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If you’re wanting fluffy, tender, perfectly cooked brown rice with minimal effort then grab the Instant Pot and let’s get pressure cooking! This method is totally hands off and practically foolproof, whether you’re cooking brown basmati rice, long grain brown rice, or short grain brown rice.

Top down view of a large white bowl holding a large mound of fluffy, fully cooked Instant Pot brown rice.

🍚 What Makes This Recipe So Good

Knowing how to cook brown rice in the Instant Pot will make your life easier in SO many ways! OK, well, maybe not your whole life. But definitely your kitchen life.

For one thing, Instant Pot brown rice requires much less effort than cooking brown rice on the stovetop. You don’t have to keep an eye on the pot at all times, adjusting the heat a smidgen this way or a nudge that way. There’s no agony over timing each transition just right lest you end up with burnt or mushy rice.
And for another thing, “Instapot” (as my kids call it) brown rice is faster than the stovetop, too, even when you factor in the time to pressurize the Instant Pot at the beginning and the time to release the pressure at the end. On the stove, you’re talking at least an hour, between rinsing the rice really well, bringing the water to boil, simmering for 45-ish minutes, letting the rice rest for 10-15 minutes, then fluffing and serving. The Instant Pot? Rinse the rice, throw it in the pot, pressurize, cook 20 minutes, release 10 minutes, fluff, serve. You’ll clock in around 45-50 minutes max.
You can cook almost any type of brown rice in the Instant Pot. Long grain brown rice, short grain brown rice, even brown basmati and brown jasmine rice. Just don’t use minute or instant brown rice with this method (or if you do, cut way, way back on the cook time and release time). Those quick rices start out partially pre-cooked, and this method is specifically developed for completely uncooked rice.

👩🏼‍🍳 Chef’s Tips

Believe me, I know. It’s right there. It’s named for this. It seems so obvious. But, please, whatever you do, do NOT push that “rice” button! It’s a great feature and I love that the Instant Pot has it, but trust me when I say it works much better for white rice than it does for brown rice. Brown rice takes longer to cook than white rice, and that preset just doesn’t allow enough time for it. Stick to the Manual High Pressure setting instead and I promise you’ll have great results!
If you notice a little bit of liquid left after the cook time and release time, don’t panic. That’s totally normal. Fluff the rice and then let it stand for a few minutes. That should allow it enough time to absorb any remaining water.
As long as your Instant Pot is large enough, you can cook as much brown rice at a time as you want! 1 cup of uncooked brown rice generally turns into about 3 cups of cooked brown rice, so just keep that in mind before you start tripling or quadrupling things. With just 1 cup of dry brown rice, I had the best results using just 1 cup of water. For each additional cup of uncooked brown rice, though, I recommend increasing the water by 1 ¼ cups. So if you’re cooking 2 cups of uncooked brown rice, you’d want to use 2 ¼ cups of water or broth. 3 cups of uncooked brown rice, use 3 ½ cups of water. You get the idea!

Fully cooked brown rice in an Instant Pot with a brown wooden spoon.

🤤 Other Super Easy Recipes You’ll Drool Over

A large white bowl of brown rice cooked in the Instant Pot.

Recipe By: Cheryl Malik

5 from 1 vote