How to Make Basmati Rice in Instant Pot

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How to make Basmati Rice in Instant Pot- A guide on how to cook the perfect Indian Basmati rice in your Instant Pot  pressure cooker as per your taste.

Your way of perfect rice can be soft and fluffy or al dente or mushy. Whichever that is- I have you covered!

Just like the post on How to make Sona Masoori Rice in Instant Pot, I conducted an extensive experiment to find out what works best of basmati rice.

Here is what I found

Disclaimer- There are a lot of ways of making basmati rice in instant pot.This method has worked for me repeatedly.

Factors that affect the cooking of Basmati Rice

1. Age of the Rice
2. Altitude
3. The outcome you want- soft/fluffy or al dente
4. Soaking

Is soaking the basmati rice necessary?

I found a difference between rice that was cooked after soaking and without soaking.

The rice cooked for the same time, without soaking, always ended up having a bite in the middle of the rice.It didn’t plump up enough.

That said, if you don’t have the time and patience for it, you can do two things

1. Measure out the water, rice and delay the cooking by 20 minutes.This way you do things in ONE shot.
2. Add atleast 1/4 times more water and cook for same time.

How to make Indian Basmati Rice in Instant Pot

To make perfect Fluffy Basmati rice, just the way YOU like it, follow the steps below.

Step 1: Wash & Soak the rice

Step 2:Dump it in the instant pot inner pot along with 1 times the water.(Refer to the table above to decide your time)

Step 3:Close and set the timer for 6 minutes in Manual/Pressure cook mode, on HIGH, with the valve in sealed position.

Step 4: Let the Steam escape Naturally for 10 minutes and then Quick release.

Cooking Basmati rice for Fried rice

If you are making rice for a stir fry, fried rice or variety rice- change the ratio and time as follows

1 cup rice:1 cups water and 6 minutes HIGH 10NPR,With 20 min Soaking.

Cooking Rice for Dum Biryani(3/4 Cooked)

If you want to make rice that can be layered to make a Dum Biryani,cook the rice to 3/4 doneness.

1 cup rice:1 cups water and 5 minutes HIGH 10NPR,Without Soaking.

Here is a great Instant Pot Chicken Biryani and Instant Pot Veg Biryani Recipe for you.

Cooking Basmati rice in Rice Mode

In this mode, instant pot evaluates the amount of rice and water and cooks the rice in low pressure.

This is perfect for newbies.The rice is cooked Al Dente in this case.

1 cup rice:1 cups water and Rice Mode 10 NPR

Here are some of my goto Instant Pot Basmati Rice Recipes

Instant Pot Chicken Biryani
Instant Pot Vegetable Biryani
Instant Pot Khichdi
Instant Pot Ghee Rice
Instant Pot Jeera Rice
Instant Pot Kheer

You should also read my post on how to make short grain everyday rice in instant pot.

Also Read my post on Instant Pot for Indian Food

Part 1: Instant Pot for Indian Cooking

Part 2: Which Instant Pot Model to buy

Part 3: Making Indian Food in Instant Pot(with more than 30 recipes)

Part 4: Instant Pot Frequently Asked Questions

Instant Pot Basmati Rice

Instant Pot Basmati Rice – A guide on how to cook the perfect Indian Basmati Rice in your Instant Pot multi-use programmable pressure cooker.

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Prep Time: 1 minute

Cook Time: 6 minutes

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Indian

Keyword: instant pot, instant pot rice

Servings: 6

Calories: 180

Ingredients

• 1 Cup Basmati Rice
• 1.25 Cups Water*

Instructions

• Wash the rice and soak for 20 minutes.*
• Drain and add the rice to instant pot inner pot.
• Add 1.25 cups of water.Close the lid.
• Select PRESSURE COOKER/MANUAL, on HIGH, for 6 minutes with the VALVE in SEALED position.
• Once the cooking is over and Instant Pot beeps,Let the steam escape natually for 10 minutes.Quick Release after that.
• Fluff the rice with a fork and eat!

Notes

The time it takes to cook the rice will change depending on how old the rice is, altitude of the location and variety of the rice.

Soaking Time- Do not soak beyond 40 minutes, the rice will get too mushy when cooked.

Rice: Water Ratio- Change this based on the kind of outcome you want- soft, fluffy or al dente.Check the table for it.

This recipe has been tested on a 6 Qts Instant Pot.

Nutrition

Calories: 180kcal | Carbohydrates: 42g | Protein: 3g

180

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FAQs on Instant Pot Basmati Rice

Here are a few quick pointers on the instant pot.

I use the 6 qts DUO Instant Pot and all my recipes are tested on the same.
Here are a few quick need to knows while using an Instant Pot.

Saute & Pressure Cook Setting – These are the most used settings on the instant pot. Pressure Cook setting can also be called Manual on your multicooker.
Minimum liquid– There is a minimum liquid requirement for most instant pots. For a 6 qts IP – 1 cup is the minimum liquid required as per the manufacturer.
Burn Message- If the food starts burning this notice pops up on the instant pot and cuts off any further cooking. This message can also come if you have used the SAUTE setting before and not deglazed the pan.or if you use a bigger 8 qts pot.The minimum requirement of the liquid changes and hence you could potentially get it while using it. To solve this, add about ¼ cup of more water than the recipe calls for.
While using certain sauces like tomato sauce or cheese sauces, you may get burn message because they are more viscous than water and burn easily.To solve this, again add ¼ cup of water to the bottom of the pot first, then add the sauce and proceed with the rest of the recipe. You could also use pot in pot method for these recipes.
Pressure Build Up
Most recipes only mention the time setting you need to use while cooking in the instant pot.In actual, the total time taken to cook is time taken for the pressure build up+ time taken for actual cooking + time taken for the steam to release.
Quick Release(QR) ,Natural Pressure Release(NPR) & 10 minute Natural Pressure Release(10NPR)
Quick release(QR)– when you release the pressure valve, as soon as the cooking time is up.This release hot steam, so make sure you are careful while doing this.
Natural Pressure Release(NPR)– You open the pot only after the pressure in the IP is released on its own. This could vary depending on the Pressure setting, amount of food, size of the pot.
10 Natural Pressure Release(10NPR)
Let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes after which you Quick Release the pressure.
What not to do in Instant Pot
-Use Instant Pot without any liquid in the pot.
-Open the lid without the releasing the pressure first.
-Keep the Instant pot on the stove- there have been a lot of instances where the instant pot has gotten burnt from the bottom on accident.
-Dump food in the instant pot without the inner pot.
-Fill the pressure cooker up till the brim.