Instant Pot Lemon Rice—Greek-inspired lemon rice is perfect to serve as a side dish or with chicken. It’s flavor is subtle, but delicious.
Instant Pot Lemon Rice
I went to the most delicious Greek place the other day for dinner. It got me thinking about how tasty Greek food is and that I need to make more of it. I love the feta, tzatziki, hummus, gyros…all the things. I created some Greek Chicken Bowls and as part of the these bowls I made this lemon rice. The lemon rice with the dill chicken and the yogurt cucumber sauce was to die for. The combination of all three flavors is spot on.
This lemon rice takes just a handful of ingredients and only 3 minutes of pressure cooking time. Yes, that’s right. For long grain white rice you need just 3 minutes of pressure cooking time plus a 10 minute natural pressure release. If you don’t understand what natural pressure release is or how to do it I recommend watching this video:
I haven’t made this recipe yet with any other type of rice besides long grain white rice. If you want to try it with another type of rice then use the chart above as a reference on cooking times and liquid to rice ratios.
What to serve with Instant Pot Lemon Rice
This rice would taste wonderful with grilled chicken, fish, steak, or with some seasoned chick peas. If you want to keep the meal meatless you could make a fresh Greek salad with tomatoes, onions, olives and feta.
More Recipes You’ll Love…
Instant Pot Greek Chicken Bowls
Instant Pot Garlic Rice and Chicken
Instant Pot Lentil Lemon Chicken Soup
What Pressure Cooker Did You Use?
To make Instant Pot Lemon Rice I used my 6 quart Instant Pot Duo 60 7 in 1*. I love this Instant Pot because it has the yogurt making function which I use almost weekly. It has two pressure settings (high and low), and there are also little slots in the handles so that you can rest the lid there instead of putting it down on your counter-top.
Instant Pot Lemon Rice
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 3 minutes (plus 10 minute NPR)
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 2 1/2 cups rice 1x
Description
Greek-inspired lemon rice is perfect to serve as a side dish or with chicken. It’s flavor is subtle, but delicious.
Ingredients
- 1 cup uncooked long grain white rice
- 1 1/4 cups chicken broth
- 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 Tbsp butter
- 1/4 tsp dried basil
- 1/4 tsp lemon pepper
- 1/2 tsp lemon zest
Instructions
- Add all ingredients into the Instant Pot. Stir.
- Cover and secure the lid. Make sure the valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 3 minutes. When time is up let the pot sit there for 10 minutes then move the valve to venting. Remove the lid.
- Fluff the rice with a fork. Serve with extra lemon slices and enjoy!
Notes
I used my 6 quart Instant Pot Duo 60 7 in 1*.
I make this lemon rice as part of my Greek Chicken Bowls.
If you want to make lemon rice with a different type of rice see the green chart above.
- Category: Side
- Method: Instant Pot
- Cuisine: Greek
*Karen Petersen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
Used basmati rice. Followed directions, no changes. Came out flavorless and undercooked. Sorry.
★★
This was fantastic I love your IP recipes 😋
I had coconut shrimp 🍤 and Asian vegetable
Sounds amazing!!! So glad you liked it.
The flavour if there, but the texture of the rice is not very good. It seems undercooked, and not fluffy at all. Will it make again; disappointed.
★★
Perhaps trying another type of rice would help? Try converted rice
Do you ever use preserved lemons? I have some sitting in my ‘fridge and wondered how that would work. Thanks for your website, i enjoy getting the emails. kind regards, lois
I have never tried that. But I like the idea! It bet it will give you lots of flavor.
I used preserved lemons. Absolutely perrfect. Will also add some turmeric for colour next time.
I cooked the rice using the pot in pot method for 11 minutes with an 11 minute stand time. Turned out perfect. I live in a high altitude state so the rice needs more time to cook here.
★★★★★
Good to hear it turned out!
Hello, love your website. I have begun using my IP weekly thanks to your recipes. Question: Can I double the rice proportions so there is enough for multiple dinners?
yes you can. double the liquid too!
Is there any adjustments to the amount of time, when changing the quantity? I am using three cups of rice for this recipe.
Should be the same time 🙂
Is the recipe the same for an 8 qt instant pot
When you make lemon rice?
Should work okay, hopefully it will come to pressure. with the 8 quart pot it’ll come to pressure with about 1.5 cups of water.
What if you only have bottled lemon juice on hand? WIll the recipe still be good?
You could definitely try it. But what will be missing is the brightness from the lemon zest.
Found the result too sticky.
★★★
Louise, try parboiled/converted rice. I find it so much less sticky than other types of rice.
Hi Karen..
I’ve never had luck using IP for rice. I tried this recipe tonight with brown rice using your 1 brown rice with 1.25 cups chicken broth on high pressure for 22 min and did the natural release for about 10 min then QR…there was still liquid in the pot and the rice was mushy…almost like a risotto.
The flavor was great but I couldnt eat the rice like that. Any idea what went wrong?
Dave
Are you at a high elevation? I do this ratio all the time and it is always perfect. I am not sure what went wrong! You could try a little less liquid next time. Did you by chance have chicken in there with it?
Hi Karen,
Thanks for your reply! I’m in Richmond Virginia area, so we’re not at high elevation and there was no chicken in this. I keep wondering if something just isn’t working correctly with my IP. I’m a pretty good cook and know how to follow instructions pretty well. 🙂
I don’t eat white rice any longer so the only rice i ever really cook is brown. I guess i can try again tonight. I’m going to cook a flank steak in the air fryer (haven’t gotten the grill cleaned out yet for grilling season) so will try the rice again tonight.
I’ll let you know how it comes out.
Dave
Such a bummer when recipes don’t turn out. It’s so hard to know what went wrong when it turns out perfectly for me. I’m sorry!
Do you rinse the rice for this recipe? Thanks!
No, I didn’t.
I’m 69. For my entire life, I have either burned rice or made rice soup!! Thanks for a basic recipe for my baby IP!
★★★★★
You’re welcome Barbara!
If I use parboiled rice, is the ratio of rice to water the same as long grain white rice?
yes that’s correct!
We made this for a community Galentine’s Dinner to feed 80 ladies. It was served with Baked Lemon Artichoke Chicken Piccata https://beautyandthefoodie.com/baked-lemon-artichoke-chicken-piccata/ and Caesar salad. We used the double recipe and 8 instant pots! Thank you for an incredibly easy recipe that kept warm in the pots while the dinner cooked. It was delicious and perfectly cooked. I’ll keep this recipe for home and future community dinners.
★★★★★
How fun Catherine! So glad that it worked out. And what a great event!
Absolutely delicious and simple. Came out perfectly with par-boiled rice using the recipe as written. Thanks for another great recipe!
★★★★★
You’re welcome! Lately I’m loving parboiled rice too 🙂
Have you ever substituted brown rice? What sort of adjustments did you make?
I haven’t yet but you could! Just do the same recipe but use a 22 minute cooking time with a 10 minute natural pressure release.
Just made this and it is delicious! Think this is my new favorite rice. Ty for sharing.
★★★★★
You’re welcome! I’m so glad you enjoyed it 🙂
Do you use the IP measuring cup or a traditional dry ingredients measuring cup? Also what about the liquid–IP rice measuring cup or glass liquid measuring cup?
I use a traditional dry ingredients measuring cup. I don’t use the measuring cup that came with my IP.