Spanish Rice (Instant Pot Version)

I love Spanish rice. I love tamales. I love Mexican food. I hate freezing rain. I love it when the ice covered roads melt and the sun shines and I get to go to Costco where I can buy tamales.

How's that for an opening line? Today was our 7th snow day and in a month, plus six two-hour delays and those don't count the days it snowed during Christmas break and we stayed at home. We had some nice freezing rain last night and the night before which turned our town into a skating rink. Luckily it melted this afternoon and hopefully the kiddos can go to school tomorrow...since it's Friday AND it's already January 19th. My kids have hardly gone to school at all this month.

Anyway...back to Spanish rice. I bought some tamales at Costco today and we had some for dinner. After living in New Mexico for almost 9 years I love Mexican food. We eat it several times a week, but we don't have tamales for dinner. Probably because I didn't realize that they sell them at Costco.

I made some Spanish rice and some quick pinto beans to go with our tamales. I feel like using the Instant Pot is a big experiment and I should be documenting what and how I'm making in it. The Spanish rice was a success, so here's how I made it (so I can make it again, soon).

You can make it with either brown or white rice. I only had jasmine rice, so that's what I used, but I'll include cooking times for both.

Spanish Rice

makes about 6 1/2 c. servings

printable recipe

2 T. diced onion
2 T. (or more) diced bell pepper (any color)
1/2 T. olive oil

1 c. rice (I used white, see notes below for cooking time for brown rice)

1/2 c. salsa (I used my favorite quick recipe)

3/4 c. water

1. Set Instant Pot to Saute. Cook onion and bell pepper in olive oil for 3-4 minutes. Add rice and cook for 1 minute. Add salsa and water and a little salt. Put lid on Instant Pot.

2. Use Manual function on LOW PRESSURE for 8 minutes. Let naturally release for 10 minutes after and then manually release any leftover pressure.

**If using brown rice, increase cooking time to 22 minutes, then natural release for 10 minutes.

Recipe source: adapted from Attainable Sustainable

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