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This Instant Pot lentils and rice recipe for the pressure cooker is easy, delicious and versatile! Both grains cook together in the pot for simple assembly.

Smoky Instant Pot Lentils and Rice (Pressure Cooker) | A Couple Cooks

Meet our new favorite: this Instant Pot lentils and rice recipe! It came about as an accident, actually! I wanted to make a bowl meal with both lentils and rice, and needed to cook both of them. Alex and I knew you could cook rice in an Instant Pot, but wondered whether both lentils and rice could cook together our the Instant Pot (pressure cooker)! We tried it out using brown rice and lentils of the French variety, and added some spices to make them taste smoky and meaty. And guess what…

It worked! The Instant Pot lentils and rice cooked perfectly together, and the brown rice cooked much faster than on the stovetop! These lentils and rice are incredibly versatile: you can use them as a taco filling, as a bowl meal, in nachos, or as a side dish. And, we’re so smitten that we made you a video! Watch below.

Related: Use this recipe as a filling for our Instant Pot Tacos with Smoky Lentils!

Watch how to make Instant Pot lentils and rice

Important notes about this lentils and rice recipe

First, a few notes about this Instant Pot lentils and rice recipe! First, this recipe makes many servings. Since lentils and rice are great as leftovers and incredibly versatile, this makes enough for 10 cups, which is 8 or so servings. You’ll probably find you have leftovers unless you’re making this for a crowd.

Also, this lentils and rice recipe is a component meant to be served in various ways: like as a taco filling, in a bowl meal, or as a side to grilled fish. They’re not meant to be served just as is — so determine how you’d like to use them! Even throwing them over salad greens and topping with cheese crumbles and a few sliced veggies would be perfect. Our favorite way to eat our Instant Pot lentils is in our Instant Pot tacos or on our BEST Vegan Nachos. We’d love to hear how you serve them in the comments below!

How to make Instant Pot lentils and rice

And, a few things to note about the ingredients in our Instant Pot lentils and rice recipe:

Use long grain brown rice! We’ve optimized the timing for long grain brown rice in this Instant Pot rice recipe, so make sure to use this: it’s easy to find at most grocery stores.
Use French lentils! French lentils hold their shape better than green lentils, so we’ve used them here. If at all possible try to find French lentils (also called Puy), but you can use green lentils in a pinch!
Use smoked paprika! To make this Instant Pot brown rice and lentils taste smoky, we’ve used smoked paprika. Sometimes it’s called pimentón
Use fennel seeds. Using fennel seeds brings in a meaty flavor; since fennel seeds are typically used in sausage, the evoke the taste of meat in vegetarian dishes!

Other than keeping these notes in mind, it’s very simple to make Instant pot lentils and rice! Throw the ingredients in the pot, cook on high pressure for 16 minutes, and natural release for 16 minutes.

Looking for healthy Instant Pot recipes?

If you’ve read our other Instant Pot posts, you’ll know Alex and I used to be Instant Pot skeptics. We thought it was mostly helpful for cooking meat, but have found there are plenty of Instant Pot vegetarian recipes like these Instant Pot lentils! Instead of being just another kitchen appliance, we’ve enjoyed using our pressure cooker to simplify some of our vegetarian basics like sweet potatoes and chickpeas. Here are some of our other favorite Instant Pot recipes so far:

This recipe is…

This Instant Pot lentils and rice recipe is vegetarian, gluten-free, vegan, plant based, dairy free, naturally sweet, and refined sugar free.

Related: Try using our Homemade Vegetable Broth for this recipe!