This Healthier Instant Pot Mac and Cheese with broccoli and white cheddar is comfort food that comes together with less than 10 ingredients!
Gain access to my free 4-week meal prep magic ebook!
How to make this recipe
-
Add butter, water, salt and macaroni spirals to Instant Pot in that order.
-
Set to cook on high pressure for 2 minutes. Once complete, open the lid when it's 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!
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)
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.
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!
More Instant Pot recipes
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!
is the version I use in this recipe.
Healthy Instant Pot Mac and Cheese
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
Nutrition
Judy says
will the broccoli be tender even though it’s not really cooked – just added to the pot at the end?
Taylor Stinson says
I find it tender enough for my taste but you may want to steam it beforehand if you like it softer.
Dana says
Would you need to change anything if you use protein pasta like Banza?
Taylor Stinson says
Hi Dana – unfortunately I haven’t tested this recipe with different types of pasta. You could give it a try though!
Amy says
How does this do reheated?? Any recommendations for reheating? Usually reheated pasta is no longer creamy and is dry.
Taylor Stinson says
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!
Theresa Weileman says
414 calories per serving, is a cup a serving?
Taylor Stinson says
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.
Dee K says
Do you think whole wheat pasta would work?
Taylor Stinson says
Hi Dee – I have not tried it myself but I imagine it would work!
Shobee says
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?
Taylor Stinson says
Hey Shobee – for sure! I would sprinkle some water overtop and reheat in a 350 F oven from frozen for 30-40 minutes.
Mary says
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.
Taylor Stinson says
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.
Victoria S Lytton says
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
Dominique says
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.
Jessica says
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!
Taylor Stinson says
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 🙂
Aileen Day says
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?
Taylor Stinson says
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!