If you don’t have a pressure cooker, trust me, buy one. I know slow cookers are all the rage right now, but pressure cookers do what a slow cooker can do in minutes, instead of hours.

I’ve made Spanish Rice in my slow cooker many times. First browning the ground beef and vegetables on the stove and transferring them to the pot. What a waste of time. This recipe is 21 minutes from start to TABLE! Seriously! And it’s so much better than its slow cooker version.

Slow cookers make the ingredients mushy and gummy in my opinion. In the pressure cooker, this rice is cooked but not overdone, the vegetables still have some crispness to them, and the flavor is infused throughout the dish.

Pressure Cooker Recipe: Mild Spanish Rice
Pressure cookers make light work of cooking. It's seriously the best thing I've gotten for my kitchen in years and I think I have every kitchen appliance out there.
Yield: 6-8
Prep Time: 
Cooking Time: 
Total Time: 
Ingredients
  • 2 Tbl Olive Oil
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • ½ green bell pepper, seeded, cored, and diced
  • 1 lb ground beef
  • 2 cups long grain white rice (uncooked)
  • 29 oz tomato sauce
  • 1-1/2 c water
  • 1 tsp salt
  • ½ tsp black pepper
  • 1 cup shredded cheese - Mexican or Cheddar
  • 4 oz black olives
Instructions
  1. Heat the olive oil in an electric pressure cooker on the browning setting. Add onions, garlic, and bell pepper. Cook 2-3 minutes.
  2. Add the ground beef. Break the beef up while you brown it. Cook until nearly cooked through.If necessary, drain of extra oil (I use very lean ground beef so it's not necessary) - total browning time about 9-10 minutes.
  3. Add rice and cook for 1 minute.
  4. Add the tomato sauce, water, salt, and pepper. Seal and set on High Pressure for 6 minutes.
  5. Use the quick-release method (move to release steam and hold until fully released). Unlock and remove the cover. Check the rice. Not done enough for you? Put it back on High Pressure for 2 minutes.
  6. Spoon into serving dish and top with shredded cheese and black olives. Can be refrigerated or frozen at this point for another night or serve warm.
  7. To reheat: From thawed state, 350 oven for 30-45 minutes or until heated through (depends on depth of rice - deeper = more time, shallow = less). To heat from frozen - 350 for 1 hr 15 minutes or until heated through (or leave in refrigerator overnight to thaw and cook as above).

Have you tried pressure cooking? What’s holding you back?

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