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This Instant Pot white rice recipe makes chewy, sweet, fluffy, delicious white rice in 20 minutes. Simply set the pressure cooker and wait. It’s super easy and fast! No soaking required.
The Best Instant Pot White Rice
Instant Pot vs Rice Cooker
White rice can be cooked well in a rice cooker, but cooking rice in Instant Pot (multicooker) gives it a sweeter taste and, most importantly, it’s faster and ready in 20 minutes. And, it’s so delicious! No soaking is required. In a rice cooker, it takes about 1 hour in normal mode to cook white rice.
The first time I cooked rice in the Instant Pot, I was so impressed with how much better, faster, and easier it cooked than expected. Since then, I have been cooking rice in Instant Pot. Instant Pot cooks rice just as good as my Japanese rice cooker.
As a side note, the total time required to cook brown rice in Instant Pot is 28 minutes (no soaking required).
Pressure Cooking Time for The Best White Rice
I tested pressure cooking times of 3 and 4 minutes but concluded that 2 minutes of cooking gives the BEST chewiness and texture. Not too tender.
A Little About Rice
2 Types of Rice in the World
There are two major types of rice in the world: Indica rice and japonica rice. In terms of global production, Indica rice accounts for 80%, while japonica rice has a share of about 20%. In Japan, almost only japonica rice is produced.
Japonica rice is characterized by its short, nearly circular shape and its stickiness and luster when cooked.
Indica rice, conversely, is characterized by its elongated shape. It does not have much flavor, and its texture is somewhat dry and not sticky. It does not stick when touched with chopsticks or a spoon, and it is flaky.
What is White Rice (Refined Rice)?
Rice grown in the rice paddies is wrapped in a yellow husk (chaff), and this husked rice is called “unhulled rice. The rice that has had the husk removed is brown rice. Brown rice is surrounded by a layer of bran, and rice from which the bran has been removed is white rice.
Ingredients and Ratio
This Instant Pot white rice recipe uses only white rice and water. The ratio of white rice to water is 1:1. For this blog post, I used 1 cup of rice (short-medium grain) and 1 cup of water.
- White rice: I tested Japanese rice (Japonica), California grown rice, Mexican rice, and Jasmine. I make these a lot!
- Water
How To Make White Rice In Instant Pot
From preparation to eating takes 20 minutes. Simple step-by-step instructions with pictures will be provided below.
STEP 1: Rinse White Rice with a Hand
First, prepare the rice by rinsing it. Use clean hands and water. Put the white rice in a strainer and rinse it with water, stirring quickly and gently by hand.
(The following 1-6 are optional.) Learn how to rinse rice properly for better rice cooking. This method is commonly used in Japan.
- Place the rice in a strainer and place the strainer over a mixing bowl. Add enough water to soak the rice and gently stir the rice with your hands. Do this quickly, in about 10 seconds.
- Immediately, discard the water.
- Gently stir the unsoaked rice by hand, about 20 times.
- Add water and stir gently.
- Discard the water.
- Repeat steps 4-5 until the water is clear enough to see through the rice. About 3 times in total.
STEP 2: Add the Rinsed White Rice to the Pot
Transfer the rinsed rice to the inner pot of Instant Pot.
STEP 3: Add Water
Add water to the inner pot of Instant Pot. Close the Instant Pot lid.
STEP 4: Instant Pot Setting and Cooking
Now, let’s begin cooking in Instant Pot.
- Pressure: High
- Cook Time: 2 minutes
- Keep Warm: Off
- Release: allow to naturally release.
- Setting: Turn the dial to Pressure Cook and set Pressure to HIGH. Set cooking time to 2 minutes and set “Keep Warm” to OFF. If Keep Warm is ON, the pot will stay warm for 10 hours unless you cancel it.
- Preheating cycle: Press Start to begin cooking. You will hear 3 beeps and the preheating cycle begins. In this recipe, the preheating cycle lasts 7 minutes. The float valve on top of the lid will rise as the cooker heats up.
- Cooking cycle: Once the pressure is ready, you will hear 1 beeping sound and the cooker enters the cooking cycle, which lasts 2 minutes that we have set up.
- Natural release: When cooking is complete, you will hear 10 beeps. You don’t need to do anything. Simply wait for the steam to fully escape naturally. In this recipe, the natural release takes about 10 minutes and 30 seconds. The noise made when the float valve on the lid drops down indicates that the natural release is finished.
Note: my Instant Pot model is the 3 Quart Ultra Mini. The setup procedure may vary slightly on models, so please refer to your user manual on your own.
STEP 5: White Rice is Ready to Serve
When the steam is completely released, open the lid and fluff rice. Fluffy, chewy, sweet, delicious white rice is ready to serve. It’s so good, I can eat just the rice.
Tips: watery? Try the following.
- Reduce the amount of water by 10 to 20%.
- Leave the Instant Pot lid open until the excess water evaporates. Fluff and turn the cooked rice over with a rice paddle (shamoji) to ensure even evaporation. It should take 5 to 15 minutes, depending on the temperature and humidity.
How to Serve Cooked White Rice
There are endless ways to use cooked white rice. It can be served as a side dish to a main dish or used as an ingredient in a variety of dishes such as Japanese Tofu fried rice.
Recipe Tips
- After rinsing rice, do not leave it at room temperature for hours. The starch in the rice will dissolve, making it less tasty, and bacteria will multiply. Washed rice should be cooked within 30 minutes.
- Keep Warm will cause the cooked rice to become dry and hard, and stick to the pot.
- Quick Release will cause steam and liquid to splatter in and out of Instant Pot (this is not good for cooked rice), so I do Natural Release instead.
- When the rice is cooked and the lid is opened, there are droplets of water running down the surface of the lid. Wipe off the water droplets on the lid and pot, as they will make the rice watery.
- Once the rice is cooked, use a rice scoop (shamoji) to break up the rice. By breaking up rice, excess liquid from rice is released. Do not mash the rice too much.
Storage Method and Expiration Date of Cooked White Rice
The method of preserving cooked white rice is closely related to the alphalization of rice starch.
- 4-5 hours at room temperature: cooked rice should be stored at room temperature for no longer than 4-5 hours at most. If cooked rice is left at room temperature for a long period of time, bacteria will multiply.
- 1 day in the refrigerator: refrigeration can cause cooked rice to lose its texture and become dry. When rice is heated with water, the starch absorbs the water and becomes tender and sticky. This is called alphalization (glueing). Alpha-ified rice tastes good and is easy to digest. However, rice starch easily deteriorates at low temperatures of 0~3℃ and reverts back to its original beta state. The taste deteriorates and the rice becomes hard to digest and dry.
- 1 month in the freezer: frozen storage will last for one month. After a week, however, rice will gradually deteriorate and lose its flavor, so it is best to eat it as soon as possible. Freeze freshly cooked rice as soon as the heat is removed.
I highly recommend freezing leftovers immediately to maintain quality! If you reheat rice in the microwave, it will come out like freshly cooked rice.
Is White Rice Vegan, WFPB, Gluten-Free?
White rice comes from plants and does not contain gluten, so it’s vegan and gluten-free friendly. However, white rice is refined grains, therefore it is not WFPB (Whole Food Plant-Based).
Cooked white rice can be used extensively in healthy vegan and gluten-free cooking.
Healthy Rice Recipes
If you try it, feel free to leave a comment, rate it, and tag a photo @izumimizokawa on Instagram🍚
Instant Pot White Rice (Chewy, Sweet!)
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup white rice
Instructions
- Put the white rice in a strainer and rinse it with water, stirring quickly and gently by hand.
*For details on how to rinse rice properly, see “How to Make White Rice Step 1” in the blog post above. - Transfer the rinsed rice to the inner pot of Instant Pot.
- Add water. Close the Instant Pot lid.
- Set Pressure to HIGH, cooking time to 2 minutes, Keep Warm to OFF. Press Start button to begin cooking. In this recipe, the preheating cycle lasts 7 minutes and the natural release lasts 10 minutes and 30 seconds.
*For a detailed explanation of how Instant Pot works, see “How to Make White Rice Step 4” in this blog post above. - The noise made when the float valve on the lid drops down indicates that the natural release is finished (the steam is completely released). Open the lid. Fluff the cooked rice with a rice paddle. White rice is ready to serve.
Video
Notes
- Storage: cooked white rice will keep for up to 4-5 hours at room temperature, 1 day in the refrigerator, and 1 month in the freezer. I highly recommend freezing leftovers immediately to maintain quality! *For a detailed explanation of the preservation of cooked rice, see the “Storage Method” section of this blog post.
- Gluten-free: rice does not contain gluten.
- For more helpful tips, see “Recipe Tips” in this blog post.
- Nutrition information below is an estimate.
Nutrition
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