It’s here! The Copycat Rice a Roni Recipe you’ve been waiting for. This Instant Pot Rice tastes like a better, fresher version of that boxed favorite and it’s just as easy!
Did you grow up eating Rice-a-Roni? A pantry staple of busy moms for decades, it always delivered a tasty meal that kids would eat with no complaints.
There’s something about the taste of Rice-a-Roni that continues to be a little comforting to me, even though it’s far from a gourmet food.
That rice pilaf with bits of noodles and chicken flavor went well with a million main dishes and could be made without any effort at all.
The box mixes of this instant rice tend to be high in sodium and other questionable additives that I’d rather not eat on a regular basis if I can help it. As it turns out, though, it’s super easy to make a copycat rice a roni dish with LOWER sodium in the Instant Pot!
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Copycat Rice A Roni
This imitation rice a roni tastes so much fresher and more flavorful than the stuff in the box. With fresh minced onion, real chicken broth and fresh parsley sprinkled on top, it’s a delightfully tasty Instant Pot rice.
Serve copycat rice a roni as a side dish for all your favorite entrees or as a meal starter! Adding cooking chicken and steamed veggies makes this an instantly balanced and nourishing meal.
Instant Pot Rice
Rice dishes are some of my very favorite recipes to make in my Instant Pot! The pressure cooker takes out all of the guess work of cooking rice AND makes it so much quicker.
Homemade rice-a-roni makes for a nice change from a plain bowl of rice without much more effort at all!
All in all this copycat rice a roni recipe took under 25 minutes from start to finish. Almost all of that time is hands off, leaving you free to make pork chops, meatloaf, do a load of laundry or, let’s be honest, run around after the kids.
We enjoyed this Instant Pot Rice with Garlic Herb Roasted Chicken and a copycat Olive Garden salad. It would also be wonderful with Slow Cooker Balsamic Glazed Pork!
The light herb flavors in this easy rice make it an ideal pairing for just about any main dish you can think of. And we love the bright yellow color the rice gets naturally from the tumeric powder. (No artificial food coloring here!)
This is definitely an Instant Pot Rice recipe you’ll want to pin, bookmark and save.
What you’ll Need
More good news? Making copycat rice a roni in the instant pot uses ingredients you probably already have stocked in your kitchen:
{Ingredients at a glance; scroll down for full printable recipe with amounts]
- Long grain or basmati rice
- Butter
- Spaghetti noodles
- Chicken broth
- Onion (minced)
- Garlic powder
- Tumeric (for color)
- Salt
- Fresh parsley
How to Make Rice A Roni
STEP 1. Break the spaghetti noodles into bite sized pieces and turn the Instant Pot to the sautee setting. Cook the noodles in melted butter in the pot until lightly toasted.
STEP 2. Add the rice and cook for another minute until the rice is toasted, too.
STEP 3. Add the chicken broth, onion and seasonings, stirring to make sure there are no rice and noodles stuck to the bottom of the pan. Put the lid on and turn off the pot. Set the valve to “SEALING.”
STEP 4. Select the “HIGH” setting on your instant pot and a cook time of 8 minutes. When cooking time ends, allow natural release for 10 minutes, then quick release the remaining pressure with the valve set to “VENTING.”
STEP 5. Open the lid, stir everything to combine, then add the chopped fresh parsley!
Serve right away or store in airtight containers in the fridge to reheat later.
Tips & Tricks for Instant Pot Rice
- Make sure to use a long grain rice here! Short grain rice cooks faster and will give the rice pilaf a mushier texture. I’ve used both regular long grain white rice and basmati with good results.
- Want more chicken flavor? A cube or two of chicken bouillon, or the instant granules, added with the chicken broth is a yummy addition.
- To make this vegetarian, you can substitute vegetable broth. It’ll still taste good however it won’t taste exactly like rice a roni.
- Is your rice too wet when you first open the lid? Fluff the rice with a fork then let it rest for a few minutes before serving.
More Instant Pot Recipes:
- Instant Pot Chili
- Spinach Artichoke Dip
- Chicken Cordon Bleu
- Au Gratin Potatoes
- Bourbon Chicken
- Brownies – in the Instant Pot!!
Instant Pot Rice a Roni
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- ½ cup 2 oz thin spaghetti noodles, broken into small pieces
- 1 cup long grain rice
- 1 ¼ cup chicken broth
- ½ teaspoon minced onion
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric
- 1 Tablespoon fresh parsley chopped
Instructions
- Turn pressure cooker on "SAUTE." Once hot, add butter and let it melt. Add in broken spaghetti noodles and saute until lightly browned, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add in rice and cook an additional minute until toasted.
- Add minced onion, garlic powder, salt, and turmeric. Stir in chicken broth and make sure there are no browned bits of rice or noodles stuck to the bottom of the pan. Turn off.
- Secure the lid on top and make sure the valve is set to "SEALING." Select "HIGH PRESSURE" and cook time of 8 minutes.
- When cook time ends, allow to natural release for 10 minutes, then turn the valve to "VENTING" and quick release the remaining pressure.
- Open the lid, stir everything to combine, and add chopped parsley. ENJOY.
Notes
- For more chicken flavor, add up to 1 Tbsp of chicken bouillon granules when adding in the broth.
- Make sure the spaghetti noodles are broken into 1/4-1/2 inch pieces before cooking.
- You can use basmati rice in place of the long grain white rice.
Nutrition
Copycat rice a roni has definitely made its way on to my list of favorite quick and easy dinner time side dishes! With rich savory flavor from chicken broth and the pretty addition of fresh parsley at the end, this Instant Pot rice gets two thumbs up from kids and adults alike.
Yup mine burned and rice wasn’t done and I only cooked it for 4 minutes. Added more water and put back on for 2 minutes. I think it should be at least 2 cups of water to make up for the pasta. It tasted great once I did that.
Thanks
This recipe was delicious. I was too lazy to get my instapot from downstairs, so I made it on the stovetop.
I followed everything exact – except I used 2 1/2 cups of water and cooked it for 20 minutes on low heat. It came out really delicious. Thanks for a great recipe.
Taste great, however, needs more liquid! I wondered when I did it, but I followed directions, and it was crunchy and bottom almost burned. I think more liquid would solve it.
Thanks for the recipe.😁
What if you don’t have spaghetti? More rice? How much?
LOVED this recipe! The thing that took the longest was breaking up the spaghetti! Lol! Taste was spot on with a little more spice that I truly enjoyed. I will be making this over and over. Made this first and then simple chicken breasts which were also easy and very tasty. Kept this warm and just heated up a little before eating. This was my very first try with my new Instant Pot and I’m thrilled! Thank you!
This is a great copycat Rice A Roni recipe but it needs to be revised. It should read 2 1/4 cups water for 1 cup rice, not 1 1/4. Thank goodness I knew better or would have had a burned mess on my hands.
No, the 1 1/4 is correct for the Instant Pot.
The liquid needs to be doubled. Mine was crunchy.
Perfect! I used the rice preset on my Instapot and used 2 cups of water. Loved the seasoning!
Followed this to the letter, no substitution or changes in a 6qt Duo Nova.
2 mins into cooking, burn notice – had to add 1/4 cup of water. 4 mins into cooking, burn notice, had to add 1/4 cup of water.
Aside from that, turned out nice. Generally speaking, from what I understand – you never want to run a instant pot with less than 2 cups of water. Not sure if you used a smaller pot or mine is just really sensitive to burn, but when adding water and dealing with that – was getting some awful crunchy burned on rice at the bottom of the pot. Any advice? The end result was still great!
Can I use jasmine rice?
I don’t have a instant pot how else can I make this. Thank you
Thank you for the recipe of rice a roni. I have a hard time with all the salt. I can cut down on it to my taste. Thanks again.
8 minutes seems too long for basmati rice and spaghetti noodles., esp with NR or am I missing something?
When I do just rice it is more like 4 mins and 10 mins NR…please advise…thanks
I was thinking the same thing
Aimee how would I add chicken to this rice a roni recipe and cook it all in the IP?
I made mine with chicken – simply did two batches. First made the rice, and then did simple chicken breast in a steamer basket in the instant pot, and mixed it all together. Chicken needs a longer cook time than rice and pasta generally do, so I’m not confident this could all be done in a single pot.
All I had was instant rice and it was amazing still. Thank you for an amazing recipe.