How to Cook Instant Pot Rice

I’ve stopped making rice any other way since I got my Instant Pot a few years ago! It’s such a simple, basic method, and you never have to worry about it getting sticky or a pot boiling over on the stove.

• New to Instant Pot? Check out our post How To Use an Instant Pot: A First-Timer’s Guide.

Video: How to make plain rice in the Instant Pot

How much water do I add?

You can cook any type of rice in your pressure cooker, long or round grain, brown or white. (It even makes a killer risotto.) No matter what type of rice I cook, I use the same 1:1 ratio of rice to water or broth.

This is probably less water than you use to cook rice on the stove, and that’s because there’s very little evaporation when using the pressure cooker. This ratio makes for fairly firm, separate grains – you can add a little more water, maybe about 1/4 cup extra if you like softer rice.

How long do I cook the rice?

The amount of water (or other liquid – you can also use broth) stays the same. However, different types of rice take different amounts of time to cook under pressure. For example, wild rice and brown rice take longer to cook than white rice. Each variety can be cooked at either high or low pressure; It comes out a little fluffy on low pressure and a little tougher on high pressure.

Although you can cook any type of rice on the automatic “rice” setting, brown rice works better on a manual setting or a setting designed specifically for whole grains, such as fried rice. B. the Multigrain setting in the Instant Pot.

Here are my favorite cooking times for rice in the pressure cooker:

• Brown rice: 20 minutes at high pressure for firm rice or 22 minutes for softer grains
• white rice: 15 minutes on low pressure for firm rice or 17 minutes for softer grains

Do you want fluffy rice? Rinse well

I don’t always remember or have time for this step, but it helps if I do: Rinse the rice in a wire mesh strainer under cold water for about 30 seconds, or until the water runs mostly clear.

Rinsing makes the rice fluffy and seems to make more of a difference with white rices than with brown ones; The latter is protected by its shell and doesn’t tend to have much extra starch sticking to the outside of the grains.

Season to your liking

Just like on the stovetop, you can cook rice in the pressure cooker with stock or water, use as much salt as you like, and add extra spices, a knob of butter, or a little olive oil for extra flavor.

What I do: I sometimes sauté a little garlic in olive oil before adding to my rice and broth, which transforms a simple pot of grains into a flavorful side dish! You can also use spices like turmeric and coriander for Indian-inspired basmati rice or chilli powder for rice to stuff into burritos.

Use natural pressure relief

No matter what kind of rice you’re cooking, it’s a good idea Release pressure naturally for 10 minutes before opening the pot. This allows the moisture to spread evenly throughout the grains and also helps it pull away from the bottom of the pot.

You *can* open the pot with a quick depressurization if you wish, but it really benefits from a little rest time!

How much rice can I cook?

A final rule of thumb to keep in mind is that you must cook at least 1 1/2 cups rice in a 6 quart pressure cooker to achieve nice, even results. This is because the bottom of the pot is not completely flat, but slightly concave. If you use less rice, the grains in the center of the pot won’t cook as evenly because they won’t be submerged in the water as much as the rice on the sides of the pot.

On the other hand, don’t overfill your pressure cooker with too much rice either! It should be half full or less if you’re cooking grains, beans, pasta, or other foods that may tend to foam. I find that I get the best results when I cook between 1 1/2 and 3 cups of rice at a time.

• TOP! By the way, you can always Make extra rice and freeze the rest. Here’s how.

These are my top tips for cooking rice! Of course, you can also simply follow the basic recipe below. Anyway, have fun!

More Instant Pot Pantry staples

• Instant Pot Chicken Cutlets
• How to make quick beans without soaking in the Instant Pot
• Instant Pot Potatoes
• How to cook a whole butternut squash in the Instant Pot
• Easily peel hard-boiled eggs in the Instant Pot