This vegan Instant Pot Mexican rice (Spanish rice) is fluffy, flavorful, and made with just a handful of pantry ingredients in under 20 minutes. The perfect side for Mexican and Tex-Mex meals!
In a pressure cooker, heat the oil using the saute setting for 8 minutes. Add the onion, garlic, and uncooked rice and saute until the rice turns golden, stirring regularly, for about 4 to 5 minutes. When some of the grains of rice begin to turn a golden brown, move on to the next step.
Add the tomato paste, salt, no chicken broth, and pepper, and whisk together until combined and the tomato paste is dissolved.
Put the lid on and turn on the manual pressure setting for 5 minutes of high pressure. Use a natural release.
Remove the lid and fluff the rice.
Notes
To avoid the 'burn' notice: Scale this recipe to your Instant Pot. For example, a single cup of rice will work fine in a 3qt or 6qt, but if your machine is 8qt, I recommend a larger batch. Also, Instant Pots don't seem to like tomatoes being against the bottom of the pot while cooking, so if you decide to use tomato sauce or add salsa, etc., don't mix it in before cooking, just place it on top of the rice.
Deglaze the pan well: This is also important to avoid the 'burn' message. Add the broth and stir well, scraping up any brown bits before adding the rice.
To scale the recipe: There's no need to increase or decrease the cooking time.