Instant Pot Cheeseburger Macaroni

This simple Instant Pot cheeseburger macaroni recipe will take you back to your childhood! 10 minutes in your pressure cooker makes the best one pot cheesy hamburger helper dinner your whole family will love!

We created this Instant Pot cheeseburger hamburger helper macaroni recipe the other night. Bringing this childhood favorite back into our house was great and got 10 thumbs up. One of our favorite comfort food Instant Pot recipes yet.

Tell us this was a staple in your home growing up too. Your mom may have used a box to make this sort of cheesy hamburger helper dish, but homemade is so much better. It is surprisingly easy to do with boxed pasta elbow macaroni and ground beef or sausage.

Ninja Foodi Cheeseburger Macaroni

You don't have to use this brand either. We have a Crockpot Express and make lots of Ninja Foodi recipes using the pressure cooker function with the lid that is not attached. It's a fun one pot meal kids love.

We made a crockpot hamburger helper recipe before and that was good. But it took quite a while to finish so we could eat. This version has a short cooking time and our kids' favorite quick and easy meal.

Ingredient notes

You will want to use Elbow macaroni or another small pasta (if you use organic or gluten free it will take longer and you will need to add a few more minutes.

Hamburger meat, do not use more than 1 lb. ground beef or it won't turn out properly. We like 80/20 so it is lean but has a bit of fat for as much flavor as possible.

Can you use ground sausage?

You can! We have used HOT ground sausage in the past to add a lot of flavor and heat to it and it works the same way. You need to precook it at the beginning, same as the beef remember to drain because it will have more grease. Ground turkey or chicken has less fat but not as much flavor so we wouldn't suggest that.

Onions diced are of course optional but we do like some freshly diced for flavor and added texture to the dish.

Sour cream will make it creamy as well as some shredded cheesewe like sharp cheese personally but any variety would work.

Water or better yet substitute for chicken broth or beef broth for the necessary liquid to cook everything together and get the pasta tender.

Cheddar cheese soup is how to make this creamy, Campbell's has one in the soup aisle. They have another version called fiesta nacho soup that would work too. You can make it homemade like they did here if you need to do so.

Swaps

If you love traditional hamburger helper but with added cheese this pressure cooker pasta dish is for you. As with all of our other InstaPot recipes it is easy and you only need a few ingredients. You could also use another style of noodle other than elbow macaroni but we had that in the house so that is what we used. We like to use what we already have on hand if possible.

Can you add vegetables?

If you wanted to include some veggies in this dish you could, but it typically doesn't include any. We would use up to 3/4 cup of frozen vegetables so they hold up under high pressure and don't fall apart. Frozen green beans and/or corn would probably be our choice if we had to choose.

How Long to Cook Cheeseburger Macaroni in One Pot

Well you need to precook the meat with the saute function for about 5 minutes first but as far as the high pressure cook time it only takes 3 minutes!! We do highly recommend that when you turn pot off that you do allow to sit for 10 minutes at least to allow sauce to thicken before serving too. Realize that the longer it sits and cools the thicker it will become.

This is definitely one of our favorite Instant Pot ground beef recipes and it is a complete meal, but you could serve it with frozen rolls in air fryer on the side too. We mean you don't need anything but if you have a larger crowd it is a great way to spread it out a bit more.

Instant Pot Cheeseburger Macaroni Recipe

By This Instant Pot cheeseburger macaroni recipe will take you back to your childhood! 10 minutes in your pressure cooker makes this cheesy goulash hamburger helper style pasta dinner that your whole family will love. It's one of our favorite Instant Pot ground beef recipes. Prep: 15 minutes minsCook: 3 minutes minsTotal: 19 minutes minsServings: 5 Save Recipe Saved! Pin Recipe Comment Print Recipe

Equipment

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground beef or turkey
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1/3 small onion, diced (optional)
• 1 cup elbow macaroni, uncooked
• 1 cup water, or can use chicken or beef broth for more flavor
• 1 tsp salt, optional
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 can cheddar cheese soup
• 1/2 – 1 cup sour cream, (depending on your liking & how thick you want it)
• 1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

Instructions

• Turn your Instant Pot to saute and add your olive oil and ground beef.
• Start to brown your beef, then add your diced onions and cook together until ground beef is no longer pink. Turn instant pot off by pushing the cancel button (important step). Drain grease and return pot.
• In a separate bowl whisk together your water, salt, garlic powder, & cheddar cheese soup. Pour on top of your ground beef.
• Pour your uncooked noodles in and do not stir, push noodles down gently so they are submerged in the liquid. Close your IP lid and set to manual, pressure, high for 3 minutes.
• When done do a slow release – meaning barely move your steam valve so the steam comes out slowly, and carefully lift your lid.
• Set IP to saute. Add your sour cream and shredded cheese.
• Stir slowly and allow it to come to a boil and bubble.
• Turn IP off. Allow to sit for at least 10 minutes to thicken. The longer it sits the thicker it will become too. Serve! (top with more cheese if you're a real cheese lover.

Nutrition

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Entree, Main CourseCuisine: American Tried this recipe?Mention @thetypical_mom or tag #thetypicalmom!

This is a great recipe if your family is looking for some Instant Pot pasta recipes. We make this all of the time because it is cheap with little prep. There are so many ways to change things up but basically if you have your favorite sauce and Barilla of your choice you can make a fantastic meal that is family friendly for little money at all.

Kitchen questions

How do you make hamburger helper cheeseburger macaroni from scratch?

This is it!! NO more using that box from the grocery store. Here you can skip that, use any shaped noodles you like with cheddar cheese soup and ground beef with some broth to cook it all to tender.

How many calories are in cheeseburger hamburger helper?

Well we are not suggesting that it is a low calorie food by any means. Typically for a 6 oz. serving you're looking at 500ish calories. This depends greatly on the type of meat used.

How do you save leftovers?

When saving the leftovers you want to ensure that it has cooled to room temperature first. Then you want to store in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 3 days.

How should you reheat leftover cheeseburger macaroni?

When you want to reheat it realize that it will be quite thick, you can thin it a bit with some broth or water, stir and get the consistency you want before heating. You only need 1 minute or so in a microwave safe bowl to be warmed and enjoyed once again. We follow the same step for leftover Kraft mac and cheese in a pressure cooker too.

Other easy Instant Pot meals you'll love

You can pressure cook this cheeseburger helper in your Crockpot Expresss too as well as tweaking this homemade mac and cheese recipe on the stovetop. You use a deep pot to saute the meat as directed below. Then add all the other ingredients and stay close. Bubble until the noodles are as tender as you'd like!

Instant Pot spaghetti is a inexpensive dish you can make with 3 ingredients. Our Instant Pot potato corn chowder is wildly popular too so keep that in mind for another dinner this week!

Instant Pot goulash is good. You can make with cheddar or without on this one which is a nice option. If you want lower carb, try our Instant Pot hamburger soup.