20-Minute Instant Pot Palak Rice (Spinach Rice)

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Make a filling bowl of Palak Rice in just 20 minutes with your Instant Pot. This filling and flavorful Spinach Rice is packed with warm spices and fresh vegetables for a gluten-free dish everyone will enjoy!

What is Spinach Rice?

This easy-to-make Spinach (or palak in Hindi) rice recipe is an Indian dish that involves cooking rice with vegetables, spinach puree, and many aromatic spices.

It’s a gluten-free and vegetarian side dish perfect for any weeknight.

Serve it as the main dish with a side of yogurt or raita, or serve this Palak rice as an accompaniment to another main dish.

Recipe inspiration

Palak rice, or spinach rice, has been a family recipe for many years! Our helper used to make it, and I would wipe my plate clean every time she did. She didn’t necessarily measure anything or follow a recipe as such, but it would always yield the most flavorful and filling spinach rice. Here’s how she would go about it –

1. She would gather all the greens that she could find in the refrigerator and would puree it with spinach.
2. Then she would start the cooking process with a tempering of cumin seeds and whole spices.
3. The next step would be to add green-colored vegetables such as bell peppers, beans, and peas and saute them with the spice powders.
4. The spinach puree would then be added to this mix.
5. When the mixture came to a boil, leftover rice would be added and gently stirred in.

This is my attempt to recreate her magic in an Instant Pot.

Why this recipe works

• It comes together in about 20 minutes, making it the perfect weeknight recipe!
• Loaded with veggies like spinach, peas, and bell peppers that are good for you.
• Stores well – tastes great even after a few days in the refrigerator.
• Naturally vegetarian. Skip the ghee and make it vegan.
• This easy spinach rice recipe tastes great at room temperature, making it perfect for school or office lunch.

How to make this recipe

Ingredients at a glance

Rice —This dish’s main ingredient requires little prep work at the start. Simply soak Basmati rice for 20-30 minutes before beginning.

Spinach Puree — A spinach puree made from fresh baby spinach, cilantro, mint leaves, Indian or Thai green chilies, and water gives this palak rice recipe a bright green hue and provides many nutritional benefits.

Bell Peppers & Peas —The bell peppers add a slight change in texture to the spinach rice, while the peas provide a sweet and creamy burst of flavor.

Spices & Seasoning – For a deeply flavorful bowl of spinach rice, I season this dish with olive oil, ghee, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, bay leaves, a cinnamon stick, red chili powder, coriander powder, garam masala, salt, and sugar.

Step by Step Instructions

Start with soaking the rice

To begin, rinse the Basmati rice with running water until the water runs clear. Then transfer to a bowl and soak the rice in 4 cups of water for 20-30 minutes.

Make the puree

Next, blend the baby spinach, mint leaves, cilantro, green chilies, and a cup of water together until pureed.

Cook the dish in the Instant Pot

Preheat an electric pressure cooker by selecting sauté. Then press the Adjust button to move the selection to “Normal” and wait until the display reads “Hot.“

Once the inner pot is hot, after about 30 seconds, add oil. Allow the oil to heat up, then add the cumin seeds.

Add the cinnamon stick, fennel seeds, and bay leaves to the inner pot when the cumin seeds begin to sizzle. Sauté them for 10-15 seconds.

Next, add the chopped bell pepper and peas. Sauté for 1 minute.

After a minute, add the chili, coriander, cumin, and garam masala powders to the inner pot. Mix them in and sauté for about 10-20 seconds.

Add the pureed spinach mixture along with salt and sugar. Mix well and bring to a boil.

Do a quick taste test at this time. The salt should be on the higher side.

Drain the rice. Add rice to the veggies and spices. Add just enough water (approximately 3/4 cup) to completely submerge the rice.

Press “Warm/Cancel” button and then select “Pressure Cook.” Set the time to 6 minutes and adjust the pressure selection to low. Cover the Instant Pot lid and lock it in place. Make sure the vent is in the sealing position.

Once the cooking cycle completes, the Instant Pot will switch to the “Warm Cycle”. Press the “Warm/Cancel” button and carefully release the pressure after 5 minutes. Open the lid and let the steam escape.

Add 1 tablespoon of ghee and wait 5 minutes before fluffing the rice and mixing in the ghee.

Serve this Spinach Rice hot with raita or yogurt.

Recipe notes

I made this dish using baby spinach, which is milder and sweeter than mature spinach. Pureeing the spinach without blanching prevents the dish from turning bitter.

While you are more than welcome to blanch the baby spinach before pureeing, I found the step unnecessary. By skipping the blanching process, you save time as well as dishes!

If you only have spinach in hand, here’s how to blanch it.

How to blanch spinach

1. Bring a large pot of water to boil.
2. Once boiling, add the spinach into the pot, stems pointing down.
3. Gently push the leaves down into the water and boil for about a minute or two until the stems soften.
4. Remove the spinach from the boiling water and dump it into a bowl of cold water to stop the cooking process.

How to prep ahead

Busy weeknights need quick and easy-to-put-together meals. For this palak rice recipe, follow this few steps to prep in advance:

• Dice the bell pepper in advance and store it in an airtight container until you are ready to cook the spinach rice.
• Blend the spinach puree ahead of time and keep it in an airtight container. For the freshest flavor, I would recommend prepping this part no more than 2 days before you make the rice. You could always freeze this mixture for up to a month for a quick dinner.

How to store

Once cooked, spinach rice can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Variations

1. The mint and cilantro leaves make this dish so much more aromatic and flavorful. Don’t skip it if you can help it.
2. Adding fennel seeds is optional – I wouldn’t have used it, but a friend recommended that I do, and I loved it. It has a sweet aroma and adds to the flavor of this dish.
3. You can also add onions, ginger, and garlic to this dish, but I skipped this step because I wanted to keep the chopping to a minimum.

Serving suggestions

Serve this homemade palak rice with fresh raita or homemade yogurt.

Frequently asked questions

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Other recipes you’ll love

1. Jeera Rice – One whiff of this aromatic, fluffy basmati rice tempered with cumin seeds is enough to get your taste buds tingling.
2. Lemon Rice – Got leftover rice? Then, turn it into Lemon rice – a popular and flavorful South Indian dish that you can make in less than 15 minutes. 
3. Vegetarian Biryani – This rice dish is made by pressure cooking rice, vegetables in a spicy onion-tomato gravy to create this flavorful one-pot vegetarian meal that comes together in under 30 minutes.
4. Authentic Curd Rice – The delicate and mild-flavored curd rice (also known as thayir sadam or yogurt rice) is a befitting finale to a sumptuous spicy meal.