John Lewis instant pot

[Rae2025]

Has anyone had any luck cooking rice in an instant pot? The recipe book says use equal parts rice and water and tried that with 2 cups but it wasn't well cooked and didn't fluff up like rice normally does. I've tried again increasing to 1.5 times water to rice, left the lid on for ages and it was a bit soggy and sticky.

I need to do a large portion (enough for 15-20), and I like the idea of leaving it on the keep warm function as people will be eating through the day, but I'm so worried it will just turn out wrong! I can cook rice fine on the hob but the instant pot doesn't seem to make it multiply up as much as on the hob, so I end up with less portions that are sticky or clumped together. Is there a magic formula anyone has found please?

As an aside I also want to use it for batch cooking, large portions of soup etc, so if anyone has any good foolproof recipes let me know. Thanks!

What is the John Lewis Instant Pot? I have a normal Instant Pot. To cook rice I do equal cups of rice and water and use the Rice program. Alternatively you can cook it at high pressure for 3 mins and leave time for pressure to naturally release.

Soups are so easy, sauté veg then add stock and cook on high pressure for 10 mins, then I blend. Works really well for lentil type soups.

Do you rinse & soak the rice first?

I don't cook rice in my instant pot because I have a rice cooker. But I would recommend using Amy and Jacky's instant pot blog (you'll find it if you google them) as they test and develop recipes for the instant pot and all their methods I've followed have worked perfectly.

John Lewis is just the brand name. It said equal parts rice and water but it turned out such a small quantity, if I do it on the hob I end up with approx 3x cooked rice compared to the raw I added. I cooked it on the rice setting and tried releasing the pressure, then tried leaving it to release itself but neither version was good

Rinse yes, but I didn't soak it. How long should I soak it for and do I then use a 1:1 ratio?

I cook rice in my instant pot for large groups and it’s fine. I always wash it really well before I start otherwise any rice will be sticky. I use the rice setting. I use the same ratio of water to rice as cooking on the stove which is 1 rice 2 water .

I soak for about 30 mins, then rinse again.
Can't help with the ratio, I've got a rice cooker that comes with a scoop, both are marked on the inside.

I do equal parts rice and liquid, 3 minutes on rice function then leave it to do a full natural pressure release. Always perfect. You fluff it up at the end. Maybe yours cooks slightly differently, maybe a minute longer? I wouldn’t increase by to much as 1.5 times the volume but if it is too dry, try increasing liquid slightly and see how it goes.

Thanks, does your rice volume approximately treble when cooked?

The rice function on mine gives it 15 mins once it's up to temperature, from the sounds of it maybe I should try it on high for 3-5 mins, and then let it natural release for 10 mins before opening. Clearly I've never had a pressure cooker before!! Everyone seems to say it's a huge help but I haven't gotten the hang of it..

On mine (which is a Pressure King Pro 6l) you can adjust the timings of the presets, so I press rice then adjust the time down to 3 mins.
I can’t say for sure if the rice triples in size. What’s worth remembering is that a pressure cooker seals in liquid as it’s the steam that creates the pressure so much less liquid is lost through condensation than other cooking methods. It also does seem that they can vary by appliance so you get to know what works best for yours. So there is a little bit of trial and error here.

I tend to leave mine to release completely so I wait until the pin drops. This part of the cooking is like if you cook rice using the absorption method on the hob. This does take a little longer (so maybe only an extra 5 mins or so) but the benefit of having a pressure cooker means you can leave it on keep warm while you can finish anything else you’re cooking