Find out how to make perfectly cooked pot in pot Instant Pot rice in this step-by-step guide. Use the PIP method to make a smaller quantity of perfectly pressure-cooked Instant Pot rice every time, quick and easy.
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You may be wondering whether Instapot rice is as quick, easy and perfectly cooked as rice made in a rice cooker.
Once I learned how to cook rice in the Instant Pot, I’ve found that I have no need for a rice cooker at all. Making rice in the Instant Pot works just as well, if not better.
It’s so convenient because there’s no need to plan ahead. I don’t need to soak the rice when I’m making it in the Instant Pot, so if I need white rice at the last minute when I’m making a curry like Instant Pot fish curry or Instant Pot beef curry, I can make a fresh pot of rice in short order.
There are two ways to make Instant Pot rice:
- Inner Pot Rice: You can cook it directly in the inner pot that comes with the Instant Pot, as I do in this Instant Pot Jasmine Rice recipe.
- Pot in Pot Rice: You can cook it in a smaller oven-safe bowl placed on a trivet inside the inner pot. This is called the “Pot in Pot” method (often referred to as “PIP”). I use a Pyrex glass bowl and it works perfectly for one or two cups of uncooked long grain rice.
[Find out: what is a trivet and how to use it in the Instant Pot?]
Ingredients and Tips
Ingredients
💡 Recipe and Ingredient Tips
🍚 Rice-to-Water Ratios: The ratio of rice to water is important for perfect results. Use the same measuring cup for both the rice and water to ensure accuracy.
- For long-grain white rice or basmati rice, use a 1:1 ratio. This means 1 cup of rice needs 1 cup of water, 1.5 cups of rice needs 1.5 cups of water, and so on.
🥣 Bowls for Pot-in-Pot Cooking: Always use an oven-safe bowl for the pot-in-pot cooking method. Metal or ceramic bowls work well, but they must be oven-safe.
- Be sure to follow your bowl manufacturer’s recommendations to avoid any issues.
- I use an older PYREX glass bowl and haven’t had any issues. However, newer Pyrex bowls may crack.
A helpful tip: glass bowls with the uppercase “PYREX” logo are typically safer (made with borosilicate glass), while those with the lowercase “pyrex” may not be as durable.
| Different Types of Rice | Ratio | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Long Grain White Rice | 1:1 | 5 minutes |
| Basmati Rice | 1:1 | 6 minutes |
| Jasmine Rice | 1:1.25 | 4 minutes |
| Brown Rice | 1:1 | 22 minutes |
| Wild Rice | 1:1 | 26 minutes |
❓FAQS
Making PIP rice in the 8 quart Instant Pot may require more time. Add an extra 2 to 3 minutes to the pressure cooking time.
You are only limited by the size of the container. A 7-cup container is just right for 2 cups of rice and water.
The Instant Pot rice button cooks rice on low pressure for 12 minutes. I prefer using high pressure for pot in pot rice. The rice setting works best when you’re cooking the rice directly in the inner pot.
If you’d like to make a larger quantity, you can cook the rice directly in the inner pot using my Instant Pot Jasmine Rice method, but use the time and ratio from this recipe.
How to Make Pot in Pot Instant Pot White Rice (Step by Step Instructions)
- Add rinsed rice and water to bowl
- Add water, trivet, and rice to the inner pot
- Pressure cook and release pressure
- Fluff rice
- Rinse out 1 cup of rice in a fine-mesh sieve.
- Transfer rice from sieve to a Pyrex glass bowl.
- Add 1 cup of water to the bowl.
- Pour water into the inner pot.
- Place trivet in the inner pot.
- Place the glass bowl on the trivet.
- Close the lid.
- Select Pressure Cook mode and cook on high pressure for 6 minutes.
- The display will go from On to 00:06. The float valve will go up after a few minutes. The display will count down to 00:00.
- Do a 10 minute natural release of pressure or a full natural release. Once the float valve goes down, the lid can be opened.
- The white rice should be perfectly cooked.
- Carefully remove the glass bowl from the inner pot.
- Fluff the rice with a fork and let it rest for a few minutes.
You may like some other rice recipes like Instant Pot Brown Rice (Pot in Pot method), Wild Rice Pilaf, Parboiled Rice, Fried Rice, or Brown Fried Rice.
Instant Pot Pot in Pot Rice Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup Basmati rice or long grain white rice
- 1 cup water + more for inner pot
Instructions
- Rinse out 1 cup of basmati rice in a fine mesh sieve.
- Transfer rinsed rice and 1 cup water to an oven-safe medium bowl.
- Pour 2 cups water into the Instant Pot's main compartment (inner pot) and place a trivet in the water.
- Place rice bowl on trivet and close the Instant Pot.
- Close the lid and pressure cook on High Pressure for 6 minutes.
- Do a 10 or 15 minute natural pressure release. [Read More: The Different Pressure Release Methods]
- Open Instant Pot and fluff rice with fork and allow it to rest for a few minutes before serving.
Notes
- To substitute Jasmine rice, change the ratio of rice to water to 1 : 1 ¼ and only cook for 4 minutes.
- 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.
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Instant Pot Recipes To Go With White Rice
Karen Ranlett says
I want to cook 1/2 cup of Uncle Ben’s converted white rice PIP to make 1 serving. I would be using a ceramic soup bowl to cook the rice in. Would that be 1/2 cup rice to 1 cup water? How many minutes to cook converted white rice PIP? Is 1/2 cup rice too small an amount to cook?
Thanks. I am very excited to receive your answer.
Karen
Paint the Kitchen Red says
Karen, I use a 1:1 recipe for parboiled rice, which is the same as converted. I do 6 minutes for white rice. If it’s not cooked, just pressure cook for another minute or two. That’s the great thing about PIP, you don’t have to worry about sealing issues! Here’s my blog post for parboiled rice in the Instant Pot.
Greg from Nashville says
I followed the pot-in-pot method with 1 cup basmati rice, 1 cup water, and a pat of butter in a stainless steel bowl, and 1 cup water in the inner pot to build pressure in my 6-quart CHEF iQ smart pressure cooker. 6 minutes cooked under pressure and 10 minutes NPR. PERFECT. The stainless steel bowl was easy to clean, and the rice was just how I like it.
Not sure why the recipe calls for two cups of water in the inner pot – seems like more water than is required. Isn’t that water simply being used to build up pressure? Two cups will simply take longer to heat up. There was plenty of water in the inner pot when I removed the lid. #curious
Paint the Kitchen Red says
Hi Greg, thank you for your comment. And to answer your question, there are so many models and sizes of Instant Pots and pressure cookers that I give a safe amount of water to add to the inner pot to cover all bases. Yes, you can definitely use less water – however much your pressure cooker needs to get to pressure. Take care.
Judy C says
New to IP cooking. Made your basmati rice tonight and it was PERFECT!! We don’t eat a lot of rice but I’ve been trying to perfect it for 50+ years and this is it. I’m a from scratch cook and never realized how handy an IP would be. Thanks for the great instructions and for your very informative website.
Paint the Kitchen Red says
Judy, that’s so great to hear. I hope you enjoy your new Instant Pot!
DWe says
I tried this in a glass Pyrex dish on the pre-programmed “rice” setting of the IP, and it wasn’t even close to being done. I put it in for another 2 min on High, QR, and it still was just a soupy mess of water and uncooked rice. Ended up leaving it for 4 hours on Keep Warm, since I figured maybe it’ll be done by dinner and I could use it then, but the consistency never changed. Ended up draining the uncooked rice and made meatballs for Albondigas with it for dinner. I love my iP (actually have two different sizes and use them several times a week), and would consider myself a well seasoned user. The PiP rice, however, sadly didn’t work for me.
Paint the Kitchen Red says
Hi there – this method works for every Instant Pot I own so I’m not sure what’s going on. Can you let me know what your Instant Pot model is and when you bought it? Have you cooked this type of rice in your IP before (non PIP?) Sorry to hear you had trouble.
Patricia says
I have never used the rice setting for the rice only the manual or pressure cook button. Maybe that is why
Betty F says
The rice setting is not the right way to make PIP rice. The directions say to use 6 minutes at manual.
tim says
Sadly, I had the same experience. I have a 6-QT Wifi IP purchased about 1 year ago. I use a glass pyrex dish. I tried 1:1 with rinsed Jasmine rice + 1c water in the main pot.
I tried 5m high-pressure with 10m natural release. The rice was only about 3/4 done with some liquid still in the bowl. I did an additional 3m/QR and it still wasn’t done.
Is it possible that the dish is too thick to heat properly? I am about to give up on this.
Paint the Kitchen Red says
Tim, I’m sorry to hear you had trouble with the PIP method that I use several times a week. Have you tried cooking this same rice without PIP? What are the timings that work for you? I would try and add 30% to that time and do a NPR and see how that works for you. It could be your individual Instant Pot or it could be the rice that’s causing this.
tim says
Thank you for the suggestions. After some experimentation, I was able to get a good result by increasing the time to 7 minutes with natural release. The rice program which uses low pressure for 12m also gave a good result. I also tried a stainless steel inner pot, but that did not make any difference, so I’ll stick with the pyrex.
Paint the Kitchen Red says
Awesome! It could be the newer models of the Instant Pot are performing differently. Thanks for updating us.
Linda says
I would bet that the rice setting on your IPis preset for low pressure. The directions in this recipe say high pressure. If you try this again, don’t use the preset button. I’m single and make my rice pot in pot all the time. Although I haven’t tried this 6 minutes, as I use a different recipe. I’m going to try this. Once its done, I just let it alone to release pressure naturally, until I’m ready to serve. Always comes out perfect.
Paint the Kitchen Red says
Thanks Linda, I think you’re probably right!
bloomy says
I love the idea of indirect cooking as I only want to make a single cup. This was the first post that I came across that was explicitly detailed.
Jasmine rice, rinsed, 1:1.25 Rice/Water ratio, 2-cups water in the inner pot, high pressure for 5 minutes…
What am I missing?
It’s not even close to being done.
Back in the steamer for a 10 minutes on high to see what I get.
Paint the Kitchen Red says
I’m sorry it didn’t work for you. I use this method ALL the time, like everyday almost! So the only thing I can think of are:
– the container that you used didn’t allow heat to be transferred
– the Instant Pot didn’t come to pressure
– your pressure cooker has a different pressure rating
Have you cooked this particular batch of rice successfully in the Instant Pot? How long did it take? Maybe add a couple of minutes to that.
Nell says
If you live at a higher altitude, you have to add time. You can do a search and find charts that show how much to add for different altitudes. (Sorry I don’t remember where I found this info)
Carl says
You are like a Doctor of cookology!
Thanks for all your hard work!
Paint the Kitchen Red says
Carl, lol thank you – that’s so nice 🙂
Lisa says
thank you. I just made this and the rice is perfect. It is my first time cooking with my new Instant Pot. I love that I don’t have to clean out the inner pot because I used my Pyrex dish. I appreciate the tip about using a towel over the valve. Thanks again.
Paint the Kitchen Red says
Great first recipe for the Instant Pot, a sure success 🙂 Hope you enjoy your Instant Pot adventures.
Jeanine says
Hi Neena. I recently purchased the Instant Pot 6 Ultra. It has a rice selection. Can I use that and set it for the 4 or 6 minutes?
Paint the Kitchen Red says
Jeanine – the pre-programmed rice setting cooks at low pressure. So you’ll need to leave the time at the default 12 minutes. I don’t ever use that setting, but it does work so it’s definitely an option for you.
Ginger Soule says
If I wanted to make 4 servings of rice, that shouldn’t affect the time, is that correct?
Paint the Kitchen Red says
Ginger, that’s right. Always keep in mind when adjusting the quantity of rice that the rice + water shouldn’t go over the 1/2 mark due to expansion.
David says
I want to try the pot in pot rice recipe. How much water for long grain rice?
Paint the Kitchen Red says
David, I do a 1:1 ratio for long grain white rice.
Ruben R says
I have 8 quart duo Evo plus and the glass bowl still has water and rice is undercooked. 2:2 rinsed basmati for 6 minutes manual and NPR. Not sure what I did wrong.
Paint the Kitchen Red says
Ruben, I think there may be some variation in the different models and sizes of Instant Pot. I would say you probably need to increase the pressure cooking time by 2 minutes and see how that goes. Sometimes these things just take trial and error. I’ve been using my timing for years and it works perfectly for me and I hope you’ll find your perfect. Please do reach out if you have an update!
Terry says
Thanks for your clear directions. I have long grain white rice to use up before buying basmati. I’ve tried your recipe several times with different tweaks and times and my rice is either underdone or overdone. I’m a seasoned IP user, so haven’t skipped/missed any steps. Today, I tried the 1.5 cups liquid to 1 cup rice and it wasn’t finished, so I added it to a sealed pot on my stovetop on low heat for 10 mins and then left it covered off the burner for another 10 mins and it turned out perfect. This seemed counter productive, as I might as well have done it the old Fashioned way on the stove top from start to finish. I’ll try one more time with 1 cup rice to 1.25 cups liquid as you suggested and failing that, I’ll resume making it straight in the inner pot, which has always worked fantastic for me
Paint the Kitchen Red says
Oh, how frustrating for you. Sorry you’ve had trouble. I use the same settings in the inner pot and PIP! Let me know if you have success with your latest try.
Lynda Brown says
Thank you rice worked out great been struggling to get it right in a sauce pan on the stove this was perfect
Paint the Kitchen Red says
You’re welcome, Lynda! The Instant Pot is the only way I make rice. You may like to try brown rice too – it comes out really well in the IP.
Joan says
My Instant Pot Ultra 8qt is on the way. I’m checking recipes to plan first use. I want to try the P-I-P rice method but don’t have a glass bowl. Can I use one of my Ben safe pottery bowls? Thank you.
Paint the Kitchen Red says
Hi Joan, thanks for your question. Oven-safe ceramic bowls have worked just fine for me. If it’s something like rice, you might need to figure out the right cooking time. Cooking time can change slightly with different types of bowls. Do you have any stainless steel bowls? Those work too.
Jackie says
I want to try this while making beef stroganoff. My recipe calls for high pressure for 12 mins then quick release. Would this work? Any suggestions?
Paint the Kitchen Red says
Hi Jackie – great question. Unfortunately the cooking times for rice and the beef are too far apart – if it had been just a couple of minutes, I’d have said ‘go for it’. So your option is: cook the beef for 6 minutes less i.e. for 6 minutes. Do a quick release (QR), put in the steam rack and rice, and then continue cooking for another 6 minutes. Another option is to cook the rice and beef for 6 minutes and do a 10 minute natural release, take out the rice and rack and then continue to cook the beef for another 6 minutes. Hope that makes sense!
Lindsey says
Simply perfect! This was my first time using the pot-in-pot method. Your instructions were so clear and easy!
Paint the Kitchen Red says
Thanks for letting me know, Lindsey! The first of many times I hope.