#2,639: Instant Pot Mexican Rice

I really struggled with this recipe!  If you've ever gotten a burn notice on your instant pot, you know how frustrating it is to know that you are too late in preventing your food from sticking to the bottom.  When I make instant pot rice with just rice and water (plus a little olive oil and salt), I have never gotten a burn notice.  But the second I add in a thicker liquid like tomato sauce, I get one every-time.  I got the burn notice on this recipe THREE times.  Thankfully, as long as I didn't scrape the bottom, I was able to salvage this rice and still able to serve it.  This recipe though needs a bit more seasoning...and liquid. 


Each time I got the burn notice (after freaking out a bit), I would release the pressure and take the top off and add about 1/2 cup (or more!) of water to this recipe.  After the 3rd time, I just gave up and let it sit with the top on in hopes that the rice would finish cooking.  The rice had a tiny bit of a crunch to it, but I was personally ok with that.  And it was good added into my tacos.  But on it's own, it needed a lot more chili powder, some garlic and/or onion powder, and personally, some petite diced tomatoes and jalapeno would have been good too.  This recipe is a good starting to point for Mexican Rice, but needs some tweaking for sure.  I'll probably try it again with some changes, but it was a good place to start.  

2 cups long grain brown rice, washed and drained

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/4 cup onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic clove, minced

1/2 teaspoon cumin powder

1/2 cup tomato sauce

2 cups vegetable broth

1/2 teaspoon salt

Plug Instant Pot in power and press Saute to heat. Add oil, once it is heated, add onion, garlic, cumin and cook for 2 minutes stirring. Stir in the rice and saute for about 4 minutes.

Add tomato sauce and stir to coat. Add vegetable broth and salt switch Instant Pot to the Keep Warm/Cancel button. Cover Instant Pot with the lid, make sure knob is set on the Sealing position. Now press the Manual button and the display will now say ON. Click the + plus button until it is 22 minutes on High Pressure. (That is a LONG time.  I set my instant pot for FOUR mintues, then let it do a natural release for 18 minutes....well that was my plan if it would have stopped getting the burn notice!) 

At the end of the 22 minutes let the Instant Pot Natural Release pressure for 5 minutes. Then you will turn the knob to Vent and allow it to Quick Release the remaining pressure. I usually put a damp dishcloth over the vent carefully as the final steam releases.

Once the steam releases you can now open the Instant Pot and flurry your rice.