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Home » Recipes » Healthy Instant Pot Mac and Cheese

Healthy Instant Pot Mac and Cheese

3/17/21

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This Healthier Instant Pot Mac and Cheese with broccoli and white cheddar is comfort food that comes together with less than 10 ingredients!

Healthy Instant Pot Mac and Cheese

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How to make this recipe

  1. Add butter, water, salt and macaroni spirals to Instant Pot in that order.
  2. Set to cook on high pressure for 2 minutes. Once complete, open the lid when it's safe to do so.
  3. Stir in milk and white cheddar until fully blended, then add broccoli florets and stir.
  4. Replace the lid and let sit 5 minutes. Serve and enjoy!

Healthy Instant Pot Mac and Cheese

Ingredients and substitutions

  • Butter – any other type of fat like butter, vegan butter, margarine, ghee, and heavy cream will work in this recipe.
  • Macaroni spirals – macaroni spirals are also known as scoobi do noodles. You can use any pasta you prefer in place of the macaroni spirals, like rigatoni, macaroni elbows, penne, and more!
  • 2% Milk – feel free to substitute the 2% milk for a non dairy milk of choice like oat milk, almond milk or soy milk.
  • White cheddar cheese – this is a white cheddar cheese recipe but you can use any cheese of your choice like cheddar, gouda, gruyere and more.
  • Broccoli – broccoli pairs beautifully with the white cheddar sauce. If you're not a fan of broccoli, feel free to sub in another veggie of your choice or leave it out altogether.
  • Water 
  • Salt (to taste)

Healthy Instant Pot Mac and Cheese

Storing and reheating

This dish is so good, I highly recommend making more than one serving so that you can enjoy it throughout your week! To store this meal you will want to put each individual serving in an airtight glass container. Once you've done this, let the macaroni and cheese cool down to room temperature and then you can place in the fridge and keep it for up to. 5 days.

When you're ready to enjoy the dish, reheat the mac and cheese in the microwave for 1-2 minutes until warmed. Once warmed you can enjoy it straight from the glass container or serve the dish in a bowl.

Healthy Instant Pot Mac and Cheese

Freezing the Instant Pot Mac and Cheese

Make sure your macaroni and cheese is cooled down entirely before you begin to freeze it. Once the macaroni and cheese has cooled down, divide them into airtight containers or freezer bags in your desired serving sizes. I recommend dividing the dish into single servings if you live alone or if you plan on enjoying one serving at a time. Place the dish into the freezer and keep for up to 2 months!

When you're ready to enjoy your frozen mac and cheese, thaw your serving and then microwave until warm or for best results, place in the oven for 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Serve and enjoy!

Healthy Instant Pot Mac and Cheese

More Instant Pot recipes

  • General Tso's Chicken
  • Enchilada Quinoa Casserole 
  • Chicken Tinga Tacos

Meal prep tools

  • The Instant Pot DUO Plus 60 is the version I use in this recipe.
  • Grab some Glass meal prep bowls if you plan on packing this up for lunch!
Instant Pot Broccoli Mac and Cheese

Healthy Instant Pot Mac and Cheese

This Healthier Instant Pot Mac and Cheese with broccoli and white cheddar is comfort food that comes together with less than 10 ingredients!
4.69 from 51 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Pasta
Cuisine: American, Italian
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Servings: 8 servings
Calories: 414kcal
Author: Taylor Stinson

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 4 cups water
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 lb macaroni spirals (sometimes call scoobi do)
  • 1 can evaporated milk
  • 3 cups white cheddar cheese, grated
  • 1 head broccoli, finely chopped

Instructions

  • Add butter, water, salt and macaroni spirals to Instant Pot in that order. Set to cook on high pressure for 2 minutes. Once complete, place a towel overtop of the pressure release valve, then do a quick release of pressure and open the lid when safe to do so.
  • Stir in milk and white cheddar until fully blended, then add broccoli florets and stir. Replace the lid and let sit 5 minutes. Serve and enjoy! For those who like their broccoli more well done, it can be cooked in a bowl of water for 5 minutes in the microwave, then drained and added to the Mac and cheese.

Stovetop instructions

  • Add macaroni to a large pot of salted boiling water on the stove. Boil for 8-9 minutes until al dente, then rinse and drain.
  • Add macaroni back to pot over medium-high heat. Add butter, stirring until melted. Stir in evaporated milk and cheese until creamy and well combined. Finally, stir in broccoli and continuing cooking another 3-4 minutes until broccoli is tender. Serve and enjoy!

Video

Notes

You may want to season with more salt to taste. 

Nutrition

Calories: 414kcal | Carbohydrates: 20g | Protein: 22g | Fat: 27g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 8g | Cholesterol: 83mg | Sodium: 580mg | Potassium: 175mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 750IU | Vitamin C: 14mg | Calcium: 540mg | Iron: 1.3mg
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This Healthier Instant Pot Mac and Cheese with broccoli and white cheddar is comfort food that comes together with less than 10 ingredients! #Whitecheddar #MacandCheese #Instantpot  This Healthier Instant Pot Mac and Cheese with broccoli and white cheddar is comfort food that comes together with less than 10 ingredients! #Whitecheddar #MacandCheese #Instantpot

This Healthier Instant Pot Mac and Cheese with broccoli and white cheddar is comfort food that comes together with less than 10 ingredients! #Whitecheddar #MacandCheese #Instantpot  This Healthier Instant Pot Mac and Cheese with broccoli and white cheddar is comfort food that comes together with less than 10 ingredients! #Whitecheddar #MacandCheese #Instantpot

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About Taylor Stinson

Hey there, my name's Taylor! I’m the founder of The Girl on Bloor, a food blog where I share healthy meal prep recipes for busy people. I'm a busy city girl living in downtown Toronto on (you guessed it!) Bloor Street. I've got 10 years experience meal prepping, along with a Master's degree in journalism, and you can find my work across the internet featured on publications such as Buzzfeed, HuffPost, Women's Health, Reader's Digest and more. I also run the awesome 5-Day Meal Prep Challenge, which is a free email course and Facebook group where I share my meal planning strategies and easy meal prep tips and recipes. Be sure to check out my free beginner’s guide to meal prep and follow me on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram to get my latest recipes and meal prep tips!

Comments

  1. Judy says

    September 22, 2021 at 11:36

    will the broccoli be tender even though it’s not really cooked – just added to the pot at the end?

    Reply
    • Taylor Stinson says

      September 22, 2021 at 11:37

      I find it tender enough for my taste but you may want to steam it beforehand if you like it softer.

      Reply
  2. Dana says

    February 14, 2021 at 15:59

    Would you need to change anything if you use protein pasta like Banza?

    Reply
    • Taylor Stinson says

      February 14, 2021 at 18:34

      Hi Dana – unfortunately I haven’t tested this recipe with different types of pasta. You could give it a try though!

      Reply
  3. Amy says

    December 6, 2020 at 09:58

    How does this do reheated?? Any recommendations for reheating? Usually reheated pasta is no longer creamy and is dry.

    Reply
    • Taylor Stinson says

      December 7, 2020 at 07:34

      Hi Amy – you can sprinkle some water or even some milk overtop to prevent the pasta from drying out. It’s usually good to reheat within the first 3 days!

      Reply
  4. Theresa Weileman says

    November 10, 2020 at 15:17

    414 calories per serving, is a cup a serving?

    Reply
    • Taylor Stinson says

      November 10, 2020 at 16:01

      I don’t provide servings by weight/cup unfortunately! You will need to take the number of servings listed and divide into portions. Each portion is a serving. If I had to guesstimate, 1.5-2 cups is a serving.

      Reply
  5. Dee K says

    February 1, 2020 at 13:47

    Do you think whole wheat pasta would work?

    Reply
    • Taylor Stinson says

      February 1, 2020 at 17:14

      Hi Dee – I have not tried it myself but I imagine it would work!

      Reply
  6. Shobee says

    January 12, 2020 at 11:48

    Hi Taylor! Can’t wait to make this for a family at church. Would I be able to make it, freeze it in a casserole dish after and they can heat it back up in the oven when they’re ready to eat it?

    Reply
    • Taylor Stinson says

      January 12, 2020 at 18:08

      Hey Shobee – for sure! I would sprinkle some water overtop and reheat in a 350 F oven from frozen for 30-40 minutes.

      Reply
  7. Mary says

    December 25, 2019 at 14:19

    Do you drain the pasta before adding the cheese? I couldn’t find the kind of pasta in the recipe and used rigatoni but the pasta doesn’t seem cooked completely; I’m hoping that putting it in the oven will finish cooking the pasta.

    Reply
    • Taylor Stinson says

      December 26, 2019 at 12:33

      The pasta soaks up all of the liquid! Using a much larger pasta may affect the amount of liquid you need to add so that is why it may be undercooked.

      Reply
    • Victoria S Lytton says

      February 6, 2020 at 19:07

      I’m wondering the same thing. I have water left in the pot and a few noodles that weren’t cooked. I turned the instapot back on for 3 mins and it was perfect. It’s still standing….. So I’ll post my review of it after I get to try it. 🤣 It was super easy….. I will say THAT…….. AS WELL VERY CHEAP

      Reply
  8. Dominique says

    December 1, 2019 at 14:33

    This is a great recipe! I had frozen broccoli and peas so I added those at the end and it turned out great. I used the exact same pasta shape with 4 cups of water and found the pasta to be the right consistency. It wasn’t quite al dente but still great nonetheless; definitely not mushy as some Instant Pot recipes can be.

    Reply
  9. Jessica says

    June 17, 2019 at 15:48

    Excited to try this. I’m relatively new to the instant pot. Do you think if I throw in frozen broccoli at the beginning it will hold up and not get mushy?
    Thanks for posting!

    Reply
    • Taylor Stinson says

      June 18, 2019 at 08:04

      Hey Jessica! I would not recommend that you add frozen broccoli in at the beginning – microwave it for 1-2 minutes to defrost then throw it in at the end and let it all sit for 5 minutes or so. That should do it 🙂

      Reply
  10. Aileen Day says

    March 27, 2019 at 13:18

    Hi there, the recipe show total cook time as 20 min but it says to only cook maccaroni for 2 min and then add rest of ingredients and let stand for 5min. Is this correct?

    Reply
    • Taylor Stinson says

      April 3, 2019 at 10:30

      Hey Aileen – this is an Instant Pot recipe. The Instant Pot takes about 15 min to preheat and pressure cooks for 2 min so the total cook time once factoring in the preheating is closer to 20 min. Hope that helps!

      Reply
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Taylor Stinson

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I'm Taylor Stinson, a busy city girl living in downtown Toronto. Looking to switch up your weekly meal prep routine? I've got you covered with healthy recipes and meal planning resources. Join 1.5 million other monthly readers and dive in! MORE ABOUT ME..

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