Recipe Notes And Tips
- Rinse your rice well under cold running water before adding to the Instant Pot. This will help to remove the starch so that your rice doesnt get clumpy and gluey. This will ensure nice and fluffy rice.
- If making ahead of time, let the rice cool completely before storing and only reheat it once.
- The ratio of water to rice is 1:1 and this Instant pot rice recipe is easily doubled or tripled.
How To Cook A Small Amount Of Rice
If you need to cook less than 1 cup of dry rice, I recommend using the pot-in-pot cooking method. This means youll cook the rice in a separate bowl, lifted up on a trivet.
Check out my pot-in-pot cooking tutorial if you need extra guidance, but to cook the rice in a separate bowl, youll just need to add an extra cup of water to the bottom of the Instant Pot to get started. This water will boil andmake the pot come to pressure. Pour the rinsed rice and cooking water into the separate bowl, then set that bowl on a trivet situated over the water in the bottom of the Instant Pot.
For pot-in-pot cooking, youll need to select a bowl that is oven-safe and 7-inches or less in diameter when using a 6-quart Instant Pot.
Ive used porcelain salad bowls and glass mixing bowls with success, or you can use a stainless-steel baking pan, as long as it leaves space around the bowl for the pressure to build up.
With pot-in-pot cooking, the cooking time doesnt change for Instant Pot white rice, so it will be ready in the same amount of time as listed below. And as an added benefit, you wont have anything to clean on the bottom of your Instant Pot when youre done!
- 1cupwater
Foolproof Instant Pot White Rice
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Instant Pot White Rice is an easy and foolproof way to make plain white rice. No more overdone or under-cooked rice. Preparing rice in the Instant Pot makes it perfect every time.
Does anyone else have problems making white rice? Ive always said white rice on the stove and pie crusts from scratch are the two things that give me trouble.
When we got the Instant Pot, rice was suddenly so simple. Ive even branched out to brown rice, Minute white rice, and Minute brown rice with no issues.
Occasionally, well even use the Instant Pot to make flavored rice like coconut rice or cilantro lime rice. For me, it works more consistently than using the stove top.
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Minimum Amounts Of Rice
One last rule of thumb to keep in mind is that youll need to cook at least 1 1/2 cups of rice in a 6-quart pressure cooker to get nice, even results. This is because the bottom of the pot isnt perfectly flat, but slightly concave. If you use less rice, the grains in the middle of the pot will not cook as evenly, since they wont be submerged in the water as much as the rice on the sides of the pot.
On the flip side, dont overfill your pressure cooker with too much rice, either! It should be half full or less when youre cooking any grains, beans, pastas, or other foods that can tend to foam up. I find that I get the best results when I cook between 1 1/2 and 3 cups of rice at a time.
- TIP! By the way, you can always make extra rice and freeze the extra. Hereâs how to do that.
Those are my best tips for cooking rice! Of course, you can also just follow the basic recipe below. Either way, enjoy!
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How Much To Cook
One cup of uncooked rice provides about 6 small servings, so 2 cups of uncooked rice yields 12 small servings of about 1/3 cup each.
If you want to adjust the measurements of this recipe, just remember that you will need 1 cup of water for each cup of uncooked rice .
You can cook up to 3-4 cups of uncooked rice at a time in a 6-quart or 8-quart Instant Pot. This is great for people who like to meal prep.
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Where To Buy An Instant Pot
This is the 6-quart Instant Pot I started out with. After a few years, we added an 8-quart partly because I knew I would use two at the same time often enough, partly because it was the Prime Day sale, and also because I wanted more space for certain recipes. Both are a pretty basic model and you dont need more bells and whistles than that!
If youre deciding on size, most people say its better to get a deal on the 6-quart and just have 2 rather than go big, BUT if your family has 5 or more people or you really like to batch cook or do more than a pound of beans, the 8-quart may be the best choice. My full Instant Pot review and buying guide for features, size, and model.
If youd like to shop directly at Instant Pots website instead of Amazon , check them out here.
You can even get a carrying case to travel with it! See my review of the Instant Pot carrying case we have.
If youre still on the fence about adding an Instant Pot to your kitchen appliance arsenal here are my Instant Pot pros and cons.
Use A Natural Pressure Release
No matter what kind of rice youre cooking, its a good idea to let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes before opening the pot. This allows the moisture to distribute evenly throughout the grains, and helps it unstick from the bottom of the pot, too.
You *can* open the pot with a quick pressure release if you like, but it really does benefit from a little resting time!
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Why Is My Rice Dry
If your rice is dry, the ratio of rice to water is off and theres not enough water. When youre experimenting with different kinds of rice, keep this in mind! Different kinds of rice absorb different amounts of water.
Another reason why your rice could be dry is if you leave it in the Instant Pot too long after cooking.
The keep warm mode will continue to heat the rice at a low temperature. This can occasionally dry out or burn the rice if you leave it too long.
How To Make Instant Pot White Rice:
This recipe only has three ingredients and literally takes minutes to throw together.
Many sources will say you have to rinse the rice before adding it to the stainless steel liner. I use to rinse the rice through a mesh sieve every single time.
It didnt matter which brand of rice I was using, it got rinsed for several minutes until the water ran clear. For some reason, the rice always seemed a little gummy, clumped, and sometimes stuck to the bottom of pot.
That seems counterintuitive, since rinsing the rice is supposed to wash away excess starch and keep it from being overly sticky. Eventually, I started just dumping it in.
That worked so much better than rinsing, so now thats how I do it every time.
Since there is no need to rinse the rice, simply add all the ingredients to the Instant Pot, and give them a quick stir.
Next, close the lid, and make sure the valve is set to sealing. Our model has the Rice button and allows a toggle from low to high pressure.
Set the Instant Pot to Rice on low pressure. It should automatically set for 12 minutes.
Every Instant Pot takes some time to come to pressure before it actually starts to cook, so it will take a few minutes to begin to count down the cook time.
This depends on the pots contents, whether it is set to low or high pressure, and the temperature of the ingredients .
Use a fork to fluff the rice. It should be al dente or firm when bitten. Use this rice as a side dish for your favorite recipes.
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Can You Cook Instant Rice In The Instant Pot
If youre using an instant rice like Minute Rice, you can make it in the Instant Pot! Since Minute Rice is already cooked, it is super fast!
Using the Instant Pot to make Instant Rice makes it even easier and hands off!
To make minute rice in the Instant Pot, use a 1:1 ratio of water to rice, and cook on manual high pressure for 1 minute with a quick release.
After the 1 minute is up, the Instant Pot will beep. The Instant Pot will display L0:00 . At this point, turn the knob from sealing to venting and enjoy!
How Many Cups Of Rice Can You Cook In An Instant Pot
In theory: 2.5 cups in a 3-quart Instant Pot. 5 cups in a 6 quart Instant Pot. 6.5 cups in an 8-quart Instant Pot.
This is US standard measuring cups and raw dry rice.
So the mathematical thought for the theory is the following:
- 1 cup of raw white rice gives on average 3 cups cooked rice.
- Instant Pots should not be filled more than 2/3 of its full capacity at any time. So we have to take the expanded rice into consideration.
- A 6-quart Instant Pots capacity is 24 cups and two-thirds of that are 16 cups.
- There should not be more than 16 cups cooked rice in the Instant Pot and since 1 cup raw makes 3 cups cooked we have to divide the 16 by 3. That makes 5.3 cups.
The calculation is only theory though. I have not tried that many cups in my own 6-quart. 4 cups raw dry rice are the maximum I have cooked myself without any issues and with perfect results.
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Key Steps For Rice In The Instant Pot
- Rinse the rice before cooking. Rinsing rice before cooking removes any dirt from processing, gets rid of starch that can make the rice sticky, and, Ive found, makes the rice taste better. According to Instant Pots manual, rinsing the rice also makes up for the small amount of moisture lost in evaporation during the cooking process.
- Use the right ratio of rice to water. Instant Pot suggests any rice can be cooked with a one-to-one rice-to-water ratio, but during testing, we found this wasnt universally true both among Instant Pot models and other multi-cookers. Use slightly more water when cooking brown rice and wild rice to prevent undercooking and scorching. Plus, its better to err on the side of more water, since most rice varieties can be drained if theres excess moisture.
- Pressure cook the rice on high. Lock the lid in place and set to cook at HIGH pressure for the following times:
- White rice : 5 minutes
- Long-grain brown rice: 10 minutes
- Wild rice: 15 minutes
Perfect Rice To Water Ratio For The Instant Pot Pressure Cooker
While this ratio can vary with altitude and model of Pressure Cooker, I have found my perfect ratio to be 1 cup rice : 1 1/4 cups of liquid. I like a little bit of butter for flavor and to help keep it from clumping as well. This ratio works for rinsed and unrinsed rice.
This 1:1 1/4 ratio will also work if you are doubling or tripling this recipe. For 2 cups of rice, use 2 ½ cups liquid, for 3 cups of rice, use 3 ¾ cups.
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To Salt Or Not To Salt
Whether or not you salt your rice is totally your personal preference. I know some people who cant stand unsalted rice, and others who cant imagine why anyone would ever salt it!
If you use salt, you HAVE to try Redmond Real Salt. I know, its just salt, but trust me: it makes a difference! I talk about it so much that Redmond Real Salt actually worked with me to give you 15% off with my code IPCOOKING. Simply add a quarter teaspoon to the rice and water before sealing your Instant Pot.
How To Make White Rice:
So simple youll memorize this easily.
- Rinse: Use a fine mesh strainer to thoroughly rinse the rice. 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 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.
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Which Pot Should I Use To Make Rice
I use the Instant Pot 6 quart Duo for my recipes however, I always make long grain white rice in the 3 quart Instant Pot.
Since Im usually making the main dish in the larger Instant Pot, I like making the sides in the 3 quart.
This recipe is compatible in a 6 or 3 quart Instant Pot.
If I make Japanese sticky rice which is short grain white rice, I always use my Japanese rice cooker.
If you want to know which Instant Pot to buy, youll want to check out this post on Which Instant Pot to Buy or this Youtube video!
How To Cook Brown Rice In Instant Pot
Unlike white rice, the brown rice has its grain husk intact, which takes longer to cook. Using the Instant Pot to cook brown rice really speeds up the process.
Rinse 1 cup of brown rice once under cold water . Add brown rice to the pot together with 1 cup water and 1/2 teaspoon of salt or the same amount of stock without salt. If cooking 2 cups of rice, add 2.25 cups of water and or stock.
Set to Manual/Pressure Cook for 22 minutes on HIGH with 10 minutes natural pressure release , and then use the quick release. Total time is about 35 minutes.
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What Else Can You Do With The Instant Pot
Instant Pot rice cooking is only the beginning too! One cool thing about the Instant Pot is that it has a sear function that allows you to do stuff like toast the rice, garlic, onion, or other aromatics before cooking to infuse the rice with other flavors. Some recipes that call for this would be garlic fried rice or tomato rice you can pair with bò lúc lc.
Why Make Double The Rice
Nearly every time I make rice in the Instant Pot, I double or triple what we need.
I pull out some for leftovers, leave the rest in the pot, and make rice pudding the next day!
See more of Katie Kimball, CSME in the Media.
Over the last 10 years, Katie has spoken prolifically at conferences, online summits and podcasts and become a trusted authority and advocate for childrens health.
Busy moms look to this certified educator for honest, in-depth natural product reviews and thorough research. She often partners with health experts and medical practitioners to deliver the most current information to the Kitchen Stewardship® community.
In 2016 she created the #1 bestselling online kids cooking course, Kids Cook Real Food, helping thousands of families around the world learn to cook.
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Brown Rice In The Instant Pot Some Special Considerations
Most of the instructions for Instant Pot brown rice will be the same as white rice, except that cook time doubles, and you may need to fiddle with your water ratio as well.
Most brown rice calls for 45 minutes of cook time on the stovetop, and the Instant Pot can pretty much cut that in half. Somewhere from 20 to 28 minutes will be the sweet spot, depending on if you have short- or long-grain brown rice. I am generally able to get mine done at 22 minutes on low pressure.
Pro Tip: wherever you store your rice, leave a note for yourself about the water ratio and the number of minutes.
For example, we buy rice in huge, Costco-sized bags and pour each variety into a different glass jar in our kitchen. On the outside of that glass jar, it says, 1 cup rice, 1 1/4 cups water, 20 minutes IP. That way, I never have to look anything up.
