Easy Instant Pot Spanish Rice
The Instant Pot offers a shortcut to your favorite restaurant rice! Easy Instant Pot Spanish Rice cooks up quickly with just a few ingredients - Basmati rice, cooking stock, tomato sauce, and a few seasonings.
Servings: 3 cups
Calories: 257kcal
Equipment
- 1 Instant Pot (use either a 6- or 8-quart Instant Pot)
Ingredients
- 1 cup Basmati rice
- ½ teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 8 ounce can tomato sauce
- 1 cup stock (chicken, vegetable, beef) (or 1 ¼ cup if you’d like softer rice)
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon paprika (I used Hot Hungarian paprika)
- ½ teaspoon salt (optional, to taste)
- parsley or cilantro, chopped (for garnish)
Instructions
- Rinse rice under cold running water in a fine mesh strainer for 30-45 seconds. Shake the strainer vigorously to remove excess water.
- Press the Saute button on normal on your Instant Pot and set it for 4 minutes. Add ½ tablespoon of extra virgin oil to your Instant Pot. Once it’s heated up, add the Basmati rice. Stir the rice continuously, until lightly toasted and the time is up.
- Add the tomato sauce and stir until well combined.
- Add 1 - 1 ¼ cups of (beef/chicken/vegetable) stock to the Instant Pot, along with ½ teaspoon garlic powder, ½ teaspoon onion powder, ½ teaspoon paprika, and ½ teaspoon salt. Stir to ensure the rice is submerged and is not sticking to the bottom of the pot; this will ensure even cooking and prevent burning.
- Put the lid on your Instant Pot, making sure the pressure release valve is sealed.
- Select Pressure Cook on High and set for 4 minutes. The pressure cooker will take around 7 minutes to pressurize before it begins cooking the rice.
- Once the rice has cooked for 4 minutes, let the Instant Pot naturally pressure release for 10 minutes. Set a timer on your phone so you don’t forget!
- At the 10-minute mark, open the pressure release valve and remove the lid. There should be very little pressure left to release. Turn off the Instant Pot.
- Fluff the rice up with a fork and dig in!
Notes
Yield: 1 cup of dry Basmati rice yields 3 cups of cooked Basmati rice.
Do not try this recipe with less liquid than instructed. The rice should be submerged, as pictured above. If your rice is NOT submerged, add a little more liquid.
Give the rice a good stir after adding the stock; this is critical to avoid seeing the dreaded "burn" notice on your Instant Pot. You must give everything a good stir to ensure there aren't any straggler bits of rice sticking to the bottom of the pot. Rice stuck to the bottom of the pot can result in the dreaded Instant Pot "burn" warning.
What to do when your Instant Pot says "burn"; America's Test Kitchen has you covered.
Do not double this recipe. The Instant Pot cooks rice amazingly well, but it doesn’t cook rice well in large batches.
Do not use the generic rice setting. The “Rice” Smart Program automatically sets the time for white or parboiled rice only (according to the manufacturer).
Nutrition
Calories: 257kcal | Carbohydrates: 55g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 0.2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 1063mg | Potassium: 312mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 658IU | Vitamin C: 5mg | Calcium: 31mg | Iron: 1mg