Instant Pot Loco Moco–a Hawaiian comfort food classic. It starts with a bed of sticky white rice and is topped with, a hamburger patty, brown gravy and a sunny-side-up egg.
Instant Pot Loco Moco
For this recipe simple ingredients are put together to make an incredible meal. Loco Moco is a Hawaiian comfort food that comes together in less than half an hour. I loved this meal to pieces and so did my family. We all agreed that this should become a staple at our house.
According to Wikipedia this dish originated, “at the Lincoln Grill restaurants in Hilo, Hawaii, in 1949 by its proprietors, Richard Inouye and his wife, Nancy, at the request of teenagers from the Lincoln Wreckers Sports club seeking something that differed from a sandwich, was inexpensive, and yet could be quickly prepared and served. They asked Nancy to put some rice in a bowl, a hamburger patty over the rice, and then top it with brown gravy. The egg came later. The teenagers named the dish Loco Moco after one of their members, George Okimoto, whose nickname was ‘Crazy’. George Takahashi, who was studying Spanish at Hilo High School, suggested using Loco, which is Spanish for crazy. They tacked on ‘moco’ which ‘rhymed with loco and sounded good.'”
You might be wondering where the Instant Pot comes into play. Well it does play a part. You add the rice and water into the Instant Pot and by the time the rice is done cooking with a 10-15 minutes natural pressure release the burgers are cooked, gravy is made and eggs are fried. It really does come together quickly.
In the recipe card I noted that I used long grain white rice. However, you can really use whatever rice you want. Just follow the rice to water ratios and cooking times listed in the green chart.
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Instant Pot Loco Moco
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Description
A Hawaiian comfort food classic. It starts with a bed of sticky white rice and is topped with, a hamburger patty, brown gravy and a sunny-side-up egg.
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups water
- 1 1/2 cups long grain white rice
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- Kosher salt and pepper
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 Tbsp flour
- 1 1/2 cups beef broth, divided (or 1 1/2 cups water + 1 1/2 tsp better than bouillon)
- 1 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce
- 1 Tbsp butter
- 4 eggs
- 1/4 cup diced green onions
Instructions
- Pour water and rice into Instant Pot. Cover and secure lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 3 minutes.
- Meanwhile, divide the beef into 4 equal balls. Form into hamburger patties. Season with kosher salt and pepper.
- Heat a large pan over medium heat. Add in the olive oil. Place the patties into the pan and sear on one side for 4 minutes. Flip and sear on the other side for 4 minutes. Move cooked patties to a plate.
- Use the fat and oil left in the pan to make a gravy. Sprinkle in the flour and stir into the oil until smooth and creamy and there are no lumps. Pour in ½ cup of the broth and stir well. Reduce heat to low. Stir in the remaining broth and soy sauce. Let simmer until thickened a bit. Then stir in the butter and let melt. Remove the pan from the heat.
- At this point the rice will probably be done. Leave it in the Instant Pot for at least a 10 minute natural pressure release. Heat a pan over medium high heat. Spray with non-stick cooking spray. Crack the four eggs into the pan and cook as desired (I like mine sunny side up).
- To serve set out 4 plates. Scoop almost a cup of rice into the middle of eat plate. Top with the burger patty, drizzle with gravy and then finally place the egg on top. Sprinkle each portion with a tablespoon of green onions.
- Category: Beef
*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.
Will be useing your recipe for it sound delicious.Thank you for sharing with us.
It’s so tasty! I hope you like it Mary.
Throw some cheese on top
★★★★★
My 16 year old made this and my husband was bouncing with excitement. He was literally licking his plate! We had rice already cooked in our rice cooker but this is a great recipe no matter how you prepared your rice. Thanks for the recipe!
★★★★★
Oh it really is so tasty! I’m glad you all thought so too!
Made this tonight. It was so fast and easy. And I used my IP for t he rice. One less pan on the stove. Husband loved it and so did I. Make the rice however you want, this is a great recipe.
So glad you enjoyed it Janece!!
I make Loco Moco exactly like this! I cook the rice in my instant pot and then do the burgers on the stove, then fry the eggs in the burger grease. I use a package Loco Moco gravy mix that I buy off Amazon. We love this!!
★★★★★
Oh I wonder how that gravy mix is? Do you love it?
If the only thing you use the instant pot for is the rice, I wouldn’t call this an instant pot recipe. I was excited to see this recipe title thinking everything (or most everything) could be done in one pot. We make Loco Mocos almost the same way except cook rice on the stove top as well. Title is misleading.
Lmao,,made my day! Still lol. But dish sounds really good!
Why do you need to use an instapot to cook long grain rice in 15 minutes?? You can easily cook the rice on the stove in 15 minutes. It’s more effort to use and clean the instapot for rice than a single pot with a lid on the stove.
I agree. We make this dish and cook everything on the stovetop. When I saw this recipe title I thought it would be neat to cook everything in the instant pot but that’s not the case. It is in fact much easier to just use a single pot for rice instead of instant pot.
I respectfully disagree. I love my 3 quart pot for rice. It’s so small it’s easy to clean up.
The only way I make rice anymore is in the instant pot. I make pot in pot rice and it turns out perfectly every time. I’ll never go back to making it on the stovetop.
I’m not getting any ads or pop-ups at all while reading and working in your site. (It might be individual browser settings, not your site at all.) I’m going to try to modify this recipe to reduce sodium and increase protein a bit. Will let you know how it turns out.
I really like you site but it is getting to be very annoying because there is far too much advertising. I know you use it for an income but it is just too much. I am reading something then all of a sudden a popup blocks what I am reading. Then if I click on it, it brings me to something else. Even though I am trying to close it down.
I get tons too and you’re right, very annoying.
Karen you might want to change the name of this recipe MOCO means snot in Spanish
Can’t wait to try this, I haven’t had Loco Moco in years… Speaking of which:
“…suggested using Loco, which is Spanish for crazy. They tacked on ‘moco’ which ‘rhymed with loco and sounded good.’”
It sounds good but it also means “booger” so… 🤷🏻♂️