How to Cook Grains in the Instant Pot

One of the best purchases we ever made in our house was an Instant Pot. So much so that we bought a second one for our farm so we can use it while we’re there. There are no shortage of recipes that I use on this site that take advantage of it from my Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal or Black Forest Oatmeal to my Curry-in-a-Hurry. So here’s my guide for how to cook grains in the instant pot.

What I particularly love about cooking grains in the instant pot is that I can just set it and walk away and not worry about having to babysit them. It’s a simple formula of grain + water + time and it comes out perfectly each and every time. I honestly don’t know what I did before I had one of these delightful and inexpensive machines. What’s even better is that you can make a big batch and use them through-out the week, or even freeze them!

So whether you need to cook rice, oats, quinoa, couscous or any of the other dozens of grains I’ve listed below you’ve now got an extensive guide for how to cook grains in the instant pot. Let me know what you make with them!!!

WHOLE GRAINS COOKING GUIDE

How to use the guide is simple – select your grain from the column on the left. Then I’ll give you a ratio of how much water to grain. For example – if you’re making brown rice it’s 1 cup of rice to 1 1/8 cup of water. So the ratio will read: 1 : 1 1/8. For the cooking time the only potentially confusing aspect is whether to use a quick release or natural release. Quick release means that you’re going to release the steam valve as soon as it’s done cooking – read the instructions to make sure you’re doing it safely. If it’s a natural release then let it rest until the pressure knob goes down all by itself. If you’re in a rush you can quick release most of these, it just might be a bit firmer or watery than you’d like.

Unless indicated all cooking times are based on a high setting. Use can either use the manual pressure setting or the grains setting – timing is the same for either.