Fluffy Instant Pot White Rice Recipe (Pot-in-Pot)

Few things in life are better than a steamy bowl of fluffy white rice. The texture… the aroma… the taste… 🤤 Sometimes my days feel incomplete without it. Growing up in an Asian household, rice was a staple in almost every one of our meals. At a young age, my parents taught me how to make white rice with our outdated (but reliable!) rice cooker – you never grew up in a Chinese household if you never had to put your finger in rice to measure the water.

But once I got my Instant Pot, I’ve made white rice in there and never looked back! It is so easy – and so quick – to make rice in the Instant Pot that I don’t really use my rice cooker anymore. ✨ Today I will share with you the perfect pressure cooking time and water-to-rice ratio so you can start doing it at home too!

First, rinse off the rice under cool running water in the sink. You can scrub the rice and water in a bowl with your fingertips, pour out the milky water, add clean water, and repeat rinsing until the water runs clear. I LOVE using a sieve to rinse rice because I don’t have to worry about losing rice as I pour out the milky water in each rinsing step.

The rice will be cooked using a Pot-in-Pot method! This method is great for a few reasons:

◆ You can cook a smaller serving of rice directly in the serving bowl

◆ You can more easily clean the stainless steel bowl than the Instant Pot’s inner pot (which food sometimes sticks to!)

◆ If you’re cooking a main dish in the Instant Pot, you can put the rice bowl on a trivet (steaming rack) over the other ingredients and cook everything at the same time – a truly one-pot meal!

Put the rinsed rice, cool water, and optional salt in a small stainless steel bowl. You’ll use less water than you would for a rice cooker because less water escapes from the Instant Pot during Pressure Cooking. My 8-quart Instant Pot has an inner pot diameter of 9.25 inches, so I use a bowl with a diameter of 8 inches. Make sure you are able to reach your fingers around the bowl to pick it up from inside the Instant Pot. Otherwise, try a smaller bowl size.

Fill the Instant Pot’s inner pot with cool water to a depth of 1 cm from the bottom. This water is designed to provide a steaming effect as the rice is Pressure Cooked. Place the stainless steel bowl (carefully so it doesn’t spill) into the Instant Pot’s inner pot. Doesn’t the bowl look so cute in there? 😍

Now it’s time to Pressure Cook the rice! Depending on the amount of rice, you’ll want to different water amounts and cook times:

◆ 1 cup of white rice, 1 cup of water, Pressure Cook on High for 3 min, natural release for 10 min

◆ 2 cup of white rice, 2 cup of water, Pressure Cook on High for 5 min, natural release for 10 min

Quick release any remaining pressure. Fluff with a fork or rice paddle and enjoy! Also, I love to add some furikake (which is a rice seasoning made of toasted sesame seeds, nori, salt, sugar) to make the rice extra yummy!

Fluffy Instant Pot White Rice (Pot-in-Pot Method)

breaderwithoutgluten

The perfect cooking time and rice-to-water ratio. Not too dry or mushy. Flawless rice, every time.

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Prep Time 5 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Total Time 20 minutes mins

Course Dinner, Lunch, Side Dish

Cuisine Asian, Chinese, Indian, Japanese, Korean

Servings 6 people

Calories 113 kcal

Equipment

• Instant Pot
• Sieve

Ingredients

  

• 1 cup White Rice Jasmine and basmati are both great!
• 1 cup Water Tap water is fine
• 1/2 tsp Kosher Salt optional
• 2 tsp Furikake optional

Instructions

 

• Rinse rice. I prefer using a sieve to rinse the rice. Flow cool running water through the rice and scrub with your fingers until the water runs clear. If you don't have a sieve, you can scrub the rice and water in a bowl with your fingers, pour out the milky water, and repeat rinsing until the water is clear.
• Load the Pressure Cooker. Put the rinsed rice, water, and salt in a small metal bowl. Make sure you are able to reach your fingers around the bowl to pick it up out of the Instant Pot, otherwise select a smaller bowl size. Fill your Instant Pot with around 1-cm depth of water. Put the small metal bowl into the Instant Pot.
• Pressure Cook the white rice. Pressure Cook the white rice on High for 3 minutes, with 10 minutes of Natural Release. If you are doubling the recipe (2 cups white rice and 2 cups of water), then Pressure Cook on High for 5 minutes, with 10 minutes of Natural Release. Quick Release any remaining pressure.
• Add optional toppings and serve. Fluff up your white rice with a fork or rice paddle. Sprinkle on furikake rice seasoning over the rice if desired. Serve immediately.

Keyword Gluten-Free, Instant Pot, White Rice