Instant Pot Cheeseburger Mac and Cheese
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Cheeseburger macaroni recipe? YES, PLEASE! Hamburger meat, pasta and an epic cheese sauce. All made in ONE POT. Too easy!
It’s been a bit hectic here. With the move, the traveling, the wedding planning, and the holidays, we’ve been constantly on the go-go-go.
But even with our super busy schedules, I can still whip up this cozy, comforting cheeseburger mac in a flash.
That’s right. You read that right. It’s cheeseburger MAC. AND. CHEESE. Aka, homemade hamburger helper made a million times better thanks to Cabot cheese.
Owned by 800 farm families throughout New York and New England since 1919, Cabot creates the best cheese and dairy. So it’s no wonder that this mac and cheese yields that super creamy, super epic cheese sauce.
And my favorite part? You can throw all of it in the Instant Pot®! And I mean, all of it, even the uncooked pasta. You barely have to lift a finger here.
After the quick-release, you can stir in all the cheese, letting it melt right into the pasta. The key here is using a good quality cheese, like Cabot Mild Cheddar Cheese. It will make all of the difference!
Instant Pot Cheeseburger Mac and Cheese
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- ½ medium sweet onion, diced
- ½ green bell pepper, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 ½ teaspoons paprika
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- 3 cups beef stock
- 1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce
- 12 ounces elbow macaroni
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 ½ cups shredded Cabot Mild Cheddar Cheese
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
Instructions
- Set a 6-qt Instant Pot® to the high saute setting. Heat olive oil; add ground beef and cook until browned, about 3-5 minutes, making sure to crumble the beef as it cooks; drain excess fat.
- Add onion and bell pepper, and cook, stirring frequently, until tender, about 2-3 minutes. Stir in garlic, paprika and oregano until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Stir in beef stock, tomato sauce and pasta; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Select manual setting; adjust pressure to high, and set time for 5 minutes. When finished cooking, quick-release pressure according to manufacturer’s directions.
- Stir in cheese and heavy cream until cheese has melted, about 1-2 minutes; stir in parsley.
- Serve immediately.
Did you make this recipe?
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Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Cabot Creamery. As always, I only partner with brands that I love and truly believe in, allowing me to create more quick and easy recipes to get us through the week without breaking the bank. All opinions expressed are my own.
Hi. I followed every instruction with the exception of the type of cheese. I used cheddar.
After releasing the pressure and removing lid, I added cheese and heavy cream.
What I have is a soup. This was not my goal.
I used 12 0z macaroni.
It’s in the fridge and I ordered a pizza for tonight’s dinner.
Should I boil another 12 oz of macaroni? Would that resolve or help?
I appreciate your help.
Sharon
This is my favorite instant pot recipe! I’ve shared it with many friends, and we all love it. It’s fantastic!
omg i love this recipe so much it’s super easy and quick to make! it’s also so good me and my whole family love it!!
OUTSTANDING ! Followed recipe exactly, finished dish fantastic. But… you do have a tendency of putting together many marvelous creations. Easy to make, clear concise instructions and OMG it’s made with real food and is healthy too! What a concept. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe.
This was so easy and so good! My whole family loved it, including my very picky son.
Basically it’s like leggo’s tomato puree.
Married to an American but live in Australia 🙂
For some reason it was soupy. We followed the directions. Any ideas?
Substituted cream cheese for cream. Oh so good.
I’m in Australia. What do you mean when you say a can of tomato sauce? Is it pasta sauce, passata, tinned tomatoes? Thanks……
In America a can of tomato sauce is just cooked tomatoes-very similar to a Marinara sauce only there’s no additional flavors added. It’s just tomatoes that have been cooked down into a sauce. You could substitute pasta sauce or marinara.
Basically it’s like leggo’s tomato puree.
Married to an American but live in Australia 🙂
I love this recipe, I do a slighter version, with 99% ground turkey breast, and chicken stock, I leave out the cream all together and I use sharp cheddar, my husband loves it, the toddler loves it, and it’s Easy!!!!
So easy and delicious! I sautéed the beef, onions and green peppers in a separate pot, easier to drain the grease. Made the rest as written! Kids devoured it!
Delicious! I used a 160z box of pasta & increased the rest of the ingredients by 1/3. I used 20Oz jar of marinara sauce & 3 1/2 cups of beef broth. The whole family loved it! I’m new to the Instant Pot… but use it almost every night since I got it. Can’t wait to try more of your recipes!
Amazing!! My husband and I loved it! So good and seriously so easy!!
Amazing!! My husband and I loved it! So good and seriously so easy!!
This was a hit at our house! So easy to do in the Instant Pot. Followed your recipe to the letter. After some googling found that 12oz of macaroni was roughly 3 cups.
Thank you!
Great recipe! You are basically making homemade hamburger helper but for a weeknight easy meal that teens love, you can’t beat it!
Can this be used with vegetable stock vs beef? I have 4 containers left of vegi stock and would like to use it.
Of Course…. sounds good!!!
I’ve made this twice and the second time was better than the first. Still making some tweaks, but overall it’s delicious! And quick! I’m wondering if this is freezable?
Yep! This one is a keeper! I’ve made many variations of this and they were just “okay” but this one is it! So good!
I make this on the stove top by following the instructions as written in a Dutch oven and then cooking on medium heat for about 15 minutes (stirring often) instead of pressure cooking. We usually add some chipotle powder along with paprika, etc for a bit of heat but as written it’s an A+ classic hamburger mac.
I tried this in my dutch oven and 15 min was perfect! Thank you!
I don’t have an instapot, so I had to convert it. I cooked the pasta with boullion and put it in a pan. I cooked the ground beef with the vegetables, stirred in the spices , then added the tomato sauce. I poured it over the noodles. Cooked at 350 for 10 minutes. Added cheese and cooked 5 minutes longer. Perfect!
I made this as written except I used gluten-free pasta. I cooked it for 6 minutes and it was perfect, not soupy at all. My whole family enjoyed it but I feel like it’s missing something… maybe a dash or two of hot sauce? I also think the canned tomato flavor was too strong so I might try swapping plain tomato sauce for pizza sauce. Still yummy, but I think those changes would make it a real keeper.
Make the changes for you and family… cooking is an art! If your family likes loves hot sauce, spicy, add hot sauce… I hated diced tomatoes growing up, would push them to the side, tomato sauce works… My Mom and Grams called this a “Scrummage”…. Instant Pot just makes it faster and easier….