Rice Bowls and How To Make Rice In Your Instant Pot

Rice Bowls and How To Make Rice In Your Instant Pot! Here are four different ways to make and serve rice bowls. These are great for lunch time, as they can be easily customized. 

If you’ve been following me for a while, you know we love rice and eat rice almost every week. I just posted my fried rice recipe; this one is a game changer with how I add in my eggs. If there’s one question I get all the time, it’s how do you make your rice in the instant pot? 

How To Make Rice In Your Instant Pot

First, let’s start with the rice. I use Nishiki Premium Grade Medium Grain rice. You can find this at any Hmart, Korean or Asian food grocery store, or even online. This is the rice I make most of the time. I also make basmati rice but only when I want to make my cilantro lime rice. Cilantro lime rice also works great for rice bowls! 

I start by washing and rinsing my rice in cold water in the instant pot insert. I hear people say “wash it 3 times” but I seem to wash and rinse mine at least 5 to 7 times. That’s probably overkill but it’s what I do. Once cleaned and all the water poured out, I fill the instant pot insert with water. Now here’s the tricky part, I don’t measure anything. I know this will cause confusion for many of you but I will say this, the more you make rice this way, the more you will get used to it and will be able to eyeball your water just like me. I fill the insert and cover the rice with water and place my hand on top of the rice and measure by where the water hits my hand. When the water is covering my fingers and knuckles and hits just the top part of the top part of my hand, I know that’s enough water. Google this: “Measuring rice with your hand” or “how to cook rice like an Asian.”

Place the insert into your instant pot, select the rice/grain setting and cook for 12 minutes. 

Rice Bowls 4 Ways

Sashimi Rice Bowl

Rice Bowls four different ways! If I could eat a sashimi rice bowl every day, I would. The one above with salmon sashimi is my favorite. Since sashimi, or raw fish, is expensive, this is a special treat every now and then. Where do I buy my fish? There are a number of places where you can buy raw, sushi grade fish. Start with your local grocery store and ask the fish monger behind the seafood counter. You can even just go to the prepared sushi takeout section of your local grocery store and buy some sashimi from there. If there’s an Hmart close to you, they sell sushi grade fish as well. Lastly, you can also search Japanese markets in your area. Just ask and make sure the fish is ok to consume raw. Some places might have the fish frozen; just defrost in your refrigerator and eat it within 1-2 days. 

Spring Roll Rice Bowl

This rice bowl is, of course, inspired by the ingredients you would use to make a Vietnamese Spring Roll. And the spring roll paper sheets are made of rice so it’s brilliant if you ask me. A spring roll rice bowl or a rice noodle bowl is delicious as well. Be sure to check out the link to make my spicy peanut sauce! It’s so good!

Steak and Broccoli Rice Bowl

This one was, of course, my kids and husband’s favorite. My kids love steak and just meat in general. I used the reverse sear method, which, if you haven’t tried it, what are you waiting for? I like to drizzle the whole thing with sesame oil and add roasted broccoli. Add any vegetables you want, it’s so good! 

Chicken and Tofu Rice Bowl

This last rice bowl was the result of all the leftover ingredients we had from making Vietnamese Fresh spring rolls. It’s extremely easy to throw together if you have some cooked rice and leftover rotisserie chicken. Add the pan fried tofu, or skip it. Completely up to you. Raw veggies, some lettuce and I just drizzled the whole thing with soy sauce and sesame oil.

Print Recipe

How To Make Rice in Your Instant Pot

This is showing you how to make rice using the "hand measuring" method so there are no measurements down below.

Prep Time3 mins

Cook Time12 mins

Total Time15 mins

Course: Main or Side Dish

Cuisine: Asian

Keyword: instant pot, instant pot rice, rice, rice bowl

Equipment

• Pressure cooker or instant pot

Ingredients

• medium grain rice I like Nishiki
• water

Instructions

• Start by washing and rinsing rice in cold water in the instant pot insert. Wash and rinse the rice until the water is no longer cloudy, or at least 5 to 6 times. Once cleaned and all of the water is poured out, fill the instant pot insert with water. Fill until the rice is covered with water + a little more.
• To measure using the hand method: Place your hand on top of the rice and measure by where the water hits your hand. When the water is covering your fingers and knuckles and hits just the top part of your hand, you are good. The more you use this method, the easier it will become.
• Place into the instant pot and place the lid on and turn to lock. Turn on and set to the rice/grain setting and set for 12 minutes. Let the instant pot come to pressure and cook the rice and when it's finished, I normally let it do a natural release. If you're in a hurry, a manual release is fine too. Remove the lid, fluff the rice and enjoy!
• To store: I store any leftover rice in an air tight container just on my countertop for 1-2 days only. Alternatively, you can refrigerate any leftover rice and store in an air tight container. To serve: you will need to add a little water and microwave your rice for 2 minutes. You only need to add water if the rice was stored in the fridge.