Instant Pot Cheeseburger Macaroni is a quick and easy family recipe. It's cheesy and beefy and it's even better than Hamburger Helper. In fact, if you're a Hamburger Helper family, you may never go back.
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When I was pregnant, I was on a carb-conscious diet, per doctor's orders. This made pasta a tough cookie for me. This recipe though had just the right amount at less than 30 carbs per serving. I make this so frequently, I've considered creating the spice blend in bulk to make the recipe that much easier.
This was adapted from the Buns in My Oven stovetop recipe. The mix of seasonings is so perfect. I've adapted the recipe to work in the Instant Pot and adjusted the ratio of ingredients. The stovetop recipe is excellent, so head over to Buns in My Oven to check it out.
Too hot to cook? Even ground beef in the Instant Pot? If you're looking for more easy recipes that will keep your kitchen cool, try my Slow Cooker Hawaiian Meatballs or my Instant Pot Italian Meatballs. They don't require browning because they use frozen meatballs.
For more easy weeknight and weekend dinner ideas, try these lazy family recipes.
Ingredients
The ingredient list for Instant Pot Cheeseburger Macaroni may look long, but it's mostly seasoning bulking up the list, so not to worry.
- ground beef
- elbow macaroni
- beef broth
- butter
- paprika
- onion powder
- garlic powder
- mustard powder
- salt
- ground black pepper
- shredded cheddar cheese
- heavy whipping cream
See the recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
Using the saute setting on your Instant Pot, brown the ground beef. When the ground beef is done cooking, scrape the bottom of the Instant Pot liner to make sure there are no burned bits on the bottom. Burned food can cause a Burn error (see my notes below of a Burn notice). Additionally, you can drain the grease off of the ground beef at this point, if needed. Lean beef or turkey won't need to be drained.
Cancel the saute and add the paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, mustard powder, salt, and black pepper, stirring to coat the ground beef.
Add the elbow macaroni, beef broth, and butter, submerging the macaroni in the broth.
Close the Instant Pot lid and cook on HIGH pressure for 4 minutes. It will take about 10 minutes to come to pressure.
When the cooking time is complete, follow by a quick release. Stir in the shredded cheddar cheese and heavy whipping cream until the cheese is melted.
Serve.
Burn notice? I've never run into the dreaded burn error on this recipe, but if you do, just do a quick release and test your noodles. The beef is cooked before the rest of the ingredients are added, so the only real goal here is to cook that macaroni. If your macaroni is cooked, there's no need to repressurize the Instant Pot.
Substitutions
There are a few simple substitutions you can make to customize your dish.
- Meat - Instead of ground beef, try ground turkey. You could even use vegetarian/vegan "beef" crumbles, just skip the browning step.
- Broth - Any type of broth works for this recipe, chicken broth, beef broth, bone broth, vegetable broth. You could even use water, but you may want to increase the salt at the end.
- Cheese - Cheddar is my go-to, but mozzarella, colby jack, or even dairy-free shredded cheese would work well.
- Heavy Whipping Cream - I recommend sticking to the heavy whipping cream because it's going to give you that thick, creamy texture you want in this dish. You can use regular milk, but it will not be nearly as creamy.
It's easy to veganize this recipe, but you might also try this one-pot recipe from Simple Sweet Vegan.
Variations
I follow the basic recipe most of the time because these are ingredients I usually have on hand. However, if I'm prepared at the grocery store, I like to add a few things to
- Onions - You can add an entire onion to this recipe. Cook it at the same time as the ground beef, adding a tablespoon of olive oil.
- Mushrooms - Think Hamburger Helper cheeseburger macaroni meets beef stroganoff. This variation goes out to my husband who is obsessed with mushrooms. You can add an entire pound of sliced white mushrooms to this recipe to really beef up the portions. I cook them down with the ground beef with olive oil. They let off some moisture but I haven't found it necessary to adjust the other ingredients.
Equipment
I use an older version of the 6-quart Instant Pot duo for this recipe.
📖 Recipe
Instant Pot Cheeseburger Macaroni
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1-½ tablespoon paprika
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
- 2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 teaspoon mustard powder
- 1-½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 16 oz elbow macaroni
- 4 cups beef broth
- 2 tablespoon butter
- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
- ½ cup heavy whipping cream
Instructions
- Using the saute setting on the Instant Pot, brown the ground beef. When the ground beef is done cooking, scrape the bottom of the Instant Pot liner to make sure there are no burned bits on the bottom. Drain fat if needed (see notes).
- Cancel the saute setting. Add the paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, mustard powder, salt, and black pepper to the pot, stirring to coat the ground beef.
- Add the elbow macaroni, beef broth, butter, submerging the macaroni in broth but do not stir (this could cause a burn error).
- Close the Instant Pot lid and cook on HIGH pressure for 5 minutes. It will take about 10 minutes to come to pressure before the cook time begins.
- When the cooking time is complete, follow by a quick release. Stir in the shredded cheddar cheese and heavy whipping until the cheese is melted.
Notes
Nutrition
Food safety
According to FoodSafety.gov, ground beef should be cooked to 160 °F (71.1 °C).
- Remember not to use the same utensils on cooked food that previously touched raw meat.
- Always wash your hands and clean cooking surfaces after touching raw meat.
- Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods.
See more guidelines at USDA.gov.
Andy says
Made this for whole family and even my picky 10 year old loved it. However, to make her happy, I made a few small changes to get that cheeseburger taste. She is a dill pickle lover so I added about a tablespoon of pickle juice. Also diced up onions very small and when browning the beef used about a teaspoon and half of worcestershire sauce. Finally added a couple tablespoons of ketchup. Definitely tasted just like a McDonalds quarter pounder. I thought your dry seasoning ratios were perfect! My wife has celiacs so I had to use gluten free noodles. To make sure those noodles didn't turn to mush, I only pressure cooked for 3 minutes and instantly released the steam. This worked out well!
Julie says
Can't believe all the great reviews for this. I used HALF the amount of seasonings, and that was still too much! Will use 1 teaspoon of most of them next time, hopefully it will turn out better. Both me and my husband normally eat seasoned or spicy foods daily, so it's not due to a sensitive palate!
Kelsey Smith says
Thanks for the feedback.
Dannah says
Tried this for our Sunday football night dinner with family tonight and everyone loved it. Definitely won’t be the last time making it. Super easy, fast and delicious to make. Love it.
Kelsey Smith says
Love to hear that, so happy the family enjoyed it.
Sjonnie Holling says
Today I made your instant pot cheeseburger macaroni. I also put mushrooms in. It was delicious, great recipe, thank you!
Kelsey Smith says
Happy to hear it, mushrooms sound great.
Lisa says
I made this recipe tonight. I added bellpeppers and onions. 3 cups of cheese. It was delicious 😋.
Patricia Sirwaitis says
So. Good.
Thank you for posting this recipe, it was an instant hit. I plan to use it often and will look for more of your IP recipes.
Kelsey Smith says
Excellent! I am very happy to hear that you enjoyed it.
Amy says
I made this to the recipe and it was delicious. I was wondering if you could replace the macaroni with cauliflower and still cook it the same way. Have you tried that?
Kelsey Smith says
I have not tried that but it sounds delicious. My guess would be less liquid and shorter cook time. Here is a cauliflower macaroni recipe that is somewhat similar.
Sam says
Made this for dinner tonight and we loved it! Perfect for a fall evening and great comfort food! Delicious!
Kelsey Smith says
So glad you loved it Sam!
Amy Pletcher says
Your cheeseburger macaroni i.p. was so good!! Pasta was PERFECT!!!! I did not have ground mustard but did have Auntie NoNo's Hamburger Seasoning which had ground mustard in it along with chipotle chili pepper. It had a kick to the dish which I thought my family (husband and daughter) would have liked but unfortunately they didn't. I love macaroni so I thought it was delicious!! Definitely a grown version of the traditional hamburger helper.
Amy Pletcher says
I plan on making this dish for dinner tonight. I was wondering if it could be made ahead and warmed through later? Could it even be made into a freezer meal, transferred into a baking dish?
Kelsey Smith says
Yes to both questions, this dish reheats very well. I often make this at the beginning of the week and eat the leftovers all week long.
Amy Pletcher says
Great! I had left over due to only three of us..
Carole says
Very easy and very flavorful.... I will definitely make it again 🙂
Kelsey Smith says
I appreciate the comment, Carole! Happy to hear you enjoyed it.
Adorisa says
Made as written and it was ok, I needed to add more spice for our preference. What I liked about it was that this was fast and simple, good for a busy weeknight meal. Served with roasted cauliflower.
Jo-Anne MacDonald says
Love it! Going to make it again
Erin Lopers says
Very easy and good recipe! Even my husband loved it.
Sarah says
After putting in the elbows and the beef broth and the butter, do you need to stir everything? Or just leave the elbows on top of the ground beef?
Kelsey Smith says
No, and in general, it's best not to stir most dishes like this in the Instant Pot because it can crowd the pot and cause a burn error. You can press down the macaroni slightly to submerge it in the liquid.
Lisha Farr says
I can’t wait to try it. I can’t eat hamburger helper anymore because I’m sensitive to some ingredient in it that upsets my stomach. The more I can control what goes in it, the better. I’m excited!
Kelsey Smith says
You'll have to let me know what you think!
Azeema says
I've never had hamburger helper but was always intrigued as a child, LOL. Decided to make this today - a snow day plus first day of work in almost 2 weeks meant I needed something easy with ingredients I had on hand! I used ground turkey but still had heavy cream left over from holiday recipes. It was tasty! Most importantly, my 19 month old ate THREE bowls of it. It's so hard to get him to eat protein and this did the trick. Thank you!!!
Kelsey Smith says
Toddler approved, love it! Thanks for coming back to share that, I'm glad you liked it.
Danielle Casello says
Easy and oh so delicious!! Even my picky 13 year old loved it! 😄
Jenn says
This was pretty good, I think it would be better with sharp cheddar but I wasn’t sure. Next time! The BEST part of this meal is that the kids ate it without complaining!!! That is worth more than MY opinion!
Kelsey Smith says
I'm happy the kids are happy!
Kari says
Followed this recipe as is besides adding onions to my ground beef. Turned out awesome! Will make again. It’s not fancy….but delicious:)
Kelsey Smith says
Excellent! Thanks for coming back to leave a comment. Maybe hold your pinky out when you eat it and it will feel fancier. ha!
Nancy says
If I use 2 lbs of ground beef but the amount of macaroni called for, should I increase the seasonings?
Kelsey Smith says
I would but only slightly. Try rounded scoops of each seasoning instead of leveling off so you get just a smidge extra.
Jessica M says
We loved it! I have some leftover and would like to know if anyone tried to freeze and reheat it?
Kelsey Smith says
I have not tried it but usually macaroni and cheese freezes very well, and this is basically a mac and cheese dish. Happy to hear you enjoyed it!
Jeri says
Made this for dinner tonight. It was really good. Definitely a keeper!
Luca says
Really really delicious. Following the recipe was so easy and the taste was so good! I have left some for lunch tomorrow!
Kelsey Smith says
That's nice to hear, thanks Luca!
Bobbie says
This is so easy to make! I used ground turkey instead of beef!
Kelsey Smith says
That sounds delicious.
sspencer says
my husband loves this recipe so much. it is super easy and very good. I add some chopped onion to it.
Kelsey Smith says
Thank you for taking the time to write a review! I appreciate it, and I'm happy to hear you and your husband enjoyed the recipe.
Lindsay Pevny says
I'm going to try this on stovetop, but it looks pretty foolproof - and with fresh ingredients it'll easily be so much better than Hamburger Helper. Pretty much the same amount of effort too.
Kelsey Smith says
I also recommend the stovetop recipe on Buns in My Oven. It uses corn starch to thicken the sauce and uses milk instead of heavy cream.
Jeff says
Don't know what went wrong. I am a very experienced cook. I followed the recipe exactly. Comparing it to hamburger helper should've been a clue. I have never tried hamburger helper, but after reading it's ingredients I have no desire to. If this recipe is better than hamburger helper I can't imagine how bad hamburger helper must taste. We took a couple bites and tossed it out. What a waste of hamburger, pasta and cheese! This recipe ranks right up there with our all time worst.
Kelsey Smith says
Hi Jeff, sorry to hear you weren't a fan of my recipe. I suppose not everyone is a fan of Hamburger Helper. Best of luck.
Danielle says
So good and tastes like a creamier, better version of hamburger helper! It’s super fast to make, which is definitely my favorite part. I used ground turkey and chicken broth because that’s what I had and it still tasted great!
Kelsey Smith says
Yay! I appreciate you dropping back by to tell me how everything went. I'm so happy to hear that.
Emme says
I always have whole milk in the house so this could be a great emergency meal for my family. Have you tried it with whole milk instead of the heavy cream? Obviously, it would be less creamy, but do you think I should use a little less milk or the same amount?
Kelsey Smith says
You are right, it'll be less creamy but it will definitely work. Add half and from there try a tablespoon at a time to make sure it doesn't get soupy.
Christy says
I literally made this yesterday. My 2 year old daughter loved it! And it was very nostalgic for me....and it tastes way better than the boxed stuff!!!
Kelsey Smith says
I love to hear that. One day my boy will be old enough to enjoy this with me!
Christine says
Hi! Have you had success in doubling this in the IP? One lb of pasta Is never enough for my 3 grown men, lol! 🙂 Thank you!
Kelsey Smith says
I haven't tried doubling it, but it would probably take longer to come to pressure which could end up overcooking the pasta. Maybe reduce the cooking time by one minute. I'm just guessing though. Volume-wise, I think the 6qt IP can handle it.
Mar B Vita says
So believe it or not, this was my very 1st instapot recipe I made... and it was FANTASTIC! Additions I made were: a pinch of smoked paprika, a teaspoon of dried parsley, and I mixed smoked gouda with the cheddar, otherwise I followed the recipe exactly and I am so happy that my very first instapot recipe was such a hit in the household. Thanks so much for this!!
Kelsey Smith says
This makes me so happy to hear. Thank you so much for coming back to tell me how it went. I get so nervous putting my recipes out there, so it's wonderful to hear this one was a hit.
Liz says
I tried this recipe and followed the ingredients. It turned out so good. I wish I would have added corn to it. The seasoning was tasty. Thanks for the recipe. It was easy, fast and delicious.
Kelsey Smith says
You are very welcome, thank you for taking the time to tell me how it went.