Instant Pot Brown Rice with Cumin Seeds

Instant Pot Brown Rice | Do you want perfect fluffy rice every time? Try using your pressure cooker to cook perfect brown rice in about 30 minutes. Use brown Basmati and add cumin seeds, onion, garlic, and a bay leaf for extra flavor in this easy side dish recipe.

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The perfect side dish for roasted chicken or curry!

Do you love brown rice but don't exactly love its long cooking time? How about a simple hands-off Instant Pot brown rice recipe then? Simply rinse your rice, add some great flavors with garlic, onion, and cumin seeds, and then set the timer to pressure cook and walk away. No babysitting a pot at dinner time, no bubbling over, and I great results every time I make this.

I've made a lot of brown rice in my pressure cooker – enough to figure out the best rice to water ratio to cook long grain brown rice to a perfectly tender grain – not crunchy and dry, not mushy. Mine seriously comes out perfect every time, and I hope yours will too if you follow this easy recipe.

Ingredients you need

• Garlic: Simple flavor punch
• Onion: Again for a simple flavor burst
• Brown rice: I use brown Basmati because it's what we like and it goes great with vegetarian curry dishes which I make often
• Water: 1 ¼ cups water to 1 cup of rice
• Cumin seeds: lends a nice flavor to this rice – perfect with curries
• Bay leaf: a bit more (ya I going to say it again) flavor
• Salt: A properly seasoned dish is so satisfying

Ingredient Substitutions

• Water: Try using chicken or vegetable stock to get even more flavor into this dish.

How to make perfect brown basmati rice in an Instant Pot

I find the perfect ratio for brown basmati is NOT 1:1 like my little Instant Pot booklet told me. It's more like 1: 1.25. I use a 6 qt Instant Pot Ultra.

So, 1 cup of rice to 1 ¼ cup of water. Any time I've followed the 1:1 ratio, I've ended up with dry crunchy rice. 1 to 1 ¼ gives me nice tender rice, not mushy, not stuck together in any way, every grain its own perfect shape and texture.

First, rinse your rice to get rid of all the extra starch which can make your cooked rice gluey and mushy.

Next set your pressure cooker to sauté. Heat the oil and then cook the onions, garlic, and cumin seeds for a minute or two (Photo 1). This will help bring out the flavor of these ingredients and make your final dish taste better.

Add the salt and the rinsed rice and sauté that for a minute or so (Photo 2).

Add the water (or broth) and the bay leaf (Photo 3) and then set your pressure cooker to "pressure cook" or "manual". Set for 24 minutes. It'll take time for the pressure cooker to come up to pressure and then the 24 minutes will starting counting down.

Once the 24 minutes are up, allow a 10-minute natural pressure release. This means don't touch anything - just let the pressure start to naturally release. When ten minutes are up release the rest of the pressure by switching your machine to venting. (Photo 4) Remove the bay leaf and serve the rice immediately.

What to serve the side with

This brown rice makes a great side dish for recipes like:

• Instant Pot Bourbon Chicken
• Honey Bourbon Meatballs
• Vegetarian Chickpea Curry

Tips and Tricks

Sautéing the onion, garlic, and cumin seeds before setting the timer on the pressure cooker really brings out the flavor.

Recipes FAQs

Instant Pot Brown Rice

Jacqueline Piper

5 from 6 votes

Want perfect fluffy brown rice every time? Try using your pressure cooker and cook perfect brown rice in about 30 minutes. Use brown Basmati rice and add cumin seeds, onion, garlic, and a bay leaf for extra flavor in this easy long grain brown rice recipe.

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Prep Time 10 mins

Cook Time 24 mins

Total Time 34 mins

Servings 4

Equipment

• Instant Pot Ultra 10-in-1 6 Quart

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• ▢ 1 cup brown basmati rice
• ▢ 1 ½ cups water
• ▢ 1 teaspoon oil
• ▢ 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• ▢ ½ teaspoon salt
• ▢ 1 bay leaf
• ▢ 1 small onion (diced)
• ▢ 2 cloves garlic (minced)

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Instructions

 

• Turn pressure cooker to saute function.
• Heat, then add oil, onion, and cumin seeds. Cook for a minute or two while stirring until onions start softening. Add garlic, salt, and rice. Stir and then add the water and the bay leaf.
• Cancel saute function and set the pressure cooker to manual pressure cook mode. Add lid and lock, setting to sealing, and not venting if yours has the option. (Mine seals automatically).
• Set Timer for 24 minutes.
• When cook time is done, let natural pressure release for 10 minutes then quick pressure release.
• Remove bay leaf, stir and serve.

Notes

Notes – I use brown basmati rice for this recipe which is a long grain rice.

Substitutions – Use vegetable or chicken stock instead of water.

Nutrition – Nutritional information is an estimate only, intended for informational purposes, and not to be used as medical or dietary advice. The estimate is based on a nutrition calculator and every recipe will vary slightly depending on the products you use in your home. This estimate is per serving.

Nutrition

Calories: 173kcal

Nutrition Disclaimer

Nutritional information is an estimate. Values vary based on products used.

Read our full Nutrition Disclaimer.

Keyword basmati, brown, Instant Pot, pressure cooker, rice, side dish

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Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to purchase through my link, at no extra cost to you.

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