How to Make Instant Pot Short-Grain Rice (Perfect For Sushi)

Short-grain rice is ubiquitous in Japanese cuisine. A bowl of steamed white rice can accompany most Japanese meals. And my Instant Pot short-grain rice recipe delivers perfect rice in just 30 minutes.

Serve your fluffy rice as a base for poke bowls and rice bowls, as a side dish with your favourite Asian recipes, or to make onigiri (Japanese rice balls). I also include instructions for perfectly seasoned sushi rice with homemade sushi vinegar. It’s great for sushi rolls or sushi bowls!

This Instant Pot sushi rice recipe as written works for Japanese rice (sushi rice) and other short-grain white rice varieties, or medium-grain rice (like Calrose rice). But I include additional cooking instructions for different types of rice in the recipe card.

Sushi rice ingredients

Short-grain rice: Look for rice labelled as sushi rice or Japanese short-grain rice. Korean short-grain rice also works, as does medium-grain Calrose rice.

To make perfect short-grain rice with a Instant Pot pressure cooker, you only need rice and water. But if you want to use the rice for homemade sushi, you’ll also need sushi vinegar.

You can use store-bought sushi vinegar, but it is easy to make at home:

• Unseasoned rice vinegar: Use unseasoned rice vinegar to create the perfect balance of savoury, sweet and acidic.
• Sugar: Normal granulated white sugar is all you need, but you can use castor (superfine) sugar to dissolve faster. Or use your preferred sugar alternative.
• Salt

1. Use the right type of rice

Different types of rice require different rice-to-water ratios and different cooking times.

This recipe is specifically for short-grain rice and sushi rice. Try to find Japanese short-grain rice or rice labelled as “sushi rice” (even if it is medium-grain rice). You can also use Korean short-grain rice (mepssal) or Calrose rice in this recipe.

But don’t confuse sushi rice with glutinous rice (mochigome). Mochigome is for mochi rice cakes and glutinous sweets. While it’s also a Japanese short-grain rice, glutinous rice and sushi rice are not interchangeable. Glutinous rice is much stickier and chewier.

The same cooking instructions also work for cooking short-grain brown rice, but you need to use more water and longer cooking time. I include instructions for instant pot brown rice (short-grain) in the recipe card.

If you want to cook long-grain white rice (like jasmine or basmati rice) or long-grain brown rice, use this recipe for Instant Pot long-grain rice instead.

2. Wash rice

Washing the rice removes extra starch and avoids mushy rice.

Place the rice into a large mixing bowl and cover it with cold water. Curl your fingers into a claw shape and gently swirl the rice.

Don’t crush or break the rice.

Pour off the water, and repeat four to five times – until the water starts to run clear. It doesn’t need to be perfectly crystal clear.

3. Drain rice well

Rice absorbs water very quickly. Too much liquid in the inner pot will lead to watery cooked rice.

Transfer the washed rice to a fine mesh strainer or sieve and leave it to drain for five minutes before adding it to the pressure cooker.

4. Natural pressure release

After a quick five-minute cook, allow the Instant Pot to release pressure naturally for ten minutes. The rice continues to steam during this time.

It is part of the cooking process, so don’t skip it!

Natural release rewards your patience with evenly cooked and fluffy steamed rice.

5. Don’t overcook

Remove your cooked rice from the inner pot immediately after the ten minutes of natural pressure release. Otherwise, the residual heat of the Instant Pot causes the rice to overcook, stick to the bottom of the pot and turn mushy.

Even worse, if you forgot to turn off the Instant Pot, it automatically goes into “keep warm” mode guaranteeing overcooked rice.

For sushi: Transfer the rice to a large non-reactive bowl, like a glass bowl and gently stir through the sushi vinegar while the rice is warm using a rice paddle.

For poke bowl: Use a baking sheet covered with parchment paper and spread the rice to cool down before using in poke bowls.

For a warm rice side dish: Fluff the rice with a fork and divide the fluffy rice into serving bowls. Serve the rice warm.

6. Don’t break the rice

Don’t break the rice while you wash uncooked rice or mix cooked rice with the sushi vinegar.

Crushing or breaking the rice kernels leads to mushy rice instead of sticky rice kernels.

When seasoning sushi rice, gently fold the vinegar mixture through the rice in a slicing motion using a rice paddle or wooden spoon, carefully coating each grain of rice with the sushi vinegar. I use the plastic rice paddle that came with my Instant Pot Duo.

7. Keep the rice moist when cooling

If you want to serve the rice cooled or use it for sushi, you need to cover the rice with a damp tea towel while it cools down to room temperature. Otherwise, the sushi rice will dry out.

Don’t be tempted to speed things up in the fridge. It will dry out and harden your perfectly plump sushi rice. Cooked rice is best used for sushi as soon as it cools to room temperature.

The perfect sushi rice ratios

One of the best things about this Instant Pot rice recipe is that it scales well as long as you keep your ratios correct.

You don’t need to change the washing, cooking or seasoning methods. Simply scale your ingredients and keep the cooking time the same.

Instant Pot short-grain rice to water ratio

Use a 1:1 ratio of uncooked, rinsed rice to water with this no-soak pressure cooker method for white short-grain rice. Brown short-grain rice requires a 1:1.5 ratio of rice to water.

So for every cup of washed, unsoaked short-grain white rice, add one cup of water. Or for every cup of washed, unsoaked short-grain brown rice, add a cup and a half.

Sushi vinegar ratios

I use a 6:3:1 ratio of unseasoned rice vinegar to sugar to salt for my sushi vinegar mixture.

For each teaspoon of salt, use three times the amount of sugar and six times the amount of vinegar.

Sushi vinegar to uncooked rice ratio

I was childishly disappointed when I ordered sushi in a generic seafood restaurant and received sushi rolls that tasted overwhelmingly of vinegar. Maybe they ran out of rice vinegar? Perhaps they just used too much? But whatever the reason, I am forever fearful of overseasoning sushi rice.

Luckily, I have my vinegar to rice ratio dialled in perfectly to suit my palate.

I use two tablespoons of rice vinegar (and a tablespoon of sugar and a teaspoon of salt) for each US cup of uncooked rice (or two heaped cups of cooked sushi rice). Or use three tablespoons of shop-bought sushi rice vinegar.

Tip: If you want to find your perfect ratio of vinegar to rice, make a large batch of the sushi vinegar mixture – it keeps well in the fridge. Add two tablespoons of vinegar to your cooked rice. Taste, and mix in more vinegar until you’re happy with the result.