INSTANT POT 101 - COOKING BROWN RICE

If you have been following my recent posts, you know what my experiences so far have been with my latest toy, my Instant Pot. My DIL Sara told me to do the water test first and then I could try cooking brown rice. If we have the choice we eat brown rice instead of white rice. In fact I can't remember the last time I cooked white rice.

Most IPs have a minimum liquid of 1 cup when liquids are required. I don't know why but my IP that I got at Costco (a Costco Exclusive) is a Duo Gourmet and it requires a minimum of 1-1/2 cups of water. That started my stress right there when she told me to use 1 cup water and 1 cup of brown rice. So using the ratio 1 to 1 - water to rice, I knew I would have to use 1-1/2 cups of brown rice with the 1-1/2 cups of water. 

All I could think about is how much cooked rice I was going to have since 1 cup of dry rice equals 3 cups cooked rice. Sara said it warmed up nicely in the IP. (I haven't asked her how to do that, but that will be for another day.) What do I think about? Well, I'll just make some Rice Pudding, one of my favorites, but not Wayne's. I will be sharing the recipe I used for the Rice Pudding in another post. The post would be too long to share it in this one with all of the pictures I show. I promise it will be shared later this week.

My first attempt at this recipe wasn't great because my first attempt at cooking brown rice wasn't great. If you have already read about this, forgive me, but for those of you who didn't read my other description, I used the plastic measuring cup that came with my IP and probably came with yours to measure both the rice and the water. The cup was not meant to measure water as the measurements are not true measurements. That meant I didn't have enough water when I cooked my rice and it didn't cook done. I also didn't know how to deal with the NR (natural release) and waited 44 minutes before I opened the lid.

My second attempt at cooking the brown rice, I measured 1-1/2 cups water, added a tablespoon of butter, and a little salt + 1-1/2 "cups" of brown rice using the plastic cup that came with my  IP.  Just remember the Ratio 1 to 1 - water to rice when you are making it. Here's how it all worked out with me.

I sprayed the inner pot with nonstick cooking spray,

rinsed the rice, and

then I added the rice,

water,

salt, and

then butter to the inner pot and

did not stir.

I covered it with the lid,

pressed the Brown Rice button on my IP and, did not adjust the cooking time that automatically came up,

cooked it for 30 minutes even though instructions said 20 minutes - I wanted to be sure it was done.

At the end of cooking...I intended to  release the pressure/steam naturally (NR) for 10 minutes, but 

got busy with something else and it was 14 minutes before I checked it again.

I did a QR by turning the lever to the right until all steam was released, opened the lid, and

fluffed it with a fork and

it was perfect!

Wanna check out some of my other recipes and experiences with the Instant Pot? 

Baked Penne Pasta

Chicken Breasts w/recipe