Name: Instant Pot Macaroni Beef Casserole
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 15
Ingredients: 1 tablespoon olive oil; 1 pound lean ground beef; 1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt; 1 teaspoon garlic powder; 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper; 1 cup chopped celery, about 4 small stalks or 2 large; 1 yellow onion, chopped; 1 16-ounce box uncooked macaroni noodles; 4 cups water; 2 15-ounce cans low sodium diced tomatoes, undrained; 3 cups shredded colby jack cheese

Instant Pot Macaroni Beef Casserole is a quick and easy dinner made with ground beef, pasta and diced tomatoes in the pressure cooker. This simple, budget friendly meal is perfect for busy days, and even picky eaters love it!

This easy Instant Pot ground beef recipe is based upon one of the Hubs’ favorite dinners that his mom made when he was growing up. It’s similar to American goulash, and it’s super easy. If you’re looking for a simple budget friendly dinner, you’ll love this Instant Pot macaroni beef casserole!

I’m always looking for easy ground beef recipes, so when the Hubs talked about this hamburger casserole recipe, I wanted to try it. It was Mother’s Day weekend, and we were both feeling a tad nostalgic, so we got to talking about some of our favorite childhood recipes.

When the Hubs mentioned this macaroni casserole, I thought it sounded a lot like American goulash, only his family didn’t call it that. The original recipe was cooked first in a skillet and then covered with cheese and baked in the oven.

While that sounds like wonderful comfort food, it’s a tad warm for the oven right now, so I decided to make a pressure cooker version of the same recipe.

You guys, the Hubs gave this pressure cooker ground beef dinner a double thumbs up. He said it tasted exactly like he remembered, and even my picky eaters liked it. Score another win for mom!

How to make Instant Pot macaroni beef casserole

This recipe starts out like my other Instant Pot ground beef recipes. You brown the ground beef directly in the inner pot, and then you start adding the other ingredients.

like I said, this Instant Pot recipe is super simple, so you just throw in some sea salt, garlic powder and pepper. Then, you add chopped celery and onions.

Next, you layer macaroni, water and diced tomatoes. The tomatoes go on top, but don’t stir them into the rest of the ingredients.

Pressure cook everything together for a couple of minutes, add some shredded cheese, and that’s it! I was so tempted to add a little extra spice, but as it turns out, you don’t need it. This simple ground beef and pasta dinner is tasty enough as it is!

The pasta gets pretty soft, but my kiddos like it that way. So does the Hubs. If you want firmer pasta, you might try cooking it for only 3 minutes.

Do you have to brown the ground beef first?

Since the pasta cooks faster than the beef, I recommend browning the beef on the saute setting before adding the rest of the ingredients.

Looking for more Instant Pot ground beef recipes?

Recipe for Instant Pot Macaroni Beef Casserolee