It is SO easy to cook Brown Rice in your Instant Pot! Goodbye 40 minute long cook times! This recipe will provide a fast, simple, and perfect-every-time recipe to make your weeknight dinners that much easier.
Scroll to the bottom of the page for a comprehensive guide on how to cook all kinds of rice in the Instant Pot!
After cooking one meal from every country in the world, I can tell you that I’ve eaten my fair share of rice. Usually recipes call for white rice, but every once in a while, brown rice makes its appearance in an ingredient list and I always find myself groaning. Why does it take SO long to make on the stove??
Once I figured out that I could make Instant Pot Long Grain White Rice, I decided to experiment with making brown rice in my instant pot as well. And I have finally mastered the recipe for you! Once I learned this method for Instant Pot Brown Rice, it became so easy and I started to add it to our dinner table more! I hope this recipe changes your dinner time as much as it did for ours.
Follow the instructions below and have dinner time changed forever.
Why You Should Cook Your Brown Rice in the Instant Pot
- Faster than Stovetop: Brown rice on the stove typically takes about 50 minutes to cook through completely. This recipe for Instant Pot Brown Rice cuts that time in half. It takes just about 5 minutes for your Instant Pot to build pressure, and after that you have a 20 minute cook time. Talk about getting dinner on the table in half the time!
- Perfect Every Time: Brown rice can be a tough dish to cook, and it can be difficult to get it right. The best thing about this recipe is that it takes the art of cooking brown rice and turns it into a science. You’ll be able to whip up perfect brown rice every time!
What Ingredients are in this Recipe
Here is a visual overview of the ingredients in the recipe. Scroll down to the recipe at the bottom for quantities.
- Brown Rice: I would recommend rinsing your brown rice before cooking, partially because the outer layer can carry a lot of dust and germs. It can also keep your rice from getting gummy, although rinsing the rice makes a larger difference with white rice than it does with brown rice.
- Olive Oil: I often receive questions about using butter instead, but would caution against this. Butter has a lower smoke point than olive oil and we just don’t want your rice to burn.
- Water: You could use chicken broth instead of water to infuse some extra flavor into the rice.
How to Make this Recipe
Step 1: Rinse your rice, then add it to your Instant Pot with water.
Step 2: Pressure cook on HIGH for 20 minutes, then allow for a natural pressure release for 10 minutes. Release the rest of the pressure and fluff the rice with a fork. Enjoy!
Scaling Your Recipe
If you need to meal prep and want to make a big batch of brown rice, you can use this recipe to do so.
The ratio of rice:water is 1:1, so if you want to make 3 cups of rice the ratio is 3:3. The method leaves you prepared to make as much rice as you want without increasing your cook time!
Common Mistakes When Cooking Brown Rice
Below are some common mistakes people run into when making rice and how you can fix them.
- Burnt Rice: If your rice is burnt, you probably did not add enough water. Check your measurements again, and if you are confident that you added enough in this batch, try adding another ¼ cup of liquid when you try again.
- Hard Rice: If your rice is hard, you might not have cooked it for long enough. Check and make sure that you set your pressure cooker to HIGH. If your rice needs more time, put the lid back on and cook it for another few minutes.
- Mushy Rice: You might have added too much water. To fix this issue, place a few pieces of paper towel or a dish towel between the lid and the pot, then return the lid to the pot. Turn the pot off and allow it to sit like this for about 10 minutes. The towel will help soak up any extra water.
- Watery Rice: Try cooking your rice for a few extra minutes until the extra water is soaked up.
Expert Tips
- If you would like to make different kinds of rice in the Instant Pot, check out this long grain white rice recipe or this Instant Pot Wild Rice recipe.
- While this recipe is labeled as an Instant Pot recipe, it will work in any electric pressure cooker you have.
What to Add to Brown Rice to Make it Taste Better
There are so many options that you can choose to make brown rice taste better. My favorite is a simple approach of butter, salt, garlic, and onion powder. I swear, that combination can improve ANYTHING.
Some other great options are cooking your rice in broth instead of water. This will infuse the rice with a bit more flavor.
You can also use it to make Fried Rice, add delicious sauces, or experiment with adding coconut milk like in this coconut rice recipe!
Recipe FAQs
If you have too much Brown Rice and want to store it in the fridge, you definitely can!
Simply place the brown rice in an airtight container and keep it in the fridge. It should stay good for up to 5 days.
Cool the rice after cooking. Then add it to a freezer safe and airtight container. It should stay good for up to 3 months in the freezer!
To reheat your rice, you can heat it in the microwave. Add some ice, butter, or oil to the bowl before reheating to add a bit of moisture.
Did you like this article about how to make brown rice in the Instant Pot? If so, check out these other articles I picked out just for you:
If you tried this Instant Pot Brown Rice Recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below!
Instant Pot Brown Rice
Equipment
- Pressure Cooker
Ingredients
- 1 cup brown rice, rinsed
- 1 cup water
- ½ tsp salt
Instructions
- Pour the rinsed 1 cup brown rice and 1 cup water into your pot.
- Put the lid on the Instant Pot and set the pressure to HIGH for 20 minutes. When the cook cycle is complete, allow the pressure to naturally release for 10 minutes.
- After 10 minutes, release the rest of the pressure from the pot. Fluff with a fork, serve, and enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Brown Rice: I would recommend rinsing your brown rice before cooking, partially because the outer layer can carry a lot of dust and germs. It can also keep your rice from getting gummy, although rinsing the rice makes a larger difference with white rice than it does with brown rice.
- Olive Oil:I often receive questions about using butter instead, but would caution against this. Butter has a lower smoke point than olive oil and we just don’t want your rice to burn.
- Water: You could use chicken broth instead of water to infuse some extra flavor into the rice.
- While this recipe is labeled as an Instant Pot recipe, it will work in any electric pressure cooker you have.
Linda Trzybinski says
The written recipe with notes says the rice to water ratio is 1:1.25 and mentions using olive oil instead of butter. Then the recipe to print says the ratio is 1:1 and uses no olive oil. Please tell me which is which so I don’t, yet again, make unsatisfactory brown rice.
Alexandria Drzazgowski says
Hi Linda, Thank you for letting me know about the error!! The 1:1.25 was an old version of this recipe. When I reworked it this year, I moved to 1:1, but forgot to edit that section of the blog post.I just edited it, and thank you very much for pointing it out!!