Instant Pot Rice Pudding is an easy and hassle-free recipe for this classic rice dessert. Raisins and star anise are added for extra flavor.
Pressure cooker rice pudding is a great dessert to make when you are stuck for time or need to make something quick!
It’s one of the Instant Pot drop-and-go recipes where you literally throw everything in, stir, close the lid, set the time and let the pot do its magic!
Another quick pressure cooker recipe is Instant Pot Baked Apples. This dessert is also ready in no time especially in comparison with the oven version.
What is the best rice to use for rice pudding?
Medium-grain or short-grain rice is the best as it absorbs the liquid better and is perfect for this Instant Pot rice pudding recipe. So you can use sushi rice, risotto rice, paella rice (these can be also used to make Instant Pot Chicken Risotto).
If you have long-grain rice on hand and looking for ways to use it, try making Instant Pot Stuffed Pepper Soup. This soup is perfect for cold winter days!
Do you eat rice pudding cold or hot?
I’d say it depends on what you are used to and/or what you like. You can eat it either warm or cold.
Note: This Instant Pot rice pudding will thicken a lot when chilled so if you like eating it cold, I would suggest add more liquid when making it.
How to make rice pudding in instant pot
Place all the ingredients except for the butter in to the inner pot of your Instant Pot and stir. I like using a whisk to break any cinnamon lumps that tend to form on the surface of the milk.
Then close the lid. Make sure it is locked. Cook it on MANUAL (which is pressure cooking) on high pressure.
Once done and you have released the pressure (you can also wait until it drops naturally – it shouldn’t take long when using the amounts stated in the recipe), stir the butter in and you are done!
Tips for making Instant Pot rice pudding
- Toppings – there are endless options when it comes to toppings and it is entirely up to you what you like. You don’t need to use any and you and your guests will still enjoy this simple dessert. Berries, compote, chocolate shavings, ….
- For richer taste you can use 3 cups of milk instead of a combination of milk and water.
- The amount of sugar you add is entirely up to you. If you are trying to reduce your sugar intake, add about a half of the amount that is stated in this Instant Pot rice pudding recipe and taste it at the very end. If not sweet enough, you can either use your favorite fruits or honey/maple syrup to add the extra sweetness.
- This Instant Pot rice pudding is a basic recipe and can be adjusted to your needs and liking.
- The active cooking time can be somewhere between 3-6 minutes depending on how you like your rice pudding. If you like the rice little crunchy, then try cooking it for 3 minutes.
Want to see how to make Instant Pot Rice Pudding? Watch the video!
Instant Pot Rice Pudding
Ingredients
- 1 cup Uncooked Rice (See note 1)
- 2 cups Milk
- 1 cup Water
- ½ cup Granulated Sugar
- 1 Star Anise , optional
- 1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
- ½ cup Raisins
- A pinch of Salt
- 1 tablespoon Unsalted Butter
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Instructions
- In the inner pot of your Instant Pot pressure cooker combine the rice, milk, water, sugar, anise, cinnamon, raisins and salt.
- Mix well - make sure there are no large lumps of cinnamon.
- Close the lid, lock it into its position. Press MANUAL (pressure cooking) and adjust the time to 5 minutes.
- When the cooking cycle is finished, wait about 7 minutes before releasing the pressure manually.
- When the pin has dropped, open the lid and give it a good mix. Now stir in the butter. Taste it and add more sweetener, if needed.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- Rice - the best is using short-grain rice or medium-grain rice. Any risotto rice (e.g. Arborio), paella rice or sushi rice will work just fine.
- You can reduce the amount of raisins to ¼ cup or increase if you prefer more. They can also be omitted but I recommend using them.
- You can adjust the amount of sugar to your liking.
- The rice pudding may appear liquid-y at first but will thicken once cooled.
- This recipe was developed for a 6-quart/6-liter instant pot pressure cooker. If you use a different brand or size, the recipe may turn out different.
- The overall time does not include time needed for the pot to come to its pressure (count with at least 10 minutes) nor the time that you wait for the pot to decrease its pressure (add extra 7-10 minutes).
- This is a basic recipe that can be easily adjusted to your liking. If you like your rice harder, you can cook it for 3 minutes only, if softer than what I made, then cook it for 8-10.
Bintu says
I’m definitely going to be making this in my Instant Pot, a dessert favorite in our house!
Julia | Happy Foods Tube says
That’s good to hear!
Mike Hultquist says
This turned out GREAT in the pressure cooker. Super easy to make, very tasty, and easy to customize, too. It’s very nice with banana. Thanks for the recipe!
Julia | Happy Foods Tube says
You are welcome! :)
Emma says
I definitely prefer my rice pudding hot but I’m sure this would taste great either way!
Julia | Happy Foods Tube says
Me too :)
Beth Sachs says
Wow, these rice puds look so yummy! Will have to try these in my pressure cooker
Julia | Happy Foods Tube says
Thanks, Beth!
Tracy says
Such easy directions. A delicious recipe – thank you so much!
Julia | Happy Foods Tube says
You are welcome, Tracy!
Cathy says
I never even thought about rice pudding in an instant pot and it only takes 7 min?!! Woww! I so want to make this rice pudding!! Thank you!!
Diana Gutierrez says
It was so delicious 😋 kids loved it so easy to make I love my insta pot .
Julia | Happy Foods Tube says
That’s so good to hear, Diana! Thanks for finding time to comment.
Lynn V says
This recipe was very tasty, thank you for sharing.
Julia | Happy Foods Tube says
You are welcome, Lynn V and thank you for your feedback!
Stephanie says
This recipe was very tasty, but it was in no way cooked after 5 min + 7 NPR. The rice wasn’t crunchy but it was definitely not cooked all the way through. I had to almost double the cooking time. Otherwise this was very easy, and I appreciate that it includes ingredients you probably already have rather than requiring condensed milk.
Julia | Happy Foods Tube says
Hi Stephanie, thanks for your feedback. What kind of rice did you use? Some rice types take much longer to cook. I cook with short grain and medium grain rice in my 6-quart instant pot on regular basis and it never needed more than 5 minutes. In fact, when making risotto you only need 3 mins so 5 mins in this case is usually plenty.
Sherry says
Please keep in mind that altitude also plays a part in pressure cooking. Add 5% more time for every 1000 ft above sea level.
Amanda says
This is my favorite rice pudding recipe for the instant pot. I love that there is only one step, making it truly easy to make, and it’s just like the “spotted pup” my mom used to make us.
Patricia Robertson says
This is awesome! It tastes just like the rice pudding my mom used to bake in the oven for hours. Now, full disclosure: I had a quart of 1/2 and 1/2 I wanted to use up. So I used 3 cups of 1/2 and 1/2, no water. The rice pudding is creamy and delicious!
Julia | Happy Foods Tube says
Half and half sounds like a great substitution and I am happy to hear it turned out well for you, Patricia. Thanks for sharing your experience with our readers.
Emily Jones says
I read you should put milk in an instant pot. This seems to contradict that. Care to explain?
Julia | Happy Foods Tube says
Hi Emily. When cooking meals (in instant pot) that has cream-based sauce, you always put the cream/half and half/milk at the very end to avoid curdling. However, this is a rice pudding recipe and the milk is absorbed by rice so there is no curdling happening. I don’t see any other reason why not to put milk in an instant pot :). Hope this helps.
Ness says
Hi,
Looks amazing. But my instant pot keeps saying “burn”. Did any one else have this problem or know how to keep it from happening?
Julia | Happy Foods Tube says
Hi Ness. I am not sure what the problem is, but I feel like my new IP shows the burn message more often than my old one. However, I had not had this problem with this rice pudding recipe. You could try one of these: 1. rinse the rice before adding it to the pot 2.increase the liquid by 1/4 cup (or even 1/3 cup) 3.mix all the ingredients very well and try to spread the rice evenly around. Hope this helps. Let us know how it went if you try next time!
Suzanne says
Made this tonight! It was great to find a recipe that had ingredients I normally have on hand. Instead of white sugar, I used 1/3 cup agave. Then I added sliced banana and a sprinkle of brown sugar to my dish. Yum!!! I will def make again!
Julia | Happy Foods Tube says
Thanks so much for finding time to leave the feedback, Suzanne! And thanks for letting our readers know about your substitutions!
Dana says
Can you double the recipe for larger families? Or is it better to make 2 small batches?
Also, have you substituted coconut milk/cream?
Julia | Happy Foods Tube says
I’d say doubling the recipe should work well. I haven’t tried this recipe using coconut milk, but I have a recipe for coconut rice using coconut milk so I would give it a go. You might need to use more of it though as it’s thicker so that it does not stick to the pot. I don’t recommend using coconut cream as it might be too thick and can give you the burn message. Hope this helps!
Heather says
The texture of this was great. I cooked it for 6 minutes just to make sure the rice was done. I will probably make this again but with half the cinnamon. It was just a bit over powering for me. I like my rice pudding a bit more bland apparently. Over all a great recipe.
Julia | Happy Foods Tube says
Thanks for your feedback, Heather!
Martina OReilly says
Waaaay too sweet. Nice recipe but I would give it an extra 2 minutes cooking time in future. My usual rice pudding took 2 hours to bake.
Monika says
Yummy and quick recipe. Prepared as written, only differences were adding pumpkin pie spice and vanilla extract.
Julia | Happy Foods Tube says
Hi Monika. Thanks for your feedback! Pumpkin spice sounds like a great substitution :)
KatBlacK says
Was really gorgeous ! Maybe a little too sweet for me but the rice was cooked perfectly and was really tasty !! A new favorite recipe for my instant pot ! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe, it is really amazing and really easy to follow :)
Julia | Happy Foods Tube says
Thank you so much for your feedback!
CYNTHIA says
Just made your rice pudding and it is excellent! Quick, easy, wonderful! Definitely a keeper.
Julia | Happy Foods Tube says
Thanks for your feedback, Cynthia. It means a lot! Hope you try some more recipes from our blog :)
Katalin says
Hi there,
I’ve just cooked the recipe with 3 cup milk and short grain brown rice, after the cooking time it was easy too fluid then I’ve put it back again for 1 minute pressure cooking and 7 minute natural release and it was just like in your picture.
What would be rude right cooking time? 10-12 minutes?
Thanks for helping
Julia | Happy Foods Tube says
Hi Katalin. I have not tested this recipe for brown rice, so I am afraid I am no able to help.
Juliette says
This was a big success with my children – I had to hide the pudding from the youngest one, after she asked for a third serving!
I really like the addition of star anise, I never thought about using it in rice puddings.
Julia | Happy Foods Tube says
:) I am so happy to hear that you and your little ones enjoyed this rice pudding. Thank you for you feedback!
Donna says
Brand new instant pot user, i made hard boiled eggs and now rice pudding. I put extra cinnamon in because i like It but It’s really good. Thank you for this simple recipe.
Julia | Happy Foods Tube says
You are welcome, Donna and thanks so much for your feedback!