Pressure Cooker Mac and Cheese
Make this dreamy and creamy Pressure Cooker Mac and Cheese Recipe: tender macaroni in smooth, rich cheddar cheese sauce. Kid-friendly one-pot meal in 35 minutes.
Make this dreamy and creamy Pressure Cooker Mac and Cheese Recipe: tender macaroni in smooth, rich cheddar cheese sauce. Kid-friendly one-pot meal in 35 minutes.
- 4 tablespoons butter (unsalted)
- kosher salt (to taste)
- 16 ounces elbow macaroni
- 4 cups water (cold)
- 14 ounces sharp cheddar (freshly grated)
- 6 ounces mild cheddar ( or american cheese freshly grated)
- black pepper (ground to taste)
- 2 large eggs ( beaten)
- 1 can evaporated milk (12 ounces 355ml can)
- 1 teaspoon sriracha sauce (or frank's hot sauce)
- 1 teaspoon mustard (ground)
- Carbohydrate 84.6828680950728 g
- Cholesterol 30.5031249742142 mg
- Fat 13.2197924355121 g
- Fiber 3.62873901087242 g
- Protein 14.9077049988581 g
- Saturated Fat 7.60194770978723 g
- Serving Size 1 1 -6 serving (269g)
- Sodium 47.1225105426807 mg
- Sugar 81.0541290842004 g
- Trans Fat 1.37028874947102 g
- Calories 522 calories
Step-by-step
- Add elbow macaroni, water, and a pinch of kosher salt in the Instant Pot. Close the lid and cook at High Pressure for 4 minutes. Then, gradual quick release. There is a slight chance that a tiny amount of foam will come out with the steam. Have a towel handy. Open lid.
- While the macaroni is pressure cooking, in a medium mixing bowl, beat the eggs and mix in ground mustard, Sriracha, and evaporated milk. Mix well.
- Keep heat on low or medium low by using keep warm function. Place butter in the pressure cooked macaroni. Mix well with a silicone spatula and let the butter melt.
- Pour in the wet ingredients and mix well. Add grated cheese (1/3 portion at a time) and stir constantly until the cheese fully melt.
- If the mac and cheese is too runny, turn the heat to medium using the Sauté Less function - Click cancel, Sauté and Adjust button twice - to reduce it down.
- Taste and season with kosher salt and ground black pepper (likely need a couple pinches of kosher salt to brighten the dish).
- Mac and Cheese needs to be served piping hot, so serve immediately! Enjoy!
Starch-thickened water trapped inside a sealed electric cooker creates an ideal starchy cooking medium for elbow pasta, yielding tender tubes coated in a glossy, clinging emulsion rather than a watery broth. Leftover pasta absorbs moisture rapidly when refrigerated in a sealed glass container for up to three days, so restoring its texture requires specific intervention.
- Grating blocks of cheddar manually yields superior melting compared to pre-shredded varieties, which contain cellulose coatings that inhibit smooth emulsification.
- Reheating chilled portions on the stovetop demands low heat and a splash of whole milk or evaporated milk to reconstitute the broken sauce matrix without scorching the dairy solids.
- Stirring grated cheese in thirds prevents temperature drops that cause fats to separate into oily pools rather than blending into a uniform sauce.
- Adjusting consistency requires utilizing the Sauté Less function on a low temperature setting to gently drive off excess moisture if the sauce appears too loose initially.
Cold portions firm up considerably due to the retrogradation of starches within the pasta noodles. Gentle thermal reactivation with added liquid brings the emulsion back to its original consistency.
