Making delicious chili mac in the Instant Pot is a quick, easy, and frugal weeknight dinner your family is sure to love!
Instant Pot chili mac is a super easy one-pot meal of cheesy chili and noodles–one your family will love!
UPDATED December 7, 2023
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Growing up, my family often enjoyed quick and easy meals. The beauty of them was that they didn’t need to be fancy to be delicious!
Now that I have three kids of my own, I can fully appreciate the need for a quick and easy dinner recipe.
And while I have no shame in using convenience meals from time to time, there’s just something about making our own meals that is usually cheaper, healthier, and tastier!
That’s where this Instant Pot chili mac recipe comes in.
Not only does the meal come together in mere minutes, making it perfect for your busy weeknights, but it’s seriously delicious!
This easy Instant Pot recipe is one of those meals the whole family will love!
Why You’ll Love Instant Pot Chili with Noodles
If you love enjoying chili with noodles, you’re in for a treat with this ultimate comfort food.
While you can certainly cook plain pasta in the Instant Pot and add it to your favorite Instant Pot chili recipe, I prefer to cook it all together in the Instant Pot.
This makes it an easy one-pot meal, minimizing cleanup.
Elbow macaroni noodles and ground beef are cooked under pressure in a perfectly seasoned sauce, then some shredded cheese is melted in after cooking.
The result is a deliciously hearty meal that your family is sure to love, and one that you’re sure to make again and again because it’s just that easy.
In fact, it’s on our list of the best easy weeknight dinners to make in the Instant Pot!
More Instant Pot Dinner Ideas Using Pasta and Ground Beef:
- Instant Pot Enchilada Pasta
- Easy Instant Pot Pizza Tortellini
- Instant Pot Lazy Lasagna
- Instant Pot Hamburger Helper
- Instant Pot Cheeseburger Macaroni
How to Make Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Chili Mac
It’s quite easy to make this delicious meal with some simple ingredients.
Ingredients You’ll Need:
- Lean ground beef
- Onion
- Water
- Beef bouillion
- Petite diced tomatoes
- Tomato sauce
- Kidney beans
- Italian seasoning
- Chili powder
- Bay leaves
- Seasoned salt
- Black pepper
- Elbow macaroni
- Shredded cheese
How to Make it:
(Full printable recipe card is available below)
Brown the beef. To start, you’ll simply begin by using the Saute function of the Instant Pot to brown some ground beef and cook some onions.
After those have cooked, turn off the Saute function by pressing cancel. Drain any excess grease from your beef, if needed.
Add seasonings. Next, you’ll add in some water, beef bouillon, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, kidney beans, Italian seasoning, chili powder, bay leaves, seasoned salt, pepper, and macaroni.
Give it a good stir, being sure to scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot.
Pressure cook. Lock the lid into place and set the vent to the sealed position. Select a 4 minute cook time at high pressure using the Manual/Pressure Cook setting.
After the cook time is complete, allow a 10 minute natural release followed by a quick release of any remaining pressure.
Add cheese. Once the pressure has released, carefully open the lid.
Remove the bay leaves and discard, then stir in the shredded cheese until it’s melted.
The longer it sits, the thicker the sauce will become.
Now it’s ready to serve! Feel free to top with additional shredded cheese, a dollop of sour cream, or some tortilla chips.
This is one easy weeknight meal that’s sure to become a family favorite!
Notes and Adaptations for Making Chili Mac in the Instant Pot Pressure Cooker:
- You can use different pasta shapes if you prefer something besides elbow pasta. The general rule of thumb I follow is to take the cook time from the pasta box, divide it in half, and subtract one minute. This will give you the Instant Pot high pressure cooking time. Bowties, penne, or rotini would work well.
- Feel free to add chopped bell peppers, frozen corn, diced green chiles, or black beans, if desired.
- You can use beef broth instead of the water and beef bouillon.
- I used mozzarella cheese, but you could also use cheddar cheese or Colby Jack. One reader also suggested smoked Gouda, which I think is an excellent idea!
- If you have leftovers, you can store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator. You may need to add a little bit of water when reheating, as the pasta does absorb some of the water over time.
Recommended Equipment for Instant Pot Chili Mac:
- Instant Pot or other electric pressure cooker
- Wooden spoon or plastic spoon
- Box Grater for shredding your own cheese, if desired (it really does make a difference!)
- Measuring cups and spoons
Easy Instant Pot Chili Mac
This delicious pressure cooker chili mac in the Instant Pot is a quick and easy, frugal weeknight dinner your family is sure to love!
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1/2 large onion, diced
- 2 cups water
- 1 beef bouillon cube or 1 teaspoon beef bouillon base
- 28-oz can petite diced tomatoes
- 15-oz can tomato sauce
- 15-oz can kidney beans, drained
- 2 tsp Italian seasoning
- 2 tsp chili powder
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tsp seasoned salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 2 cups (8 oz) elbow macaroni, uncooked
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella or cheddar cheese (I recommend that you shred it yourself for better melting)
- Optional: additional shredded cheese for topping
Instructions
- In the insert pot of the Instant Pot, add the ground beef and onions.
- Use the Saute function to brown the beef and cook the onions.
- Turn off saute function and drain grease if necessary.
- Add water, bouillon cube or base, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, drained kidney beans, Italian seasoning, chili powder, bay leaves, seasoned salt, pepper, and macaroni. Stir to combine.
- Place the lid on the Instant Pot and set the vent to the "sealed" position.
- Using the manual setting, select a 4 minute cook time.
- After cook time is complete, allow a 10 minute natural pressure release followed by a quick release of remaining pressure.
- Once the valve has dropped, open lid and carefully remove bay leaves.
- Stir in shredded cheese until melted.
- Serve, topping with additional shredded cheese if desired.
Notes
- You can use different pasta shapes if you prefer something besides elbow pasta. The general rule of thumb I follow is to take the cook time from the pasta box, divide it in half, and subtract one minute. This will give you the Instant Pot high pressure cooking time. Bowties, penne, or rotini would work well.
- Feel free to add chopped bell peppers, frozen corn, diced green chiles, or black beans, if desired.
- You can use beef broth instead of the water and beef bouillon.
- I used mozzarella cheese, but you could also use cheddar cheese or Colby Jack. One reader also suggested smoked Gouda, which I think is an excellent idea!
- If you have leftovers, you can store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator. You may need to add a little bit of water when reheating, as the pasta does absorb some of the water over time.
Adapted from My Incredible Recipes
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
6Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 489Total Fat: 21gSaturated Fat: 9gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 9gCholesterol: 86mgSodium: 1433mgCarbohydrates: 40gFiber: 9gSugar: 10gProtein: 36g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated and is not guaranteed for accuracy.
Be sure to save this recipe to your Instant Pot board on Pinterest!
Hi! I made this for dinner tonight in my Cuisinart Electric Pressure Cooker and followed the recipe to a T. My husband enjoyed it, and it made the kitchen smell so delicious, but I felt that the the elbow macaroni was overcooked and much too soft and limp. What’s the best way to fix this next time? Should I try cooking for 4 minutes instead of 5? Will that amount of time be adequate for the rest of the ingredients? This was the first time I’ve cooked pasta in my pressure cooker.
Hi Nellie! I’m sorry your macaroni was too soft! I typically take whatever the recommended cook time for the pasta is and divide it in half for pressure cooking. So my macaroni box said 9-11 minutes, which is how I arrived at 5, and that worked for me. But if your noodles are turning out soggy, I would definitely recommend making an adjustment, because soggy pasta is no good. You could definitely try 4 minutes–that would be enough time for the other ingredients. You could also try using low pressure instead of high pressure–I think I’d recommend trying that first! If you do try a variation, let me know how it turns out! 🙂
Thank you for your very quick reply. I really appreciate that! I’ll test it at 4 minutes on HIGH first and see what happens. Then I’ll test it a third time on low pressure for 5 minutes. (I hope that’s what you meant!) If I can get this recipe right with macaroni that’s a bit firmer, the recipe will be a real keeper for me. We still have quite a bit leftover from tonight’s dinner and hubby wants to have it again tomorrow – so you can see that it went over very well with him! It may be a little while before I make pasta again but I’ll update and let you know how it went the second time. I am trying to get more use out of my pressure cooker besides boiled eggs (So EASY and perfect every time!) and corned beef on St. Paddy’s Day. Again, thanks, Chrysti, for the reply! 🙂
I made it, but used Private Selection brand, Bronze Trottole. It’s a sturdy macaroni that’s a bit bigger than the typical dried macaroni. It turned out great!
I’m glad to hear that, Margie! Thanks for letting us know! 🙂
Made this tonight, but with ground turkey instead of ground beef, for a lower fat version. It was awesome! Pure comfort food on a cold night and so easy in the Instant Pot! Thanks so much for the recipe. Will definitely be making this lots of times.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Cathy! 🙂
Would the recipe still turn out okay if I didn’t add the cheese? Trying to save some calories!
Yes, feel free to leave out the cheese! It will still taste great. 🙂
Easy to make yet the taste is quite bland.
Hi Dick! I’m sorry to hear you found the dish bland–I can’t handle too much heat, so I tend to keep spices on the milder side. 🙂 Feel free to increase the seasonings to your taste next time!
Try it with 2c of Smoked Gouda, 1 can each of white, black and red beans and a pinch of pepper flakes. So good!
If I wanted to do the macs separate should I decrease the liquid amount?
Hi Julie! Yes, I’d recommend decreasing the liquid if you want to cook the macaroni separately. I haven’t tried making it that way, so I can’t say for sure, but I think I’d decrease to 1/2 cup of water in the Instant Pot if you’re not cooking the pasta in the IP. Hope that helps! 🙂
Ok so bomb recipe! My 13 yr old son and I made this together, but we added a twist – we used everything you did, but added 2c of smoked Gouda, a can each of red, white and black beans (rinsed the red and white beans but not the black), and a pinch of red pepper flakes for my husbands bowl. We also increased the black pepper by 1/2tsp.
We cooked the chili mix for 2 mins on high pressure, quick released, added the red beans and noodles, then high pressure again for 4 mins. Quick release when done, added the cheeses, and Voilà- the noodles were perfect, not soft and mushy, and the flavors – woot! We will make this again!
I don’t see a link for me to email this to myself :/ I will see if I can’t find it.
Thank you so much!!!
Your changes sound delicious–I bet the smoked Gouda takes it over the top!! I love the addition of different beans, too. Thank you for sharing, and I’m so glad you all enjoyed it! At this point, I don’t think the recipe card plugin has a way to to directly email the recipe to yourself, but as a workaround you could select the option to print it, then instead of printing it, save it as a pdf and email that to yourself. Hope that helps! 🙂
There was way too much liquid to noodles. I believe I followed everything correctly. Had to improvise and add instant dry potatoes to thicken, which didn’t give me what I had hoped. Maybe I’l try again. I guess it’s possible I used 3 1/2 c water. But still… so little noodles and I know I measured that correctly. Kind of bummed.
Hi Bev! I’m sorry it didn’t turn out quite right. You could try decreasing the liquid if you found it to be too much–the main thing is to be sure the pasta is covered with liquid before cooking. You could just use the minimum amount to achieve coverage and see if that works better for you! 🙂