How to Cook Brown Rice in the Instant Pot
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Making brown rice in the Instant Pot is a huge time saver. Follow these steps to make easy, fluffy Instant Pot brown rice!
After testing hundreds of Instant Pot Recipes over the years, we’ve nailed down the perfect timing for a lot of types of recipes and ingredients.
Similar to Instant Pot Chicken recipes, making fabulous brown rice in the Instant Pot all comes down to the right timing.
Once I nailed down the perfect cooking time, I threw away my rice cooker and didn’t look back. Making brown rice in the Instant Pot is easy, fluffy, and yields perfect, fluffy results.
What Brand of Brown Rice Should I Buy?
I highly recommend Lundberg Organic Brown Rice, as it’s grown in California and is a brand that actively cares about avoiding dangerous arsenic levels in their rice. (Read more about how rice–especially when it’s grown outside California, Pakistan, and India–is contaminated by arsenic here.)
How to Make Brown Rice in the Instant Pot
Decide how much rice you want to make
For Instant Pot brown rice, use a 1 cup dry rice to 1 1/4 liquid ratio.
You can scale the amount you want to make up and down as much as you want. Just keep to proportions.
Here’s the scale for cooking different amounts:
Rice to Broth Ratio
- 1 cups rice to 1.25 cups liquid
- 2 cups rice to 2.5 cups liquid
- 3 cups rice to 3.75 cups liquid
Rinse the rice and add to Instant Pot
Using a colander, rinse the rice off. Add the rice and liquid to the Instant Pot.
Important Tip
Do not fill your Instant Pot more than halfway with the rice and liquid. This prevents excessive foaming that can block the mechanisms in the lid.
Cook the rice
Lock and seal the lid of the Instant Pot. Cook it at high pressure for 23 minutes. Let the Instant Pot naturally release for at least 10 minutes. (This means don’t touch it!)
Then, do a quick release of the rest of the pressure by opening the pressure valve. Fluff and serve!
FAQs
Here are common questions we get about Instant Pot Brown Rice
Should I use water or broth for the liquid?
Either one will work! Most of the time, I prefer to use broth or stock. It adds more flavor without any extra work.
Do I use quick release or natural release?
It’s really important you use at least a 10-minute natural release when making Instant Pot brown rice. This means, don’t nudge the release valve to vent any of the pressure until 10 minutes after its cook time is done.
Can I freeze rice after it’s cooked?
Most people don’t realize this but YES! You can freeze cooked rice! We’ve written a whole article on how to freeze rice here. I used this all the time for brown rice and our Cilantro Lime Rice. Be sure to read up if you plan to make a bunch of brown rice.
Does the rice button on Instant Pot work for brown rice?
We have found recipes get more accurate results when we use the manual button and set it for 23 minutes (instead of the rice button). So no, despite what Instant Pot Manual says, we do not recommend using the rice button on the Instant Pot.
How much water do you add to 2 cups of rice?
Using our suggested rice/water ratio, you will need to use 2.5 cups of water for 2 cups of rice.
Instant Pot Freezer Meals
Hop over to this post highlighting 20+ Best of the Best Freezer Meals for the Instant Pot. It includes freezer meal instructions for EVERY recipe plus tons of pro tips and tricks we’ve learned over the years.
Did you make this? Snap a photo and tag us on Instagram at @thrivinghome so we can see your creations and cheer you on!
Instant Pot Brown Rice
Making brown rice in the Instant Pot is a huge time saver. Follow these steps to make easy, fluffy Instant Pot brown rice!
Ingredients
- 2 cups brown rice (not quick cooking kind)
- 2.5 cups water or chicken broth
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Instructions
- Rinse the rice in a colander.
- Add rice and water/broth to Instant Pot. (Important Tip: Do not fill your Instant Pot more than halfway with the rice and liquid. This prevents excessive foaming that can block the mechanisms in the lid.)
- Lock and seal the lid and cook at high pressure for 23 minutes.
- Let Instant Pot naturally release pressure for at least 10 minutes (that means, just don’t touch it). Then, do a quick release of the rest of the pressure by opening the pressure valve.
- Fluff the rice with a fork and eat up!
Equipment
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Notes/Tips
This recipe only works for brown rice, but does not work for white rice, basmati rice, or any quick cooking rice.
If cooking white rice in the Instant Pot, cook at high press for 8 minutes with a 10 minute natural release.
If cooking basmati rice in the Instant Pot, cook at high pressure for 4-8 minutes with a 10 minute natural release.
If cooking jasmine rice, cook at high pressure for 4-10 minutes with a 10 minute natural release.
I finally made rice in my instant pot following these directions, and it was absolutely perfect! I froze some as well and it was just as good when I thawed and used it.
★★★★★
So happy to hear this Mysti! Making rice in the instant pot AND freezing it were both huge wins in my household. Thank you for taking the time to leave a review!
Perfect every time!
★★★★★
Perfectly cooked rice every time! Even the times I forget to rinse it 😉
★★★★★
Yesss! I only make it this way now too. The Instant Pot for the win!
Works great! Love making rice in my IP.
★★★★★