Instant Pot Ground Beef and Rice

Our spicy Instant Pot ground beef and rice recipe is a hearty meal sometimes called dirty rice. Served as a side dish or dinner as an easy Ninja Foodi recipe you can add diced vegetables like bell peppers and onions inside too if you like.

Ninja Foodi Ground Beef and Rice

Yes it sounds quite simple, but it may become your new family favorite meal too. You can use long grain or Jasmine rice in Instant Pot to make this. Use what you like.

Easy is our thang I tell you. Some protein, rice, and you could even throw in some frozen mixed veggies if you wanted. Done. You can use any brand of pressure cooker at home like a Crockpot Express or Ninja Foodi will work the same as an IP.

Pressure Cooker Dirty Rice Recipe

You can change it up with the type of meat you use, whether you add bell peppers, and make it as spicy or mild as you’d like. I use what I have on hand at all times. Many times I just have an onion as far as vegetables go so I go with that. It is on our list of favorite cheap Instant Pot recipes because it comes in at about $10 for the whole pot full!

What meat goes good with rice?

Well we make Instant Pot white rice with literally everything BUT it sure does go well with a pound of ground beef mixed in there to make it more of a meal than side dish.

We have so many you’d be able to make a new pressure cooker recipe each night for at least a month or longer. Of course we do cook in our oven (very rarely) when it is our favorite “old school recipe” like ground beef casserole with potatoes too.

Can you use frozen ground beef?

YES! I have forgotten to defrost the meat I needed that night quite a few times, so I explain here how to cook Instant Pot frozen ground beef. You’ll need to follow these steps first, and then proceed to step 1 below once that is done.

What to add to rice to make it taste better

You could add some diced bell peppers, any colors, chopped onions, finely diced green onions and/or chives, minced garlic and/or a can of diced chiles. We keep it pretty simple but I wouldn’t hesitate to add all of the above if you wanted to really amp this pressure cooker dinner recipe up.

Dirty Rice Ingredients

Ground beef or spicy ground sausage work too when it comes to the main protein. I would not suggest lower fat choices like ground turkey or chicken as they don’t offer as much flavor however will work, they just aren’t my preference. You’ll need some olive oil to brown this in the first step.

Beef broth or chicken broth is needed for the liquid to cook the white rice fluffy. Water would work but won’t offer any flavor so I recommend stock or broth.

If you wanted to add small bits of vegetables I would recommend Onions diced are nice as well as Bell peppers diced we like.

Uncooked white rice, NOT instant variety, is what should be used to make this. The timing is for white, no other variety.

Cajun seasoning can be used for heat and/or crushed red peppers. Then if you have more meat, make our tater tot casserole next!

Made with Brown Rice

You could use uncooked (not Minute) Instant Pot brown rice with this dish though it will take longer. Since ground beef can handle a longer cook time it is okay but you would need to adjust cook time to 22 minutes. That would be the only change.

How to Make Instant Pot Ground Beef and Rice

Add a bit of olive oil + your lean ground beef, onions, and diced bell peppers. We have used ground spicy sausage before and it is probably our favorite choice of meat. Ground turkey could be used too. Saute until meat is no longer pink, then turn pot off.

1. Deglaze your pot with a bit of your chicken broth. (if you have a non stick pot this really isn’t that necessary)
2. Sprinkle in all the seasonings you want with your cooked meat and stir together.
3. Pour remaining broth into pot and stir
4. Then sprinkle your uncooked Ninja foodi rice in but do NOT stir!
5. Simply submerge it into the liquid below just a bit
6. Close your lid and set steam valve to sealing position. Then hit your rice button
   • if you don’t have one, push high pressure for 12 minutes
7. Allow for a 3 minute natural release, then turn venting position to open for a quick release
8. Fluff rice and serve!!

You could use the leftovers next day to make ground beef egg rolls too.

Tips for Cooking Rice and Meat in Instant Pot at the Same Time

The biggest tip to remember is that you should not stir rice in, just submerge. It does need to be covered so it can soak in and cook appropriately however if it is stirred or pushed down to the bottom it will likely trigger the burn notice and stop cooking. If you cover the bottom with the meat that will help ensure it stays above that.

Other Easy Instant Pot Hamburger Recipes You’ll Love

We make a lot of these since hamburger meat is so easy to find and pretty inexpensive too. Once you’ve enjoyed this one, I suggest you go on to make a few other Instant Pot ground beef recipes too.

Another variation would be to make a Instant Pot cheesy ground beef rice casserole by adding 1 cup of cheese at the end. Once this is done just stir in shredded cheese and set lid on again for 5 minutes so it can melt. Stir and serve!

• Use it as a side dish or main meal some night and let us know what you think!
• Then try our Instant Pot sausage and rice recipe that uses links instead of ground meat.