Today, we are cooking wild rice in the instant pot. For years, I cooked my wild rice on the stovetop, which started with soaking wild rice from the night before and then cooking it on the stovetop the next day. I even published a detailed blog post about how to cook wild rice.
However, nowadays, with pressure cooking being so convenient, I am also cooking wild rice in my Instant Pot (affiliate link.) In addition to being a timesaver, it allows me to skip the soaking part, which is great because I usually forget to do it from the night before.
I have to admit it took me a minute to get into using my Instant Pot, but now I am hooked. Though I am still a student in learning, I love the ease and convenience of using my pressure cooker daily, especially when it comes to cooking the basics.
So today, I am here to tell you everything you need to know about cooking wild rice and my favorite wild rice blend in a pressure cooker. Before I continue, please know that it took me two weeks of testing and over ten times of cooking wild rice in my instant pot with different wild rice brands to write this post.
Wild Rice Brands:
Before I talk about how to cook wild rice in a pressure cooker, I want to caution you on something. During my recipe testing, I learned that the results you get from one wild rice brand to another vary. I found out about this the hard way when I kept getting different results when I switched from one brand to another.
They were minor but still slightly different. In the end, I found a ‘water to wild rice ratio” that works perfectly with three different brands (below links are affiliate links):
- Reese Minnesota Wild Rice – Minnesotan hand-picked wild rice
- Lundberg Organic Wild Rice – A national brand you can find in almost every store.
- Organic Wild Rice that I purchased from the bulk section of our local grocery store here in Manchester, Vermont.
Now, this is not to say this instant pot wild rice recipe will not work with any other wild rice brand. My goal here is to let you know that there might be slight differences in results based on the wild rice you are using.
Wild Rice Water Ratio
The wild rice to water ratio for cooking wild rice in an instant pot is:
1 cup (6 ounces = 170 grams) of wild rice to 1 ⅓ cups (330 ml.) of water.
While it might sound like the amount of water is not enough, please keep in mind that when you cook food in a pressure cooker, the cooking liquid has nowhere to evaporate. As a result, the rice absorbs all the liquid leaving you with perfectly cooked and moist wild rice that is ready to serve.
The rice to liquid ratio of 1 to 1 ⅓ provides wild rice with some grain that is “fully burst” with some that are “just about to burst,” which I think is the best way to serve wild rice. Additionally, this ratio will give you wild rice with no excess liquid in the pot after it is cooked.
With that being said, I know that some people think that wild rice should be cooked in plenty of liquid and that the leftover juices should be used in cooking. If you feel that way, you can increase the amount of water to 1 ½ cups. Though be aware that even though your rice will be perfectly cooked, you will have to drain the excess liquid in the pan before serving.
How to cook wild rice in Instant Pot (In electric pressure cooker)
To cook wild rice in an instant pot:
- Rinse the rice: Place a cup of wild rice into a colander, rinse under cold water, and drain. You do not need to soak wild rice when cooking it in a pressure cooker.
- Place rice and water in the pressure cooker: Transfer the rinsed and drained wild rice into the instant pot and pour in 1 ⅓ cups of water. If preferred, you can add some salt as well.
- Set the instant pot: Secure the lid and make sure that the pressure regulator is set to sealing position. Select Manual and cook at high pressure for 20 minutes, followed by a 10-minute natural release. If there is any pressure left, release it by turning the pressure regulator knob onto the venting position. Carefully open the lid.
- Serve: Fluff the now-cooked wild rice with a fork or a wooden spoon and serve.
Or add your cooked wild rice into soups, salads, casseroles, or serve it as a side dish.
How long does it take to cook wild rice in pressure cooker
From start to finish, it takes around 35 minutes to cook wild rice in a pressure cooker. Below is the breakdown:
- ~5 minutes for the instant pot come to full pressure
- 20 minutes to cook the wild rice
- ~10 minutes for natural release.
If you decide to double the recipe, meaning use 2 cups of wild rice and 2 ⅔ cups of water, the timing should still be the same. However, if you wish to cook more than that, you might have to add a couple of minutes (no more than 5 minutes) to the cooking time.
Also, I recommend using water that is at room temperature to shorten the amount of time for the instant pot to come to full pressure.
How much cooked wild rice do you get from one cup of uncooked wild rice
1 cup (6 ounces = 170 grams ) uncooked wild rice will yield approximately 2 ⅓ cups (~11.66 ounces = 330 grams) of cooked wild rice.
1 cup of cooked rice weighs about 5 ounces (141 grams.)
The values you see above were measured in my kitchen using a kitchen scale and a cup measure using all three different brands that I mentioned earlier.
Can I use chicken or vegetable broth instead of water:
Yes, you can. Swap water with the same amount of chicken or vegetable stock.
Additionally, if you prefer, you can add in flavoring agents like a clove of minced garlic, a tablespoon of oil, or a bay leaf into the cooking liquid for even more flavor.
How to cook wild rice blend in Instant Pot:
While I am a lover of wild rice as a grain by itself, lately, we have been enjoying Lundberg’s Wild Rice Blend (affiliate link) quite a bit. This post is not sponsored by them, but I love their rice blend and serve it quite a bit. Therefore, I thought it would be helpful to share how I cook my favorite wild rice blend in a pressure cooker as well.
According to their website, Lundberg Wild Rice Blend consists of long-grain brown rice, sweet brown rice, wild rice, Wehani® red rice, and black rice. As you can imagine, with all different kinds of rice types, it is hard to figure out how much liquid to use and how long to cook. But no worries, I am here to help.
Wild Rice To Water Ratio To Cook Instant Pot Wild Rice Blend
The ratio of wild rice blend to water (or liquid) to cook in pressure cooker is 1 to 1 ½ cups. In other words, you should cook 1 cup (6.8 ounces = ~ 193 grams) of Lundberg Wild Rice Blend in 1 ½ cups (375 ml.) of water.
How To Cook Wild Rice Blend In A Pressure Cooker:
- Rinse the wild rice blend: Place a cup of the wild rice blend into a colander, rinse under cold water, and drain.
- Place wild rice blend and water in the pressure cooker: Transfer the rinsed and drained wild rice blend into the instant pot and pour in 1 ½ cups of water (or chicken or vegetable stock). If preferred, you can add some salt as well.
- Set the instant pot: Secure the lid; make sure that the pressure regulator is set to sealing position. Select Manual and cook at high pressure for 28 minutes. Let it naturally release for 10 minutes. If there is any pressure left, release it by turning the knob onto the venting position. Carefully open the lid.
- Serve: Serve your wild rice pilaf warm as a side dish with your favorite meat or veggie dishes.
From start to finish, it takes around 42 – 45 minutes for wild rice blend to cook in a pressure cooker. Below is the breakdown:
- ~5 minutes for the instant pot come to full pressure
- 28 minutes to cook the wild rice
- ~10 minutes for natural release
How much cooked wild rice blend do you get from 1 cup uncooked wild rice blend:
1 cup of uncooked Wild Rice Blend yields 3 cups of cooked wild rice blend.
As I mentioned earlier, I used Lundberg’s Wild Rice Blend, so the numbers you see below are based on that particular brand of wild rice blend:
1 cup uncooked wild rice blend = ~ 6.8 ounces (192 grams)
1 cup cooked wild rice blend: ~ 6 ounces (170 grams)
With many health benefits like being high in protein, fiber, magnesium, and antioxidants, I think we can all agree that this naturally gluten-free grain is a wholesome grain that we should include in our diet (*Source). So now, with the ease and convenience of the pressure cooker, we have no excuse not to.
Below is the recipe along with a quick how-to video to show you how I cook wild rice in my instant pot. Check it out and let me know if I can answer any questions.
A Few wild rice recipes you might like:
- Wild Rice Salad
- Healthy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
- Instant Pot Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
- Wild Rice Blend Pilaf recipe
- Wild Rice Dressing
Instant Pot Wild Rice Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup 6 oz. Wild Rice
- 1 1/3 cups 330 ml. water
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt optional
Instructions
- Place wild rice into a colander, rinse under cold water, and drain.
- Transfer the rinsed and drained wild rice into the instant pot and pour in the water. If preferred, you can add some salt as well.
- Secure the lid and make sure that the pressure regulator is set to sealing position. Select Manual and cook at high pressure for 20 minutes, followed by a 10-minute natural release. If there is any pressure left, release it by turning the pressure regulator knob onto the venting position. Carefully open the lid.
- Fluff the now-cooked wild rice with a fork or a wooden spoon and serve.
Video
Jamie
Just finished making a the wild rice blend recipe….am very pleased with it! It is cooked perfectly and that makes this MaMa happy!
Aysegul Sanford
Very happy to hear that Jamie. Thanks for coming by and taking the time to review the recipe.
Jennifer
Sooo yummy! Obsessed with this wild rice recipe! Who knew you could cook it in a pressure cooker.
The perfect side dish for anything! I will be making it again. Thanks for sharing.
Aysegul Sanford
I am happy to hear that you liked it Jennifer. Thanks for coming by.
Beth
Oh wow! I love using my instant pot and this recipe is so delicious! Perfectly went with our dinner the other night and we loved it. I can’t wait to make this recipe again!
Aysegul Sanford
Hi Beth,
Awesome. I am so happy to hear that you liked my recipe. Thanks for coming by.
Jessica Burgess
This is by far the best way to make wild rice! It amazed me how much better it was to do it in the instant pot! Thank you!
Aysegul Sanford
YAY! So happy to hear that Jessica. Instant pot comes so handy when cooking grains.
Thanks for stopping by.
rod ellis
At 20 minutes in an Instapot YOU GET WHITE MUSH with black rice!!!! Try 15 minutes. Plus your web site was written by kids with crayons
Aysegul Sanford
Rod,
I usually do not publish these kinds of negative and not so helpful comments on my site. Hence, why I moderate all of the comments I receive.
I have been working on this website since 2013. I am the person who tests, photographs, edits, styles, and writes these recipes.
If a recipe of mine doesn’t work, I hope that looking at my work people would understand that publishing a recipe that delivers less than ideal results is not my intention. And if that is what happened to you, please accept my sincere apologies.
From the comment you left, I am not sure if you are aware but this is a post about wild rice not black rice. Or, I am not cooking wild rice with black rice here.
Rather, I am showing how to cook wild rice in a pressure cooker. A recipe that I have been asked many times after I published my wild rice recipe.
If you don’t know, wild rice and black rice are two different things.
And if you need help with black rice, I have a post on how to cook black rice on the stove along with a recipe for Instant Pot Black rice.
I also want to know, did you make the recipe? If so, what brand of wild rice did you use? Was it a blend of wild rice or just wild rice? Did you follow the recipe as it is written?
Your comment only talks about your dissatisfaction rather than your experience leaving me with no way of understanding what went wrong.
I think it would be really nice if you could share more of your experience so that both the thousands of people who visit this website every day and I can learn from you. This would also allow me to figure out why the recipe that I tested multiple times before publishing did not work.
Again, please accept my sincere apologies for less than ideal results.
I look forward to learning from you.
Aysegul
Rachel
I would like to try this for a lemon chicken wild rice recipe I found. I prefer to use the Lundberg wild rice blend you mentioned. Could I cook the rice for 20 minutes then open the pot and add my spices and chicken and then let it repressurize and cook for another 8? I’m new to pressure cooking so I’m not sure if you can stop it before it’s done to add other things that don’t need to cook as long. Thanks for any tips!
Aysegul Sanford
Hi Rachel,
Your recipe sounds like a good one.
It is hard for me to give you an exact timing but I think what you are saying would work. The only thing that you would have to do is to wait for it to release pressure and come to pressure in between, which might add an additional 20-25 minutes to your cooking time. Other than that I think your recipe would work.
I hope I answered your question, but please let me know if I can help further.
Good luck!
Ice
Larry
Your recipe for cooking wild rice has me confused. I quote:
“The wild rice to water ratio for cooking wild rice in an instant pot is:
1 cup (6 ounces = 170 grams) of wild rice to 1 ⅓ cups (330 ml.) of water.”
1 gram of water is very close to 1 ml.
170 g (ml) x 1.3 = 221 ml
NOT 330 ml.
So which is correct a) ratio of 1 to 1.3 b) 170 ml of rice tp 330 ml water?
Aysegul Sanford
Hi Larry,
I am sorry that you felt confused. Since wild rice is not in liquid form I wouldn’t measure it in ml.
Allow me to elaborate:
1 cup of wild rice is equal to 170 grams.
1 1/3 cups of water is 330 ml.
So, to cook 1 cup of wild rice in an instant pot you would use 1 1/3 cups of water.
I hope I answered your question. Please let me know if I can help any further.
Regards,
Aysegul
Adem Tas
Thank you for the recipe Aysegul. I believe you made a typo on the recipe.
1 1/3 cup water makes about 170 + (170/3) = 230 ml. It may confuse some people????
Aysegul Sanford
Hi Adem,
Thanks for your message.
1 cup of water is 250 ml. So based on that math 1 1/3 cups of water is 333 ml. I rounded the number to make it easy.
I hope this helps.
Christi
This was a great recipe, but I was confused a bit because the blog post and the actual recipe have conflicting information. The post says that the ratio is 1 cup rice to 1 1/2 cups water and to cook at high pressure for 28 mins…while the recipe says that the ratio is 1 cup rice to 1 1/3 cup water and to cook at high pressure for 20 mins. It may be a good idea to update this so that they match to avoid confusion. I used the instructions in the post (not in the recipe) and it turned out great for me. Just the right amount of chewiness. Thank you!
Aysegul Sanford
Hi Christi,
Thanks for taking the time to review and rate the recipe. I am happy to hear that you liked it.
I can see where the confusion is coming from. If you go back and take a look at the blog post you will see that I talk about cooking wild rice at first and then talk about cooking wild rice blend. I wanted to include the wild rice blend as a lot of people use it in their daily cooking. So you are right in that the recipe in the recipe card is for the wild rice, whereas in the blog post I made sure to include cooking instructions for wild rice blend as well.
I thought using separate headings and adding a note in the recipe card below would make it easy and clear to differentiate, but I’d be open to your suggestions to help make it more obvious.
Thanks again. I look forward to hearing from you.
Best,
Ice
Jerry Falek
I used a traditional pressure cooker at low pressure, used 1 1/2 C water for 1 C wild rice, and it boiled dry. The flame was low. I don’t know if an instapot has a different low pressure, but this is an important thing to note.
Aysegul Sanford
Hi Jerry,
I agree that it is important to note that this recipe is not for traditional pressure cookers. Honestly, I do not own one and did not try the ratio that I listed in the recipe.
Thanks for sharing your experience.
Joanne
I actually have a question, why is 1 cup listed as 6 oz? Reece Wild Rice comes in 4 oz boxes, so to me two boxes would be a cup, I’m confused, would love to hear from you! Thank you!
Aysegul Sanford
Hi Joanne,
This is a really good question. I totally understand where you are coming from.
You are right, the Reece Wild Rice comes in 4 oz. boxes. However, I wanted to make sure that the recipe I am sharing is helping people who are using other brands as well. The cup measure is a universal one so I thought it would be easier to make the recipe if I provided them with a cup of wild rice then a box of Reese Wild Rice brand only.
You are also right in that a cup is considered 8 oz. but when you measure a cup of wild rice (by putting it in a cup measure and weighing it) it comes up to 6 oz. I understand that calling it a cup is probably not the best thing. However, if I listed as 6 oz only, then it would be hard to measure it if you don’t have a kitchen scale. To me, the likelihood that someone would have one of those cheap cup measures is higher than having a kitchen scale.
I hope this answers your question. I am here if I can help with any other questions.
Cheers!
Kim
I’m confused. So, your recipe calls for 6 oz of uncooked rice instead of the standard 8 oz cup, correct? So, is the water measured as 6 oz equalling a cup as well?
I was taught measuring a cup as 8 oz. Thanks.
Aysegul Sanford
The amounts are correct. 1 cup uncooked wild rice equals 6 oz. The weight of a cup changes from one grain to another.
Think of it this way. Fill a cup with cotton and weigh it. It will surely be much less than 8 oz. Does this make sense? I am here if you have any other questions while you are making the recipe.
Pris
Just made this for dinner tonight and I’m pleased with the results!
I followed the directions to a T for just plain wild rice and, though it came out with pretty much all split grains, I’m happy with the consistency and flavour (I used vegetable broth).
Aysegul Sanford
I love the idea of cooking it in a vegetable broth. Thanks for coming by and taking the time to leave a review.
Renata
I have tried every recipe out there and none of them delivered consistent results until I found your recipe. I love that you also shared the recipe for the wild rice blend. So informative and helpful.
I signed up for your updates as well. I will be sure to try more of your recipes.
Thank you.
Aysegul Sanford
Thank you Renata. I am thrilled to hear that this recipe worked for you.
I like to switch it up and try it the blend every once in a while so I thought it would be great to share.
Thanks for coming by and taking the time to leave feedback.
Cheers!
Katie Kenney
Thank you for this very informative blog. I grew up in Milwaukee and a staple of my mothers & grandmothers cooking was wild rice. I moved to the south many years ago now and recently a friend brought me some Gibbs Wild Rice back from MN. The same brand my mother always used! I am so happy to find your blog and can’t wait to make this wild rice which will take me back to my childhood I’m sure. 🙂
Aysegul Sanford
Hi Katie,
I am thrilled to hear that you found my blog. I am a huge fan of wild rice and wild rice recipes and cook it often. I need to check out the brand you mentioned. Thanks for sharing it with me.
Cheers!
Nicole
I have tried many other recipes on the internet claiming to be the best wild rice recipe to cook in a pressure cooker, but this one was the only one that delivered the perfect results. Thanks for such a through blog. I love that you also shared how to cook wild rice blend as well. I will be sure to try that next time.
I signed up for your book. I cannot wait to make your salads.
your new fan – Nicole
Aysegul Sanford
Thanks Nicole. I am thrilled to hear that you liked it. Yes, that wild rice blend is such a nice alternative.
Thanks for coming by and your sweet words. I hope you like the salads ebook as much as we do.
Cheers!
Toni
This is really amazing!! So easy to make! Thanks for the tips!
Aysegul Sanford
So happy to hear that. Thanks Toni!
Laura
Looks delicious and love that I can make it in the instant pot!
Aysegul Sanford
I do too. I think Instant pot is an amazing trend that should never go away 🙂
wilhelmina
This rice turns out perfectly! Thanks for the great recipe!
Aysegul Sanford
So happy to hear that. Thanks Wilhelmina.
Lauren Kelly
I made this last night and it was delicious. I will definitely make it again!
Aysegul Sanford
Yay! So happy to hear that. Thanks Lauren.
Mary Cunningham
My wild rice was perfect!! Thanks
Aysegul Sanford
Oh so happy to hear that. Thanks for coming by Mary.