Here's a super fast and easy Instant Pot Spanish Rice that can be made in a jiffy in your Pressure Cooker. I love multitasking with my IP, because while the rice is cooking I can be preparing my salad fixings and heating up some refried beans.
Any night can now easily become a tasty Mexican Dinner night!
And let me tell you, Mexican dinners are always a hit at my house.
And honestly, they're SO easy to prepare, especially if you're brand new to this way of eating and are just beginning to learn how to cook.
I like to heat a can of fat-free refried beans (look for the fat-free label otherwise it may contain lard), a can of low-sodium pinto beans (drained), and a small can of chopped green chiles, and mix them together in a pan.
BAM, instant burrito filling and it takes about 5-10 minutes to heat. Toss in some shredded lettuce, a spoonful of chopped tomatoes or salsa, and maybe a dab of my Green Chile Sour Cream and you have some tasty, nutritious, burritos - without all the grease and oil from the Mexican Restaurants.
The only thing that's missing.... is a side of fluffy Spanish Rice.
And now.....with the help of my trusty Instant Pot Pressure Cooker.... I got that covered as well.
If you're still on the fence about an Instant Pot, let me just say that I use mine...a LOT.
They are SO convenient!
I can sauté, steam, slow cook, boil, and pressure cook - all in the same pan.
And it's as easy as pressing a few buttons and walking away. It automatically turns off the heat AND depressurizes when finished, and keeps your food warm for you until you have time to dish it up.....
And with just one pan to wash, super easy clean up too (you're welcome all you husbands out there).
I'll include an Amazon Link here if you're interested. Remember this is an affiliate link, meaning if you actually buy one, I will receive a small commission from Amazon ....
Link to Instant Pot on Amazon.
Instant Pot Spanish Rice
Chop up ½ a small Onion, and ½ a Red Bell Pepper and add them to your Instant Pot. Add just enough Veggie Broth to the pan to keep the veggies from sticking and set your IP to SAUTE mode. Make sure the temp setting is LESS and press the + or - buttons to adjust if necessary.
Sauté the veggies for a few minutes, just until they soften a bit, and the onions turn translucent.
Now if you like spicy.......this would be the time to add a little chopped jalapeño, or maybe some extra green chiles as well, but it's totally optional.
Add 2 cups of Veggie Broth (always buy the low sodium variety) and the spices and stir to mix everything well. I used chile powder and ground cumin, but again - if you like spicy....try adding a little chipotle chili powder or cayenne to the mix. Let me know what works for you.
Meanwhile, rinse 1½ cups of white rice in a colander until the water runs clear. Then add your rice to the Instant Pot and stir well.
Finally, add 1 cup of your favorite salsa to the center of the rice (DO NOT STIR) and attach the lid.
Make sure the vent is set to SEALING
Press MANUAL mode.
Set it to LOW PRESSURE
Set timer for TEN (10) minutes.
Once the timer goes off you can simply wait for it to depressurize for 10 minutes (NPR), remove the lid, and fluff with a fork.
Quick. And. Easy.
I know plain white (or brown) rice can get kind of boring, so adding salsa and a few veggies really perks this rice up. Leave a comment if you jazz it up in any way. I love reading your ideas and seeing your pictures!
Happy Mexican Dinner night.... and enjoy!
Instant Pot Spanish Rice
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Side Dish
- Cuisine: Mexican
Description
Here's a super fast and easy Instant Pot Spanish Rice that can be made in a jiffy in your Pressure Cooker. Make any night ... a tasty Mexican Dinner night!
Ingredients
- ½ small Onion
- ½ small Red Bell Pepper
- 1 ½ cups White Rice
- 2 cups Vegetable Broth (low sodium)
- ½ tsp Chili Powder
- ¼ tsp Ground Cumin
- 1 cup Salsa
Instructions
- Chop ½ small Onion and ½ Red Bell Pepper and add to your IP
- Add just enough Veg Broth to bottom of pan to prevent sticking and using the SAUTE mode, LESS setting.... sauté the veggies until soft.
(Use the + or - buttons to adjust the heat settings, LESS, NORMAL, MORE) - Add 2 cups of Veg Broth and the spices and stir to combine.
- Rinse your rice well until the water runs clear, than add to your IP.
Stir to combine. - Add 1 cup of your favorite Salsa to the center of the pot and DO NOT STIR.
Tomatoes scorch easily and we want to prevent them from sitting on the bottom or sides of the pot. - Attach lid, make sure vent is turned to SEALING, and cook on MANUAL mode, LOW PRESSURE, for 10 minutes.
- Allow it to depressurize naturally for 5 minutes before removing lid.
- Fluff rice with fork and serve.
Notes
Goes well with Instant Pot Refried Beans and my Green Chile Sour Cream.
Sara L.
I made this just like you wrote it and it was delicious! We had tostadas with it (made your vegan refried beans the day before, which is a staple in our menu), and we were happy with the flavor and fluffiness of the rice. Thank you for a great recipe Chuck!
★★★★★
Donna
this is a keeper for sure. gracias Chuck.
★★★★★
Ida Ripley
Just made this! I added a diced carrot and left out the red pepper ( don't care for it). It looks a bit too wet, but I'm going to leave it to rest in the pot while I go run some errands and hopefully it will stiffen up a bit. Next time I'll try with a little less liquid. Now that I've tried it I can start to experiment with adding other things. Thanks, looking forward to trying more of your recipes.
Emma
I added a can of rinsed black beans. Turned out great and no burn notice!
★★★★★
Colleen
This was easy and delicious. I used brown rice, cooked for 22 minutes with NPR and it turned out perfectly. This will become a a frequently made dish in our household. .
★★★★★
Rosemary Patrick
Served this with your Black Bean Tostadas last night. So delicious and easy to make !
Graham
So easy and flavourful!! I use brown basmati rice 22min npr. Great recipe. Chuck!!
★★★★★
Susan
The burn warning will often happen in the newer IP' s after sauteing.
I don't saute in mine any more, if you do, you have to stop and scrub it out in between.
Bev
This recipe was a fail for me!! I tripled he recipe and when I put it on manual cooking, as directed , I kept getting a “burn” warning. I tried it 3x then. It shut off each time. So then I used the rice setting. It turned out a mushy mess, almost like a porridge.
★
Anne
Followed recipe except I cooked for 5 minutes on high pressure since I can’t adjust the pressure on my IP.
Great recipe!!!
★★★★★
Mae
I made this with brown rice and it worked perfectly. I increased the time to 20 minutes(could go 25 for softer rice) and let it sit without the lid on for another 5 after stirring it. Make sure the salsa you use is chunky instead of saucy, or you'll want to reduce your liquid by maybe a quarter cup.
★★★★★
Maryam
I made this with brown rice and extended the cooking time to 28 mins and didn’t sauté the vegetables since the cook time is longer. The flavor is great and the rice is cooked through, but unfortunately it’s too moist/mushy. I think next time I will use equal parts water to rice (so use less water than called for) as all other brown rice instant pot recipes I’ve seen usually use about equal parts rice to water. Still giving this 5 stars for flavor and ease of cooking! Thanks for the recipe!
★★★★★
Josie Talbot
I made this recipe and it was great. I added black beans and corn after cooking in Instant Pot. I am going to cook this for a pot luck and will try and double the recipe. Thanks Chuck!
★★★★★
Josie Talbot
I made the double batch in my 6 quart Instant Pot and it worked great.
Dede
How many can you serve with a double batch? Thanks! Dede
Ed Peterson
It definitely goes great with Brown Rice which really increases its nutritional value but increase cooking time to 30 minutes and don't saute the veggies since they will be cooking longer.. I paired it with some incredible homemade vegan Jealopeano sour cream!!!! The best ever!!! Thanks so much Chuck!!!!!
★★★★★
Beverley Herbert
Brown basmati rice is the way to go. It is above and beyond all other types of brown rice.
★★★★★
Mel
I made this with a can of diced tomatoes and green chilies and some veg stock with brown rice, onion, red pepper, cumin and chili powder and it was awesome. I was worried 10 mins wouldn't be long enough for brown rice, but it turned out great.
★★★★★
Brenda Schnell
I just made this with brown rice and it's so delicious!
★★★★★
Barb
How long did you cook it?
Brenda Schnell
22 minutes
★★★★★
Tammy Snowden
Do you think you could make it with brown rice?
Chuck Underwood
I think people have..... you'll have to look up the cooking time as I think that's different.
MaryBeth
Looks yummy. I'd also like to use brown rice.
Do you know if the recipe scales well, like doubles or triples, for taking to a potluck, for example? How would the cooking time need to be adjusted?
Jessica S.
I've made this twice now and I like it very much. I substituted brown rice for the white and cooked it longer. The rice was cooked, but the dish was still very moist. Do you think it was because of the brown rice? Maybe I should reduce the amount of liquid? Your picture didn't look gooey... mine did...
★★★★
Heather Leigh Higgins
This looks amazing but my kiddos want plain old restaurant spanish rice. What do yall think? Carrot, green beans and onion with tomato sauce? HELP!
M Kay Caulk Hill
I bet adding some black beans would be good too if I don't have refried beans. My favorite spice is cumin so I know I'm going to like this.
Hannah Skiles
Pretty sure this will be on my favorite list. I'm thinking some black olives, avocado, and Tofutti sour cream might make a good topping if I want to dress it up once in a while . Thanks Chuck!
Barb
The recipe sounds great, Chuck! And easy. I'm guessing that the rice needs to be long-grain for the result to have authentic Spanish rice texture?
Carolyn Nowling-Archer
Looks yummy!!!