Pressure Cooker Mac and Cheese

The simple joy of pressure cooker mac and cheese

Sometimes, the best meals are the fastest and simplest. That's what you get with a pressure cooker mac and cheese recipe. Say it's Tuesday night and you only have 15 minutes to cook dinner. Or you've got a crowd coming over Sunday afternoon to watch the game and you need to make a lot of food fast. With pressure cooker mac and cheese, it takes just minutes to whip up a batch of creamy goodness that will satisfy every palate – if you use the right ingredients. And by ingredients, we mean cheese. And by cheese, we mean Wisconsin Cheese.

Wisconsin cheese adds incredible flavor and texture to any pressure cooker mac and cheese recipe. Want a mac and cheese there that will have the kids clamoring for more? Try a little Wisconsin mascarpone. Need a gourmet mac and cheese recipe to satisfy sophisticated palates? Tee up some Wisconsin smoked gouda. A dish that will bowl over the most adventurous cheese aficionado? Wisconsin brick delivers boatloads of stinky-good flavor.

For more inspiration, take a spin through the pages of our website to discover all the possibilities Wisconsin Cheese has to offer. And check out our tips below for perfecting your pressure cooker mac and cheese recipe.

Tips for the best pressure cooker mac and cheese

One of the benefits of pressure cooker mac and cheese is how quickly this dish comes together. The pasta cooks quickly – usually in three or four minutes. And you won't need to make a roux – the flour, butter, and milk-based sauce that is often the base for a baked mac and cheese. Most pressure cooker recipes call only for milk or evaporated milk instead – a real time-saver.

Keep these recommendations in mind the next time you try pressure cooker mac and cheese.

• Experiment with cheeses. You'll want one cheese for melting and another cheese for flavor. Fontina, mascarpone, Monterey Jack, and swiss are all good melters. Havarti, pepper jack, gorgonzola, or any smoked cheese will add great flavor. Cheddar might be the best cheese for mac and cheese because it both melts well and brings sharp flavor.
• Make it creamy. Substitute cream or half-and-half for part or all of the milk in your recipe to achieve a creamier sauce.
• Add an egg. An egg can help to add a custard-like quality to the sauce.
• Don't overheat. Transfer the mac and cheese from the pot as soon as it gets creamy. Otherwise, you risk overcooking the sauce.
• Try some broth. Try substituting low-sodium chicken broth for a portion of the water when cooking the pasta.
• Add the cheese slowly. When adding cheese to the cooked pasta, don't add it all at once, or it will lower the temperature of the dish and prevent the cheese from melting properly. And when adding cheese, continue stirring to avoid clumping.

Wisconsin cheese takes the pressure off

When it comes to macaroni and cheese, the pressure is on. It's everybody's favorite comfort food, after all, and expectations can run high. Here's the surest way to deliver the goods on mac and cheese night: make sure it's Wisconsin cheese you're shredding and tossing in the pressure cooker.

Here in Wisconsin, we have been obsessively making the world's best cheese for 180 years – since before we were even a state. You've heard about the famed Wisconsin dairyland? Well, 90% of the milk produced here is made into cheese. And we make a lot of it – more than 600 varieties, flavors, and styles. That's more than anywhere else in the world. We've also won more awards for our cheese than any other state or country – even Italy, France, and Holland. (You didn't see that coming, did you?)

So whether it's baked, stovetop, pressure cooker, or slow cooker mac and cheese, if it's Wisconsin mac and cheese, you know it will be great.