Name: Instant Pot Jeera Rice | Indian Cumin Rice
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 12 min
Total time: 57 min
Ingredients: 2 tsp ghee (use oil for the vegan version); 1 tsp cumin seeds (heaped tsp); 2 cardamom; 2 cloves; 1/2 inch cinnamon piece; 1 bay leaf; 1 cup basmati rice; 1.25 cups water; 1/2 tsp salt (or to taste); 1 tbsp cilantro (finely chopped, to garnish)

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Simple and fragrant jeera rice made in Instant Pot! Serve your dal or curry with this flavorful Indian cumin rice and make it a perfect meal. Here is my jeera rice recipe with step-wise pictures.

overhead shot of jeera rice placed on a striped mat with spoons on the side

Indian restaurants usually serve dal and other curries with jeera rice, and I always love it. It’s such a simple dish, and it makes the meal so unique and special. I make it home often, but I realized I never shared it here on my blog. Finally, here I am with the Instant Pot version.

Fragrant Basmati Rice

Traditionally, we use basmati rice for making this jeera rice, and I have shared the water measurement and timing for basmati rice in this post. Please check the notes for other rice varieties.

I highly recommend the fragrant basmati rice for this recipe. Along with cumin seeds and other whole spices, basmati rice intensifies the flavor profile of the dish.

Instant Pot Rice cooking time-

I have experimented with cooking different rice varieties like basmati rice, sela basmati rice, seeraga samba, ponni, brown rice, and sona masoori. You can find over 25 varieties of pulavs and biryanis made with different rice varieties on my blog. And most of them have different cooking times. Are you wondering why? Every single bag of rice is different, and the age of the rice plays a significant role.

New rice becomes mushy fast, so you need less water, and you need to cook for less time. But aged rice absorbs all the water, and you need to cook it comparatively longer and also it needs little extra water.

Be ready to experiment with your rice. I always do a test run, by cooking 1 cup of rice with 2 cups of water in the pressure cooker for three whistles or cook in Instant Pot using rice preset. Then I check the doneness of the rice, and then I decide the timing.

Instant Pot Rice Setting –

Guess what? Making jeera rice at home is not so tricky. Especially with Instant pot, it is effortless, and you get perfect non-mushy rice every time. I rely on the Instant Pot rice setting. In the rice mode, IP cooks rice in the low-pressure mode for 12 minutes. I let the pressure release naturally, as well.

If you don’t have a rice option or low-pressure option, cook the rice at high pressure for 4 to 5 minutes and quickly release the pressure after 3 minutes.

How to make jeera rice in Instant Pot-

Well, it’s so simple. We first do the tempering. I temper the whole spices and cumin seeds in ghee. But for the vegan version, you can opt for oil.
After tempering, add the rice, water, and salt to taste and let Instant Pot do its magic. When done, fluff the rice with a fork and serve. That’s it.

✔ Rinse the rice thoroughly and soak it in water for 20 minutes and drain the water.

✔ Set the Instant Pot in saute mode and add the ghee. Let the ghee melt, and when it is hot, add the cumin seeds, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, bay leaf.
Saute for 30 seconds or until the cumin seeds sizzle.

✔ Now add the rice, 1.25 cups of water and salt. Mix gently and turn off the Instant Pot.

✔Press the cancel button, close the Instant Pot lid and make sure the vent is in the sealing position. Press the “Rice” preset button, and when the cooking is complete, allow the pressure to release naturally.

✔Carefully open the lid after releasing the pressure and allow the jeera rice to cool for 5 minutes. Then fluff it up with a fork. Serve hot with dal or curry.

Recipe Notes-

I usually don’t add green chilies to my jeera rice. If you want it a bit spicy, you can add one slit green chili.
Also, I add less salt as I serve this with curries and dal. But you can adjust the salt according to your preference.
Cumin seeds are the key ingredient here, and you can adjust the other whole spices according to your preference.
Skip ghee and use oil for a vegan version.

If using other rice varieties-

✔ Brown Rice – For brown rice, you can add 1.75 cups of water and cook for 22 to 25 minutes. Please check my brown rice pilaf recipe for more details.

✔ Seeraga Samba – For this variety, you can use 1.25 to 1 ⅓ cups of water for 1 cup of rice and cook for 3 minutes at high pressure and quickly release pressure after 5 minutes.

✔Raw Rice Variety like Ponni or Sona Masoori – For this variety, use 2 cups of water for 1 cup of rice, and you can use the rice preset or cook for 5 minutes at high pressure and quickly release pressure after 5 minutes.

simple and easy jeera rice served in a terracotta serveware placed on a striped mat

Other rice dishes made in Instant Pot-

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Instant Pot Jeera Rice | Indian Cumin Rice