Instant Pot Brown Fried Rice is a healthier version of Instant Pot Chinese Fried Rice. This brown fried rice recipe is a great way to add flavor to plain brown rice with minimal effort. To make the recipe non-vegetarian and more substantial, stir in ham, rotisserie chicken and/or a fried egg to the cooked rice.
Tips and Substitutions
You’ll notice that the cook time for this recipe is 25 minutes whereas the recipe for plain Instant Pot Brown Rice has a 22 minute cook time. I find that 22 minutes gives this fried rice more of an’ al dente’ feel and it needs a few more minutes of pressure cooking time to taste more like the regular fried rice.
You can reduce the cooking time by a couple of minutes if you like your brown rice to be chewier.
To spice up the fried rice, you can add some sriracha sauce along with the oyster sauce and soy sauce.
The white rice version of this recipe includes scrambled eggs that are added in at the end. I didn’t include them in this recipe, but you can easily stir in (cooked) scrambled eggs at the end.
If you wanted to add in any type of meat or shrimp, saute at the beginning and remove with a slotted spoon, deglaze the inner pot (if there’s food stuck on the bottom) and then continue with the recipe.
Add back the meat or shrimp when you’re adding the vegetables.
If you’re a pure vegetarian, you can substitute vegetarian oyster sauce for the regular oyster sauce.
One of my favorite ways of serving this rice and the white rice version of this recipe is with grilled or baked teriyaki chicken or fish. Yes, I know we’re mixing cuisines, but it’s so tasty! And makes for a healthy and easy weeknight dinner!
If you’re new to the Instant Pot and aren’t familiar with how to use it, please read the Instant Pot DUO Beginner’s Quick Start Guide or the Instant Pot ULTRA Beginner’s Quick Start Guide first and then come back here to learn how to make this Instant Pot Instant Pot Brown Fried Rice.
Instant Pot Instant Pot Brown Fried Rice Recipe Ingredients
How to Make Instant Pot Instant Pot Brown Fried Rice Recipe (Step-by-Step Instructions)
- Instant Pot DUO: Select the ‘Saute’ function.
- Instant Pot ULTRA: Select the ‘Saute’ function and press ‘Start’.
- Once the Instant Pot has pre-heated, add oil and allow it to heat up.
- Stir in onions, and saute till soft, about 1 to 2 minutes.
- Press ‘Cancel’. This will allow the Instant Pot to cool down while you do the next steps.
- Stir in garlic and ginger.
- Saute garlic and ginger for about 30 seconds, stirring constantly. *
- Add in water, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, and black pepper.
* Deglaze with a tablespoon or two of water if there’s any food stuck to the bottom of the inner pot.
- Stir all ingredients and then add in rinsed brown rice.
- Don’t stir the rice, but push it down with a spatula to make sure all the rice is submerged in the liquid.
Instant Pot DUO Pressure Cook:
- Close the lid and make sure steam release handle is in ‘Sealing’ position
- Press ‘Manual’ (or ‘Pressure Cook’) and ‘+’ or ‘-‘ until the display reads ‘25′ (25 minutes).
Instant Pot ULTRA Pressure Cook:
- Close the lid.
- Select Pressure Cook mode and adjust the time to 25 minutes (00:25).
- Press ‘Start’.
- Instant Pot display will change to ‘On’.
- Once the Instant Pot is pressurized, the float valve will go up.
- The display will count down from 25 to 0; it will then switch to ‘Keep Warm’ mode and display ‘L0:00’ or ’00 00′ and begin to count up.
- Wait till the count-up timer reads 00:10 or L0:10 (10 minutes) and release any remaining pressure manually using the Quick Release (QR) method. This is called a 10-minute Natural Pressure Release (NPR).
- The float valve will now be in the down position.
- Press ‘Cancel’ and open the Instant Pot.
- Add in the thawed frozen vegetables and gently stir the rice and vegetables.
- Close the lid again and let the vegetables and rice sit in the residual heat for about 5 minutes. If the lid has trouble closing, move the steam release handle to the venting position (or in the case of the Ultra model, push down on the steam release button).
- Open the lid and gently stir in scrambled eggs (optional).
- Transfer rice to a serving bowl and garnish with green onions and cilantro (optional).
Healthy Chinese Style Instant Pot Brown Fried Rice
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups brown rice
- 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup onions finely chopped
- 2 tsp ginger finely minced
- 1 Tbsp garlic finely minced
- 1 1/4 cups water
- 3 Tbsp soy sauce
- 1 Tbsp oyster sauce
- 1/2 tsp sesame oil
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1 1/2 cups frozen peas and carrots thawed
- 2 eggs beaten (optional)
- 3 Tbsp green onions chopped
- 2 Tbsp chopped cilantro optional
Instructions
- Rinse and drain brown rice and set aside.
- Select the 'Saute' function and allow the Instant Pot to heat up.
- Add vegetable oil to the hot Instant Pot inner pot.
- Saute onions till translucent, about 1 to 2 minutes, stirring often.
- Press Cancel. This will allow the Instant Pot to cool down while you do the next steps.
- Saute ginger and garlic for 30 seconds, stirring constantly.
- Add in water, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, and black pepper and stir to mix.
- Stir all ingredients and add in rinsed brown rice.
- Don’t stir the rice, but push it down with a spatula to make sure all the rice is submerged in the liquid.
- Close the lid and pressure cook on high pressure for 25 minutes.
- Let the pressure release naturally (NPR) for 10 minutes and then release any remaining pressure using the Quick Release (QR) method.
- Open the lid and add in the thawed frozen vegetables.
- Gently stir the fried rice and vegetables until combined.
- Close the lid again and let the vegetables and rice rest in the residual heat for about 5 minutes. If the lid has trouble closing, move the steam release handle to the venting position (or in the case of the Ultra model, push down on the steam release button).
- Open the lid and transfer rice to a serving bowl.
- Optional: scramble two eggs in a frying pan and stir into the rice.
- Garnish with green onions and cilantro (optional).
Notes
- Prep time does not include steps that are already accounted for in the ingredient list, e.g. minced garlic, chopped onions, etc.
- See the blog post for more detailed recipe tips.
Nutrition
I am not a certified nutritionist. I provide my best estimate of nutritional information merely as a courtesy to my readers. If you depend on nutritional information for dietary or health reasons, I suggest using your favorite online nutrition calculator to confirm the nutritional value of this recipe based on the actual ingredients that you use.
If you loved this recipe, please give it a 5 Star rating in the comment section below and please share it on social media using the social media share buttons at the top and bottom of this post. Thank you so much!
You might also like to try these Instant Pot Recipes:
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| Instant Pot Thai Peanut Noodles | Instant Pot Brown Rice | Instant Pot Chinese Fried Rice |
Dr. J
This was easy and really good! Instructions and seasoning were spot on. The only thing I added was a bit of TVP shreds I soaked and seasoned before stirring in with the veggies.
Next time I’ll cook the rice about five minutes longer because I like mine a little softer.
Paint the Kitchen Red
Thanks Dr. J! Good to hear you were able to adapt with TVP.
Liz Csordas
easy! topped with baked tofu and friend egg.
Paint the Kitchen Red
Thanks for sharing, Liz! Glad you liked the recipe.
Yoanna
Very tasty and easy to make!
Paint the Kitchen Red
Thanks for your comment, Yoanna. Glad you liked the recipe 🙂
Rose
Hi, I’m going to making this recipe tomorrow and I want to double it. How would I do it? Would I double everything, including the time? I don’t want the rice to be mushy if I double it. Anyways, really excited to try this!
Paint the Kitchen Red
Rose, so sorry I didn’t see this comment sooner. Hope you had good luck with it. To answer your question, you would double everything but the time. Also make sure your total content doesn’t go over the 1/2 mark, due to expansion.
Lily
Is the brown rice uncooked or cooked?
Paint the Kitchen Red
Lily – it’s uncooked and rinsed.
Dawn
Hello. To double the recipe, what changes do I need to make? Double everything except for the time? I have the IP Ultra – 6 QT. Thank you!
Paint the Kitchen Red
Dawn, I haven’t doubled this recipe – just make sure that the ingredients (before cooking) don’t go over the 1/2 mark. And yes, you would double everything and keep the time the same. Thanks for your question and hope you like it!
Cynthia Siples
My very picky little girl loved this. It has become a new family favorite. Thanks!
Paint the Kitchen Red
Virtual high five! Thanks for letting me know – it’s very much appreciated 🙂