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I was shocked to read that pasta could be cooked right, in the Instant Pot. HOW?? Otherwise it has to swim around freely in a lot of water. I tried this recipe and it worked amaaaazingly well. Have a look, this is a close-up photo. It took about 10 minutes. Talk about "fast food," geez!


I cut everything down to 1/4th (wanted to try a single serving just to see). That worked great in my 3-qt. Mini. You may need to use PIP (pot within pot) if you have a bigger one and want to make jut a single serving. But here's the recipe for four.

iNSTANT POT MAC & CHEESE

16 oz. Elbow macaroni (lg. size, not mini as used in boxed)
4 cups Water
3 Tbsp Butter.
2 teasp. salt
(my addition - cayenne, black pepper and/or other seasonings as desired)

Stir and poke pasta into water and set to Manual (Normal + High) for 4 minutes.
Quick Release the pressure. Remove lid and stir pasta to separate.

Hit Cancel, then hit Saute (Normal).

Then adding...
1 Cup Heavy whipping cream (or heavy cream, Half-and-Half, evap. milk (or even whole milk probably). (I used half and half).
2 Cups grated cheddar (I used store bought, finer cut).

...stir in liquid first, separating pasta, and add cheese gradually, as it melts. DONE!!!

Yum.....some things might be better off unlearned......I love pasta and cheese!

BirdbyBird wrote:Yum.....some things might be better off unlearned......I love pasta and cheese!

Haha, I know what you mean! I made this for the first time fairly late at night - did NOT feel like cooking but I was starving and doubting it could cook pasta properly I was already considering what to punt with if it didn't turn out. But Ohh, did it ever! Compared to other main course recipes I've made it was also very fast.

I can now attest to the leftovers - I heated up a small bowl for brunch today. It was very stiff out of the fridge, but I resisted the urge to pre-doctor it with added cream and just stuck it into the nuker, as is and uncovered, to see what would happen. It got un-stiff with the nuker reheat and came out perfect.

This Instant Pot is a game changer for sure. I havent done Pasta yet as I was a little indifferent about it BUT yours looks very good so just might have to give it a try.

I am making Teriyaki chicken and rice today in mine......will have enough teriyaki chicken to pop in the freezer then can just add some rice to it when I take it out.

Going to try a broccoli, cheese and rice casserole after the holiday. Will probably add some leftover turkey to it too.

I have to say I am really having fun with my pot LOL

My Instant Pot just arrived. I'm going to have to practice great restraint to not use it before we leave on Wednesday.

I am DOING this! Thanks for posting. I am loving my instant pot, cooking grains and soup mostly.

Azusateach wrote:My Instant Pot just arrived. I'm going to have to practice great restraint to not use it before we leave on Wednesday.

Yeah, do use restraint if you have to focus on packing. lol.

elkriverrats wrote:I am DOING this! Thanks for posting. I am loving my instant pot, cooking grains and soup mostly.

Please let us know how it turned out in whatever size pot you use. I could have made way more in my 3-qt. but was skeptical so wanted to try just one serving size. Also pretty new to Instant Pot, I was sooooooo thrilled to learn that it will do pasta dishes. But as well as mine cooked it, I was floored. I guess I just didn't expect that. Super happy surprise. And for as insanely simple as this was, it was a darned good M&C!

Holy smokes this is GOOD! Just made it in my 6 qt. IP. I made the full recipe using medium shells. I have never cooked pasta in my pot before so I was not expecting a little bit of frothy liquid coming out when releasing the steam after cooking. It wasn't too bad and I was trying to hold a tea towel above it to catch what I could. Could be perfectly normal for pasta, I have no clue. The shells were perfectly cooked at 4 min.
I had exactly one cup of half and half to use up and had mexican blend shredded cheese on hand.
Now I hope I don't eat too much! Between the kid and I, there may not be any to share with my parents tomorrow
This one is a winner in my book, thanks for sharing!!

elkriverrats wrote:Holy smokes this is GOOD! Just made it in my 6 qt. IP. I made the full recipe using medium shells. I have never cooked pasta in my pot before so I was not expecting a little bit of frothy liquid coming out when releasing the steam after cooking. It wasn't too bad and I was trying to hold a tea towel above it to catch what I could. Could be perfectly normal for pasta, I have no clue. The shells were perfectly cooked at 4 min.
I had exactly one cup of half and half to use up and had mexican blend shredded cheese on hand.
Now I hope I don't eat too much! Between the kid and I, there may not be any to share with my parents tomorrow
This one is a winner in my book, thanks for sharing!!

I'm so glad to hear it turned out for you, and that shells work also, so thank you right back for adding that info because I was wondering about other kinds of pasta. Mine hasn't frothed BUT I'm only making 1/4th the recipe in a 3-qt. Mini. It would handle more, but this has become my go-to when I need something quick, cooking just for me, so that's the only amount I've tried. I DID notice on another reading of the manual that it said to only cook pasta recipes for the IP, but this one was said to be specifically for the IP. But your frothing is worth knowing about, maybe pasta is something to not cook at full product capacity otherwise. Worth experimenting but if you got it with the full recipe, I'd not increase it in the 6-qt. pot.
Thanks a lot for letting us know! And again I'm glad you enjoyed it too because I sure have been.

I had pasta froth.... It's the reason I take my pressure cooker outside to release pressure.

Upon cleanup I realized that the froth was pasta and butter water it made more work wiping up. When I make this again I'm going to try adding the butter when I add the milk and cheese.

elkriverrats wrote:Upon cleanup I realized that the froth was pasta and butter water it made more work wiping up. When I make this again I'm going to try adding the butter when I add the milk and cheese.

Wow. Good call, I will try that too. I actually made it earlier tonight and looked at the contents as I whipped off the cover, and there were big water bubbles (like a boil on steroids) way higher up the pot than the pasta which, after letting it settle for half a second, didn't really have any excess water to speak of. So I think with pasta, butter aside, maybe the starch might cause that and we shouldn't fill pot more than to the first mark, if that. But I still want to try adding the butter after. That just seems to make more sense.

elkriverrats wrote:Upon cleanup I realized that the froth was pasta and butter water it made more work wiping up. When I make this again I'm going to try adding the butter when I add the milk and cheese.

It says in the manual not to cook pasta (and a few other things), in the IP because of the froth spurting and also clogging up the vent and pin areas. What I do is turn it off before the suggested time and allow natural release to finish the cooking. Pin will drop so no pressure release needed.

Tips: cook russet potatoes with an X scored in one end. After cooking you can peel the skins off like a banana.
Need eggs for potato salad? Crack them into a lightly greased bowl, add cup of water to bottom of the IP, then the trivet, then the bowl. After they are cooked you can chop them to desired size for potato salad or egg salad. No shucking required!

I moved the addition of butter to be added with the cream now just because I'd rather do quick release without grease in the mix, but I cook less pasta than pot's capacity lines and there's never any issue. When I took the lid off the last time and looked very quickly (right after quick release had finished) I noticed there is hyber-bubbling atop the pasta so maybe with pasta it would be a good idea not to make full capacity amounts. Still, I've checked my stem, etc. to see if there seems to be any starch stickiness and no sign of it at all.

However, there's a compromise between quick and natural release where you speed it up but the steam is release way more gently. Stick the handle of a wooden spoon through the loop on the top of the pot and just wedge it slightly under the pressure release knob. That lifts it just a tad and a slow but steady (and faster than natural) steam release takes place, its speed controllable.