Confession: We gave away our fancy zojirushi rice cooker ages ago. Shocking, I know, but we almost always make rice on the stove, in a pot. That is, unless we’re making rice in an Instant Pot because Instant pot rice is a good thing.
It’s no surprise that we love our Instant Pot as a pressure cooker, but did you know that the Instant Pot’s can also cook rice perfectly? It makes rice super quickly and it’s fluffy and cooked right every time. So if you want a set it and forget it kind of rice, Instant Pot rice is for you. Plus if you’re in a hurry, it’s done in about 15 minutes compared to 30 minutes for stovetop or rice cooker.
What is the water to rice ratio for cooking rice in an Instant Pot?
1 cup of white rice: 1 cup of water. That’s it, it’s just a one to one ratio of rice to water. This means that you can use any sort of measuring tool you want, just make sure the water and rice volume is equal.
How to cook rice in an Instant Pot
- Rinse your rice. This is an optional step and depends on what you want from your rice. If you want the grains to be more separate with less starch (that is, stickiness) on each grain, rinse your rice a couple of times and drain very, very well. You want the rice to be practically dry so use a sieve.
- Cook on high pressure. Pop the rice with an equal amount of water into the insert of your Instant Pot. Set your pot to High Pressure for 3 minutes.
- Natural release. When the Instant Pot is done, let it naturally release for 10 minutes.
- Fluff and serve. When the 10 minutes are up, vent the Instant Pot, the open it up, fluff up the rice and enjoy!
Do I need to rinse rice before cooking it?
To be honest, this is a down to personal opinion. For us, we don’t always rinse rice because the starch of rice is what makes it cling together when you use chopsticks to scoop up a bite. Our rice is never gummy which seems to be the reason why people champion rinsing rice.
Rinsing rice is kind of a leftover thing from when rice production wasn’t as regulated as it is now and people used to have to make sure nothing untoward was left in the rice they bought. Plus, Asian moms like to use the rice rinsing method as make work for their kids. If you’re rinsing rice for a good 15 minutes then you’re not getting into any trouble, is what they think.
If you want to rinse your rice, go for it! But if you don’t want to, you don’t have to. If you find that your rice is too gummy or clumps together as it cooks, you’re probably going to want to rinse your rice.
On a side note, if you are concerned about arsenic in rice, washing it doesn’t really do all that much. In fact, the FDA concluded that washing your rice had a minimal affect on arsenic levels but reduced beneficial iron, folate, thiamine and niacin.
What about brown rice?
Click here for Instant Pot brown rice instructions.
What to eat with fluffy white rice
- Mapo tofu
- Oven baked sweet and sour chicken
- Oven baked sweet and sour pork
- Salted egg yolk fried chicken
- Chinese tomato egg stir fry
- Thai basil chicken
- Taiwanese fried chicken
- Vegan popcorn chicken
- Korean fried chicken
- Air fryer char siu
- Japanese soboro donburi
- Chinese BBQ pork char siu
- Garlicky mushrooms
- Coconut curry chickpea stew
- Creamy dijon mustard chicken
- Sundubu jjigae
- Gochujang honey roast chicken
Ingredients
- 1 cup white rice see notes
- 1 cup water
Special Equipment
Instructions
- Add the rice and water to the insert of the Instant Pot.
- Make sure the pressure valve is in the sealed position. Set the Instant Pot to pressure cook high for 3 minutes. When the pot is done, let it natural release for 10 minutes. Vent the pot (turn the venting knob to depressurize by releasing the pressure). Open the lid immediately, fluff and enjoy!
