Instant Pot Wild Rice Recipe

Wild Rice is delicious but cooking it on the stove can take forever! Use your Instant Pot to cut down on your wild rice cook time. You’re going to love how easy this is! 

I’m cooking one meal from every country in the world on The Foreign Fork, meaning that rice is a pretty common dish on the menu these days. We make and eat a TON of rice. 

Cooking rice on the stove is easy enough, but I love this method SO much more. It’s hands off, for starters. Plus, it gets dinner on the table quite a bit faster. 

I tried making Instant Pot Wild Rice after some major success making Long Grain White Rice in the Instant Pot and Brown Rice in the Instant Pot! This worked out just as well, and I will definitely be keeping it as my go-to method for cooking Wild Rice from now on. 

Why Make this Recipe

1. Done in Less time: Cooking wild rice on the stovetop can take up to an entire hour! This Instant Pot version means that your rice is done a little sooner.  
2. Hands-off: The best thing about the Instant Pot is that I know that everything is going to come out perfectly every time. On the stove I may have to test the rice a few times to make sure it’s cooked correctly. In the Instant Pot, I can set it, and forget it! And when I finally release the pressure, I know it will come out perfectly. 

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.

1. Wild Rice: Use dry, uncooked wild rice. Use only pure wild rice with this method. Rice blends that include wild rice may cook at a different pressure level/time. 
2. Olive Oil: This is to keep the rice from sticking to the bottom of the pot. It is purely precautionary and can be omitted if desired. 
3. Water: Any temperature is fine. You can also use broth to add some extra flavor. 

How to Make this Recipe

Drizzle the olive oil in the bottom of the pressure cooker. Add the rice, then the water. 

Put the lid on the pressure cooker and seal the pressure valve. Cook on HIGH pressure for 30 minutes. 

Once the timer has reached 0, allow for a 10 minute natural pressure release. When the 10 minutes is up, use a Quick Release to release any remaining pressure. 

Natural Release vs Quick Release

In an Instant Pot or pressure cooker, the pressure builds up in the pot. Once the timer is done, there are two ways to get the pressure out of the pot. 

1. Quick Release: You open the pressure valve and all of the pressure in the pot releases at once in the form of steam. 
2. Natural Release: After the pot is done cooking, you leave it be. The pressure will naturally start to leak out of the pot over time. 

This recipe uses both a Quick Release and a Natural Release. When the rice is done cooking, don’t touch the pot for 10 minutes and allow some pressure to escape naturally. 

After 10 minutes, open the pressure valve and allow the pressure to escape from the pot all at once. 

Scaling this Recipe (Rice to Water Ratio)

To cook wild rice on the stovetop, you should be using a ratio of 1:3. This means for every 1 cup of wild rice, you are using 3 cups of liquid. 

In the Instant Pot Wild Rice method, I have lowered the ratio, meaning that you won’t have to drain any water out of the rice when it has finished cooking. The ratio for the Instant Pot cooking is 1 cup of rice to 1 ¼ cup of water. 

If you want to double the recipe, you would use 2 cups of rice to 2 ½ cups of water, etc. Conversely, you can use ½ cup of rice with ½ cup + 2 tbsp water. 

You can also add more water if desired. It will not change how the rice cooks, just simple drain out the water when the rice has finished cooking. 

Troubleshooting Problems 

Knowing Your Rice is Done

Wild rice has a different way of showing you it is done than white or brown rice does. 

To know your Instant Pot Wild Rice is done cooking, check the grains. If most of them have “popped”, then your rice is done. 

You can also taste the grains. 

Why is the Rice Sticking to the Bottom of the Instant Pot? 

Because of the oil in this recipe, your rice should not be sticking to the bottom of the pot. If the rice is sticking after you’ve opened the pot, you may have forgotten to turn the KEEP WARM function off (I do this more frequently than I care to admit). 

KEEP WARM will continue to cook whatever is in the pot, often causing it to burn. Make sure that once you release the pressure and open the pot, you turn it off to avoid cooking it anymore. 

Extra Water in the Pot

Unlike brown and white rice, Instant Pot Wild Rice (and stovetop, too!) will most likely still have extra water in the pot when cooking (this recipe eliminates most of that, but some may be left). 

In this case, just drain off the extra water and season as normal. 

Undercooked vs Overcooked

Undercooked wild rice will have a few “popped” grains, but most of them will still be intact. If you taste the rice, the texture will be hard. 

Overcooked wild rice will have almost all of the grains “popped” wide open. It will appear lighter in color and mushy. If you try it, it will be tasteless. 

Expert Tips 

• For an even more flavorful dish, you can cook your rice in chicken broth or beef broth instead of water. This will give a delicious umami flavor to your grain! Use the same amount of liquid and cook time as in the recipe. 
• I love Instant Pot Wild Rice best served with a pat of butter and some salt. 
• Make sure to rinse your rice before cooking! 
• Please note, this recipe will work in any pressure cooker. I also have a Zavor LUX Pressure Cooker, and it works in that brand as well. 
• If your rice is not done when you open the lid, simply put the lid back on, seal, and cook for another 2-3 minutes, depending on desired texture. 
• You can also add more water if desired. It will not change how the rice cooks, just drain out the water when the rice has finished cooking. 

Recipe FAQs

Did you like this method of cooking your Instant Pot Wild Rice? If so, leave a comment down below letting me know what you thought! If you liked this post, you might also like these recipes that I picked out just for you: 

• 20 Rice Recipes to Make with the Rice in Your Pantry
• Pigeon Peas and Rice from The Bahamas 
• Cheesy Chicken and Rice in the Instant Pot
• Tuna and Rice Recipe from Cabo Verde
• Instant Pot Chicken Fried Rice