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Home Recipe Index Freezer Meals Freezer Sides

How to Cook Brown Rice in the Instant Pot

★★★★★ 5 /5 Updated: 10/11/22
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This post may contain affiliate or sponsored links. Please read our disclosure policy.

Making brown rice in the Instant Pot is a huge time saver. Follow these steps to make easy, fluffy Instant Pot brown rice!

Cooked Instant Pot brown rice in bowls

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.

How to Make Brown Rice in the Instant Pot

Decide how much rice you want to make

S

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/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
Brown rice in an instant pot bowl

Rinse the rice and add to Instant Pot

Using a colander, rinse the rice off. Add the rice and liquid to the Instant Pot.

Brown rice and chicken stock in an instant pot steel bowl

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!

Instant Pot brown rice in a brown bowl

FAQ

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.

Cilantro Lime Rice in a freezer bag

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.

Recipes that Use Brown Rice

Instant Pot Vegetarian Tortilla Soup

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Make Ahead Lunch Wraps

chicken foil packet with broccoli, bacon, and rice

Chicken, Broccoli, and Rice Foil Packets

Fried Rice with Sweet Soy Sauce

See all of our 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!

★★★★★ 5 from 4 reviews

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!

Yield: 6 cups (or 12 servings) 1x
Prep: 1Cook: 33Total: 34 minutes
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Units:
Scale:

Ingredients

  • 2 cups brown rice (not quick cooking kind)
  • 2.5 cups water or chicken broth

Before You Begin! If you make this, please leave a review and rating letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business thrive & continue providing free recipes.

Instructions

  1. Rinse the rice in a colander.
  2. 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.) 
  3. Lock and seal the lid and cook at high pressure for 23 minutes. 
  4. 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.
  5. Fluff the rice with a fork and eat up!

Equipment

Instant Pot

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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.

© Author: Polly Conner
Method: Instant Pot

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Polly Conner

Polly Conner

As co-founder of Thriving Home, Polly’s passionate about helping busy parents get dinner on the table. With a house full of kids, dogs, and (usually) a DIY project in the works, she knows firsthand how every minute (and every dollar) counts. As a business owner, she enjoys wearing multiple hats and serves best as a project manager for Thriving Home.

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  1. AvatarMysti Harris says

    Posted on 12/18/22 at 2:40 pm

    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.

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Carla from Thriving HomeCarla from Thriving Home says

      Posted on 12/18/22 at 4:32 pm

      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!

      Reply
  2. AvatarKathy says

    Posted on 8/8/22 at 3:02 pm

    Perfect every time!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
  3. AvatarMargarita says

    Posted on 6/27/22 at 8:14 pm

    Perfectly cooked rice every time! Even the times I forget to rinse it 😉

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Rachel TiemeyerRachel Tiemeyer says

      Posted on 6/28/22 at 9:57 am

      Yesss! I only make it this way now too. The Instant Pot for the win!

      Reply
  4. AvatarKaren says

    Posted on 2/26/21 at 1:29 pm

    Works great! Love making rice in my IP.

    ★★★★★

    Reply

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