Easy Macaroni And Cheese – Quick Cooker Recipe
Last weekend, I found a recipe for easy macaroni and cheese in the quick cooker. I added the ingredients to my grocery list immediately. Macaroni and cheese is one of my favorite things… it makes a great side dish, or a full meal if I’m being honest. And you guys know how much I love cheese!
Quick Cooker
I was a little late to the quick cooker game. In fact, I think I just got mine maybe 8-10 months ago. Mine is a Pampered Chef quick cooker, but from what I know about them, it’s pretty similar to the popular Instant Pot. I’ve tried a few things in there, but definitely haven’t used it as much as I’d like! One of my favorite things has been a chicken ‘n dumpling recipe. I’ve also made some mashed potatoes in there, and some black-eyed peas.
Easy Macaroni and Cheese
Every now and then, I search Pinterest for some new ideas when it comes to recipes to try out. Like most people, I get tired of the same old same… I just happened to stumble across this easy macaroni and cheese recipe and knew I wanted to give it a try. And since I’ve wanted to use my quick cooker more, it seemed like a win-win!
THIS is the recipe I followed. But I have to say, I usually deviate from the original recipe just a bit. And I just realized this morning that I totally forgot to put the parmesan cheese in mine!
Here are the ingredients I used:
- 16 oz. package of gluten-free macaroni noodles
- 32 oz. of chicken broth
- Frank’s RedHot Buffalo Wings Sauce (the original recipe says “1 teaspoon of hot pepper sauce”) – I didn’t measure this out. I just poured a little in and it was probably more than a teaspoon!
- Roughly 2 tablespoons of butter – measured with my heart!
- A little over 1/2 a cup of 2% milk
- Shredded Sharp Cheddar and Shredded Mozzarella
- Garlic powder
- Onion powder
- Salt
- Pepper
When it comes to my seasonings and cheese… I didn’t measure them out. Especially the cheese. The cheesier the better for me!
I put the noodles, broth, hot sauce, butter, and seasonings in the quick cooker and cooked on high pressure for 5 minutes. After a quick release, I mixed in the milk and added the cheese. The original recipe says to mix in 3-4 handfuls at a time. I added a little, mixed, added more… and mixed. Then added more!
The original recipe mentions that this can be “stringy” due to the Mozzarella cheese. That’s not something that bothers me at all. She also mentions that the combo of cheeses she used were the best flavor in her opinion, but you can definitely experiment with whatever your favorite cheeses are. I’ll definitely try to remember the parmesan cheese in mine next time. But I will say, this turned out really well. And it makes A LOT! It would be a perfect thing to make for a big family get together!