This delicious Instant Pot Spanish rice dish is made with chorizo sausage, sautéed peppers, and tomatoes that give this family-friendly meal a lot of fun flavours. It's gluten-free and super easy to make, making it a midweek dinner favorite.
This easy and delicious Instant Pot Spanish rice recipe is inspired by a dish called paella. The Spanish are very particular about not using chorizo in the authentic paella and that's why it's not called paella in this recipe. However, chorizo is often used in rice dishes in Spain and today's recipe will show you how this magic ingredient can transform a boring meal into something fun and full of flavour.
Instant Pot Spanish Rice Ingredients
Let's quickly talk about the two key ingredients used to make this Spanish rice dish and what you could use to substitute some of them with.
We used regular long-grain, Basmati rice but you could also use any other type of medium-grain or long-grain rice. Do not use very starchy rice like Arborio (used in risotto) as we want the cooked rice kernels to separate easily and not be gluggy or creamy.&
Chorizo is a type of sausage made with pork and lots of garlic and paprika. You can buy raw or cured chorizo and either would work in this recipe. You can also use Mexican chorizo sausage. The sausage will give out a lot of delicious oils and flavors during cooking, which is what makes this rice so hearty and tasty.
If you can't find chorizo sausage, you can use regular pork sausage or even salami but I recommend adding a little extra garlic a teaspoon or so of smoked paprika or regular paprika powder.
This rice dish is great for the whole family as it's not too spicy. If you do like a little heat, add some chilli or cayenne pepper. Serve it with a side salad for a fabulous and easy dinner or with a fried egg on top for leftovers breakfast.
How To Make Spanish Rice In Instant Pot
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Instant Pot Spanish Rice with Chorizo
Ingredients
- 2 cups rice rinsed well (long-grain, like Basmati)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large onion finely diced
- ½ red bell pepper diced into small cubes
- 1 large tomato diced finely
- 100 grams chorizo diced raw or cured (3-4 oz.)
- 2 large cloves garlic finely diced
- 1 teaspoon cumin powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika powder sweet or regular
- 1 teaspoon vegetable stock powder or 1 cube
- 2 +¼ cups water or 2.25 cups vegetable stock if not using the cube
To serve:
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ red bell pepper sliced into strips
- A pinch of salt
- 100 grams chorizo sliced (3 oz.)
- 10-12 green pitted olives sliced
Instructions
- Rinse the rice under cold water 4-5 times to reduce the starch in the rice. Set aside.
- Turn the Instant Pot on and press the Sauté function key. Add the olive oil, onions, peppers and chorizo and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring a few times. Then, add tomatoes and garlic and cook for 3 more minutes. Now, add the spices and vegetable stock and stir through. Finally, add the rinsed rice and water and stir.
- Press Cancel to stop the sauteéing. Pop the lid on top and lock it, making sure the top valve is pointing to Sealing. Set the Instant Pot to Manual, High pressure and adjust the timer to 4 minutes. After 3 beeps, the Instant Pot will start building the pressure and the cooking will begin. Once the timer finishes, allow 5 minutes for NPR (natural pressure release), then use the quick release method to let off the rest of the steam (simply point the top valve to Venting and step away).
- While the rice is cooking, prepare the other ingredients we will need to finish and serve this dish.
- Heat olive oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the sliced peppers and cook for 5 minutes, until golden brown. Season with salt and remove to a bowl.
- Add the remaining sliced chorizo and cook for 1-2 minutes on each side, until crispy and browned.
- Transfer the rice to a serving platter or individual bowls and serve with fried peppers, chorizo and sliced olive on top. You can also serve a wedge of lemon on the side.
Nutrition
MORE INSTANT POT RICE RECIPES
- Instant Pot Rice Pilaf With Chickpeas
- Instant Pot Brown Rice Salad With Peanut Butter Dressing
- How to Make Instant Pot Sushi Rice
- Instant Pot Rice Pudding (Chai Spiced)
- Instant Pot Yellow Rice & Corn
- And, more amazing Instant Pot rice dishes here
stu9560
I halved the quantities and made this in a 3 litre Instant Pot. It turned out perfectly. Definitely a keeper. NB: when using the slider to adjust quantities, be aware that the "2.25 cups" of water or stock advised in the ingredients doesn't change in line with everything else. I used 1 cup of rice and just over 1 cup of liquid.
Gillian
Nice heat level. Needed some finishing salt. Made1/2 recipe in 3. Quart pot, giving 3 generous servings.
Dhan
A quick question please if I may. What size of Instant Pot is this recipe for? I only have a 3-quart. Thank you.
Instant Pot Eats
This is for a 6-quart Instant Pot. It should still work for a 3-quart or you can reduce the recipe ingredients by 1/2 or 1/4. Timings should be the same.
Jessica Marie
You can just use the rice setting!! Which is still for minutes!
Jennifer
How would you add clams (in the shell) to this?
Ann Fabrizio
I would cook separately then add to the rice after.
Marcia Rousseau
When I cook my brown basmati rice in the instant pot, it takes 27 minutes of cook time plus 10 min steam natural release. What kind of rice did you use that only takes 4 min cook time + 5 min NPR??
instantpoteats
White Basmati rice
KJ
This is a favorite at our house! We use long grain brown rice which can take a little longer to cook, but it always comes out delicious. We’ve gotten the burn notice a couple times but popping the top and giving it a good stir always fixes it. Love this recipe!
Jaimee Campbell
got burn notice twice and had to regroup and cook pot in pot. Rice didn't cook and had to run again. Excellent once done but I'm going to totally re write this to make it work
instantpoteats
Jaimee, what size Instant Pot did you use? Sometimes, if you use the 8-quart, the burn notice happens because the surface is much larger. Another reason could be that some of the vegetables/chorizo got a little burnt/caramelize and then when the rice and liquid were added, it wasn't stirred through properly. If there are bits still stuck to the bottom of the pot, they can cause the burn notice during the pressurizing and the cooking stops.