In just 5 minutes you can have a cheesy, protein-packed dinner ready to go! Make this Protein Instant Pot Mac and Cheese for the ultimate kitchen hack you’ll ever do. This Protein Mac and Cheese made in the Instant Pot is made with 100% whole grain noodles, cottage cheese, and a little Greek yogurt for extra creaminess.
FRIENDS.
If you do not have an Instant Pot yet…THEN PRETEND IT’S YOUR BIRTHDAY AND BUY YOURSELF ONE ALREADY.
It took Linley and I almost a year to muster up and buy one and then another year to start using it. Now, we just can’t stop! Linley is really the Instant Pot queen in the Fit Foodie kitchen and I like to call myself the ultimate taste tester. We really are a dream team 😛 We get the question all the time, what Instant Pot do you have? We have the 6-quart one and it retails for $99. It really seems like the perfect size for everything we’ve made and I’m not sure I’d want to go bigger if I had the chance.
Now that I’ve convinced you to buy an Instant Pot…let’s talk PROTEIN Instant Pot Mac and Cheese.
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What makes this protein mac and cheese? The addition of cottage cheese and a little Greek yogurt. Linley and I have been a wee bit obsessed with cottage cheese lately. I feel like in college I was super into cottage cheese, but the nonfat kind. Then, for about 5 years I took a major cottage cheese break. Well, I’m back on the train and now I’m more of a fat-filled cottage cheese kind of girl. It’s just so creamy and delicious and satisfying and yummy and the best snack ever. For this recipe, we used 2%, but you can really use any fat % you want! Let’s check out what else you need for this Instant Pot Mac and Cheese!
Here’s What You Need
- Elbow macaroni noodles
- Chicken broth
- Ghee (or butter)
- Garlic powder
- Shredded cheddar cheese
- 2% cottage cheese (any % will work)
- Nonfat Greek yogurt
- Dijon mustard
Have I mentioned that this protein mac and cheese recipe only takes 5 whopping minutes to make? Well, 5 minutes inside the Instant Pot, that is! I’d say this will take 15 minutes TOPS and there’s no boiling of water involved.
Kitchen Hack: Protein Instant Pot Mac and Cheese
In just 5 minutes you can have a cheesy, protein-packed dinner ready to go! Make this Protein Instant Pot Mac and Cheese for the ultimate kitchen hack you’ll ever do. This Protein Mac and Cheese made in the Instant Pot is made with 100% whole grain noodles, cottage cheese, and a little Greek yogurt for extra creaminess.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 6
Ingredients
- 16 oz. whole wheat elbow macaroni (normal pasta works too!)
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 2 tablespoons ghee (or butter)
- 1.5 teaspoons garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 1 cup 2% cottage cheese (any % will work)
- 1/4 cup nonfat Greek yogurt
- salt, to taste
- pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Place macaroni noodles, broth, ghee, garlic powder, and dijon mustard into the Instant Pot and mix well.
- Set your Instant Pot by making sure the pressure valve is turned to seal. Then, press manual. Turn your pressure to high pressure and set time to 5 minutes. Then, let the Instant Pot do its thing.
- When the time on the instant pot runs out, quick release the pressure by turning the pressure valve to vent. Be careful, the steam is hot!
- Remove the Instant Pot lid and give the noodles a quick stir. Then, add the cheddar cheese, cottage cheese, greek yogurt, salt and pepper to the noodles. Stir until creamy*.
- Remove mac and cheese from Instant Pot and enjoy!
Notes
*If the cottage cheese isn’t melting, turn on the saute function on your instant pot and stir.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/6 recipe
- Calories: 430
- Sugar: 5
- Fat: 16
- Carbohydrates: 56
- Fiber: 8
- Protein: 23
That is all for now! I’m peacing out to Costa Rica tomorrow with Mark, my sister, and brother in law and I can’t wait. Follow me on Instagram to see what I’m up to and get ready for some delish recipes we’ve got coming up next week while I’m gone 😀
Kimberly says
Would I be able to make this in a crockpot or just over the stove top?
Lee Hersh says
We haven’t tried it in the crockpot yet! But for sure the stove top!
Vince says
I love this idea so much. I think we often forget about fast and easy food when we start talking about health. But honestly, there will always be some days where fast and easy is absolutely essential. The Instant Pot is a fun idea for achieving that and your finished dish looks simply fantastic.
Linley Richter says
YES! Thank you Vince!
Charlotte says
I love your recipes. I’m a huge fan of the accessibility to so many different kinds of foods that most people feel they can’t enjoy while trying to start healthy. That said, I’m a bit disappointed that your instant pot recipes don’t come with variations for a stovetop.
My husband and I share a kitchen that’s under 300 square feet. In lieu of a dining room table, we had to buy a restaurant-quality rolling rack with tiered shelves just to have storage for food in our kitchen. I mistakenly bought a crockpot 2 years ago. I’ve used it twice, and it’s otherwise just taking up space. I can’t afford to buy another expensive piece that will be just equipment to sit in my corner at some point. I value traditional cooking — just getting in the kitchen and making it all happen is sort of mediation for me at the end of my day. Is it possible for you to share variations of your instant pot recipes, if only in the comments? I still want to feel like I can enjoy your site and your delicious eats!
Brianm says
I think you are looking at this the wrong way, Charlotte. My wife and I must cook out of a kitchen around 80 square feet! We used to cook for our family of six out of a kitchen the size of your’s. I see the Instant Pot as a precious space-saver, because it replaces other appliances. Sell or give your crockpot away, and do some re-thinking. The recipes here should help guide you toward using all that space more efficiently. I am a serious cook, and wish I had just another 50 sq ft. We’re using the broom closet for some canned goods right now.
Mindy says
Re: on the stovetop… it failed miserably! I don’t think I did anything wrong, I cook and bake a lot. The cheese became this awful bubblegum texture, beyond salvaging, and I had to throw everything out, including a dishscrub brush! 🙁 I wanted it to work so badly! I need this in my life!
Gregory says
Sorry but this ended up a total fail. I don’t know what went wrong but the mix was WAY too soupy – – it was like macaroni soup when I opened the lid. Then the cheese wouldn’t melt and combine with the mac it just melted into stringy blobs all over the pot and solidified instead of covering the mac; if I tried to stir it, it just blobbed onto whatever I stirred it with and trying to reduce the liquid via using the saute just ended up triggering the “burn” notice. Although . . . I probably reduced my fat intake since like the previous commenter, Mindy, noted, the cheese took on a bubblegum consistency that I was able to constantly spit out instead of swallowing so I ended up ingesting a lot less cheese. : – )
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Pam says
This recipe created a mess. I use my instant pot 3-4x a week, and this is my first food failure. The original Mac and Cheese was like others said: a brown soup with chunks of white cottage cheese in it. So I followed instructions and put it on saute (just 3 min). Then I had actual yellow MC and it looked pretty good, but a lot was burned to the bottom of the pot. I’m STILL soaking it. My kids said it tasted fine but the texture was weird and maybe I shouldn’t make it again.
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Emily P says
Any suggestions on how to cut the recipe in half? Would the amount of time in the Instant Pot be the same?
Diane says
My 9 year old thought this The best mac & cheese ever and asked for it in regular rotation! This was even after I put the yogurt and at the same time I cooked the noodles thinking it would be a total fail!