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Instant Pot High Protein Gluten-Free Mac & Cheese

Yum

February 7, 2019 By Laura Ligos, MBA, RD, CSSD 4 Comments

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Hello, my name is Sassy and I love Mac & Cheese and I also love my Instant Pot. So, naturally when given the chance to make mac & cheese in the Instant Pot, I was like DUH! WHY HAVEN’T I DONE THIS YET?!?! (Yes, that is me shouting at myself).

instant pot mac & cheese

Any-who, I decided to give this a whirl when a friend at the gym said she had had something similar before and it was good. I’m always ALWAYS looking at ways to up the protein content in my meals and the meals of others so I figured, why not give it a go and see what happens. The recipe is easy to make, thanks to the help of the handy, dandy Instant Pot and it’s super tasty, not to mention packed with 26g of protein per serving and theres not even meat in it! BAM!

Mac & Cheese

I LOVE mac & cheese. As a dietitian, that might seem like a weird thing to admit, but hey, I’m just being honest. It was one of my favorite meals post swim practice and I’d be so excited when my mom would make it. I especially like when it was made with shells because then the cheese got trapped in the shells and for whatever reason made the overall experience SO MUCH better.

instant pot mac & cheese

Mac & cheese was one of my staple meals growing up, and frankly I gave up on it many moons ago when I realized gluten and I were not friends. However, when I realized that companies were actually making products that were gluten-free AND actually resembled and held up like pasta, I was reunited with one of my true loves, mac & cheese this time, gluten-free style.

Pasta La Vista Banza

When I first tried Banza, I was skeptical. However, I was blown away by the taste, structure, AND content of the pasta. It was so filling AND didn’t disintegrate when you cooked it. Win-win-win. Not to mention the brand as a whole is pretty awesome (and fun) so what’s not to love?!

instant pot mac & cheese

They are now producing every kind of shape & size pasta you can imagine. I was just walking the aisles of Whole Foods today and I saw some spaghetti that I hadn’t tried yet, if I didn’t have 5 more boxes of Banza in my pantry, I would’ve scooped them up, but lord knows I don’t need one more piece of food in my pantry, Marie Kondo would be so NOT okay with it as-is.

Winner, Winner, Protein Dinner

Welp, the good news is this is easy to make, the bad news is you need an Instant Pot to do so. The good news to that is that you can grab yourself one on Amazon, the bad news, it won’t be here for 2 days…

instant pot mac & cheese

Ok, ok the other good news is that there are 26 grams of protein per serving which is about the amount I recommend clients get at every meal. Usually I tell clients to shoot for 20-30 grams depending on their sex, age, weight, goals, etc. If you added a bit of meat to this dish you could easily hit 30-40 grams AND be so full and satisfied you will be guaranteed leftovers….but you’re going to have to swat it away from anyone you live with…no promises there.

instant pot mac & cheese

Enjoy! And as always, if you make it, let me know, tag me on Instagram and use the tag #sassyapproved 😀

Pro Tip: Feel free to add any other protein of choice to this dish, I think a chicken sausage would be real nice if I do say so myself.

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instant pot mac & cheese

Instant Pot High Protein Gluten-Free Mac & Cheese

  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 15 minutes
  • Total Time: 25 minutes
  • Yield: 8 1x
  • Category: Main Course
  • Cuisine: American
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Ingredients

  • 2` tbsp butter
  • 2 small yellow onion (chopped)
  • 4 cloves garlic (minced)
  • 1 red bell pepper (chopped)
  • 16 oz. gluten free pasta shells (dry)
  • 4 cups broth
  • 10 oz. mushrooms (sliced)
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp dry mustard
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper
  • pinch cayenne, more to taste (optional)
  • 1–1/2 cup cheddar cheese (shredded)
  • 1–1/2 cup cottage cheese

Instructions

  1. In Instant Pot or Pressure cooker, turn on to Saute function, add butter and onions and saute until onions start to caramelize
  2. Add garlic & bell pepper and saute for 2 minutes. Turn off saute function.
  3. Add pasta, broth, mushrooms, & spices, set pressure cooker on manual, close (make sure vent is closed), and cook on high for 5 minutes.
  4. Quick release the vent, open the top and mix in cheese & cottage cheese. Enjoy! 

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @@thesassydietitian on Instagram

instant pot mac & cheese

xoxo,

Sassy

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Pin Now, Mac Later

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Filed Under: Instant Pot / Slow Cooker, Main Course, Recipes

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Comments

  1. Maggy says

    February 8, 2019 at 10:34 am

    I am so flipping excited for this recipe. You have no idea!!! YUm YUm

    Reply
    • Laura Ligos, MBA, RD, CSSD says

      February 8, 2019 at 2:46 pm

      YAY! Let me know how it turns out 😀

      Reply
  2. Courtney says

    February 10, 2019 at 3:04 pm

    This looks AMAZING. If I don’t have an Instant Pot, would this work in a slow cooker or on the stove??

    Reply
    • Laura Ligos, MBA, RD, CSSD says

      February 10, 2019 at 7:15 pm

      I would imagine it would work well on the stove or on low in a slow cooker! I’ll have to give it a try to see 🙂

      Reply

@thesassydietitian

We’ve made it over a week together and it feels We’ve made it over a week together and it feels like it’s always been this way.

Motherhood is a wild ride & it’s only getting started. I have never been so tired & simultaneously so fulfilled in my life. That’s not to say it’s not filled with tears, worries and doubts but what fun would it be if it were all sunshine and roses anyway?

Going into this all I have felt so supported by friends going through this with me BUT I felt so unsupported by the general public. It seems like we want to fear and shame moms because misery loves company, right?!

The focus quickly shifts from mom to baby (still shocked that I only have an appointment at 6 weeks even though my body went through the biggest event of its life) and there also seems to be this shift from joy to shame & guilt.

Here’s some of what I heard from people:

😕Sleep when baby sleeps. You’ll never sleep again.
😕Don’t let baby sleep in a car seat, or a bouncer, or anywhere but their crib EVER. 
😕You’ll never have time to shower again, enjoy it now. 
😕Cry it out is cruel and harmful to the baby. 
😕Get baby on a schedule/never put baby on a schedule.

These are all things I heard and that truly led me to believe I was going to lose all sense of who I was and my life as I knew it.

What I wish people had said instead were:

🥰Your heart will grow bigger than you could imagine.
🥰You’ll cry the happiest tears you’ve ever cried.
🥰You’ll feel like a giant hole was filled that you didn’t even know was there.
🥰You won’t feel guilty about cleaning your house, it just won’t matter anymore.
🥰Babies pooping will make you laugh so hard you will feel like a kid again.
🥰You will have time to eat and shower and you don’t have to neglect yourself.

We need to do a better job of building each other up, supporting one another and our decisions while refraining from offering unsolicited advice and opinions. 

So for all you future mamas and new mamas out there, I see you, I’m proud of you and I cannot wait to share our stories with one another and the world.

Let’s stop fear mongering (just like the diet world) and start building one another up.

Xoxo,
Sassy & lil sassy man
🌈Some things truly are worth the wait. It’s b 🌈Some things truly are worth the wait. It’s been a long year of loss, unknowns and worry but it’s all been worth it to get to meet my lil man🥰
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Now time to introduce this sassy human who is already so well loved to the world...
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Introducing 

💙 Connor James Ligos 💙
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After an almost 24 hour labor, Connor joined us over a week past his due date on 2/12/21 at a whopping 9lb2oz & 22.5 inches long with a full head of hair and lungs to scream hello to us with.
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We are so in love already and cannot wait to share him with the world. Thank you for all the love and support from friends and family and to all those that helped us in the hospital. Holy cow labor & delivery teams are truly magical and I cannot imagine doing it without all of their support.
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Now back to snuggling this human of mine and trying not to cry at every last thing he does 🥰 
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Mom, Dad & Bode are all doing well!
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#babyboy #pregnancyafterloss #rainbowbaby #birthdayboy #birthannouncement
I get it, we all eat so we all then want to talk t I get it, we all eat so we all then want to talk to others about what worked for us. That's great!
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What's not great is when we push our nutrition and eating behaviors onto others ESPECIALLY when we are not qualified to do so.
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So often when people meet me for the first time they are worried to eat around me and/or buy groceries around me. My friends can attest I am not judgemental around food and will gladly eat that cake, queso dip or sip on that glass of wine right alongside of you. I am not the food police and do not offer unsolicited nutrition advice unless it's a client who is paying for my help OR on Instagram and other social media platforms where my goal is to educate.
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Why do I share this? 
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Because I see far too many people diving down diet rabbit holes, finding success & then claiming to be nutrition experts purely because something worked for them. 
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I've also seen this alot being pregnant, everyone wants to tell you what worked for them. IF you use that stipulation of "this worked for me" then fine, share away but if you start doleing out advice please pause, take a breath and think about NOT doing it.
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People are OVERWHELMED by diet culture and some so badly want to change but YOUR way is not the only way and it most likely is not what will work for your friend/coworker/cousin/neighbor so please, stop trying to be an expert in something you aren't.
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Got it!?! 
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Ok, carry on.
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xoxo,
Sassy
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#nutrition #nutritiontips #nutritionist #dietitianapproved #rdapproved #rdchat #dietitiansofinstagram #dietitian #dietitiansofig #albanyny #albanynutrition #albanynutrition
Your nutrition does NOT need to be all or nothing. Your nutrition does NOT need to be all or nothing. I'm not saying you have to find perfect balance (does that even exist?) but I am saying that we shouldn't feel like either we have to eat perfectly or that we might as well give up.
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Instead we should look to the grey area in between for our nutrition guidance. 
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What do I mean?
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I mean that we need to realize that we can still eat cookies but we probably should throw some veggies in there. 
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We can have a glass or 2 of wine but we should probably also drink some water. 
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We can take rest days but we should also find ways to move our bodies regularly.
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And the list goes on.
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It's not about all or nothing it's about doing something daily to help your health and nutrition without it feeling like a set of rules or a free for all.
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How do we find that grey area in between?
👉🏻 stop hopping on and off fad diets
👉🏻listen and trust your self, not your coworkers and cousins 
👉🏻focus on the simple things (ie drinking water instead of worrying about supplements)
👉🏻work to remove guilt and shame around food & body
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Where do you currently fall Right now?!
🤪 all
👍🏻in between 
🙅🏻‍♀️ nothing 
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Xoxo,
Sassy
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#dietitian #dietitiansofig #dietitiansofinstagram #nutrition #nutritionist #nutritiontips #thesassydietitian #rdchat #realtalk

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