This post was sponsored by Sargento Foods as part of an Ambassador Program for Influence Central and all opinions expressed in my post are my own.

Calling all busy moms! Are you going to make it through spring sports season? At our house we are in the midst of baseball season where the games start at 5 pm or 6:30 pm…smack dab in the middle of dinner time. If you’re committed to feeding your family at home like I am, this can pose a challenge. Do you make dinner before the game and keep it warm in a slow cooker, oven or pressure cooker? Or do you make dinner after the game when everyone’s exhausted and starving? I’ll take the first choice. I like to prepare dinner either in the slow cooker or pressure cooker around 4 pm and then keep the food on the warm setting until we can get home and eat after our activities.

Today I’ll be sharing 5(!) ways to prepare macaroni and cheese in your pressure cooker which can easily be made ahead of time and served warm when you get home. Mac and cheese is a kid favorite and the recipe twists I’ll share with you today will keep adults interested as well. I’m a big fan of great tasting meals that start with cheese shredded fresh off the block. And Sargento® Shredded Cheese is always shredded from blocks of real, natural cheese. This makes for the best mac and cheese on the planet.

Pressure Cooker Macaroni and Cheese (5 Ways)

For today’s pressure cooker mac and cheese recipes I used Sargento® Shredded Mozzarella and Sargento® Shredded 4 State Cheddar Cheese. I love to make a basic mac and cheese with a good Cheddar cheese but I wanted to get creative and use mozzarella too. You can pick up 2 bags of Sargento® Shredded Cheese to create some delicious mac and cheese at your house this week!

sargento mozzarella cheese

The 5 ways that I’ll be sharing to make mac and cheese are…

1. basic mac

2. buffalo mac

3. bacon mac

4. pizza mac

5. cheeseburger mac

The cool thing is that they all start out with the same basic recipe. The basic recipe just calls for the pasta, evaporated milk, salt, butter, ground mustard and cheese. Then after you make the basic recipe you can spin it depending on what mood you’re in.

Here’s how to make the basic mac and cheese recipe:

Step 1—measure out 8 ounces of dry macaroni noodles. I used these twisty macaroni noodles to make it more fun. Place the noodles in your pressure cooker.

Step 2—Add in 2 cups of water, 1 tsp of kosher salt and 1 tsp of ground mustard and 1 tablespoon of butter. Then pressure cook for 3 minutes. After the 3 minutes are up let the pot sit for 5 more minutes and then release the rest of the pressure.

Step 3—Turn the pressure cooker to the sauté function. Stir in the milk, and the Sargento® Shredded Cheese until creamy and smooth. If you want to make a variation of this recipe see below for instructions.

Pressure Cooker Macaroni and Cheese

★★★★★ 5 from 1 reviews

Yield: 4 servings

Print Recipe

Ingredients

8 oz uncooked elbow macaroni or cellentani noodles
1 Tbsp butter
1 tsp ground mustard
1 tsp kosher salt
2 cups water
6 oz evaporated milk
1 ½ cups Sargento® Shredded 4 State Cheddar Cheese

Instructions

Add noodles, butter, ground mustard, salt and water to pressure cooker. Cover and make sure valve is on “sealing.” Set the manual button for 3 minutes. Once the timer goes off let the pot sit for 5 minutes, then release the rest of the pressure by moving valve to “venting.”
Turn the pressure cooker to the sauté function. Stir in the evaporated milk and slowly add in the cheese while stirring constantly. In time, the sauce will thicken up and the macaroni will become coated with a creamy, cheesy sauce. Turn off the pressure cooker. Scoop macaroni into bowls and serve.