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!

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

This is easy, y’all. 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. That’s a pretty off-putting texture.

Not enough rice but too much broth will leave you with soggy rice grains. That’s an equally off-putting texture.

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

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. It 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. This removes the excess starches that could cause your rice to be sticky and clump together.

Measure out your rice and put it in a strainer. Then run water through the rice until the water runs clear.

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 in 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.)

I’ll place my rinsed rice in the Instant Pot’s inner liner, add the broth (or water) and a touch of salt. Then I lock the lid onto the top of my Instant Pot, making sure the lever is set to ‘sealing’.

I press the +/- button until the display reads 3 minutes. 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 indicating it’s no longer cooking. I just wait 10 minutes before flipping that lever to ‘vent’ to release the pressure remaining in the Instant Pot.

Careful When Releasing Pressure

Be sure to stand back when you release the pressure, the steam that will come out of the vent is hot! Some people 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.

Whatever method you use, just 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.

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 perfectly fluffy yet firm and not sticky or mushy. PERFECT!

Different Ways To Enjoy Cooked Rice

That first serving of rice is often as a side dish – I like to stir in an Herb Bomb (frozen minced fresh herbs, garlic & olive oil frozen into an ice cube) from the freezer for extra flavor.

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.

Then I’ll allow the rest of the cooked rice to cool. I’ll transfer the cooled rice to a large container (usually a Repurposed Coffee Can) and store the cooked rice in my refrigerator.

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!

Using Leftover Rice

I like to add some of the cooked rice to my Endless Soup. RancherMan likes a less brothy soup so I typically add rice or noodles to the soup to placate his tastes. And why not add some of this rice, it’s already cooked and ready to go!

But I like to enjoy some of that rice for breakfast too. When I was a child my parents used to serve rice to us kids with breakfast. They’d add a little sugar, a small pat of butter, maybe a sprinkle of cinnamon and a splash of milk. Aaaaahhhh sweet childhood memories.

Making my rice without specific seasonings means I’m even able to enjoy some of that cooked rice for breakfast.

Many dishes make good use of leftover rice to speed along a meal. For instance, it significantly speeds things up when I’m making my Stuffed Peppers if I already have rice cooked and ready to go.

And one of my favorite ways to use leftover cooked rice is when I make Chicken Fried Rice. That recipe calls for 3 cups of cooked, cold rice. It’s a Homestead favorite for us.

Different Flavors For Rice

Sometimes I’m serving that leftover cooked rice with a Tex-Mex meal. If so I’ll take out a portion of rice and stir in some melted butter and sautéed minced garlic & sage to make my Garlic/Sage Buttered Rice.

Other times I might sauté minced fresh rosemary in butter and stir it into a portion of rice to make Rosemary Rice.

If I’m in the mood for Spanish Rice I’ll portion out some rice and stir in some chunky salsa.

When I invite my parents to join us for supper, dad’s favorite rice flavor is Cilantro Lime Rice. If I’m using leftover rice I just scoop out a portion of that leftover rice and stir in a little minced cilantro and lime juice. (I’ll 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 dish!

Batch Cooked Rice Convenience

Anyway, as you can see it’s super 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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See ALL Our Instant Pot Posts!

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
• Cooking Dry Pinto Beans in An Instant Pot
• Fun Flavor Variations For Plain Pinto Beans
• Black-Eyed Peas With Rotel Tomatoes

Vegetables

• Roasted Vegetables
  
• Fried Okra Fritters
  
• Simple Homemade Creamy Coleslaw
• Mashed Potatoes Into Potato Cakes

Other

• Pasta Salad FAST
• Deviled Eggs With a KICK!

…and MANY MORE!

See All Our Recipes

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