Here’s an old family recipe, updated for the Instant Pot: Rice Pilaf

NOTES:
🥘 I have changed this recipe a lot since I started making it on my own. So those of you that are familiar with it in some form may notice some differences. Try it my way and then make your own changes.
🥘 Read the whole thing ahead of time as I do include a “WHILE YOU ARE DOING THIS” task.
🥘 Why is it brand specific? Because it’s an old family recipe and I’ve been warned that if any of the ingredients are different, it tastes terrible. That’s enough of a warning for me, so I haven’t tried to change those items up.

INGREDIENTS
– 2 cups of angel hair pasta, broken into maybe 1″ pieces (you should have 2 cups when you’re done. I measure into a glass pyrex liquid measure just because)
– 1 stick of butter
– 2 cups of Uncle Ben’s Converted Rice (yes, this matters)
– 2 Knorr’s Chicken Boullion cubes (yes, this also matters)
– 4 cups of water in something big enough to hold it all at once, that is also preferably microwave safe
– a little salt (this will take some tinkering on your own)
– an Instant Pot. [mine]

DIRECTIONS
1. Press the “Saute” button on the Instant Pot (hereinafter “IP”).
2. Put your stick of butter in and shift it around until it is melted. I use the small “Spanky” wooden stirrer thing [here] to do this. A wooden spoon works fine, but I like the “Spanky.” It’s fun to write and say.
3. WHILE YOU ARE DOING THIS, put your two boullion cubes in the 4 cups of water and put it in the microwave for five minutes. You can also do this first, if you like, I won’t judge. When it is done, the water should look more like cloudy broth. If there are giant blobs of boullion, go ahead and stir those in. Trust me. These are not blobs of sugary goodness like when you are making chocolate pudding or oatmeal with brown sugar. TRUST ME AND STIR THEM IN.
4. Put your 2 cups of broken angel hair pasta into the IP with the melted butter. Stir it around with the Spanky until it is browned. Like a nice, golden brown. Not BURNED, brown.
5. Put your 2 cups of Uncle Ben’s Converted Rice into the IP.
6. Pour your boullion water mixture into the IP.
7. Put your salt on top. Start with a three-finger pinch of salt. If it isn’t salty enough when you eat it, change it up next time.
8. STIR STIR STIR STIR
9. Put the lid on the IP and hit “Manual” and set the time to 20 minutes.
10. Let it cook for the 20 minutes. Now is a good time to have a glass of wine or do whatever other stuff you have to do for dinner. We usually eat this by itself, but it makes a spectacular party dish or a side too.
11. Let the IP naturally release for 10 minutes. That is, it will release pressure slowly on its own.
12. When you are almost ready to eat, shoot the release valve lever over to “release”. If it is ready to eat, you won’t hear any hissing as the steam escapes. Otherwise, wait until the hissing stops before opening the IP.
13. Enjoy.
14. Tell me how much you love me for sharing this recipe with you.