by Texas Homesteader ~ 

You can cook perfect rice in an Instant Pot using only THREE minutes of pressure-cooking time with 10 minutes natural release!

Rice is a cheap staple in my Homestead kitchen, and being able to cook it fast appeals to the lazy cook in me. You too? Read on, dear friends!

(Note: Some links in this post will take you to other related articles for further information. But links preceded with * are affiliate links. If you click and buy something I could receive a tiny commission.)  

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Batch Cooking White Rice In An Instant Pot

I’ve found I can cook several cups of rice at the same time in my Instant Pot using the same cooking/natural release time. Then I can season portions of the leftover cooked rice individually for different flavors to serve throughout the week.

That’s the whole premise of Planned Leftovers. It’s the way I’m able to serve Homemade Meals Daily the EASY Way! 

Heck, you can serve a rice side with almost anything – grilled pork chops, Homemade Meatloaf, or Poor-Man’s Steak, grilled chicken, etc. RancherMan really likes it this way too. So simple yet so delicious.

My list of different ways to serve the rice is at the bottom of this post. But for now let me show you how to cook rice FAST in an Instant Pot.

Rice Pressure Cooking Directions

For each cup of rice you’ll use a cup (for drier rice) to 1¼ cup of broth (or water). You can multiply that up to 4 cups if you’re using a *6-quart Instant Pot.

The pressure cooking time of 3 minutes and natural release time of 10 minutes remains the same whether you’re cooking 1 or 4 cups of rice.

Properly Measuring Rice For Cooking

Here’s the thing – you know you need 1 cup of rice to 1 to 1¼ cups of broth or water. (depending upon how firm you want your rice)

But getting those measurements right has a large effect on the finished texture of your rice.

Too much rice & not enough broth means you’ll end up with some grains of rice that are still slightly crunchy like they’re not quite cooked. 

Not enough rice but too much broth will leave you with soggy rice grains. 

To get light fluffy rice you need to measure the ingredients correctly. This is important, y’all!

How To Properly Measure Dry Rice

I find that if I just pour rice into a measuring cup, shake it gently to remove excess rice and eyeball it with the top of the cup I’ll almost always be over measuring the rice quantity. Here’s what you do instead:

Transfer your raw rice to a measuring cup – don’t try to pack it down. Then scrape the extra rice away by running the straight edge of a butter knife across the top of the measuring cup.

I’m always surprised at how much excess is scraped away when I thought I’d measured a cup of rice precisely. Correct measurement makes a big difference in keeping your rice to broth ratio accurate.

How To Keep Rice From Being Sticky!

To make sure your cooked rice is fluffy and not sticky you must first rinse the raw rice until the water runs clear. Rinsing removes the excess starches that could cause your rice to be sticky and clump together.

Now that your rice has been rinsed you’re well on your way to cooking a hefty batch of rice to use in all kinds of different meals throughout the week. 

Easily Cooking Instant Pot Rice

Using the Instant Pot to cook lots of rice all at one time means I’ve got fluffy rice waiting in the refrigerator to season any way I wish.

The key here is to leave out heavy seasonings when you initially batch-cook your rice. You don’t want seasonings in your cooked rice to clash with the seasonings you might want to use when you serve it in different ways over the next several days.

Since my homemade broth is unsalted, salt is the only seasoning I add to my batch-cooked rice. (If you’re using salted broth you may not need to add any extra salt.)

• • Place rinsed rice in the Instant Pot’s inner liner

  • Add broth (or water)

  • Salt to taste

  • Lock the lid, lever set to ‘sealing’.

• • Press the +/- button until the display reads 3 minutes (and allow 10 minutes natural release after cooking time)

Now I simply walk away. Push-button convenience cooking, y’all!

After the Instant Pot cooks my rice for 3 minutes it will sound a tone. I wait 10 minutes before flipping that lever to ‘vent’ to release remaining pressure.  

Careful When Releasing Pressure

Be aware that when you change the lever from sealing to vent, hot steam will immediately flow from that vent and can burn if you’re not careful.

Some use a long handled wooden spoon to flip that lever to protect their hands from that hot steam, others toss a kitchen towel over the lever first.

When all the remaining pressure has been released, a pin drops so that the Instant Pot lid can be removed.

I’m always careful to remove that lid facing away from me since there will still be plenty of hot steam coming out of that pot when the lid is removed. 

After my rice is cooked I’ll fluff it with a fork and it’s ready to serve. I’m delighted to see the rice is fluffy yet firm and not sticky or mushy. 

Leftover cooked rice is cooled & stored in the refrigerator using a large container (usually a Repurposed Coffee Can). 

That way I can pull out portions of rice to serve in different ways over the next few days. That rice side dish will be fast since it’s already cooked!

Kitchen Tip: Did you know you can easily write on those black lids of a repurposed coffee can using chalk? No more guessing what’s inside that container in the fridge!

How To Serve Leftover Cooked Rice

I like to stir in an Herb Bomb (frozen minced fresh herbs, garlic & olive oil frozen into an ice cube) into leftover rice for extra flavor.

• • Stir leftover rice into Endless Soup to stretch the meals

  • Add sugar, a pat of butter, a sprinkle of cinnamon and a splash of milk to enjoy for hot rice breakfast

  • Speed homemade Stuffed Peppers using leftover rice

  • Make Chicken Fried Rice 

Different Flavors For A Leftover Rice Side Dish

I’ll serve that leftover rice as a differently-flavored side dish over the next several days.

For Tex-Mex I take out a portion of rice and stir in some melted butter and sautéed minced garlic & sage to make Garlic/Sage Buttered Rice.

To another portion of rice I add sautéed minced fresh rosemary to make Rosemary Rice.

For Spanish Rice I stir in chunky salsa into a portion of leftover rice. 

For Cilantro Lime Rice I stir minced cilantro and lime juice into a portion of leftover cooked rice. (I only add lime zest if I’m able to zest it very finely since it won’t be actually cooked into the rice.)

It’s all so easy to do because the rice itself is cooked. I’m just stirring in different seasonings to make a whole different rice side dish!

Batch Cooked Rice Convenience

As you can see it’s easy to cook a larger batch of rice at one time and enjoy it for several days in completely different ways.

Since the rice is already cooked those rice dishes come together in minutes. Planned Leftovers, bebe!

Here are my instructions for perfect Instant Pot long-grain rice. Enjoy!

Did you make this rice? Please rate the recipe in your comment below!

~ TxH~

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Other Side Dishes We Love

Rice

• Rosemary Rice
• Buttered Rice w/Fresh Sage & Garlic
• Cilantro-Lime Rice
• Texas-Style Spanish Rice
• Favorite Ways To Flavor Plain Rice

Beans

• Ranch-Style Beans
• RancherMan’s Green-Bean Casserole
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• Black-Eyed Peas With Rotel Tomatoes

Vegetables

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• Fried Okra Fritters
  
• Simple Homemade Creamy Coleslaw
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Other

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…and MANY MORE!

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