Instant Pot Spicy Tex Mex Mac & Cheese

Full disclosure – This is a healthy food blog and this isn’t a healthy recipe.

Hear me out before you click away.

For me, it is completely unrealistic to eat healthy foods 100 percent of the time. I seriously just really love food! I am an avid believer of the 80/20 rule and for me that means Saturday is usually the day I enjoy my 20 percent. Saturday night dinner is often a bit of a free for all – and I am ok with that- with the key being I don’t eat my body weight in my Saturday night foods.

I am a born and raised Canadian, so what am I doing making anything Tex Mex?!?

Well…. I am headed to Texas very soon and some of my Texan friends are requesting an Instant Pot lesson. So, I created this recipe for them! You’re welcome Kimmy and Trina.

I am hoping that this is the recipe that get’s Kim to take the Instant Pot out of the box!

Going with the Texan style, this recipe is Texas sized. It feeds a crowd. So, if you are feeding a neighborhood or a super bowl crowd this is a great choice. Or, put half of this in the freezer for a second dinner sometime in the future.

A few tips for making mac and cheese in an instant pot:
1. Do not add the milk or cheese until after it is cooked and depressurized!
2. Use bold cheeses and keep the greyure for an awesome melty factor.
3. Don’t use pre shredded cheese. Pre shredded cheese is high in cellulose and doesn’t melt very well. Take the extra 5 minutes and grate your cheese from the block.

So, here is a Canadian’s Instant Pot Tex Mex Mac and Cheese recipe!

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Instant Pot Spicy Tex Mex Mac & Cheese

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 20 minutes

Author Confessions of a Meal Plan Addict

Ingredients

• 1 Tablespoon oil
• 2 cups dried macaroni
• 1 pound spicy Italian or chorizo sausage
• 1 onion diced
• 3 garlic cloves minced
• 1 jalapeno diced
• 1 red pepper diced
• 2 cups shredded strong cheddar cheese
• 1 cup shredded gruyere cheese
• 1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 12 oz can evaporated milk 2 cans if you like it creamier
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 4 cups water
• ¾ teaspoon chili powder
• 1 pound cooked bacon chopped (optional garnish)

Instructions

• On the saute function, cook sausage and in the last 2 minutes add onion, garlic, jalapeno, and red pepper.
• Drain excess grease.
• Add dry macaroni and water to instant pot insert with sausage and veggies
• Add water and set to 4 minutes using the manual setting.
• When time is up use delayed quick release (open for a couple of seconds, close for 20, then repeat until all of the pressure is released). Pasta can foam and if you just quick release you may clog the valve and have a huge mess on your hands.
• While the pasta is cooking, combine the evaporated milk, chili powder, cayenne pepper, and Dijon mustard in a bowl.
• After the pasta mixture is depressurized, slowly pour in the evaporated milk mixture. If you decide to use another milk product make sure it is not cold. If it is cold the cheese will clump.
• Add the cheeses one handful at a time, combining the cheese into the mixture. Have the instant pot on the keep warm function for this.
• You can step this up and transfer to an oven safe dish, top with cheese and broil for 3-5 minutes until you get a crispy top, then garnish with bacon bits.

Notes

This recipe is a 4 minute cook time, with 10 minutes to come to pressure, and 4 minutes to depressurize.

My apologies for putting a not so healthy recipe on the blog… but honestly I live in a world where I meal prep and eat healthy 80% of the time, and for the rest of the 20%, I eat mac and cheese. #sorrynotsorry.

So, there you have it, the recipe that gets Kim to take her Instant Pot out of the box…. FINALLY.