Making Instant Pot Brown Rice is as easy as 1-2-3. All you need is and Instant Pot, water, and brown rice and you’re ready to make a big batch of rice. It turns out perfect and fluffy every time.
Why Instant Pot Brown Rice?
How many times have you made brown rice on the stove and it’s gone south? No need to worry about burnt or mushy rice when you make brown rice in the Instant Pot!
Instant Pot Brown Rice turns out perfectly every time and there is no reason to make a fuss about it. Here are all the reasons you should only make Instant Pot brown rice in the future.
highlights for Instant pot brown rice
- You only need two ingredients to make brown rice in the Instant Pot: brown rice + water.
- Brown rice in the Instant Pot turns out fluffy and perfect every time.
- You can make a big batch of brown rice in the Instant Pot and it lasts a whole week. It’s great for meal prep!
How to Make Instant Pot Brown Rice
- Pour 1 cup of brown rice and 1 cup of water into the Instant Pot.
- Seal Instant Pot > set to manual high pressure > cook for 20 minutes
- Natural release pressure for long-grain brown rice + quick release for short-grain brown rice
- Remove the cover from the Instant Pot and fluff the rice with a fork.
Instant Pot Brown Rice 101
Though making Instant Pot brown rice is simple, there are some things to look out for before you prepare your perfectly cooked Instant Pot brown rice.
What Type of Brown Rice Should I Use?
When it comes to choosing what kind of brown rice to use you (generally) have two choices—> short grain or long grain brown rice. Though there are different types of each rice you can make both of them in the Instant Pot.
Short Grain Brown Rice vs. Long Grain Brown Rice
Short Grain Brown Rice – short grain brown rice tends to be more starchy than long-grain brown rice. It tends to end up soft, sticky, and fluffy. Cook time for short-grain brown rice is 20 minutes but you quick release the pressure.
Long Grain Brown Rice– long grain brown rice is less starchy then short grain brown rice and ends up a bit drier than other rices. Cook time for long grain brown rice is 20 minutes but you must let the pressure natural release for 10 minutes.
What is the Best Water to Rice Ratio
The ratio of water:rice is 1:1—> 1 cup water: 1 cup brown rice
The water:rice ratio is the same for any type of rice! The same goes for brown rice. Be A simple 1:1 ratio will leave you with perfectly cooked rice.
Be sure to use the exact same container to measure the rice and the water. This will ensure that you will end up with same exact amount of each.
Natural Release vs. Quick Release
When it comes to the Instant Pot, the question of how to release pressure from the Instant Pot lingers in everyone’s mind. For this brown rice recipe, you naturally release for one type of rice, and quick release for the other.
Natural release– You naturally release the long-grain brown rice to allow the pressure to come down slowly and to give the rice a little more time to soak up the liquid.
Quick release- You want to quick release the pressure from the short-grain brown rice because it avoids making the rice mushy. Because brown rice is a bit more starchy, it has a higher chance of becoming mush.
Instant Pot Brown Rice Qs
Yes, it is very important that you rinse rice before cooking it. You are rinsing off any dirt and it helps to prevent the rice from being sticky after you cook it.
If your rice is still mushy, you most likely added too much water or let the Instant Pot natural release too long. Unfortunately, there is no way to fix mushy rice. We recommend making a porridge with the leftovers!
If your rice is still crunchy, there was not enough water added or the pressure was not released correctly from the Instant Pot. Unfortunately, there isn’t a way to ensure you won’t get the burn notice if you try to continue to cook the rice.
To use crunchy rice, add it to a soup or cook in a little oil and water on the stovetop in a skillet.
To store Instant Pot brown rice, you want to remove the rice from the Instant Pot and let it cool completely before putting it in an air-tight storage container. Brown rice can last up to 7 days in the refrigerator.
Yes, you can freeze Instant Pot brown rice. Freezing brown rice is a great way to have cooked rice on hand at all times.
To freeze Instant Pot brown rice, let the rice cool completely and then place it in a freezer-safe bag and place it in the freezer for up to 3 months.
You can use this Instant Pot brown rice as a side for any meal, incorporate it into fried rice, or even make a simple rice pudding. The options are endless. Here are some fun meal ideas for brown rice.
Vegetarian Fried Rice – skip cooking the rice in this recipe and just use this brown rice!
Fiesta Salmon Rice Bowls– replace the white rice in this recipe with this brown rice.
Vegetarian Brown Rice Bowls– this recipe uses brown rice!
Ingredients
- 1 cup long grain brown rice or short grain brown rice
- 1 cup water or broth
Instructions
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Add the brown rice to a fine sieve and rinse under cold water until the water runs clear.
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Add the rice and water to the Instant Pot and stir the rice and water together. Be sure that all the rice is covered in water.
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Cover and seal the Instant Pot’s pressure valve.
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Set the Instant Pot to high pressure and cook for 20 minutes.
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To release the pressure, for long grain brown rice naturally release the pressure for 10 minutes and then release any left over pressure from the Instant Pot. For short grain brown rice, quick release the pressure.
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Fluff the rice and serve!
Nutrition facts
Calories: 160kcal Carbohydrates: 36g Protein: 3g Fat: 1g Fiber: 0g Sugar: 0g
