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There are few foods as comforting as Spanish Rice for me. I grew up having it as a side for many of my favorite dinners and the smells associated with cooking it still take me back to younger days. My mom use to make it with white rice but we’re all a little healthier these days so we’ve switched that out for short grain brown rice. Even still, there’s nothing better than a big bowl of this rice and beans topped with fresh pico de gallo! That’s why I converted my mom’s Spanish Rice recipe for the Instant Pot almost immediately after Amazon delivered it to my front door. It’s easy to make and tastes just as good as my mom’s version. (Shh, don’t tell her I said that!)
There are a good amount of Instant Pot Spanish Rice recipes out there but all of them omit the traditional saute step that always set my mother’s rice apart. It’s not complicated at all and can still be done with the Instant Pot saute setting! Essentially you’re just going to saute the rice and onion in a tablespoon of oil (I like to use a high temp safe oil like grapeseed or coconut) so that the rice hardens up a bit before you add the tomato sauce and water. This will prevent the rice from absorbing the liquid and puffing up too much after cooked. Also, I like to use the “butt” of the onion so that all parts of the vegetable gets used and nothing goes to waste. Save the “good” part of the onion for pico de gallo!
After allowing the rice and oil to saute for about 5 minutes (there’s that amazing aroma I mentioned before!), just add the rest of the ingredients and set the Instant Pot to manual for 25 minutes. Allow 10 minutes for natural pressure release and then carefully release pressure. Remove the lid and voila…super easy Instant Pot Spanish Rice! It’s seriously exactly like the rice I grew up with, even including the reduced tomato sauce ring on the surface of the rice (which my sisters and I use to fight over). Of course, if you’d like, you could easily include bell peppers or any other vegetable after the saute step. We add frozen corn occasionally and my boys love it!
Instant Pot Spanish Rice
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon high-temp oil
- 3 cups brown rice
- 1/3 large onion I usually use the end of an onion
- 1 cup tomato sauce
- 3 cups water
- 1 tablespoon garlic salt
Instructions
- Set Instant Pot to "saute" setting and add oil, rice, and onion. Allow to saute for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add the remaining ingredients and set to "manual" for 25 minutes.
- At the end of the timer, let rice sit for 10 minutes and then carefully release pressure.
- Open Instant Pot and serve to enjoy! Visit triedandtrueblog.com for more easy IP recipes!
Brenda says
I love how simple and delicious this is. Love the brown rice variation too. Served with Barbacoa and homemade pintos. Amazing!