Instant Pot Brown Rice and Vegetables is a healthier version of my Chinese Style Instant Pot Fried Rice recipe. 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.
Table of Contents
Introduction
I created this Asian Instant Pot Brown Rice and vegetables recipe because I frequently get questions from readers asking if they can substitute brown rice for the Jasmine rice in my Instant Pot Chinese recipe for fried rice.
The answer is that it’s not a simple substitution because brown rice takes about five times longer to cook than the Jasmine rice. So if you just substitute the brown rice, your vegetables would become really overcooked.
This recipe should be named “unfried” rice because you don’t stir fry it at all but you still get the flavor of fried rice! It’s a healthier and easy alternative to traditional fried rice.
And you know what? This Instant Pot Brown Fried Rice tastes so similar to the white rice version that you may end up making this one regularly instead!
I have to be honest that until I got my Instant Pot I rarely cooked brown rice because it just wouldn’t come out right; overcooked, undercooked, unevenly cooked… You get the picture.
But now that I use an Instant Pot to cook brown rice, I can get consistent results. I still love Jasmine rice but when I want to enjoy Thai and Indian curries but I’m trying to eat healthier and watching what I eat, I like to use brown rice, which is higher in fiber than white rice.
Here are some other rice recipes:
– Instant Pot Brown Rice
– Instant Pot Jasmine Rice
– Instant Pot Chinese Style Fried Rice (White Rice)
– Instant Pot Parboiled Rice
Tips and Substitutions
Pressure Cooking Time
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.
Spice
To spice up the fried rice, you can add some sriracha sauce along with the oyster sauce and soy sauce.
Eggs
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.
Meat
If you wanted to add in any type of meat or shrimp, saute at the beginning with a dash of soy sauce 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.
Vegetables
You don’t need to stick with the vegetables that I’ve suggested. Feel free to use any vegetables of your choice. You can substitute any quick-cooking thawed frozen vegetables or previously sauteed or precooked vegetables of your choice.
Vegetarian
If you’re a pure vegetarian, you can substitute vegetarian oyster sauce for the regular oyster sauce.
What to serve it with
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, you might find it helpful to first read one of the following guides and then come back here to learn how to make this recipe.
- Instant Pot DUO Beginner’s Manual
- Instant Pot ULTRA Beginner’s Manual
- Instant Pot DUO EVO PLUS Beginner’s Manual
- Instant Pot DUO NOVA Beginner’s Manual
- Instant Pot DUO GOURMET Beginner’s Manual
- Instant Pot DUO CRISP Beginner’s Manual
- Instant Pot PRO Beginner’s Manual
Instant Pot Brown Rice and Vegetables Ingredients
- Frozen vegetables
- Brown rice
- Onions
- Oyster sauce
- Sesame oil
- Ginger
- Water
- Soy sauce
- Pepper
- Garlic
- Oil
- Green onions
How to Make Brown Rice and Vegetables in the Instant Pot (Step by Step Instructions)
- Turn on Saute mode.
- Saute onion, garlic, and ginger
- Add seasonings
- Add rice
- Pressure cook
- Do a 10-minute natural release
- Stir in vegetables
- Allow vegetables to cook
How to Turn on Saute Mode
- Instant Pot DUO: Select the Saute function.
- Instant Pot ULTRA: Select the Saute function and press Start.
Saute Onion, Garlic and Ginger
- 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.
Add Seasonings
- 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.
Add Rice
- 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 25 minutes
- Close the lid and make sure the steam release handle is in the Sealing position.
- Press Manual (or Pressure Cook) and + or – until the display reads 25 (25 minutes).
Instant Pot Ultra Pressure Cook 25 minutes
- Close the lid.
- Select Pressure Cook mode and adjust the time to 25 minutes (00:25).
- Press Start.
Pressure Cooking Process (Duo and Ultra)
- Instant Pot display will change to On.
- Once the Instant Pot is pressurized, the float valve will go up.
- The display will count down to 0; it will then switch to Keep Warm mode and display L0:00 or 00 00 and begin to count up the number of minutes since pressure cooking completed.
How to do a 10-minute Natural Release of Pressure
- Allow the Instant Pot to stay in Keep Warm mode for 10 minutes.
How to Release any Remaining Pressure on the DUO
- Move the steam release handle to Venting. Any remaining steam will come out of the steam release handle.
- When your Instant Pot is depressurized, the float valve will be in the down position.
- Press Cancel and open the Instant Pot.
How to Release any Remaining Pressure on the ULTRA
- Press down on the Steam Release Button until it locks into place, and any remaining steam will come out of the Steam Release Valve.
- When your Instant Pot is depressurized, the float valve will be in the down position.
- Press Cancel and open the Instant Pot.
[Find out more about the pressure release methods and how and when to use them. ]
Stir in Vegetables
- Add in the thawed frozen vegetables and gently stir the rice and vegetables.
Allow Vegetables to Cook
- 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 Rice and Vegetables
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 powder
- 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. [Read More: The Different Pressure Release Methods]
- 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
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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 five ⭐ 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!
More Instant Pot Recipes
Cara
Hey, I just tried this recipe but my rice wasn’t quite cooked through and there was a bit of liquid in the bottom. Do you have any suggestions why? Does rinsing the rice add too much liquid? Thank you!
Paint the Kitchen Red
Cara, the extra liquid was probably due to the rice not being done yet. Were you using an 8 quart Instant Pot? You might want to add 2 to 3 minutes onto the cook time.
Vini
All other brown rice recipes call for 2x as much water as rice. Yours calls for LESS water. Is this a typo?
Paint the Kitchen Red
Hi Elizabeth, if you’re following a recipe and using the steam release method that is recommended by the author, your food should be cooked and you should be able to open the Instant Pot at that point. Please read this article on the Natural vs Quick Release Methods. Hope that answers your question.
Odessa Baker
This is terrific weekday go-to meal. I’ve just started using my Instant Pot and am looking to develop a solid library of recipes to use with it. My first time doing this recipe, I made it as a main course so toward the end of the rice cooking time, I quickly stir-fried up some additional veggies to add. I used the same pan with veggies to scramble up the egg used in the recipe. The result was great; I’ll be making it again, trying different variations on the veggies and proteins. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Paint the Kitchen Red
You’re very welcome Odessa! I’m thrilled to hear you really enjoyed the recipe. Thanks for commenting.
Louise Wills
How much water down one output in the pot with the rice? I may have missed that step somehow. Thank you.
Louise
Never mind. Found it. Sorry
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 🙂