How to Cook Instant Pot Rice

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

Every time I make rice, I achieve the same results: separate grains, with a pleasing, chewy texture. Pressure cooking does give rice a slightly different texture than stovetop cooking, and I have actually grown to prefer it prepared this way. Give it a try and see what you think!

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

Video: How to Make Easy Rice in the Instant Pot

How Much Water Do I Add?

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

This is probably less water than you’re used to using for cooking stovetop rice, and that’s because there’s very little evaporation when you’re using the pressure cooker. This ratio produces 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 stock) will remain the same. Different kinds of rice, however, take different amounts of time to cook under pressure. Wild rice and brown rice will require more time than white rice, for instance. Any variety can be cooked at either high or low pressure; it comes out a little fluffier at low pressure, and a little chewier at high pressure.

Although you can cook any variety of rice on the automatic “rice” setting, brown rice works better on either a manual setting, or a setting that’s specifically designed for whole grains, such as the “Multigrain” setting on the Instant Pot.

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

• Brown rice: 20 minutes on 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

Want Fluffy Rice? Rinse Well

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

Rinsing makes the rice fluffy, and seems to make more of a difference with white rice varieties verses brown; the latter is protected by its hull and doesn’t tend to have a lot of extra starch clinging to the outside of the grains.

Season to Your Tastes

Just like on the stove, you can cook rice in the pressure cooker with broth or water, use as much salt as you like, and add extra seasonings, a pat of butter, or a little olive oil for extra flavor.

What I Do: I sometimes sauté a little garlic in olive oil before adding my rice and broth, which turns a basic pot of grains into a flavorful side dish! You can also use seasonings such as turmeric and coriander for some Indian-inspired basmati rice, or chili powder for rice to tuck into burritos.

Use a Natural Pressure Release

No matter what kind of rice you’re cooking, it’s 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!

How Much Rice Can I Cook?

One last rule of thumb to keep in mind is that you’ll 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 isn’t 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 won’t be submerged in the water as much as the rice on the sides of the pot.

On the flip side, don’t overfill your pressure cooker with too much rice, either! It should be half full or less when you’re 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. Here's 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!

More Instant Pot Pantry Staples

• Instant Pot Shredded Chicken
• How to Make Fast, No-Soak Beans in the Instant Pot
• Instant Pot Potatoes
• How to Cook a Whole Butternut Squash in the Instant Pot
• Easy-Peel Hard Boiled Eggs in the Instant Pot