After weeks of experimenting, I got it right. Here is your fail-proof guide for Instant Pot Rice. White rice, brown rice, wild rice, and many more, basically an encyclopedia about cooking rice in a pressure cooker.
If you’ve followed along for a while, you know I’m a huuuuge fan of pressure cooking. My Instant Pot Chicken and Rice recipe is not only a hit at my house but thousands of others now, too. YAY!
What Is The Best Rice To Water Ratio?
You’ll be surprised but it is always and for ALL sorts 1:1. Yes, you read that right.
Instant Pot Rice calls for a 1:1 rice to water ratio
You wonder why on the stove different ratios are called for. Well, the secret to rice cooking is that the darker or wilder the rice the longer it needs to cook and the longer something needs to cook, the more water evaporates during the process.
This leads us to the conclusion, that different kinds of rice do not necessarily need different kinds of amounts of water to “cook” but rather more water to evaporate.
Since the Instant Pot gives a tight seal and high pressure, no water evaporates at all.
So yes, brown rice and even wild rice need the exact same amount of water as white rice in an evaporation-proof environment. *mind-blown*
What If My Rice Is Too Hard With a 1:1 Ratio?
If your rice is hard or uncooked that doesn’t mean next time it needs more water, that means, next time it needs more TIME. Did you wait for FULL natural pressure release?
Unfortunately, you cannot “save” undercooked rice in the Instant Pot as putting the lid back on and turning the pot back on just leads to the dreaded burn warning. I recommend adding the undercooked rice to a soup or stew maybe 5 minutes before it’s done simmering.
What If My Rice Is Too Mushy?
You most likely used too much water. 1:1 water to rice ratio is essential for all rice types.
Use the exact same container to measure both rice and water. Some cups are standard American (236ml), others are metric (250ml) and the little plastic cup that comes with the Instant Pot is neither (160ml). So do not use different measuring cups to measure rice and water.
Does 1:1 Apply For 1 Cup Just As It Does For 4 Cups?
YES! When making Instant Pot Rice you need 1 cup of water for every cup of rice, regardless of if you cook just 1 cup or 4 cups.
This is different when you cook rice on the stovetop where evaporation happens. The more rice you cook the less water you need when using a regular pot on the stove.
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 Pot’s 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.
Natural Pressure Release (NPR) vs. Quick Pressure Release (QR)
What’s better? Hands down, no doubt >> natural pressure release. If you cook rice longer so you can do quick pressure release, with the hope to have the rice cooked faster overall, it gets sticky and mushy.
If you want fluffy rice, I encourage you to be patient and wait for natural pressure release. I timed all rice and there doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to the timing. Even the same kind of rice in the same amount has had different natural pressure release times.
What Is The Rice Button For?
The rice button was designed only for white rice (regular long-grain, Jasmine, or Basmati rice). It works fine with those types of rice. The shorter high-pressure cooking times with natural pressure release work better though in my opinion.
Also, the Rice Button does not work for any other type of rice but white rice.
Do I Have To Rinse Rice Before Cooking?
Opinions vary widely and there seems to be no right or wrong answer. It’s all up to personal preference. However, thankfully it is irrelevant for the cooking times presented.
Both rinsed and dry rice work with my cooking times and method. Nothing has to be adjusted or changed either way. Just make sure you drain your rice well in a fine mesh strainer if you rinse it. Then use 1:1 ratio.
Instant Pot Rice Cooking Times
Now let’s get to the individual kinds of rice:
White Rice
I’ve tried both Basmati and Jasmin and both cook in the exact same time, 3 minutes high pressure + NPR. The thicker regular long-grain white rice cooks better with 4 minutes high pressure + NPR.
Brown Rice
I’ve experimented with Basmati brown rice and with short grain brown rice and the Basmati cooked faster than the short grain. From all my experiments it seems like the thicker the individual grains, the longer they need. With the exception of wild rice, that one needs long regardless of being a skinny dude. 22 minutes high pressure + NPR for the thin Basmati and 24 minutes for the thick short grain.
Wild Rice
Some people swear the grain HAS to burst open, others swear, it’s best when “just about to burst” and others like it completely unburst. Guess what, you can achieve any consistency you like when you cook Instant Pot Wild Rice. Here are the times for whole unbroken wild rice: 28 minutes (unburst), 30 minutes (some burst some unburst), 32 minutes (burst).
Red Rice and Black Rice
Red rice and black rice is pretty thick and needs quite some time to break down so give it tiiime. It’s round and thick and it takes quite a bit for it to absorb all the water. It’s like a new towel that needs time to get soaking wet ;) 30 minutes high pressure + NPR.
Sushi Rice
I was actually pretty sure this would take just as long as regular white rice but surprise surprise. It’s not as sticky if you cook it or only 3 minutes and this is the only rice you really want to be sticky, right? So increasing the cooking time actually made it stickier and better to work with for sushi. Cooke it 5 minutes on high pressure + NPR.
Wild Rice Blend
Soooo, this one is the trickiest because it has several different kinds of rice that individually cook in different times. I found it cooks best in an in-between time. The wild rice in the mix will be completely unburst but the brown rice won’t be all mushy. Usually, that’ll be 28 minutes high-pressure + NPR. Of course, it will depend widely on what grains exactly are in your blend.
How to Reheat Rice in the Instant Pot
So, I’ve seen a couple of people recommend adding water or oil and stir it in the inner pot and pretty much making a mess, haha.
Um, not my favorite method.
I like things simple. I basically want the same convenience as a microwave but without the waves.
I store my leftover rice in a heat-proof glass container and then place the trivet in the Instant Pot, add a cup of water and place the rice uncovered on the trivet. Put the lid on, knob to sealing and press steam for 5 minutes. Quick pressure release, done!
So here you have it. The longest post in the history of Green Healthy Cooking.
Burn Warning Trouble Shooting
The wicked burn warning, it’s the Instant Pot user’s nemesis! For starters, some Instant Pots are a lot more temperamental than others. You most likely did nothing wrong, however, you are dealing with what we could compare with a toddler with a temper tantrum.
If your Instant Pot is generally one to scream “burn” easily and quickly I recommend you stay close in the beginning phase while it gets the water boiling and trying to get to pressure. When the pot is trying to push up the safety pin but seems to not be able to, that’s the critical moment. Push down on the handle of the lid a little to help it get to pressure.
If the pot tries and tries to get to pressure but can’t too much water evaporates through the valve and thus leaves too little inside the pot and the rice starts to burn.
If even with a little push on the lid, it cannot get to pressure, the sealing ring might not be positioned properly inside the lid. You will have to abort the mission and start over, making sure the sealing ring is still in great condition and placed correctly.
If the Instant Pot was able to pressure cook for most of the time and only showed the burn warning at the end of the cooking time, then just unplug it and wait for natural pressure release. Often times it still manages to cook the rice and just a tiny corner got burnt.
Instant Pot Rice
Equipment
- Pressure Cooker
Ingredients
- 1 cup rice - (Basmati white, Jasmin white, Basmati brown, short-grain brown, red, black, wild, wild blend, sushi)
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
Instructions
- Add all ingredients into the Instant Pot. You can double, triple or quadruple all ingredients in same amounts.
- Make sure sealing ring is placed properly in lid, add lid, turn shut and turn knob to sealing position.
- Cook on high pressure for the number of minutes instructed below depending on the type of rice:White Rice (Basmati or Jasmin): 3 minutesWhite Sushi Rice: 5 minutesBrown Rice (Basmati): 22 minutesShort Grain Brown Rice: 24 minutesRed Rice: 30 minutesWild Rice Blend: 28 minutesWild Rice: 30 minutesBlack Pearl Rice: 30 minutes
- Natural Pressure Release until pin drops. Takes on average 9-12 minutes (max. 18 minutes for 1 cup and max 30 mins for 4 cups).
- Remove all rice from pot immediately to avoid it sticking to the bottom. If needing to keep warm, leave rice in pot after natural pressure release without opening the lid to avoid steam being released and drying out the rice > making it stick to the bottom.
Notes
- I use a US standard cup. 236ml in volume.
- I, personally, do NOT rinse or wash my rice.
- Cooking time stays the same no matter how many cups you cook.
Lynn says
Thanks for exploring this! I tried four variations. First, used the “rice” button on the Instant Pot. Not great. Then tried high pressure 3 minutes, came out good. Then I rinsed the rice first, and that came out fluffier and a little softer, like I like it. Last time around, I added more salt and a little butter. The butter kept it from sticking to the pot, and added some nice richness and flavor.
R K Ripperger says
After finding you online I’ve been experimenting w/your recipes for the past month or so. You’re right on w/the timing and liquid amounts. I always cooked rice (covered tightly) in the oven & had perfect results (‘Dirty Rice’ made by including sautéed onion & celery in broth) but it’s way too hot to add heat in the summer. I’ve never gotten a IP Burn notice but if cooking rice plain (no other ingredients included) this would eliminate that possibility. I did try something I adapted from a vid as shown: cook the rice like you do for reheating, in a bowl or other open container, on a trivet w/water in bottom, 1:1 ratio for rice & water/broth in the container, 4 min High Pressure for EACH cup of rice & finally NR. Fortunately cooked rice is freezable as all of the experiments were saved!
R K Ripperger says
And these experiments were mainly for Riceland Extra Long Grain.
Lorena says
Fantastic!!! Thank you so much for your thoughtful comment! I appreciate it so much!
Ron says
Hi, have you experimented with Sona Masoori rice? I am becoming a convert to it due to the much lower sodium content, slightly lower calorie count, and lower starch. Cheers!
Lorena says
I’ve never tried that, no. Sorry.
Vic Ramkumar says
I cook Sona Masoori Rice in an IP. My preferred texture is slightly mushy, and overcooked rather than grainy, al-dente.
My to go ratio is 1:1.5 and 4 minutes high pressure.
Jill Sanders says
Thanks this was super helpful!
But I have some bad news for you, so you better sit down. Whenever you cook anything using any kind of heat from any source, you are using waves. Electromagnetic waves, to be exact. The waves radiating through your food in an oven, a pot, a pressure cooker, and a microwave are all exactly the same kind of wave. The only difference is the length of the wave. Microwaves are the perfect size to make water molecules jiggle and rub against each other to create warmth, like rubbing your hands together creates warmth.
I don’t work for a microwave company; I just understand science, and know that microwaves aren’t giving you cancer, just like nothing else that heats water molecules does. You can’t look at the waves because eyeballs are mostly water, and I think you can figure out the rest. You can’t put your eyeballs on the stove or in a pressure cooker either, so it’s not really suspicious to be told to keep them away from microwaves. Hope this helps!
Simon says
Brilliant, worked first time, perfect long grain rice. I added a chicken stock cube for a bit more flavour.
Khaled says
Hello Lorena,
I have Lundberg organic California brown basmati rice, and the IP duo60. I tried following your recipe, but I’m not getting the rice how I like it or even stovetop like. I like my rice soft, and I tried 22/24/25/28 mns with 1:1 just water and high pressure with natural release usually 16-19mns.
Looks like the softest so far was the 28mns. Do I need to add water as recipe book saying 1:1.5? Do I need to keep increasing the time?
I washed my rice in strainer first before adding it btw.
Any advice?
Lorena says
Hi Khaled, if you like your rice super soft you simply need to cook it more time. More water will rather make it mushy. I recommend cooking it even longer. Try 32 minutes of high pressure and full natural pressure release. You should get to the consistency you’re looking for.
Asiya says
Hi
Do we select the ‘rice’ option?
Lorena says
No, I never use the rice option. It’s only for white rice and it doesn’t come out well. Use “manual” or “pressure cook” (depending on the model you have) and make sure it’s set to “high pressure”
khaled says
Hi Lorena, thanks for the super quick reply, i did try 1:1.5 water and it came watery.
i also tried not washing it (thinking it might absorb water better) and did the 22 mns recommended and was still “al dente”.
i will try 32 mns hopefully this will be it!
thanks a lot
sneha says
I tried to cook dal at the bottom and rice in Pot on the trivet, even after 10mins of cooking and Natural release, rice did not cook at all.
I mean it’s ok if I am doing wrong with Water ratio or cooking on Normal pressure instead of High,
rice should have been cooked, be it mushy or sticky or with extra water.
But Rice grains were as it is , it did not cook at all.
How it that possible?
It cooks well in Direct Pot but not in Pot in Pot.
May I know the reason behind it?
Lorena says
Did you add 1:1 rice to water ratio in the pot in pot? Did the Instant Pot come to pressure? High pressure is absolutely necessary. Low pressure won’t work at all. Was the dal enough to get the pot to pressure?
JoAnn M Lakes says
Did you cover the rice? I’ve done brown rice in a casserole dish a ton of times (no cover) and it always works (22 minutes, NPR)
Bob says
Thanks so much for this helpful article.
Rice in my new IP Ultra was terrible: mushy and stuck to the bottom. Made me regret giving away my rice cooker. The problem was I used the automatic Rice setting, which was 8 minutes high pressure.
Switching to 3 minutes and natural release gives perfect results, even for one cup of rice. And I no longer bother to rinse. Thank you!
Alexis says
Great recipe! I’m bummed though that I can’t just print the recipe for the rice that I use (instead of “refer to blog above”). For this reason, I won’t be printing this out to put in my ‘elite’ recipe collection. But I’ve bookmarked it (along with 300+ other recipes I have saved).
Lorena says
That’s good to know Alexis, thank you for the feedback.
Elle says
Does the timing change for multiple cups of rice?
Lorena says
No, the timing stays the same
Sophia says
When using natural release do I let my pot stay on the “keep warm” setting or turn it all the way off?
Lorena says
I always leave it on but it works either way.
Jack Charles Poulter says
To copy a part of the article just highlight the portion, copy and paste in a text program/application and save it or just print it out. The text version requires fewer pages that the web version when printing.
Yun says
Is there not any typo in the instruction?
I tried cooking white rice at high pressure for 5 minutes and natural released for 18 minutes and the rices turned out not fully cooked. How can it be cooked in only 3 minutes according to the recipe?
Lorena says
Hi Yun, no, no typo and by the reviews you can see it works for just about anybody. What kind of white rice did you cook? Did you use a 1:1 volume ratio? Did your pot seal well? No steam coming out at all once it came to pressure? What kind of pot are you using? 6-quart? 8-quart? If using an 8-quart, how much quantity did you make?
Wanda says
Wild rice failed. Got the burn message after 20 mins. Not sure what will happen to it. I QR and stirred. Scraping bottom of pot. Added some water. Stirred. Turned back on. Got the burn message again so stirred again and now have it on keep warm low. 12 mins so far. Will wait and see what happens.
Rhonda says
I made Texmati rice using the time for basmati rice. 1:1 3 min with natural release. It tasted like plastic pellets. It wasn’t crunchy but it wasn’t soft and definitely didn’t need to be fluffed. All grains were individual. No taste. Do I need to add 1 or 2 minutes of high pressure ? I’m in Dallas, Texas.
Rhonda says
Also, once you realize rice isn’t cooked soft enough, do you bring IP back to high pressure or what do you do?
Lorena says
I’m afraid that won’t work in this case. If there is no water left, the pressure cooker will start burning the rice. I suggest giving it a quick stir and then immediately sealing the pot again while leaving the warm function on and leaving it like this for another 15-20 minutes so the remaining steam can soften it up a little. What kind of rice did you make and did you use my timings suggested? Did you wait for full natural pressure release? No quick release?
Lorena says
Hi Rhonda, I’ve never heard of Texmati rice. I’m not sure I’m understanding your description either. The rice was undercooked? If it was undercooked it definitely needs more time. If it was slightly undercooked add maybe 2 minutes. If it was very undercooked maybe try 10 minutes. Leave the rice to water ratio at 1:1 though.
JoAnn M Lakes says
Lorena, thank you so much for this blog. I have found them to be’PERFECT’!!! I’ve taken off my old magnetic rice table off my IP and made a new one with your “new” times. I find that removing the rice as soon as it’s done does seem to make the rice less sticky. I batch cook my rice so we usually have 3 or 4 different kinds of rice in the refrigerator. (not to mention, beans. Thanks for the bean blog also. My new go to). I sent you an email about testing grains for water grain ratios. If you need testers, let me know.
Lorena says
Awesome! Thank you JoAnn :D I’ll get back to you for that for sure! Thank you for offering!
Michelle Yates says
Wow this was an incredibly helpful cheat sheet. Thank you!
TrisKit says
I made this recipe tonight in my Instant Pot Mini Duo using 1-1/2 cups of Riceland Extra Long Grain brown rice and water. I didn’t rinse the rice first, and I toasted the grains in a couple tablespoons of ghee before adding water and a generous portion of Redmond Real Salt. I pressure-cooked for 22 minutes and then forgot about it…. came back an hour and a half later and removed the pot lid. The grains aren’t “exploded” as they often are when you cook brown rice in a regular pot in the stove. The 1:1 portions of rice and water were perfect. This is LITERALLY the BEST brown rice I’ve ever eaten. Thank you so much! 💕
Lorena says
Woot woot!
Loan says
Hello,
Thank you for the helpful article. I would like to confirm the cooking time. If I were to cook ratio of 4:4 for Brown Rice (Short Grain), will the cooking time still be 24 minutes high pressure? Or do I quadruple the time to 96 minutes? Also, do the brown rice needs soaking before cooking? If yes, how long?
Thank you,
Lorena says
Yes, the cooking time stays the same for 1 cup or 4 cups. 24 minutes. I never rinse nor soak my rise. If you rinse it the time and rice/water ratio stays the same. If the rice is soaked cooking time may vary.