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Instant pot rice is perfectly fluffy, light, tender, and never sticky. Even your tricky, hard-to-master brown and wild rice will be perfect. It’s so easy you’ll never use a pot on the stove again.
Use your Instant Pot to make perfect rice for meals served over rice, like stir-fry. Try these favorites: Amazing Pepper Steak Stir Fry, Honey Garlic Chicken Stir Fry, or Cashew Chicken Stir Fry.
Perfect Rice
There’s nothing worse than wanting light, fluffy rice and getting sticky, mushy, watery, or crunchy hard rice instead. If you are making Risotto or Rice Pudding, you can skip rinsing and even the instant pot method, since you’ll want a creamy texture that’s hard to achieve in an instant pot. This method is just too perfect for that light, individual, feather-like rice.
Easy White Rice Ingredients:
When you use your Instant Pot, it’s perfect every single time!
- Rice: Long grain
- Water: If you want to add flavor, you can use chicken, beef, or veggie broth.
- Butter: Adds richnes,s but you can also leave it out.
- Salt: Just a pinch to add flavor
How to Make White Rice:
So simple you’ll memorize this easily.
- Rinse: Use a fine mesh strainer to rinse the rice thoroughly. I often use my hand to move the rice around and make sure it all gets rinsed.
- Cook: Combine rice, water, butter, and salt in the Instant Pot. Lock the lid and secure the vent, and cook on high for 5 minutes.
- Release: Let the pressure release naturally. Carefully remove the lid and fluff with a fork.
Why You Need to Rinse Rice:
- Starch: Rinsing your rice before cooking helps remove the extra starch found on Rice. This extra starch, when cooked, makes the rice sticky and gloopy. Rinsing will remove excess starch and ensure nice, fluffy individual grains of rice.
- Impurities: No method of preparing rice for the store shelf is perfect. Rinsing your rice will also help remove impurities, such as dirt and leftover pesticides, and sanitize it, making for a healthier meal.
Why the Instant Pot is Best for Fluffy Rice:
- Consistent: Cooking rice on the stove top can vary so much that it’s hard to get consistent results every time. Depending on how your lid fits, the size of the pot, and your heating element, you may never get the same result twice.
- Steady Results: The Instant Pot is consistent because there is no water lost to evaporation. The heat source is always consistent, and the time and setting are the same every time.
- Natural release: When the rice is done cooking, leave it undisturbed; the pressure will naturally begin to release. After about 15 minutes, you can manually release the remaining pressure before opening it.
Brown Rice Ingredients:
- Brown Rice: Long grain cooks nicely and can be used for anything.
- Water: Try using a broth for an extra flavor boost
- Butter: Adds buttery flavor, but you can leave it out.
- Salt: Just a pinch will do it
Making Brown Rice in the Instant Pot:
- Rinse: Use a fine mesh strainer to rinse the rice thoroughly. I often use my hand to move the rice around and make sure it all gets rinsed.
- Cook: Combine rice, water, butter, and salt in the Instant Pot, then lock the lid and secure the vent, and cook on high for 10 minutes.
- Release: Let the pressure release naturally, then carefully remove the lid and fluff with a fork.
Wild Rice Ingredients:
- Wild Rice: There are many varieties of wild rice. Experiment with all of them to find a favorite.
- Water: Notice there is more water than rice for wild rice.
- Butter: Can be omitted.
- Salt: Helps to bring out the flavor of the wild rice.
Mastering Wild Rice in the Instant Pot:
- Rinse: Use a fine mesh strainer to rinse the rice thoroughly. I often use my hand to move the rice around and make sure it all gets rinsed.
- Cook: Combine rice, water, butter, and salt, then lock the lid and secure the vent, and cook on high for 15 minutes.
- Release: Let the pressure release naturally, then carefully remove the lid and fluff with a fork.
What to Serve Instant Pot Rice With
More Easy Side Dishes:
- Classic Fried Green Tomatoes
- Garlic Parmesan Green Beans
- Best Ever Glazed Carrots
- Garlic Balsamic Mushrooms
- Parmesan Garlic Roasted Tomatoes
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Instant Pot Rice
Instant pot rice is perfectly fluffy, light, tender and never sticky. When you use your Instant pot it's perfect EVERY SINGLE TIME! Even your tricky hard to master brown and wild rice will be perfect. It's so easy you'll never use a pot on the stove again.
Ingredients
White Rice
- 2 cups white rice
- 2 cups water
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 pinch of salt
Brown Rice
- 2 cups brown rice
- 2 cups water
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 pinch of salt
Wild Rice
- 2 cups wild rice
- 3 cups water
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 pinch of salt
Instructions
White Rice
- Start by rinsing 2 cups white rice in water. Combine the rinsed rice, 2 cups water, 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, and 1 pinch of salt in the instant pot. Lock the lid and make sure the vent is sealed and cook on high pressure for 5 minutes.
- Let the pressure naturally release and release the remaining pressure. Carefully remove the lid and fluff with a fork.
Brown Rice
- Start by rinsing 2 cups brown rice in water. Combine the rinsed rice, 2 cups water, 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, and 1 pinch of salt in the instant pot. Lock the lid and make sure the vent is sealed and cook on high pressure for 10 minutes.
- Let the pressure naturally release and release the remaining pressure. Carefully remove the lid and fluff with a fork.
Wild Rice
- Start by rinsing 2 cups wild rice in water. Combine the rinsed rice, 3 cups water, 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, and 1 pinch of salt in in instant pot. Lock the lid and make sure the vent is sealed and cook on high pressure for 15 minutes.
- Let the pressure naturally release and release the remaining pressure. Carefully remove the lid and fluff with a fork.
Notes
The Nutrition has been calculated for the White Rice method and ingredients.
Nutrition
Calories: 181kcalCarbohydrates: 37gProtein: 3gFat: 2gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.1gMonounsaturated Fat: 0.5gTrans Fat: 0.1gCholesterol: 4mgSodium: 10mgPotassium: 54mgFiber: 1gSugar: 0.1gVitamin A: 44IUCalcium: 15mgIron: 0.4mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Tried this recipe?Mention @alyssa_therecipecritic or tag #therecipecritic!
Can I use 1 cup of water and one cup rice? Only cooking for two.
Yes!The ratio for both brown and white rice in the instant pot is 1:1, so 1 cup of each should work.
“Let the pressure naturally release and release the remaining pressure.” How long do you let the pressure naturally release? I let mine go for 26 minutes and opened it up. I think it was a tad too dry at that point?
Your Instant Pot should have a little pressure indicator that pops up when the pressure is high and sinks back down when pressure has been released. Mine usually falls back down around 18-20 minutes. As soon as that is down, indicating there is no more pressure, you can open the pot. I hope this helps!
When the rice instructions call for a 2:1 water to rice ratio, do you change the water amount for your recipe?
So with the instant pot the rice to water ratio is 1:1, regardless of what your package of rice says. The instant pot cooks different. It will turn out just fine.
Hi Alyssa I’m Trying to make a Rice Pudding in my Pressure Cooker. do you have a recipe for one or can you direct me to one
I’m sorry Vicky, I don’t have a pressure cooker rice pudding recipe. If you wanted to make the rice in the instant pot then follow my Rice Pudding recipe, you can totally do that!
How long do you naturally release before releasing remaining pressure?
Alyssa, is there a reason you used high pressure instead of the rice setting? I’m new to instant pot, and this will be my first try.
Hi Lisa! Cooking on high pressure and using the rice setting are basically the same, it’s just the rice setting usually has a set cooking time. I like to cook manually so I can adjust the time as needed.
I used Jasmine rice, it was perfect!! Sticky like I’ve never been able to make myself; I love sticky rice. I cooked it for five minutes, did the natural release it was perfect