Instant Pot Brown and Wild Rice Pilaf. Looking for a holiday-worthy side dish that's easy enough for a weeknight? Instant Pot wild blend pilaf, with cranberries and almonds mixed in, is ready in 40 minutes.
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My cooking mantra is "simple doesn't mean boring," but I do love fancy rice pilaf. A simple rice pilaf, with white rice and chicken broth? It's boring, and I'd rather just make risotto. But give me a blend of brown and wild rice? Now I'm interested. Use a fancy rice blend, that adds red rice, black Japonica, and sweet rice, and you have my full attention.
Then, stir in some dried fruit, nuts, and a little green onion, and you have a side dish that's worth second helpings.
As with many dishes, a pressure cooker is my secret weapon for brown rice. Brown rice takes forever on the stovetop; with a pressure cooker, this recipe is done in 40 minutes, end to end.
Looking for a holiday-worthy side dish that is easy enough to use on a weeknight? This is the pilaf to make.
Ingredients Notes and Substitutions
- Brown and Wild Rice Blend: The fancier the rice blend, the better, as long as brown rice and wild rice are in the ingredients list. A lot of these blends call themselves "wild rice blends", but have a lot of brown rice in them. My favorites are Lundberg Wild Blend and Rice Select Royal Blend.
- Different fruit, nuts, and garnish: The cranberries can be replaced with any small dried fruit - raisins, golden raisins, and currants will all work. The almonds can be any other nut - I like pecans or pistachios as alternatives. If you don't want the green onions, replace them with some minced parsley or cilantro.
Also, you can skip the fruit, or nuts, or green onions if you really don't want them. The recipe will work fine. - Broth: I like the extra body that chicken or vegetable broth brings to the dish, but you can replace the broth with water if needed.
- Vegetarian/vegan version: Substitute olive oil for the butter, and vegetable broth for the chicken broth. (Preferably homemade vegetable broth)
Frequently Asked Questions
Am I going to get a Burn Warning with this recipe? I've never had a burn warning when cooking a wild and/or brown rice blend. (White rice can be tricky, and cause burn warnings, but not brown rice.)
Can I use 100% wild rice instead of a blend? No. Wild rice cooks differently from the wild and brown rice blends.
What if I only have a "quick cook" rice blend? Don't use it with these instructions - the 20 minutes of pressure cooking will turn it to mush. Cook the quick-cook rice according to the package instructions, then stir in the cranberries, almonds, and green onions.
Do I need to rinse the rice blend ? No. Rice blends are whole-grain, and don't have surface starch that needs to be rinsed off (like white rice does) .
Instant Pot Brown and Wild Rice Pilaf Recipe
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 6 cups 1x
Description
Instant Pot Brown and Wild Rice Pilaf. Looking for a holiday-worthy side dish that's easy enough for a weeknight? Instant Pot wild blend pilaf, with cranberries and almonds mixed in, is ready in 40 minutes.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 2 cups brown rice and wild rice blend
- 1½ cups chicken broth (preferably homemade chicken broth)
- 1 cup water (or more broth)
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ cup dried cranberries
- ¼ cup sliced green onion (about 2 green onions)
- 2 tablespoons slivered almonds
- More cranberries, green onions, and almonds for garnish
Instructions
- Prepare the rice and cranberries: Melt the butter in an Instant Pot set to Sauté mode - high (medium-high heat in a stovetop PC). Stir the rice into the pot to coat it with the melted butter. Stir in the broth and water, sprinkle with the salt, and add the dried cranberries.
- Pressure cook the rice for 20 minutes with a natural pressure release:Lock the lid and cook on high pressure for 20 minutes in an Instant Pot or other electric PC, or for 16 minutes in a stovetop PC. (Use the Manual or Pressure Cook mode in an Instant Pot). Let the pressure come down naturally, about 15 minutes. (If there is still pressure after 15 minutes, and you're in a hurry, you can quick release the remaining pressure.)
- Stir in the extra ingredients and serve: Unlock the lid, tilting it away from you to avoid the hot steam. Stir in the green onions and almonds. Scoop the rice from the pot into a serving bowl, fluff with a fork, and sprinkle the extra cranberries, green onions, and almonds on top. Serve and enjoy!
Equipment
Buy Now → - Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
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Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cup
- Calories: 315
- Sugar: 10 g
- Sodium: 126.8 mg
- Fat: 5.6 g
- Carbohydrates: 60.8 g
- Fiber: 3.3 g
- Protein: 6.7 g
- Cholesterol: 5.1 mg
Scaling
This recipe can be doubled in a 6-quart pressure cooker. Cut it in half and it will fit in a 3-quart or 4-quart pressure cooker.
What do you think?
Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.
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Looking for something else? Here is my Instant Pot (Pressure Cooker) Recipes Index.
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Aaron Friedman says
I regularly make something very similar, however, I use a mix of brown/wild/red rice and whole wheat orzo. I toast them in oil before adding the liquid and use a 23 minute cook time. I find Better Than Boullion to be perfect for these types of recipes.
Arog0726 says
Made this recipe as written twice, both times it has turned out perfectly! Thanks for sharing this great recipe!
Mike Vrobel says
You’re welcome!
Diane says
Excellent. This time I sautéed onion, garlic, apple, celery and carrot for a bit before cooking the rice. Afterwards I mixed in a baby diced (IP) steamed butternut squash. Roasted veg would add more flavor, but it's August. Your site is my go-to for IP inspiration-thanks for sharing.
Britt says
Can I please request a keto recipe for the instant pot? I'm trying to lose my gut and get abs this year
SandyToes says
Looks so good. I'm trying to get my husband to embrace nuttier rice, and this might be the one that gets him on board. What are some of your favorite mains to serve this with?
Jane says
Looks good. Yield for this recipe says 10 cups...is that accurate? Seems like a lot from 2 cups of rice blend.
Mike Vrobel says
You're right - yield is 6 cups of cooked rice. (I did the "dry rice to cooked rice" conversion wrong.) Fixed, and thank you for catching that!