How to cook basmati rice in the instant pot (perfect rice every time!)

Do you love fluffy and flavorful basmati rice for your lunch or dinner? Make this Instant pot basmati rice recipe, enjoy flavourful rice for your meal, and make it special!

This post will give detailed steps, tips, and tricks to cook perfect basmati rice in an instant pot. And you will also find different flavor variations you could try with basmati rice.

What is Basmati rice?

Basmati is a variety of rice that is long, slender, and aromatic. This variety of rice is majorly grown in the Indian subcontinent. Basmati rice will be long and thin even after cooking it, and that's the specialty of this rice.

Plain basmati rice is also so flavorful and makes an everyday meal special.

Ingredients

Rice: Good quality rice will yield light and fluffy rice. Choose aged basmati rice for better volume, aroma, and fluffiness.

Water: I used plain water to cook basmati rice in the electric pressure cooker. But you can use any broth as well to flavor the rice.

Salt: Salt is optional, and you can skip it. We usually do not add salt to the rice as other side dishes like curries and dals will have enough salt. 

Oil:  Oil will help in making basmati rice fluffy. I do not recommend skipping it. You can use any oil of your choice, like olive oil, coconut oil, or vegetable oil. If you are not vegan, you can use butter and ghee also.

How to make perfect basmati rice every time

You can cook perfect basmati rice every time using these simple steps.

Rinse: Rinsing is an important step, and it will help in removing starch from basmati rice. Rinsing will yield fluffy rice, so do not skip this step.

Soak: Though soaking is optional, I usually soak my rice for at least 30 minutes. By soaking rice, grains will absorb the water, and they get cooked uniformly. If skipping the soaking step, please use more water for cooking the basmati rice.

Pressure cook: Carefully drain the water from the soaked rice and keep it aside. Next, brush the instant pot inner pot with oil so that cooked rice will not stick to the pot.

Alternatively, you can start the instant pot in saute mode. Once it is hot enough, add oil and turn off the instant pot. Spread the oil by tilting the pot or using a brush. 

Add spices like cumin seeds, cardamom, cloves, bay leaf, and cinnamon stick to the hot oil if you want to flavor the rice.

Now add drained rice, salt, and water to the inner pot. Close the instant pot with its lid and seal the vent.

Then, start the instant pot in manual or pressure cook mode and cook for 5 minutes on high pressure.

Pressure release: Once the instant pot ends, wait 5 minutes and do a manual pressure release. Do not wait for a natural pressure release, as it will overcook the rice and make it mushy.

Fluff it up: Take the inner pot from the instant pot out and fluff it up with a fork. Let it rest for 5 minutes, and fluffy basmati rice is ready to serve!

Basmati rice to water ratio

	Basmati Rice	Water
Soaked (at least 30 minutes)	1 cup	1 cup
Unsoaked	1 cup	1 ¼ cup

Seasoning basmati rice

Though plain basmati rice will also be flavorful, seasoning it will make it richer. So depending on how you want to serve the rice, you can try adding these ingredients.

• Coconut milk: Cooking basmati rice with plain coconut milk will make it nutty and rich. You can serve this plain coconut milk rice with any curries of your choice.
• Bay leaf: A simple bay leaf will change the flavor of rice.
• Spices: You can use whole spices like cumin seeds, cardamom, cloves, mace, caraway seeds(shahi jeera), or black pepper to flavor the rice. Powdered spices like turmeric, coriander powder, or cumin powder will also go well.

Recipe Notes:

• This recipe is naturally gluten-free and vegan (if not using butter or ghee)
• Once you release the pressure, remove the inner pot from the Instant pot to stop cooking the rice further.
• Sometimes, the top layer of rice looks uncooked. In that case, stir it once and close the lid for five more minutes. Then, the remaining heat will cook the rice. And this might happen if you do not soak your rice. So, my suggestion is to soak rice for at least 30 minutes for uniform cooking of rice.
• Oil in this recipe will make the rice grains fluffy. Do not skip it; you can even use butter or any oil of your choice.
• Using this recipe, you can only cook white basmati rice. This recipe will not work for brown basmati rice.
• Cooking time is the same for soaked and unsoaked basmati rice. Only the rice water ratio will change.

Variations:

I make these variations with basmati rice when I want to make my lunch or dinner special. You can easily make delicious, flavored rice at home (just like in your favorite restaurant).

To make these basmati rice variations, all the steps mentioned above will be the same: rinsing, soaking, pressure cooking, and fluffing up. 

But before pressure cooking the rice, we will start the Instant pot in saute mode and add these additional ingredients.

Coconut basmati rice: 

Once the pot is hot, add oil, 1-inch cinnamon stick, two cardamoms, and one bay leaf. Stop the saute mode and add the drained rice. And cook the rice using coconut milk instead of plain water.

Cumin rice:

Once the pot is hot, add ½ teaspoon of cumin seeds, two cardamoms, two cloves, and one bay leaf. Cumin seeds will splutter and then stop the saute mode. Add drained rice to this and pressure cook it.

Green peas rice:

Once the pot is hot, add ¼ teaspoon of cumin seeds, two cardamoms, two cloves, and one bay leaf. Now add green peas, let it cook for a minute, and stop the instant pot saute mode. Add drained rice to this and pressure cook it.

Indian Basmati rice (Restaurant style Indian spiced):

Once the pot is hot, add oil, ¼ teaspoon caraway seeds, 1-inch cinnamon stick, two cardamoms, one bay leaf, two cloves, and 6 to 8 peppercorns. Stop the saute mode and add the drained rice.

As mentioned in the recipe, cook the rice, and the flavorful Indian spiced rice is ready (just like how you get in your favorite restaurant).

Serving suggestions

This basmati rice will taste best when served with any curry or dal. Try these healthy and delicious side dishes to go with your basmati rice.

Chickpeas vegetable curry: Easy curry with mixed vegetables cooked in a soupy coconut broth.

Indian chickpea curry: Indian spiced chickpea curry.

Lentil coconut curry: Creamy lentil curry with coconut milk and spinach.

Black beans curry: Creamy black beans curry with basic spices.

Storage

Cooked basmati rice keeps well for 2 to 3 days in the refrigerator. You can also freeze the rice in individual portions and thaw it when needed. 

As we can cook the rice easily using an Instant pot, I usually make it fresh every time.

Common FAQs

As you are here, you will like my other cooking 101 recipes

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Instant pot millet

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Instant pot chickpeas

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