Instant Pot Kraft Mac And Cheese

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How to make the BEST instant pot kraft mac and cheese. If you would like to make instant pot boxed mac and cheese, then this recipe is perfect for you.

The kraft mac and cheese ingredients are dumped into the instant pot, there is no draining to do and then you can also use the instant pot pressure cooker, to reheat your leftovers.

We originally shared with you how to make instant pot mac and cheese back in 2017 and we are updating it today with more tips and tricks and better mac and cheese ideas.

Kraft Mac And Cheese Recipe

What I hated about living in Portugal was all the ingredients I could never get hold of or happened to be way too expensive to have brought into Portugal.

So, in the summer of 2021 when we moved back to the UK after 13 years, we went on a shopping spree getting and trying all the foods we couldn’t try before.

One of those foods was a Velveeta mac and cheese box. I had seen many videos for it, but never had the chance to try it for myself.

I grew up on cans of Heinz macaroni cheese and was curious to see how it compared.

Today I wanted to show you a simple recipe for instant pot boxed mac and cheese. One where there is no draining of the pasta once it has cooked, one that has delicious add ins to make your boxed mac and cheese taste better and one that would be easy to reheat too. 

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2 Boxes Of Mac & Cheese In The Instant Pot

I admit, I looked down at my box of mac and cheese and thought to myself, that no way is one box going to fill us all up and do leftovers, so I went with two boxes.

Now looking back at the size of my instant pot, I would say that I could cook up to 4 boxes at once without overfilling the instant pot.

So, if you are doing this, or feeding a crowd for Thanksgiving note you can double up.

You can also half our boxed mac and cheese. This recipe is for 2 boxes, so if cooking with just one, then half everything.

How To Make Kraft Mac & Cheese Better?

I’m a HUGE fan of adding extras to box mixes to make them taste better. Just look at our instant pot box cake as a true example of this.

These foods come in a box and have a standard list of add in ingredients to make them work. But you don’t just want them to work, you want them to taste better.

For the BEST kraft mac and cheese in the instant pot I highly recommend adding:

Cheese – I added in some red leicster. You can do the same as it is a strong tasting cheese and gives a much better flavour.

Onion – A sauté with some onion will flavour your instant pot prior to adding in pasta and stock.

Philadelphia – But the best ingredient on them all to make mac and cheese taste better is Philadelphia cream cheese. I recommend the lightest herbs version.

Butter – I also recommend adding in some butter. We all know that everything tastes better, with butter, well that includes kraft mac and cheese!

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Kraft Mac & Cheese Ingredients

Box – You will need 1-4 boxes of Kraft mac and cheese. Of course, it depends on how much macaroni cheese you want to make in the instant pot to how much you add. We are using 2 boxes of mac and cheese, so to do 1 then half the recipe ingredients, and to do 4 then double the recipe ingredients.

Liquid – Its all about flavouring the instant pot and not just using water to cook the macaroni in. If you just use water, it will be like dishwasher water. We used a mixture of melted butter and vegetable stock. The liquid also works its magic deglazing the instant pot.

Cheese – There is no denying that the kraft mac and cheese box needs extra cheese adding. We added cream cheese (Philadelphia lightest herbs) and some grated cheese (red Leicester) to make the perfect cheese combo.

Onion. Then for flavouring the instant pot first, we added in some onion and sauteed it with some extra virgin olive oil.

Then for the kitchen gadgets that we have used in this kraft mac and cheese instant pot recipe it has just been our Instant Pot. We have this one and it’s my favourite and great for a lot of different instant pot quick recipes.

Plus, we recommend you head over to our instant pot recipes category as we have many electric pressure cooker recipes and have been using instant pots for 5 years.

How To Make Kraft Mac And Cheese?

• Sauté. First prep your onion and sauté in the instant pot with some extra virgin olive oil. Then press cancel and deglaze with melted butter and veggie stock.
• Load. Add your mac and cheese box (not the cheese packet) stir and make sure all the macaroni is submerged.
• Cook. Place the lid on the instant pot, set the valve to sealing and pressure cook for 4 minutes followed by a quick pressure release.
• Stir. Then after releasing the pressure add in the cheeses including the kraft cheese packets. Also add in milk and give it a good stir with a wooden spoon. Then its ready for serving.

And I am sure you can see now how simple and easy it is to cook this boxed mac an cheese instant pot recipe and why you should be doing the same.

More Instant Pot Weeknight Dinners

I love instant pot box mac and cheese for a simple weeknight dinner idea. Here are even more instant pot weeknight dinner ideas.

• Instant Pot Spaghetti & Frozen Meatballs
• Instant Pot Garlic Mussels
• Instant Pot Shredded Beef Tacos
• Instant Pot Sloppy Joes
• Instant Pot Black Beans & Rice

Your box mac and cheese instant pot recipe is below, note you can print it out with or without photos, adjust servings, or click between metric and imperial depending on where you are in the world.

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