Rice is one of those things that seems easy enough but still manages to confuse many home chefs. It’s even worse if you want your rice instantly. There are lots of ways to cook rice, including rice cookers and stovetop rice, but it’s still difficult to get that perfect rice. If you want great rice in a hurry, then the solution to all your problems would be your pressure cooker.
How to Cook Rice in a Pressure Cooker
A rice cooker is a fantastic little machine. They can get the rice cooked without a lot of trouble, but a pressure cooker can get the job done in half the time – and also be used to cook a lot of other things. Rice cookers are designed in such a way that they turn off when the water comes to a boil. Pressure cookers, on the other hand, are designed to heat water – and indeed food – past the boiling point. While several electronic pressure cookers come with a rice-cooking feature built-in, you’ll get better results from programming your cooker manually and choosing the right settings.
Natural Release
A good pressure cooker recipe will indicate whether the pressure cooker should be set to rapid release or natural release. The time for a natural release is factored into the cooking time of the recipe. Some foods – including rice – actually continue cooking during the natural release cycle. Rice should always be cooked with a natural release. Using a rapid release will lead to undercooked rice and could damage your pressure cooker.
Water, Rice, and Release Ratios
Cooking rice to perfection requires the right amount of water to rice. This water-to-rice ratio rule holds true for pressure-cooked rice as well. The natural release of pressure adds another factor here as this should be accounted for. The good news is that we’ve done all the work for you and worked out the ideal rice-to-water ratio for several different kinds of rice.
- Cook one cup of basmati rice with 1 ½ cups of water at high pressure for 4 minutes with a 10-minute natural release
- Cook 1 cup of brown rice with 1 ¼ cup of water at high pressure for 22 minutes with a 10-minute natural release
- Cook 1 cup of Jasmine rice on high pressure for 1 minute with a 10-minute natural release
- Cook 3 cups of wild rice at high pressure for 25 minutes with a natural pressure release
Pressure Cooker Rice Recipe
- Combine rice and water in the pressure cooker and add salt to taste. Lock the pressure cooker lid in place.
- Make sure the pressure cooker is set to high and set a four-minute timer (or the appropriate time for your kind of rice)
- Let the steam from the cooker release naturally for 10 minutes. Don’t open the release valve during this time.
- Carefully get rid of any remaining pressure with the quick-release until it’s safe to open the li. Add butter if you are using it and fluff the rice with a fork before serving.
Now you know how to cook rice in a pressure cooker, all that’s left is to pick up some rice and try it out for yourself!