How to Cook Brown Rice in your Instant Pot. A soaked rice method.

Is brown rice on your table often? It is on ours! Since we eat a lot of long-grain brown rice, I wanted to learn to cook it perfectly in my Instant Pot. After a while, it became simple to do, and so delicious to enjoy with meals. Presenting, How to Cook Brown Rice in your Instant Pot, A soaked rice method! Instructions are included for both long-grain and short-grain brown rice. 

We eat quite a bit of brown rice. Not only good for us but also a good source of fiber and those important B vitamins. As a young wife, I did not even know about brown rice. Rice in my childhood home was always standard white rice. Sadly, I think I threw away a bag of long-grain brown rice that had been given to me those many years ago. At the time I could not imagine cooking rice for the 45 minutes stated on the package. It must have taken another 30 years for me to learn about and enjoy eating whole unprocessed food.

I will say right now, that I do not enjoy cooking brown rice on the stove in a standard saucepan. It really does take 45 minutes give or take a few, and often it turned out gluey, and there is always the chance of scorching or downright burning should the cook get busy and take leave of the timer for a few moments...and yes that happens to us all! And then came owning an electric pressure cooker, and now the Instant Pot. 

I am not an appliance purist. It doesn't matter what brand you have, they essentially do the same job. I got my first electric pressure cooker (not an Instant Pot) during a clearance sale and made the decision that it was worth the financial investment to learn how to use one, and I have not looked back, since!  

Of course, this was after I got over my fear of beginning. 

I am not pretty sure I have mentioned my fear of beginnings, you see it is legendary and has been lifelong. So, if you also have a hesitancy to begin a new job, or more to the point learning a new process, or even how to use a new appliance, take heart, it will work out. 

It has for me every single time, and it will for you as well! Especially the electric pressure cooker! I must give credit where credit is owed, my dear husband was the first one to use the electric pressure cooker, and little by little, I got comfortable with it...and once the comfort sets in, watch out, there is nothing you won't do, and you will have a lot of fun in the process!

As far as cooking brown rice, I just decided that it made more sense to use the electric pressure cooker to cook it. The only problem was, that there were inadequate instructions. Want to know why? 

Well, I am glad you asked! Brown rice like all food is a living plant, and it will (and does!) vary from type to type and crop to crop. Hard and fast rules on how to cook the rice may be written, but you will find that there is a bit of a learning curve with each new bag, as sell as the next year's crop, or even the grain type. 

Sometimes the rice would be a bit dry, and other times it would be quite wet, or even undercooked. Neither style was what we wanted of course, but always the rice was edible. So we ate it! But as I got more adventurous with experimenting, I also got better at cooking it. Plus by now I had been using the electric pressure cooker so much, that I wore it out! 

Enter the Instant Pot! There is only one feature on the Instant Pot that is an improvement over my old electric pressure cooker and that of course is the saute button! It does save a pan or two! But for cooking rice, no difference. It still takes the correct amount of water, rice, and time. Flat out! Plus the buttons on the Instant Pot are simply preprogrammed times, I choose to select my own cooking times. 

Since I also prefer to soak brown rice before cooking, instructions were nowhere to be found. Until now! Soaking will affect the amount of water needed for cooking. We cook and use two types of brown rice, short grain is added to our yeast bread recipe. Long grain brown rice to go along with our meals. Learning how much water meant some trial and error. Luckily the errors were used in bread, rice pudding, or simply eaten with a mental note about changing up the amount of water in future batches!

How do I soak rice?

Measure out the amount of rice you wish to cook, 

place in a large enough bowl to cover it with water, 

add 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar, 

cover with cool water, adding enough water to cover the rice by one inch.

 

let it sit for at least 8 hours. 

Kitchen tip: We often start the soaking process the night before. 

When ready to cook, drain the rice in a wire mesh strainer, rinse well, then let the rice drain until no drips are coming off the bottom of the strainer. You are now ready to cook the drained rice.

If however, the day got busier, and I could not cook the soaked rice as planned, it is stored in a covered container in the refrigerator until it will be cooked.

Pretty simple, right?

 

Can I cook rice in a stove-top model pressure cooker? 

Why yes you can, and I do when we are traveling in our little 5thwheel. The cooking time will pretty much be the same, depending upon your stove-top model. 

It may also require a more hands-on approach. Speaking from personal experience, my stove-top does not hold the pressure at tightly as the electric model. Therefore, I am careful to keep a close watch to prevent scorching...

NOTE: feel free to multiply the ingredients per your Instant Pot and total volume.

I often cook 4 cups of dry rice, after soaking. The cooking time does not increase, only the time needed to build up the pressure. 

And speaking about building up the pressure, once the pressure is built, the Instant Pot signals that the food is now being cooked under pressure. At that moment, I set a timer for the amount of cooking time, plus the NPR time, so I don't lose track. One trick I taught myself along the way. 

In the case of this method for cooking Brown Rice, the cooking time is 25 minutes with an NPR standing time of 7 minutes. Setting a separate timer for 32 minutes guarantees I will open the Instant Pot, and gently stir the contents as needed, on time...I like to make this up and divide it into 4-cup containers and freeze it. It is so convenient to pull a carton from the freezer for dinner!

Ingredients needed for this recipe:

• soaked rice
• water
• salt

You will also need the following:

• electric pressure cooker, or stovetop model
• liquid measuring cup
• measuring spoons

Now we are ready to begin!

How to Long Grain Cook Brown Rice in Your Instant Pot.

by the seat of my pants!

1 c Long Grain Brown Rice, that has been soaked and drained completely

1 c room temperature water 

1/4 t salt

Place all ingredients in the Instant Pot, attach the lid, and close the vent. 

Set cooking time for 25 minutes. 

When cooking time is up, let sit for NPR an additional 7 minutes. 

After the NPR time is up, carefully open the valve, to release the remaining pressure. 

After opening the vent, gently fluff the rice.  

If not serving right away, re-cover and let sit, until it is time to serve, this will prevent the rice from drying out.

How to Cook Short Grain Brown Rice in Your Instant Pot

by the seat of my pants!

1 c Short Grain Brown Rice, that has been soaked and drained completely

1 c plus 2 T room temperature water

1/4 t salt

Place all ingredients in the Instant Pot, attach lid, close vent.

Set cooking time to 28 minutes.

When cooking time is up, let sit for NPR an additional 10 minutes.

Carefully open the vent to release the remaining pressure.

Gently fluff the cooked rice. If not serving right away, re-cover and let sit, until it is time to serve, this will prevent the rice from drying out.

Storage options for cooked rice from How to Cook Brown Rice in your Instant Pot. Cooked rice may be kept covered in the refrigerator for two to three days. You may freeze cooked brown rice by placing it into a freezer bag or freezer container with a tight-fitting lid while still warm. Place in the freezer immediately. Let thaw before using, in the refrigerator. 

#wholefoodingredients

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