Instant Pot Wild Rice Pilaf

Instant Pot Rice Pilaf is a must-have recipe. It’s a perfect side dish that pairs well with pretty much any meat, such as broiled or grilled steak, grilled chicken thighs or boneless pork chops. Or meal-prep on the weekend for weekday lunches. Sometimes if I have cooked leftover meat (from the night before or in the freezer), I’ll cut it in chunks and add to the rice pilaf for a quick and easy one-pot meal.

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Instant Pots are wonderful for cooking beans and rice! I like to keep several packages in my freezer for quick and easy meals. If you don’t have one yet, this Instant Pot is a good price.

Rice Pilaf can be as simple or fancy as you want to make it. If I’m making it for a family meal, I’ll sometimes use brown rice instead of wild rice blend. I also may use a little more or a little less of the vegetables, yellow onion instead of red, and skip the slivered almonds. If I don’t have the fresh herbs available, I substitute dried herbs.

In light of the current situation and not being able to find some of the ingredients I normally use, I’m going to stock my pantry with staples that can make easy meals. For this recipe, I could keep an extra bag of wild rice blend or brown rice, canned mushrooms, instant broth or homemade broth and then I could add canned carrots and frozen diced onions and celery. It may not be as good as using all fresh ingredients, but would still be tasty.

As with pretty much any recipe, just follow the basic ingredients amounts and it should turn out fine.

Instant Pot Wild Rice Pilaf

Printable recipe

Prep 20 minutes
Cook 20 minutes (plus time to come to pressure, plus 10 minutes natural release)
Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 2 large carrots, finely grated or diced fine
• 1/2 medium red onion, diced fine
• 2 large stalks celery, diced fine
• 8 oz. baby Portobello mushrooms, sliced
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• Sea salt and black pepper, to taste
• 1 cup wild rice blend, rinsed well
• 2 cup chicken broth (or vegetable broth)
• 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves, chopped
• Optional: 2 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped, divided
• Optional: 1/3 cup slivered almonds, toasted

Directions

1. Add olive oil to Instant Pot and select the Sauté function. Set to high and once the display reads “hot”, add carrots, red onion, celery, Portobello mushrooms, and minced garlic. Season with salt and black pepper and cook, stirring continually approximately 5 minutes, until the vegetables soften and the mushrooms start to release their liquid. Turn unit off. 
2. Add wild rice, broth, and fresh rosemary and stir to combine. Season with additional salt and black pepper, if desired.
3. Add the lid and set the pressure valve to “sealing.” Select the “Manual” cooking option on the high setting and set cook time to 15 minutes. When done cooking, allow the pressure to release naturally for 10 minutes, and then do a quick release for any remaining pressure. Turn the unit off and let sit for 5 additional minutes.
4. Remove lid and fluff the rice with a fork while stirring in one tablespoon fresh parsley and the toasted almonds. Serve immediately with the remaining chopped parsley on top.

Enjoy!