How to Cook Rice in an Instant Pot

To cook with the main course, I use the pot in pot method. I talked a little bit more about that in my Instant Pot Freezer Meal Boot Camp post. With this method, you use the trivet that comes with your Instant Pot pressure cooker. Put a small baking dish on top of your main recipe and fill it with any other item you need to cook for your meal.

This method is great for cooking rice, potatoes, and even veggies. You can click here to see more about that method.

For now, let's get to my Instant Pot rice method.

Step 1: Measure and Rinse Rice

This is more about the method/ratios than an actual rice recipe. I'll show you how much of each item I use.

I usually start with 1.5 cups of rice. I use long grain white rice here, but you can use many different kinds of rice. Basmati rice, jasmine rice, brown rice, wild rice, etc. all work well. See the adjusted cook times below.

When I first published this post, many people pointed out how important rinsing your rice is, and I agree. Rice can come covered in all kinds of yuckiness, and you need to remove it. So, first thing's first – rinse rice before cooking. A fine mesh strainer is super useful for this – put the rice in the strainer and rinse rice thoroughly.

Step 2: Add water, oil, and salt to the rice

What is the water to rice ratio?

Here's the secret to cooking perfect Instant Pot rice: use a 1:1.25 ratio of cups of rice to cups of water. That means, if you're using 1.5 cups of rice, you'll mix shy of 2 cups water into your cooker with the rice. (The ratio doesn't have to be perfectly measured, you can kind of round and guesstimate).

I have used chicken broth in the past instead of water to give the rice lots of flavor. You can add any seasoning you'd like at this point! I put a drizzle of olive oil (I don't measure, maybe about a tablespoon) and a couple of pinches of salt in my pot.

It doesn't have to be completely stirred together before putting your lid on. I do like to to stir the rice a little to eliminate any clumps.

Step 3: Adjust the Instant Pot settings for rice

How long Does it take to cook Instant Pot rice?

When I prepare Instant Pot rice, I use the manual setting (high pressure). Set the timer for 8 minutes for white rice, basmati rice, or jasmine rice and 15 minutes for brown rice. And yes, I use this high pressure/timer setting no matter how much rice, whether you have half a cup of rice or 3 cups of rice.

One note: you set the same amount of time, but more rice might mean the Instant Pot takes longer to come to pressure. This is because there is more contents, meaning your cook time might actually be a little longer.

Do you use the Instant Pot rice setting?

No, I don't use the rice button that many Instant Pots include. Why? I'm not really sure. 😂 I never have and am used to using the manual setting now.

I figure if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Put the lid on with the pressure release valve in the sealing position. Let the cook cycle run and allow a natural pressure release for 10 minutes or so. Then, manually release any remaining pressure by turning the pressure valve. Finally, once you release the pressure, remove the lid.

Step 4: Fluff and serve

Finally, fluff the rice with a fork. I do usually add a little bit of butter to keep the rice from sticking together. This gives the rice a little bit of flavor.

I also turn the warm setting off as soon as I take the lid off. It tends to make the rice stick to the bottom of the pan if you don't. You can either take the inner pot out of the Instant Pot or put rice in another dish at this point.