Jollof Rice Instant Pot

Jollof Rice Instant Pot

Can you please come up with an instant pot recipe for the jallop rice? – no you mean Jollof – my daughter always gets the pronunciation wrong – we have researched the instant pot fried rice world and experimented with a range of so called Jollof Rice dishes – and after much testing, we have developed a really flavorful dish based on some famous chefs like Rick Stein and Gordon Ramsey – not too hot and spicy, but also not to dull either.

How to cook jollof rice? (including how to make Vegan Jollof rice – we use coconut oil and swap the chicken for jackfruit – also see our jackfruit rendang). It is an easy recipe to make instant pot jollof rice.

Indonesian Yellow Rice is also another favorite international rice dish.

Rice is one of the staple foods for much of the world and you can make this recipe with almost any type of rice.

You will love jollof rice, and almost everyone has their own favorite recipe – there are some real favorites specifically Caribbean Jollof Rice. Others of course are Spanish rice, instant pot Mexican rice and the endless argument of which is better Ghana or Nigerian jollof rice.

What Is Jollof Rice

It is a popular rice dish in the Caribbean and also in West African countries like Nigeria, Ghana, Gambia, and Senegal. And is not dissimilar to Mexican rice.

It is a simple instant pot rice dish recipe where the rice (can be parboiled rice if you do not have a pressure cooker) is cooked with spices, broth (for vegetable broth for vegetarian version), peppers, onions, and traditionally simmered in a tomato sauce which forms the base.

This recipe is very flexible and you can add ingredients that you like once you have a little experience making the dish. Recipes also differ from country to country and everyone thinks they have the best.

What Does Jollof Rice Look Like?

It looks like a red to orange color depending on how much tomato and paprika you use – the pepper sauce made for this recipe is a bright red.

Bright Red Jollof Rice Pepper Sauce
Bright Red Jollof Rice Pepper Sauce

Jollof Rice Instant Pot

What Are the PEPPER Sauce Mix Ingredients

  • 1 medium Fresh tomato
  • 1 medium Red Bell pepper
  • 1 small Onion
  • 1/2 scotch bonnet or small hot chili This is optional (you can also add a pinch of cayenne pepper)

Step By Step Guide To Making Jollof Rice

(With A Video)

Pepper Mix Blend together the pepper mix ingredients and measure out a cup. You need 1 cup of pepper mix for this recipe. Store the remaining for future use.

Saute: Set the instant pot to saute then add vegetable oil in the inner pot of the instant pot then add chopped onions. Fry the onion for about 2 minutes and then add the courgettes (make sure you keep stirring to avoid burning).

Add Tomato Puree
Add Tomato Puree

Add the diced and chopped onions. Fry the onion for 2 minutes or until clear(make sure you keep stirring to avoid burning).

Then add the Courgette, tomato puree and keep stirring.

Add Courgettes
Add Courgettes

Now continue and add the spring onion and 1 cup of the pepper sauce you just made. Followed by the curry, and chicken stock cube.

Bright Red Jollof Rice Pepper Sauce
Bright Red Jollof Rice Pepper Sauce

While still on saute, and then washed rice and stir. Continue to add while stirring the paprika, diced tomato, red and green pepper and also pour in the 3 cups of chicken broth. Turn off the saute function now.

Add The Rice
Add The Rice

Season with salt and pepper – plus the brown sugar, which just helps reduce the acidity of the tomato in the base mix.

Add The Chicken Broth
Add The Chicken Broth

The next step is to then add back the chicken

Add In The Chicken To the Jollof Rice
Add In The Chicken To the Jollof Rice

Lastly add in your herbs, fresh or powdered. Thyme, Bay Leaves and Parsley. Stir well and make sure none of the rice has stuck to the bottom so that you do not get a burn warning on the instant pot.

Jollof Rice Ingredients
Jollof Rice Ingredients

Jollof Rice Instant Pot

Jollof Rice with Meat – We are using Chicken Thighs – Bone in and skni on to deleivermaximum flavor.
Prep Time30 minutes
Cook Time19 minutes
Course: Brunch, Dinner, Lunch, Rice Dish
Cuisine: Amercian, Asian, Mexican
Keyword:  arborio rice instant pot cook time, Jollof Rice Instant Pot, rice recipe
Servings: 6
Calories: 661kcal
Cost: $7.50

Ingredients

  • 1 Tomato PEPPER SAUCE MIX
  • 1 Red Bell Pepper PEPPER SAUCE MIX
  • 1 Onion PEPPER SAUCE MIX
  • ½ scotch bonnet pepper PEPPER SAUCE MIX
  • 2 cups long grain rice
  • 1 onion
  • 2 tbsp tomato puree
  • ½ tsp curry powder
  • 1 tsp thyme powder Fresh If You Have It
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 tomato Can use can 1/2 can crushed tomatoes
  • 3 cups chicken stock
  • 1 tsp chicken powdered stock
  • 2 lb chicken thighs
  • 1 red bell pepper
  • ½ green bell pepper
  • 2 green onions
  • 2 courgettes
  • 1 tbsp paprika sweet
  • 1 tbsp brown sugar
  • 2 parsley sprigs

Instructions

  • First roughly cut a fresh tomato, red pepper, onion and 1/2 scotch bonnet pepper. (Optional) – mix until it is a smooth – loverly red looking paste
  • Saute Set the instant pot to sautee then add coconut or vegetable oil in the inner pot add in the chicken and brown on each side for 2-3 minutes
  • Add the diced and chopped onions. Fry the onion for 2 minutes or until clear(make sure you keep stirring to avoid burning).
    Then add the Cougette, tomato puree and kepe stirring
  • Now continue and add the spring onion and 1 cup of the pepper sauce you just made. Followed by the curry, and chicken stock cube.
  • While still on saute, and then washed rice and stir. Continue to add while stirring the paprika, diced tomato, red and green pepper and also pour in the 3 cups of chicken broth. Turn off the saute function now.
  • Season with salt and pepper – plus the brown sugar, which just helps reduce the acidity of the tomato in the base mix.
    The next step is to then add back the chicken
  • Lastly add in your herbs, fresh or powdered. Thyme, Bay Leaves and Parsley. Stir well and make sure none of the rice has stuck to the bottom so that you do not get a burn warning on the instant pot.
  • Put On the Lid and cook for 15 minutes at high pressure and 10 minutes of natural release. You will now be ready to serve up – see our pictures and video for some examples of how we plated the dish.

Nutrition

Serving: 300g | Calories: 661kcal | Carbohydrates: 67g | Protein: 34g | Fat: 28g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 152mg | Sodium: 772mg | Potassium: 983mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 11g | Vitamin A: 2018IU | Vitamin C: 84mg | Calcium: 70mg | Iron: 3mg

What Is Good About This Fast And Easy Instant Pot Jollof Rice

Easy and quick – Cooking jollof rice in an instant pot is so much quicker and easier than a stovetop or oven method of cooking it.

The great thing it has all the same authentic taste as the stovetop method.

No burning on the pot and so easy wash up after cooking Just set the timer and come back – no hours of watching the dish cooking. With the instant pot you do need to make sure you deglaze the bottom of the pot and make sure the rice is not sticking there before you push the pressure cook button so you do not get a burn warning.

Jollof Rice Ingredients

This pressure cooker jollof rice recipe is easy and you will likely have all of the ingredients you probably have in your pantry and fridge. And any of the herbs you can substitute for dried instead of fresh.

  • 2 cups Easy cook long grain rice or basmati rice
  • 1/3 cup coconut oil  Can use olive oil
  • 1 cup pepper mix (see above)
  • 1 onion sliced
  • 2 tbsp tomato puree
  • 1/2 tbsp curry powder
  • 1 tsp  thyme powder (fresh if you have it)
  • 1 teaspoon pepper
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 bay leaf
  • 1 fresh tomato sliced (can also used a can crushed tomatoes)
  • 3 cups chicken stock
  • 1 cube powdered chicken stock
  • 1  Red Bell pepper
  • 1/2  Green Bell pepper
  • 2 Green onions
  • 2 courgettes
  • 1 tbs sweet paprika
  • 1 tbs brown sugar
  • 2 sprig parsley

Ingredients For Instant pot Jollof rice

For this Instant pot /pressure cooker recipe you need Rice – you can also use brown rice Bell Peppers Onion Scotch bonnet pepper or small chilies if you like hot Salt Pepper Diced Tomatoes and tomato paste Curry Powder Herbs like coriander The full ingredients and recipe are in the recipe card above

How to Cook Pressure Cooker Jollof rice

  • Blend the pepper and other ingredients.
  • Set the instant pot to hot sautee Add vegetable oil then add chopped onions and cook till just clear then add the tomato puree and stir and cook for a further 3-5 minutes.
  • Fry the onion and tomato puree for few minutes. (make sure you keep stirring to avoid burning).
  • Add the blended pepper mix, stock, curry powder.
  • Cook for another 3-5 minutes then turn off the instant pot.
  • While this is cooking quickly wash the rice.
  • Add the stock, bay leaf and season with salt and pepper Add the washed rice and fresh sliced tomatoes in the instant pot. Stir to mix all together Set instant pot to pressure cook – see recipe card above for all the steps.

And that is it – take off the lid and your amazing tasty Jollof rice is ready to eat.

Top Tips for making Jollof rice in Instant Pot

Stir the instant pot rice and sauce well before cooking in the electric pressure cooker – this helps to prevent the sauce from settling at the bottom and causing burn error.

Add Garlic to the onion for a little extra flavor in making exciting or exotic Jollof Rice – add 1/2 cup of bourbon – make the dish different and delicious.

How to Store jollof rice

  • in the chiller or fridge for up to 3 days.
  • In the freezer for up to 3 months.
  • Always put it in an airtight container or freezer bags

How to make Chicken thighs and Rice in Pressure Cooker

This recipe is a variationof Chicken Thighs and Rice and has some slightly morespicy ingredients – but you have a lot of flexibility in what you use from a mild chili to something hot like a habanero pepper. Before I start cooking anything, I like having all my ingredients ready at arm’s length. So plan your ingredietns and follow the method above.

What rice is best to use for jollof rice?

Easy cook long grain rice is probably the most used rice. But equally you can use most varieties of plain rice.

What does jollof rice taste like?

This recipe taste a bit like a tomato rice stew and with chicken thighs and chicken broth you get a rich creamy delicious dish.

How spicy is this rice?

A traditional Jollof can be quite a spicy rice dish but you can easily reduce the amount of chili or spice in this dish

Why is your jollof rice sticky?

If you find your rice is sticky,probably slightly Too Much Water. Also if your rice looks like it might get sticky, DON’T leave it in the pot.

How do you fix mushy jollof rice?

If you have a really soggy problem, the best solution is to place it in the fridge in an open container. The fridge will pull our the moisture from your Jollof Rice, but stir it every 30 minutes or so – so the moisture is not taken only from the top layer. You could also spread your rice on an oven tray and bake on low temp for about 30 minutes – stirring to help evaporate the moist from the rice. Both of these methods will fix mushy or soggy rice dishes.

What to serve with jollof rice?

  • Chicken or Beef Stew (African-style)
  • Suya Chicken.
  • Plantains are great
  • Jackfruit
  • Tofu
  • Curried Goat Stew.
  • Potato Salad
  • Cucumber Tomato Salad

How To Make Vegan Jollof rice

It is very easy to make vegan jollof rice just replace the broth with a vegetable vegan stock and add something like jackfruit, it is also a little like Indonesian fried rice.

How Do I Reheat Jolif Rice

To reheat – put a cup of water inside the microwave to provide moisture so jollof rice doesn’t dry out and cook for about 1.5 minutes per cup – stop after 1 minute and stir and cheap the temperature. – Cooking times will vary depending on your microwave.

From frozen, microwave on high for 2 minutes – stir and then cook as above – testing after every 90 seconds.