Table of Contents
This post contains affiliate links to Amazon. For more information, read our Disclosure Policy.
Parboiled rice is one of my favorite types of rice. I like it better than white rice, jasmine rice, or brown rice.
Did you know that parboiled rice is nutritionally similar to brown rice?
Parboiled rice is similar nutritionally to brown rice making it a better choice over white rice (source). The process needed to create parboiled rice gives the rice it’s own unique texture and flavor.
Rice is so easy to make in the Instant Pot
If you have never tried parboiled rice, I would highly recommend it. I no longer purchase traditional white rice or make rice any other way that in my Instant Pot.
I’ve already shared how easy it is to make jasmine rice in an electric pressure cooker. In keeping with the same theme, today I’ll share how quickly you can cook parboiled rice in your Instant Pot.
Why an Instant Pot, why not just use a rice cooker?
I mean technically you could use a rice cooker and achieve the same results. However, a rice cooker only has one function – to cook rice. The Instant Pot on the other hand has multiple functions.
I don’t know about you but I already feel like I have enough small appliances. So much so that I really don’t have any more room in my kitchen to store them.
The one thing I loved about the Instant Pot so much, was that I was able to replace so many small appliances and just have one, the Instant Pot.
An Instant Pot Can Replace 7 Small Appliances In Your Kitchen
If you are unfamiliar, an Instant Pot has the to function as the following small appliances:
- pressure cooker
- rice cooker
- slow cooker
- yogurt maker
- steamer
- sauté pan
- food warmer
That is potentially 7 different small appliances I was able to replace in my kitchen with one appliance. It truly is kitchen saver!
What is even more amazing is that the one of new models, the Instant Pot Pro, has even more functionalities added like:
- Sous Vide
- Mini Oven
- Sterilizer
If you are someone that loves an Air Fryer, you can even replace your Air Fryer with an Instant Pot. It’s kind of magical really how much this small kitchen appliance can do. The only other small appliance in my kitchen that I can’t live without would be my Stand Mixer.
Two Small Appliances Every Home cook Needs
I purchased an Instant Pot way back in 2016. It has quickly become one of my most used small appliances in my kitchen, along with my KitchenAid.
I am amazed at how well this small appliance has held up throughout the years. My Instant Pot hasn’t had to be replaced and works just as well as it did the day that I got it.
I’m even more amazed by this one appliance has replaced several small appliances in my home. My rice cooker and slow cooker were donated not long after I started using it. I found that I no longer needed these appliances. This means that I’m constantly using my Instant Pot in my kitchen, and not just to cook parboiled rice.
I think an Instant Pot and a KitchenAid Stand Mixer are two small appliances every home chef needs in their kitchen.
How to make Parboiled Rice in an Instant Pot
Ingredients
- 4 cups parboiled rice
- 4 cups water
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- Removing the liner from your Instant Pot (electric pressure cooker). With the rice measuring cup, measure out 4 cups of parboiled rice into the liner.
- Next fill the liner with water and swish the rice around to help loosen any starch.
- Drain and repeat the process several times to rinse off all of the starch from the rice until the water is no longer cloudy. Drain a final time. (rinsing the rice before cooking helps the rice not stick to the bottom of the Instant Pot when it cooks)
- Next, measure 4 cups of water using the same measuring device you used to measure the rice. Add the water to the rinsed rice.
- Give a slight stir, then add 2 tbsp of unsalted butter and a pinch of salt.
- Place the liner pot back into the Instant Pot or electric pressure cooker. Lock the lid and set the valve to sealing.
- Then, on your Instant Pot press the white rice pre-set button. Check the settings to make sure the Instant Pot is set to 12 mins on High Pressure. Make the necessary adjustments if this is not the case. Press the white rice button again to turn off the warming feature.
- Once cooking has completed, use the quick release valve to release the pressure. Once all pressure is released, remove the lid and fluff the rice with a fork.
- After fluffing the rice with a fork, then you can use the rice paddle to remove the cooked rice from the Instant Pot.
Notes
Looking for more instant Pot recipes?
Check out these other Instant Pot recipes: learn how to make jasmine rice with just 3 minutes of cook time, cook your Thanksgiving Turkey, or the best southern chili you’ve ever eaten.
48 Comments
My youngest is obsessed with rice! Your recipe sounds and looks super delicious and so easy to make in an instant pot! Yummers!
Yum we are huge rice fans in our family mostly because I can’t eat potatoes so this is my substitute. This looks so good and so easy. I need an instant pot!
I love a great rice recipe. I would love to own an Instant Pot eventually. These recipes make me jealous.
Is the White Rice button just the Rice button on the Instant Pot? And thanks for the tip about pressing it twice!
Yes, the white rice button is the rice button on the Instant Pot.
This recipe was amazing! Cannot believe how quickly it cooked :)
how many would this serve?
4-6 depending on serving size
Is rinsing required to cook in the Instant Pot?
Yes, rinsing is a necessary step to prevent the rice from sticking together. Rice is covered in starch, by rinsing you get rid of the starch so that the grains won’t stick together during cooking.
Rinsing is not required for parboiled rice. Parboiled rice is processed with high pressure steam which gets rid of any surface starch, which is already minimal. That’s why it has a brownish color, unlike white rice. I’ve never rinsed parboiled rice and all the grains cook separately, without sticking. You can find more information about parboiled rice on wikipedia, and how it’s different from white rice.
As for white rice, there is minimal starch on the surface. The powdery stuff that clouds the water is actually powdered vitamins. You can see this in the ingredients. Indeed, if you look at the directions on package of any American-processed white rice, it specifically says to NOT rinse. Basically, you’re just washing away the vitamins, which is a waste.
Does rinsing the rice make it less sticky? Yes, sort of, but only minimally. And it has nothing to do with “surface starch.” When you presoak the rice, it affects how the alpha and beta starches are processed when it cooks, resulting in slightly less sticky rice. I sometimes pre-soak but I never waste the vitamins by pouring out the water. Many of the expensive fuzzy logic Zojirushi rice cookers start out with a warm pre-soak cycle for this very reason, which is why they take 40 mins to cook white rice.
Regardless, surface starch is mostly a myth, and there is no reason to rinse parboiled or white rice. Parboiled rice is already processed with high pressure steam so that the grains cook separately. You can call Carolina, the rice company, to verify all this.
Yep, never rinse and drain parboiled, specifically enriched parboiled because your washing away the vitamins and minerals added.
Sorry if this sounds like a really stupid question, but you say to use the little measuring cup that comes with the instant pot to measure the rice. Are you using that same measuring cup to measure the 4 cups of water or an actual measuring cup to measure 4 cups of water?
I use the same measuring cup to measure the rice as well as the water. You can use an actual measuring cup if you no longer have the cup that came with the Instant Pot just make sure you measure the rice and water separately using the same container so that the measurements will be accurate.
What matters is the ratio, so if you use the small Asian cup to measure the rice, use the same cup to measure water. I generally use a normal imperial 8oz cup.
Thank you so much for this post! I love my instant pot but have been struggling to make perfect rice with it. It either comes out too mushy or too hard. My daughter and I made cilantro rice today following this method and it worked perfectly!
I’m so happy to hear that. Cilantro rice sounds delicious!
Why do you push the rice button twice?
Pushing the button twice on the Instant Pot turns off the “warming” feature that automatically starts after the cook cycle is complete.
Is it the same cooking time for parboiled brown rice like Minute Rice ?
I’m not sure what the cooking time would be for the brand Minute Rice. This is a how-to for just the regular bags of parboiled rice you may find at the grocery store.
No, they’re VERY different! Minute Rice is called that because the rice is already cooked. It is then dehydrated. So essentially all you’re doing is to rehydrate it with hot water. There is absolutely no reason to make it in a pressure cooker. In fact, the pressure and heat would probably turn it into mush.
Parboiled rice is uncooked or partially cooked rice, just like regular white rice. However, it is processed with high pressure steam blasting through the brown husk. That results in the rice absorbing some of the fiber and nutrients from the husk, which is why the rice is brownish. Nutritionally, parboiled rice is somewhere in between brown rice and white rice. It is also less sticky than white rice.
In terms of cooking times, parboiled rice takes about the same amount of time as regular white rice. And you’d generally use a little more water than you would in white rice, although that’s a matter of taste. I generally use a 1-to-1 rice-to-water ratio for white rice, and 1.25-to-1 for parboiled rice.
Thanks !!
Thanks for sharing this recipe! Parboiled rice is the only kind of rice my husband and I buy at the grocery store! He is Spanish decent, so we go through at least a10 pound bag a month. Thanks again for sharing!
Any recommendations with high-pressure button instead of rice one? thank you
I’m not certain. On my Instant Pot, the rice button is pre-programmed to: high-pressure for 12 minutes. Maybe that will help.
How much time to cook? Different amounts of rice? Why quick release? Other places say natural release. Do you find its better? Why so much rinsing? Parboiled already has starch removed.
The time to cook parboiled rice is 12 minutes no matter the amount of rice you are trying to cook in an Instant Pot. I use quick release after the rice is done cooking to prevent the rice from overcooking and becoming mushy. I rinse the parboiled rice to remove the starch from the rice. When rinsing parboiled rice one can see that starch is not removed from parboiled rice. “Parboiled” refers to the way that it is processed prior to being packaged and sold. The reason for rinsing the starch from the rice is to prevent the rice from sticking when it cooks. If you leave the starch on the rice and cook it there is a chance the rice will stick together and not be separated little grains of deliciousness.
Hi, the parboiled rice bag says not to rinse the rice as doing so removes the nutrients. Can you offer a recipe for cooking parboiled rice in the IP that does not include rinsing? I’d like to keep the nutritional value of the rice as high as possible. Thank you!
Whether or not you rinse the rice is a personal preference. I choose to rinse the rice because I found that it helps keep the rice from sticking to the bottom of the pot and makes cleanup easier. If you do not want to rinse the rice, you do not have to. You can cook the rice according to the instructions above without rinsing the rice. Just note that there may be some browning of the rice on the bottom of the pot.
I find rice sticks to the bottom of the pot less when I put water in first, or a bit of oil can work too. I have friends who come from a culture that they LOVE the browned rice on the bottom of the pot. The kids always fought over who got it. lol.
That is so interesting. I’ll have to try the oil trick next time I make rice to see if it makes a difference.
Would there be different measurements for lesser cups (such as 1 cup)? I tried with 1 cup water / 1 cup rice but the rice came up uncooked.
The ratio of rice to water should be 1:1. So it would be 1 cup rice to 1 cup water. This is measurements for cooking parboiled rice in the Instant Pot or electric pressure cooker.
Thanks for responding.
Any suggestions as to why the rice comes up partially cooked?
Thank you.
Hmmmm…it’s hard to say as I’m not exactly sure what steps you took to make the rice. It could be the type of rice that you used. One suggestion would be that if you are finding your rice isn’t completely cooked, then maybe try letting the rice sit in the instant pot for an additional 5-10 mins after it has cooked before releasing the pressure.
This recipe worked perfectly without rinsing, as someone suggested in the comments….not starchy at all! Will definitely follow this recipe again and again…so easy and takes so little time compared to cooking of the stove!
This worked perfect for me. I made six cups instead of four and just used the rice button to cook it for 12 minutes. I had never made parboiled rice before (I got it as a substitution with my grocery pick up). Everyone in the family enjoyed it. Thanks!
If you half the recipe, does the cooking time change?
No, if you half the recipe the cooking time will remain the same, no matter the amount of rice you choose to cook.
Nice! My sweet cousin got me an IP for my birthday late last month and I’m so glad to have found this recipe because I grew up eating parboiled rice and love cooking it in less time and not on a stove.
I also always wash rice and my “hack” is to wash/rinse the rice in a sifter…thanks for sharing this:)
Thank you so much for commenting Cherish. I’m so excited for you to have an Instant Pot. They are such a wonderful little kitchen gadget to have.
I always forget to use a sifter to rinse my rice but you are absolutely correct a sifter does make rinsing a little bit easier. I just need to get into the habit of using one. Thank you for the reminder.
I hope you enjoy your parboiled rice!
I did! I’m back to make it again (been eating other grains because the pandemic has me…fluffier…but I got a craving for it) and wanted to make sure I followed the steps to a T again. Thanks again for sharing this, and for a kind reply! And now I’m off to sift and cook. Well wishes:)
Welcome back! I’m so glad you decided to make some more parboiled rice. I’m happy to report that I’m now a proud owner of a small little mesh sifter, I saw it at the Dollar Tree and immediately remembered your comment. What’s its main purpose? To rinse rice! Thank you again for such a great tip. I am forever grateful. Also, thank you for taking the time to let me know that you stopped by.
I use a large strainer to rinse my rice. I have done wild rice, regular long grain, brown, and basmati in my IP. All of them have turned out perfectly. Planning on doing the parboiled later today or tomorrow to see how it turns out. I will let you know.
I love how the IP can cook a variety of different types of rice. I would love to know how the parboiled rice turns out. Thank you for commenting.
The parboiled rice turned out spectacularly! I do not recall eating it before today, but it reminded me of something I thing I ate as a child. My mother does not remember ever using parboiled rice, but that is all right. I love it!
That’s awesome, Marci. Thank you for coming back and letting me know how it turned out. I’m glad it reminded you of something from your childhood.