Cheesy Rice in the Instant Pot

I’ve gotten lots of requests for recipes that I make in the Instant Pot IP-DUO60 7-in-1 Multi-Functional Pressure Cooker.  I was leery about buying one.  For me, the $100 or so that it cost was a lot of money for me to spend on a kitchen appliance that I wasn’t sure I would use.  I use it ALL THE TIME.  It’s gotten to be right hand for me.

My problem is this…I am not a recipe girl.  I just get an idea in my head and give it a try.

Here’s an example.  Last week I was feeding the childcare kiddos hot dogs.  I didn’t have buns and honestly, the kids don’t like buns so I needed a different item from the bread group.  A thought jumped in my brain that said cheesy rice would be perfect so I tried to think how I could make that.

I know the regular recipe for rice is 1 1/2 cups water to 1 cup rice.  Hit the rice button and I have rice.  My thought was- “how do I modify that to make cheesy rice?”  This is what I did….I thought about mac and cheese in the box.  It needs milk, butter and the cheese sauce so how to I improvise.

I put in 1 cup of milk, 1/2 cut of water, 1 cup of rice, 2 tablespoons of butter…now for the cheesy part..Hmm….Velveeta?

Well I only had Queso Blanco Velveeta…well I already had the other ingredients in so I went with it.  I but 2″ off.  I cut that into chunks and threw it into the pot with the other ingredients.

I hit the button and 12 minutes later…Cheesy Rice and it was good!!  Really good.  I won’t feed it to Hubby.  He hates rice but the childcare kids…they loved it just as good as Mac and Cheese.

See?  It really isn’t a recipe.  It’s more of an experiment.  This experiment happened to work.

I ALWAYS make potatoes in the Instant Pot.  I NEVER boil potatoes anymore…EVER. This is how I make potatoes… I always put red potatoes in in with a cup or so water with the trivet in.  I use manual pressure for 20 minutes.  They are hands down the best potatoes every time.

Sometime we eat them plain with butter or sour cream.  I purposely make extra.  The next day I use them for fried potatoes.  I cut the potatoes up and fry them with butter and onions…then add cheese over the top at the end.

I adore my Instant Pot.  If it came down to that I could only have two kitchen appliances, I would take my Instant Pot and my Heritage Grill.  I’d take these over a microwave and even over the stove…the oven I’d want…but the stove I could give up.  I like them that much.