Instant Pot Prize Winning Pizza Mac and Cheese—pepperoni pizza meets macaroni and cheese for a winning combination. Everyone will say, “more please!”

Instant Pot Prize Winning Pizza Mac and Cheese
Can’t decide if you want pizza or macaroni and cheese for dinner? Now you don’t have to choose. Mix the two into one amazing pasta dish. This is a dump and go recipe with only a 5 minute pressure cooking time and a quick release. It goes without saying that my kids loved this meal but Greg and I loved it as well.
You can get creative with what ingredients you add in. Greg threw in some bacon after the macaroni had pressure cooked. Other ideas might be sliced olives, sliced mushrooms, sausage, Canadian bacon, pineapple (?!?), onions, etc. Get creative with what you like and what you have on hand.
Serve your Instant Pot Prize Winning Pizza Mac and Cheese with a green side salad and if you really want to go over the top make some homemade Little Caesar’s Crazy Bread to go with it.
More Instant Pot Pasta Perfect Recipes…
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Instant Pot Tuscan Chicken Pasta
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Prize Winning Pizza Mac and Cheese
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 4–6 servings 1x
Description
Pepperoni pizza meets macaroni and cheese for a winning combination. Everyone will say, “more please!”
Ingredients
- 2 cups water or broth
- 8 oz uncooked elbow macaroni
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 2 (8 oz) cans tomato sauce
- 2 oz (about 25–30 slices) pepperoni
- 1 green bell pepper, cored and diced
- 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 cup shredded medium cheddar
- 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
- 1/4 cup milk (if needed)
- Other ideas of what you can add in: sliced olives, bacon bits, sliced mushrooms, onions, ham cubes, tomatoes
Instructions
- Prepare all ingredients.
- Pour water into Instant Pot. Dump in the macaroni and make sure it’s covered with liquid.
- Sprinkle in the Italian seasoning. Dump the tomato sauce on top. Add in pepperoni and green pepper.
- Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 5 minutes. When time is up move valve to venting and remove the lid.
- Stir well. Add in the cheeses and if needed a bit of milk. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
I used my 6 quart Instant Pot Duo 60 7 in 1*. Make with no changes in your 3 or 8 quart pot.
- Category: Pasta
- Method: Instant Pot
*Karen Petersen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
Can I use penne instead?
yep!
I’ve tried making this twice and mine has been more soup like and not thick. Not sure what I am doing wrong 🙁
I’m not sure. You could try thickening with cornstarch or you could cut water down to 1 3/4 cup instead.
This was delicious. My husband and I loved it. Thanks for sharing this. One question, my husband thought it was a little too salty. Is there anything you can suggest to cut down on the salt?
Thanks – Jack
Use water instead of broth and low sodium tomato sauce.
Karen, made this tonight and it was delicious! Served with mixed veggies, yellow, red, green peppers, onions, carrots and mushrooms sautéed in olive oil! Will make again! Thank you for all your recipes, I haven’t had a bad one yet!
I love all those mix in ideas!
It was PAST amazing!! You sure nailed this one. I used a jar of Victoria Spicy Abbarriata sauce instead of the tomato sauce. I cut the pepperoni in half & used your suggestion of adding ham cubes, mushrooms & onions. Pretty much what I’d put on a pizza. Used beef broth. Didn’t have elbows, so used cavatappi. It was soooo good.
★★★★
Sounds so great! I like your ideas!
Wanna make this tonight. Can I use a jar of marinara instead of the tomato sauce???? Your thoughts?
heck yes and that would be amazing.
If I use a jar of marinara sauce (25 oz)instead of the 16 ounces of tomato sauce should I cut back the amount of broth used?
Thanks
No, I think you’ll still need the amount of broth to cook macaroni and bring pot to pressure.
How do I convert this pizza mac & cheese to a slow cooker??
I haven’t tried it in the slow cooker. But I would throw the ingredients into the crockpot and cook on high for 2-3 hours. Then add in the cheeses.
Hi Karen,
I have a suggestion. If the recipe you post is in your new cookbook, please include the page number so cookbook owners know the recipe available in their book.
Love this idea!!