Instant Pot Spanish Rice

Name: Instant Pot Spanish Rice
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 25 min
Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups long grain white rice; 2 tbsp olive oil; 2 tbsp butter; 1 garlic clove (minced); 1 tsp chili powder; 1/2 tsp cumin; 1/2 tsp salt; 2 cups broth (vegetable or chicken); 1 1/4 cup canned tomato sauce; 3 tbsp cilantro (chopped)

By Erin · June 28, 2020 · Updated October 11, 2021 · 72 Comments

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Gluten Free Vegetarian

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This Instant Pot Spanish Rice is incredibly flavorful and ready in just 25 minutes! It's made using broth, tomato sauce, and spices and is the perfect side dish to any meal.

Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by USA Rice and The Feedfeed (links). As always, all opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting brands that help run this site!

Instant Pot Spanish rice is the ultimate side dish to any meal. While you can absolutely eat it as-is, it's really delicious alongside these tofu enchiladas or in this taco salad.

As with all of my USA Rice recipes, this Spanish rice was made with U.S.-grown rice because of its flavor and texture. I used long grain white rice, which works perfectly for this recipe.

Why you'll love this recipe

It's a super flavorful side dish and an exciting way to eat rice
It can be made in the Instant Pot OR over the stovetop

Ingredient notes:

Rice - the recipe was tested using U.S.-grown long grain white rice, so that's what I recommend using

Oil - I like using olive oil or avocado oil to coat the bottom of the Instant Pot, which will prevent the rice from sticking to it

Broth - vegetable or chicken

Tomato sauce - I definitely recommend using canned tomato sauce, and going for a brand that has some other flavors in their sauce, like garlic and/or onion

Step-by-step instructions

Step 1: Rinse the rice. Rinsing rice removes the starch from it and only takes a few seconds. Simply pour the rice into a mesh sieve or strainer and run water over it for 10 seconds or so.

Step 2: Add oil, butter, rice, and garlic to the Instant Pot. Adding oil to the bottom will prevent the rice from sticking, but the butter helps to add a nice flavor to the whole dish. So, add butter, along with the rice and garlic and sauté for 1 minute.

Step 3: Add all other ingredients. Pour everything EXCEPT the cilantro into the pot, then close the lid and make sure the knob on top is set to "seal".

Step 4: Pressure cook for 4 minutes.

Step 5: Natural release for 10 minutes. Then, remove the lid and fluff the rice with a fork. You might notice the tomato sauce sitting on top, and that's ok! Simply stir and fluff the rice until everything is combined. Last, stir in the chopped cilantro.

FAQs and Tips

Substitutions:

Butter: if you want to omit the butter, simply add a total of 3 tablespoon of oil instead
Broth: you can use vegetable or chicken--whatever you have on hand

Can I use jarred sauce?

I wouldn't. Most canned sauces use very simple ingredients, which is what we want, and many jarred sauces have spices like oregano and basil, which we want to avoid since this is Spanish rice and not an Italian dish.

How should I store this, and how long will it last?

Store rice in an air-tight container in the refrigerator. It'll last for up to a week, though it tastes best if consumed within 48 hours.

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If you made this recipe, be sure to leave a comment and star rating below. Thanks!