Instant Pot Basmati Rice

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Enjoy perfectly cooked rice every time with this recipe for Instant Pot Basmati Rice! You only need 3 ingredients and 20 minutes to make this light and fluffy side dish.

If you haven’t tried making rice in your Instant Pot yet, what are you waiting for?! It’s pretty much a foolproof way to get perfectly tender and fluffy rice. Just stick to the water to rice ratio and cooking time, and say good-bye to clumpy and sticky rice!

While this basmati rice is one of our faves to serve up lately, we also use the Instant Pot to cook other rice dishes like this Instant Pot sushi rice, Instant Pot wild rice and Instant Pot cilantro lime rice.

But, before you try those, you need to give this seriously easy basmati rice recipe a try. It’s so good with this fish head curry, egg curry, air fryer sesame chicken, or Instant Pot lamb curry!

Check out the Instant Pot basmati rice story!

Why this recipe works

1. It’s a seriously easy recipe! You only need 3 ingredients (plus water) and the recipe is hands off. The Instant Pot valve is sealed so you don’t need to worry about the rice boiling over!
2. Rice is great for meal prep! Cooked basmati rice will last for days in the fridge and it freezes well too. Just reheat it in the microwave for a quick and easy side dish.
3. There’s no need to soak the rice! You just need to quickly rinse it to help remove starches, which prevents the rice from getting gummy. Cooking the rice with a little fat also helps keep the grains from sticking together.
4. This recipe makes a large batch and leftover basmati rice is perfect for making breakfast fried rice or Chinese fried rice!

What is basmati rice?

Basmati rice is an aromatic, long-grain rice, similar to jasmine rice. Basmati grains, however, are slightly longer and they has a nutty flavor when cooked and not as floral as jasmine rice. You can buy white or brown basmati rice.

Ingredients

You’ll need 2 cups of basmati rice for this recipe. Make sure you’re using white basmati rice (instead of brown) and rinse it before cooking.

To cook the rice in the Instant Pot, you’ll add 2 cups of water, 1 tablespoon of melted ghee (or coconut oil) and 1 teaspoon of salt. 

In order to get perfectly fluffy rice, I don’t recommend adjusting the amount of water. The rice to water ratio is key to avoiding mushy or gummy rice.

The ghee will help prevent the rice from sticking together. Ghee is a clarified butter with the milk solids removed. It has a slightly nutty flavor, which pairs well with basmati. 

While you can buy ghee, I usually make my own (learn how to make ghee). You can also substitute melted coconut oil for a slightly coconut flavored rice.

Step by step instructions

Rinse the rice in a colander until the water runs mostly clear.

Combine the rice, water, ghee or coconut oil and salt in a non-stick Instant Pot insert.

Cook on high pressure for 4 minutes, then natural release for 10 minutes.

Release any remaining pressure, fluff and serve.

Expert tips

1. Keep the 1:1 ratio for the rice and water. If you adjust this ratio, you will end up with sticky and mushy rice.
2. Don’t forget to rinse the rice first. Removing excess starch will help prevent the rice from getting gummy.
3. While it might be tempting to leave out the cooking fat (i.e. ghee or coconut oil) to reduce calories, these are essential for flavor and to keep the rice from sticking together.
4. To keep the rice from sticking to the bottom of the Instant Pot, I like to use a non-stick Instant Pot insert. 
5. For extra flavor, you can replace the water with veggie broth or this Instant Pot chicken bone broth. 
6. For extra flavor, you can add some garlic, ginger or pepper to the rice as it cooks.
7. Topping the rice with chopped fresh herbs before serving it is also a great way to change up the flavor.
8. Be sure to naturally release the pressure when the timer goes off. The rice will need this extra time to keep cooking and get tender. 
9. Once all the pressure is released, remove the insert from the Instant Pot so the rice stops cooking.
10. While the rice pressure cooks on high in just 4 minutes, you’ll also need to factor in time for pressure to build and release in the Instant Pot.

Common questions

Storage, freezing and reheating

Cooked basmati rice will keep for 3-4 days in the fridge in an airtight container.

You can also freeze it for 1-2 months. Just let it cool completely, then store in freezer safe containers or bags.

To reheat, you can warm the rice in the microwave or in a skillet on the stove top. You may need to add 1-2 tablespoons of water to the rice as it reheats so it doesn’t dry out.

Serving options

• Serve this rice on the side with these Indonesian beef satay skewers, sous vide salmon or Thai BBQ pork spare ribs.
• It’s delicious with soups, stews and gumbos like this Instant Pot chicken curry soup, Brazilian fish stew and yaya gumbo.
• And, of course, this rice goes perfectly with curries like this pineapple chicken curry, chicken katsu curry or easy butternut squash curry.

Did you make this recipe? Leave a comment below and rate the recipe to let me know how it turned out!