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!
Rice is such a common food in households across the world. After cooking one meal from every country in the world, I can definitely tell you that there are so many recipes on the planet for Rice and Beans… and they’re all delicious!
Rice is popular for so many reasons, some of which are how cheap it is, how versatile it is, and how easy it is to make!
Of course, it takes far longer to make Brown Rice than it does to make a long grain white rice. In fact, making brown rice on the stove can take up to an hour! Luckily for you, this article is about to make that process a whole lot easier.
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: Brown rice is incredibly healthy and is often chosen as the more health-conscious option over white rice. It is gluten-free, high in fiber, and has no cholesterol, fat or sodium. Brown rice takes much longer to cook than white rice, making the Instant Pot the perfect choice!
- Olive Oil: I use olive oil in the bottom of my pot just to prevent any sticking or burning. 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: Any temperature will be fine. See tips below for using broth.
How to Make this Recipe
Rinse your rice in a strainer. Add the olive oil to your Instant Pot. Pour in the rice and the water.
Put the lid on the Instant Pot and set the pressure to HIGH for 20 minutes. When the cook cycle is complete, perform a quick release. 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 1:1.25, so if you want to make 3 cups of rice the ratio is 3:3.75. 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 (like long grain white rice), follow the graph below!
- Make sure to rinse your rice before cooking!
- While this recipe is labeled as an Instant Pot recipe, it will work in any electric pressure cooker you have.
- Feel free to sub in chicken broth instead of water. This will provide a little more flavor to your Brown Rice.
Recipe FAQs
This is always the question: Should I or should I not rinse my rice before cooking it?
The typical argument for rinsing rice is that it removes surface starch from the rice. This allows the rice to cook more evenly and wards off gummy rice that is soft in some places and not completely cooked in others.
The general rule of thumb is to rinse your rice until the water runs clear.
Yes you can use the rice function on your Instant Pot to cook the rice. My rice function automatically switches the pressure level to LOW. If this is the case for you as well, make sure to press the button again until the pressure level shows HIGH.
If you want to cook brown rice without using the Rice function, you can do so. Simply set the pressure to HIGH manually and set a timer for 20 minutes.
A quick release is a term used often when cooking with the Instant Pot. Once the pressure is reached and the rice has cooked fully, the timer will go off.
You have two options at this point. You can either perform a Natural Pressure Release or a Quick Pressure release.
A natural pressure release will slowly release the pressure from the pot, which can take about 20 minutes. The pot will not unlock until all of the pressure is gone, and, in the meantime, the food will continue to cook inside.
A Quick Pressure release means that you open the pressure valve to release all of the pressure at once. This takes about 30 seconds, after which the Instant Pot unlocks. The food then stops cooking and can be served immediately.
There are different uses for each option, but in the case of our brown rice, the Quick Release is what we want.
I also have this article on how to make Instant Pot Wild Rice.
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 any seasonings of your choice.
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:
- Instant Pot White Rice
- Chicken Fried Rice in the Instant Pot
- 20 Rice Recipes
- Muhammar: Sweet Rice from Bahrain
Instant Pot Brown Rice Recipe
Equipment
- Pressure Cooker
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 cup brown rice, rinsed
- 1 ¼ cups water
Instructions
- Add 1 tbsp olive oil to your Instant Pot. Pour in 1 cup rice and 1 ¼ cups water.
- Put the lid on the Instant Pot and set the pressure to HIGH for 20 minutes. When the cook cycle is complete, perform a quick release. Enjoy!
Notes
- Brown Rice: The most obvious ingredient! Brown rice is incredibly healthy and if often chosen as the more health-conscious option over white rice. It is gluten free, high in fiber, and has no cholesterol, fat or sodium. Brown rice takes much longer to cook than white rice, making the Instant Pot the perfect choice!
- Olive Oil: I use olive oil in the bottom of my pot just to prevent any sticking or burning. 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.
- If you would like to make different kinds of rice in the Instant Pot (like long grain white rice), follow the graph below!
- Make sure to rinse your rice before cooking!
- While this recipe is labeled as an Instant Pot recipe, it will work in any electric pressure cooker you have.
- Feel free to sub in chicken broth instead of water. This will provide a little more flavor to your Brown Rice.
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