Instant Pot White Cheddar Mac and Cheese

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This recipe for Instant Pot White Cheddar Mac and Cheese is creamy perfection! The delicious combination of sharp white cheddar with parmesan and cream cheese makes it cheesy, creamy, and so flavorful. The perfect comfort food if you ask me. It’s ideal for a busy weeknight meal since it has very little prep and a one-pot clean-up.

Making Pasta in the Instant Pot

If you’re familiar with my blog, then you know I love making pasta in the Instant Pot. It all started with my original Instant Pot Mac and Cheese. It’s delicious! Make sure you try it if you haven’t already. When I was creating that recipe, we found out sometimes pasta can be messy when releasing the pressure. We came up with a perfect solution to eliminate the mess.

Since you will be making plain pasta for the first part of this recipe, make sure you check out my trick for cooking it in the Instant Pot. You’ll find that making pasta in the Instant Pot is not only easy but the clean-up is a breeze since there’s no need to strain the pasta.

Ingredients for Instant Pot White Cheddar Mac

You don’t need a lot of ingredients for this amazingly delicious recipe. I like using shells for this version of mac and cheese, but feel free to use elbow pasta as a substitute. You’ll need a pound of pasta. You’ll also need some unsalted chicken broth, garlic powder, salted butter, and a bit of salt. You can use water instead of broth if you must, but the broth makes it more flavorful.

After the pasta is cooked you’ll need ground mustard, evaporated milk, a block of sharp white cheddar, cream cheese, and parmesan cheese. Make sure you buy sharp white cheddar as they also sell mild. The sharp one has a lot more flavor.

How to Make White Cheddar Mac and Cheese in the Instant Pot

To get started you will pour the chicken broth into your pressure cooker. Next, put the pasta in the broth and add the salt, garlic powder, and butter. At this point, if you’re using my trick to less mess pasta, you will place the trivet in the pot as stated in that post. Close your pot and set it to “Sealing”.

Cook the pasta for a short 2-minutes on high “Manual” or Pressure Cook”. While the pot is coming to pressure, you can shred your white cheddar and measure out the other cheeses and the ground mustard. I highly recommend shredding your own cheddar to avoid stringy cheese.

When the 2-minute cook time is finished you will allow for a 2-minute Natural Pressure Release. After that, turn the knob to “Venting” and release the pressure. When the pin has dropped, you may open your pot.

Finally, add your evaporated milk, shredded cheddar, cream cheese, parmesan, and ground mustard and stir everything well until all the cheeses have melted. If the sauce needs thickening, allow your pot to sit on warm for an extra 10 minutes or until you reach your desired thickness. Keep in mind, it will thicken a lot as it cools. Serve and enjoy the creamy, cheesy goodness!

I know you will love this easy and creamy recipe for Instant Pot White Cheddar Mac and Cheese. Let me know in the comments when you try it. If you’re a pasta fan like me, then check out all my other Easy Instant Pot Pasta Recipes.