Instant Pot Creamy Broccoli Mac and Cheese
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Making mac and cheese in the Instant Pot is definitely the way to go! It’s unbelievably easy, it’s made in one single pot (hello, easiest clean up ever), and the mac and cheese comes out amazingly creamy! You can’t beat that!
Guys.
We’re going on a cruise to Italy in two months.
Which means I should be getting “bikini-ready”.
But I don’t see that happening any time soon.
Because this broccoli mac and cheese is E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G.
It’s the mac and cheese we all dream of.
The one that’s creamy but not too heavy.
The one that just melts in your mouth.
And basically the one that you can’t stop eating.
I mean, it’s such a shame you can make this in the Instant Pot so easily.
That just means you’ll be making it every day this week.
Hey, at least we have broccoli in it, right?
Instant Pot Creamy Broccoli Mac and Cheese
Ingredients
- 1 pound fusilli pasta
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 4 cups broccoli florets
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 (5-ounce) can evaporated milk
- 1 cup half and half*
- 12 ounces extra sharp cheddar cheese, grated
Instructions
- Add pasta, butter and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt to a 6-qt Instant Pot®. Stir in 4 1/2 cups water.
- Select manual setting; adjust pressure to high, and set time for 5 minutes. When finished cooking, quick-release pressure according to manufacturer’s directions.
- Select high sauté setting. Stir in broccoli and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender and liquid has reduced, about 3-4 minutes. Stir in Dijon and garlic powder.
- Select warm setting. Stir in milk and half and half until warmed, about 2 minutes. Gradually whisk in cheese until melted, about 3 minutes; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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I followed the directions exactly and mine came out perfect. My instapot did not splatter on the quick release.
My kids love it and think the broccoli is so delicious this way. I have to add extra broccoli which is a huge plus in book. Thank you!
This is a great recipe we really enjoyed!! Add butter when sautéing the broccoli no problems!
Very tasty and super easy to make. My 4.5 y.o enjoyed adding all the ingredients to the instant pot, and he gave it a “yum!” Rating.
The flavor was great, but way too cheesy. Will make again, but with less cheese!!
Love this recipe! Can you double it?
…aaaannnndddd this is how I got my son (age 5) to voluntarily eat broccoli! So delicious, creamy, and flavorful. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve made it. Great recipe for play dates, too!
Followed the recipe exactly as it was written, and it came out delicious. Served it with chicken cutlets topped with arugula salad, red onion, tomato, lemon vinaigrette. All 5 kids gave it a thumbs up.
This is easy and delicious! I will not make Mac and Cheese any other way.
Fast, simple, and very tasty!
We loved this recipe. I substituted Greek yogurt for half and half, which I didn’t have. Used garden fresh broccoli.
Total hit and definite repeat!!!!
We love this recipe!!! Such a weeknight time saver!
If we don’t have fusilli in the house, how do you calculate the cooking time for a different shape of pasta?
Thanks!
Sarah
I also had the butter water geyser issue but hadn’t read the comments. Not sure how to avoid it. After cleanup, the dish was still good but could use some more seasoning. I’m planning to add more garlic, onion powder and salt to the leftovers. I will say this is the first time I’ve ever run into any issues with Damn Delicious recipes. They are generally excellent. Thanks for publishing them.
For everyone having trouble with the hot butter water spraying everywhere when quick releasing- just throw a dish towel over the vent. Problem solved! This was so good! Everything came together exactly as written and everyone loved it. This will definitely be in my instant pot rotation!
This recipe is good but you should make sure it’s clear what happens when you quick release. It spattered buttery water all over my wall & counter & made a terrible mess. Thankfully nothing was damaged but it was a real pain to clean up. I saw this noted in the comments but followed the recipe & assumed it would be ok. What would you recommend to avoid this happening? Add the butter with the broccoli? I think the pasta would over cook if you natural release? Thanks….have used your instant pot recipes often
I haven’t made it yet but I plan on it tonight can I use a boxed mix, or at least the noodles from it?
Can you use whole grain noodles for this?
I mean by that, have you tried it and know what the adjusted time would be? Thanks!
Delicious recipe. I would recommend NOT using quick release until after about 5 minutes of natural release. It’s a MESS.
Loved this recipe! So creamy and delicious and best of all, EASY! I added some chopped rotisserie chicken and it was delicious!
Great idea. What stage did you add the chicken?
This was exactly the texture of the cheese sauce that I was looking for! My friends loved it and leftovers tasted great the next day too. Will keep this recipe and try other variations with other mix-in and more veggies! I added thawed frozen corn and broccoli and stirred in after the pasta cooked, and it still tasted great. I also used 2% milk instead of heavy cream, and again there were no issues with that substitution.
I too had the issue of the butter spewing everywhere at the steam release. I used the smaller instant pot dua nova and so I may halve the recipe in the future to avoid the over flow, but I also think I will just add the butter after the pasta is cooked to avoid this problem! It was too messy to repeat that again.
Excellent, easy, and oh-so-creamy!!! I do have to thank the other reviewer who provided the warning that it’s an absolute buttery MESS when you do the quick release! Steamy butter was spewing everywhere and got all over the Instant Pot and counter. But it was worth it. Thank you for yet another great recipe.
I’ve made many Damn Delicious recipes & this one wins the prize for fast, easy and delicious. I agree with one reviewer that it could use an extra “oomph” so next time I’ll add a bit more garlic powder and a 1/4 to 1/2 tsp of onion powder. It was a savior to sit down to a savory dinner within 20 minutes with just one (Instant) pot to wash! Thank you.
I haven’t made this yet but was wondering how important it is to serve immediately. I have a party tomorrow and this looks like an amazing dish for it but I doubt I’d be able to make it right before people want to eat (since they’d prefer to just meander in and out of the kitchen and serve themselves). Will it be ruined if I don’t?
It looks great! I don’t have Instant Pot but Can I make it on the stove?
Hi Joha! We have a stovetop mac and cheese recipe that is very similar to this. 🙂
This dish seriously is damn delicious!! My family commented this tasted better than restaurant quality. Incredibly easy to make with a very rewarding end product! Every recipe I’ve made from your website (about a dozen) has been a hit. Thank you!
So I’m really sad. I totally picked up a condensed milk instead of evaporated milk. I’m in early pregnancy and my baby-affected brain just didnt even realize the mistake until I had finished the dish. Any chance theres something I can do to redeem it?
Here are some possible substitutes. Hopefully these options will save you a trip to the store! 🙂
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/cooking-tips-techniques/substitute-for-evaporated-milk%3Famp%3Dtrue
We LOVE this Mac & Cheese! I’ve made it so many times and I love how quick and easy this is. I keep some chopped broccoli in the freezer with the other ingredients in my pantry so I can make this on days we don’t have much time for dinner. I omit the butter and it still tastes amazing! Thanks for a great recipe!
Very tasty. Next time I will put my instant pot on my stove to hopefully to keep the mess from the instant release to a minimum as it spewed lots of buttery liquid steam everywhere. I’m also thinking about maybe adding some pieces of bacon to it next time because who doesn’t like bacon. But overall the directions were easy to follow, the ingredients were inexpensive and easy to work with. The taste was so good. Will be a remake for sure.
Deelish! Such good comfort food. I loved the extra sharp cheddar and may play around with other cheese combinations next time!
I used various cheeses I happened to have on hand, including extra sharp cheddar. I used rotini noodles because the grocery store I went to didn’t carry fusilli. I also used the 3/4 cup whole milk + 1/4 cup heavy cream as the half and half substitute. It was excellent. I will definitely make again.
Just made this and it is Yummy! Only adjustment was to half for a 3qt. IP and added a sprig of Rosemary to water while cooking pasta, and butter at the end.
The rosemary sprig in the pasta water is a great idea, Louise!
I can’t really give a review since I did it a little bit differently, but I will make this again. I wanted to skip a step by putting the veggies in with the pasta. I used frozen broccoli and came up a little bit short so I added a few frozen peas as well. I dumped it in on top of the uncooked pasta and water and set the timer for 5 minutes. No problems with the quick release – maybe the veggies on top helped prevent foaming? I was worried that there might be excess water due to the frozen veggies so I drained the pasta and veggies in a colander, but it didn’t turn out to be that much water after all. Put it all back in the instant pot, turned it to saute and added the dairy, garlic powder, and I used dry mustard. Got it bubbling before adding the cheese, bit by bit. I used extra sharp cheddar because that’s what I had on hand, but I don’t really recommend it. It doesn’t melt very well (kind of grainy) and the flavor gets kind of strong when melted. All in all, it was pretty good, I learned a few things, and will make it again.
So easy and so amazingly good! The creamy goodness is unbelievable. Great recipe!!!!
Awesome!
This was delicious! But when I did the quick release, it spewed buttery liquid all over my kitchen. First time that’s ever happened and I’ve cooked pasta before. I think it must be the butter. Would it be okay to add the butter after the pasta is done? Ugh, what a mess! But as I said, very tasty, creamy, and yummy!
Mine did the same thing … buttery puddle on the countertop and spray on the cabinets, counter and stovetop. I was worried about the loss of the butter so I added more to the pasta and completed the recipe as written. I’m not sure why it happened but then again I’ve never cooked pasta in the IP on its own.
Delicious, quick and oh so easy! My kids and I absolutely loved it! Next time, I will add more broccoli. Thanks for the fantastic recipe!
Thanks for sharing!
This recipe is delicious my husband loved it too! Definitely a make again. Thank you for sharing.
My non-eater, 12 year old said “This is REALLY good, Mom!” Fast for after church and loved by all. Thanks for a great recipe!
Awesome!
This looks amazing!
Unfortunately, we have a household full of Dijon (or any kind of mustard) avoiders that can pick out that flavor in the smallest of quantities. We do like a little kick to our food though. Do you have any substitution recommendations for the Dijon?
Thank you!!
You can omit since it’s such a small amount! 🙂
I made this last night – followed the recipe exactly and OH. MY. GOSH. it was so yummy! It was my first time using my Instant Pot (and my first time making a successful mac and cheese.) I have the recipe posted on my fridge now!
Will this freeze well? I need to prepare a lot of meals ahead of Thanksgiving. How would I warm this up?
This looks great. Is it spicy at all? I am making it for my 4 year old son.
I have an Instant Pot. That’s why I’m looking up Instant Pot Recipes. What the heck, folks?
I’m interested in trying this dish. If I want to double the recipe I suspect I need to double the water for the pasta, right? Also, you didn’t mention draining the water at any point, so I’m thinking that you shouldn’t.
thanks,
Karen
Can You add Chicken? If so, best suggestions?
We added chicken but, not to the InstaPot. We sautéed cubed chicken breast on the stove and served the recipe on top of the chicken. Really good!
Do you use fresh, frozen or thawed broccoli?
Do you have nutrition info?
Nutritional information is provided only for select and some new recipes at this time. However, if it is not available for a specific recipe, we recommend using free online resources at your discretion (you can Google “nutritional calculator”) to obtain such information. Hope that helps!
This simple recipe turned out great! I used almost 2lbs of pasta but followed everything else and it still turned out perfect. This is a crowd pleaser. Thank you! Will be adding it to
my rotation.
Can you use frozen broccoli?
Thanks
Any adjustments in liquids needed for making this in an 8 quart IP?
How would you cook this in a stove top and/or electric pressure cooker.
Hi Becky! You can try this stovetop recipe instead: https://damndelicious.net/2017/12/28/creamy-broccoli-mac-and-cheese/.
loved it!
Can you sub wheat fusilli or another type of wheat pasta.
Yes, absolutely, but please be mindful of cooking time as it can vary when using different types of pasta.
My family would LOVE this! I love instant pot recipes, keep ’em coming! So excited to try this.
Thanks for a great recipe! I used both broccoli and cauliflower and roasted it beforehand, which gave it great flavor. I also realized I only had 8 oz of cheddar cheese, so I supplemented with Parmesan and it turned out really yummy. I’ve made another mac and cheese in my pressure cooker (Crock Pot Multi-Cooker) before that turned out really badly, so I was nervous, but this was amazing!
Hi! Do you use fresh or frozen broccoli? Does it matter? Thanks!
The ingredients call for grated cheese….can I use shredded packaged cheese or is it better when it is fresh? Thanks!
Yes, you can absolutely use pre-shredded cheese, although I do think the freshly grated cheese works/melts best! 🙂
This is so easy! My kids will love it!
What size instant pot do you use for your recipes? I plan on getting one and your recipes are the only ones I use so I want to make sure I don’t get one thats too small!
I use a 6-qt.
I just picked up a 8qt ultra yesterday and was wondering with all the recipes in general, do the measurements need to be adjusted depending on the size of the instant pot?
The measurements can stay the same as your Instant Pot is larger than the standard 6-qt Instant Pot that is used in these recipes. Hope that helps, Joel!
Question: can you make this in the 8 quart insta pot or would I need to adjust the quantities? (Sorry… instapot newbie)
No need to be sorry, Cassi! 🙂
When using an 8qt Instant Pot, the timing should stay relatively the same. It would just take a little longer for it to come to pressure. But as always, please use your best judgment when making substitutions and modifications.
This recipe looks fantastic! I’m planning on using only 1/2 lb of pasta, do I need to adjust the time in the instant pot?
The cooking time should stay relatively the same. Hope that helps!
I have tried so many recipes of yours and they have always been yummy. My boyfriend loves them too. I am gonna try this one tomorrow.
Have tried a few of your Instant Pot recipes and have loved every one! I’m sure this will be no different… And by the way, as a side note, I also love good food but try to practice moderation. I can’t give up enjoying delicious food! I’ve adopted the “if you have a bikini and a body, then you’re ready” philopsophy…
I have found when adding butter or milk and doing a quick release the steam is so messy… any ideas to avoid that?
Renee, you can try to release it naturally but you may run the risk of overcooking.
Renee: I frequently cook pasta in the Instant Pot, and you are right, sometimes the steam is out of control and gooey. I usually place a light towel over the valve as the steam releases, and then I rinse the lid immediately…because I can’t go back to cooking pasta old school after IP pasta cooking.
Thanks for the tip Barbara!
I don’t have an Instant Pot yet, but with all the tasty recipes you’ve been posting I might have to look into it! This mac n’ cheese looks so good. My goal of being “bikini-ready” never seems to outweigh wanting to eat delicious food- maybe one of these days… 😉
Don’t have an instant pot. Is there another way to make this? Thanks!
Hi Deborah! You can try this stovetop recipe instead: https://damndelicious.net/2017/12/28/creamy-broccoli-mac-and-cheese/. It’s one of my favorites!
Could this be done with a crockpot instead? What would change? I haven’t got on the instant pot wagon yet. :).
Hi Dani! You can try this stovetop recipe instead: https://damndelicious.net/2017/12/28/creamy-broccoli-mac-and-cheese/. It’s one of my favorites!
This sounds divine!!!
Could this be done in a slow cooker or le Creuset pot in oven?
I don’t have an instant pot.
Thank you for your work and dedication to spreading the possibility of good food every where!!!
Diana
Hi Diana! You can try this stovetop recipe instead: https://damndelicious.net/2017/12/28/creamy-broccoli-mac-and-cheese/. It’s one of my favorites!
Has anyone tried to double the Mac Cheese Broccoli recipe in a 6 qt instant pot? Also has anyone made it ahead and reheated it successfully?
Not yet, but will definitely try this one in my next meal.