this again.
Do you know what you could use instead of Velveeta cheese? I suppose regular cheese, but any suggestions on how much to use?
Hi Leanne!
I haven’t tried this recipe with any other type of cheese. If you are using a shredded cheese, it will be approximately 4 cups. Depending on the type of cheese you use, it could change the texture of the recipe. If you give a try, let me know what you use and how it turns out!
Aunt Lou
So I altered the recipe a bit only bc I didnโt have everything on hand. I used penne vs elbow. I did 1C milk vs 1.5. I did half a pack of cream cheese I didnโt have evaporated milk. Lol (def interested to try it that way tho)! Anywho- it was liquidy when adding all ingredients and mixed it up. But after leaving the lidon it with the instant pot off for probably 45 min or so it was the perfect consistency!!!!!! Saucy in a great way, not soupy. It was so delicious! Def replacing my old school bake in the oven mac and cheese. It was fast and easy! Letting it sit for the additional time doesnโt bother me because I just bathed all the kiddos in the meantime ๐ thank you for sharing! I really liked this. Everyone had seconds.
Thank you so much for taking the time to leave such kind words and details about how you had success Danielle! Hearing from readers like you makes my heart full!
Aunt Lou
So I never leave reviews…ever. But after reading the comments about this recipe, I felt I needed to. Yes, the recipe is runny – in the beginning. I followed the recipe exactly as itโs stated above. I thought about draining the water after cooking the pasta, but didnโt. I followed the directions and after adding the remaining ingredients, I set my instant pot to โkeep warmโ and left the lid off. After about 30 minutes, the pasta soaked up a good portion of the sauce and it was the perfect consistency. Just keep an eye on it. The cooked pasta water can help thicken up the sauce if you keep it on warm. Overall, this recipe is amazing! Iโve already been forwarding the recipe to my friends and family.
I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe Shannon! Thank you for taking the time to leave such kind words!
Aunt Lou
This was the first meal I made in my new instant pot. I have to agree with the above comment that it came out very thin and soupy. I did not have any water left over after the macaroni cooked so that was not the issue. It seemed to be perfect after adding in the evaporated milk and velveeta. I think my problem was when adding the extra 1 1/2 cups of milk. Iโm not sure if mine was new user error or it just didnโt need that extra liquid. I will be trying again so tho and experimenting with less milk.
Overall though we really enjoyed this. My 5 year old said it was the best Mac and cheese ever and ate two whole bowls!
Hi Alisa!
I’m sorry there was too much sauce for your liking, but glad that your son enjoyed it so much! You are correct, if you want less sauce, you can use less of the liquid ingredients. If you want to keep the taste exactly the same, you can also serve with a slotted spoon. What did you think about the sauce when reheating leftovers?
Aunt Lou
I left out the regular milk altogether and it was the perfect consistency for me.
I second the above comment- I drained all of the remaining water as suggested in comment and halved the evaporated milk and I still needed to set the instant pot on sautรฉ to get the liquid absorbed a bit. Then had to put the macaroni into the oven and bake for 20 minutes at 350. I wouldnโt use this Recipe again.
I’m sorry this recipe was not to your liking Heidi. This recipe gives you a TON of sauce. We love it this way. If you would rather not have as much sauce, you can cut back on some of the liquid ingredients. However, having the full amount of sauce makes reheating leftovers so easy and tastes of perfection! If you would like to have the full amount of sauce, but less in a particular serving, you can always serve it with a slotted spoon!
If with those suggestions, it is still not your cup of tea, we completely understand and hope that you will find something you do like in one of our over 1500 recipes!
Aunt Lou
How long would I cook it pressurized if I doubled the recipe? Thanks
Same here. I followed recipe exactly. It is a pot of liquid & not sure what to do to it to make it edible.
I’m sorry this recipe was not to your liking msbuci. This recipe gives you a TON of sauce. We love it this way. If you would rather not have as much sauce, you can cut back on some of the liquid ingredients. However, having the full amount of sauce makes reheating leftovers so easy and tastes of perfection! If you would like to have the full amount of sauce, but less in a particular serving, you can always serve it with a slotted spoon!
If with those suggestions, it is still not your cup of tea, we completely understand and hope that you will find something you do like in one of our over 1500 recipes!
Aunt Lou
It came out like macaroni soup. I would have drained the water after macaroni were done but it didn’t say that on the recipe.
I’m so sorry this didn’t turn out for you like it did for us. I didn’t put to drain the water after the macaroni was done on purpose because there was very little water left after cooking the macaroni when I tested this recipe. Next time, if you still have water remaining, you can drain it before adding in the remaining ingredients. I hope this helps!
~Aunt Lou
Mine was very soupy, too.