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Try this Instant Pot Salmon and Rice for an amazing quick and healthy weeknight meal. Tender, juicy, flaky Salmon with garlic butter sauce and a slightly flavor induced rice cooked all together in the same pot but separately are what delicious quick dinner dreams are made of.
Table Of Contents
Instant Pot Salmon and White Rice
Imagine juicy buttery absolutely flaky Salmon doused in garlic, lemon juice, dash of chili flakes and chopped garden fresh Italian parsley that’s what you are going to get.
In fact you don’t have to prepare a sauce separately and than pour it over the cooked fish. You’ll be cooking the fish and the sauce together in a foil packet 😉
To accompany the delicious Salmon fillet you’ll have a subtly flavored fluffy rice filled with colorful bell peppers, onion, celery and a big scoop of red pesto. Everything cooked together at the same pot.
Ingredients
Find the Ingredients with actual measurements way below the post on the “Recipe Card“. The list below is just a reference.
For the Rice
- Bell Peppers: Red, orange, green and red.
- Celery.
- Onion.
- Red Pesto.
- White Basmati Rice or any long grain white rice (Not Jasmine).
- Water or Stock (chicken or vegetable).
- Salt to taste.
For the Salmon
- Salmon Fillets or steak (scales removed).
- Butter.
- Garlic.
- Red Chili Flakes.
- Italian Parsley or Dill.
- Lemon Juice.
- Extra Virgin olive oil.
- Salt to taste.
Tips & Tricks
- Rinse the rice very well and several times until you see clear water running through. This helps to remove the surface starch and makes the cooked rice extremely light and fluffy. No more gooey, sticky rice.
- You can slightly increase the amount of red pesto for a strong flavor or even sub it with green pesto. Today’s recipe quantity will reward you with a subtly flavored rice, much to everyone’s liking 🙂
- Fluff the cooked Rice with the help of a fork before serving. This helps the steam to escape quickly hence, preventing the rice from getting over cooked with the residual heat.
- Wash the Salmon fillet, remove the scales (this helps if you love to eat fish skin) and pat the fish dry completely.
- Tightly seal the foil packet otherwise the fish sauce and the juices will leak all over the rice.
- Do not throw the drippings inside the foil packet. Drizzle it over the cooked Salmon while you serve the fish with the cooked rice. The drippings makes an extremely delicious sauce.
Method
**Steps in words below pictures.
Find the detailed step by step recipe along with measurements way below the post on the “Recipe Card“.
Step #1 Prep Salmon
Wash the Salmon fillet and pat them dry. Remove scales if you prefer eating the skin of the fish.
Lay the fillet on foil ( cut them into squares or rectangles).
Drizzle olive oil, lemon juice, sprinkle red chili flakes, salt and chopped parsley.
Finally top with slices of butter and make a foil packet sealing from all sides tightly (demonstrated in the recipe video).
The Salmon Fish foil packets are now ready.
Step #2 Saute Veggies
Set the Instant Pot on SAUTE and keep it on NORMAL.
Add oil and saute the onion first just for 1 min and than add all the veggies and saute for 2 mins.
Step #3 Add Rice and Stock
Add rinsed rice into the pot and gently mix well with the veggies.
Pour the stock or water, add salt, add the red pesto and mix well.
De-glaze the pot really well at this point so that there are absolutely no bits and crumbs stuck at the bottom of the pot.
Step #4 Pressure Cook Salmon and Rice
Place the steamer basket inside the pot and lay the Salmon foil packets on the steamer basket.
Cancel the SAUTE function, close the lid of the Instant Pot, seal the Valve and PRESSURE COOK on HIGH for 5 minutes followed by 10 mins Natural Pressure Release (NPR).
Bring out the steamer basket carefully (it’s hot).
Fluff the rice with the help of a fork.
Dish out – Serve the Salmon on the Rice with the sauce drippings (inside the foil packet) generously poured on top of the fish.
Enjoy!
Storing Tips
Fridge: You can store the dish as a meal – means rice topped with Salmon or you may store the fish and the rice in separate containers.Your choice!Keeps good for 3-4 days in the fridge.
The sauce will solidify as it contains butter, but it will liquefy and become saucy when you re-heat 😀
Freezer: The cooked rice freezes well for upto 2 months. However, I have never tried freezing the cooked Salmon as I always run out of the fish 😀
More Easy Rice Recipes
Instant Pot Salmon and Rice
Print Recipe Pin RateWatch Recipe Video
Ingredients
For Salmon
- 1 pound Salmon (made into 2 fillets, cleaned and scales removed)
- 1/2 tbsp Minced Garlic (or finely grated)
- 1/2 tbsp dried red chili flakes
- 1 tbsp roughly chopped Italian parsley
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 3 tbsp Butter cut into squares (Chilled)
- Salt (to taste)
- Aluminum Foil (for making packets)
For Rice
- 1 cup rinsed White Basmati rice (or any long grain white rice except Jasmine)
- 1/3 cup roughly chopped onion (white or yellow but not sweet onion)
- 1/3 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
- 1/3 cup finely chopped green bell pepper
- 1/3 cup finely chopped orange bell pepper
- 1/3 cup finely chopped yellow bell pepper
- 1/4 cup finely chopped celery
- 2.5 tbsp red pesto
- 1 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Salt to taste
Water for Rice
- 1 cup and 50 ml extra
Equipment Used
Instructions
Prep the Salmon
- Begin by washing the Salmon and removing the Scales if you prefer eating the fish skin. Pat the Salmon fillets completely dry with the help of kitchen towels.
- Lay the Salmon fillets skin side down on individual aluminum foil sheets that's enough to make individual Salmon Foil Packets.
- Sprinkle salt on top of the fish fillets, drizzle olive oil, lemon juice, sprinkle chili flakes according to your liking, sprinkle chopped Italian parsley and finally top the fillets with butter squares (3 squares on each fillet).
- Now, wrap around the aluminum foil and secure the ends tightly so that there are no gaps. While you make a foil packets with the fish inside make sure to leave some space for uniform steaming of the fish. DO NOT Wrap around the fish tightly. Make a foil packet with enough hollow space inside sealing the ends of the packets so that the Salmon juices and the butter sauce won't leak out from the packet. Arrange the Salmon foil packets on the steamer basket.
Prep the Rice
- Set the Instant Pot on SAUTE and keep it on NORMAL.
- Add oil and when the oil becomes moderately hot add the chopped onion and saute for just 1 min.
- Next, add the veggies and saute for 2 more minutes.
- In the meantime Rinse the rice very well several times until you see clear water running through. This is VERY IMPORTANT and helps discard the surface starch from the rice making it extremely fluffy when cooked. You will not have gooey sticky rice ever. Drain the excess water from the rice after rinsing it.
- Now, add the rinsed rice back to the pot and mix it gently with the veggies and use a rubber or wooden spatula. The wet and soft rice grains won't break.
- Add water or stock, salt and the red pesto. Give everything a good mix gently and de-glaze the pot very well at this point so that there are absolutely no bits and crumbs stuck at the bottom of the pot. The rice is ready to be pressure cooked.
Pressure Cook Instant Pot Salmon and Rice
- CANCEL the SAUTE mode.
- Carefully place the steamer basket on top of the rice inside the steel pot of the Instant Pot. Press down the basket a bit so that it's position is all secure.
- Close the lid of the Instant Pot. Seal the Valve.
- Press the PRESSURE COOK button and set it for 5 minutes on HIGH.
- When the cooking cycle is over the Instant Pot will begin to beep. Wait for 10 mins Natural Pressure Release and than release the rest of the pressure manually.
- Open the lid of the Instant Pot and carefully lift out the steamer basket. It can be hot. Use kitchen mittens or towel.
- Now fluff the cooked rice gently with the help of a fork. This is will allow the hot steam escape quickly and prevent the rice from getting over cooked with the residual heat.
- Open the foil packets carefully and make sure not to drop the sauce, fish juices or the drippings, whatever you may call it 😀
- Now, plate the rice and gently place the Salmon fillet on top of the rice, pour a the drippings from the foil packet on top of the Salmon and serve immediately. Enjoy!
Notes
- Measuring Units Used, 1 Cup = 240 ml and 1 teaspoon = 5 ml.
- Something about the Rice: For fluffy well cooked rice always use 1 cup + 50 ml water to every 1 cup rice.
- You can skip the red pesto or sub it with Basil Pesto. However, it’s highly recommended as it adds a great depth of flavor.
- Seal the Foil Packets very well so that they don’t leak.
- Yes, you can eat Salmon skin. it’s really tasty. Do remove the scales.
- The Chili Flakes adds a subtle kick to the flaky Salmon however, if you absolutely do not prefer spicy food do skip it.
- You can Sub the chopped Italian Parsley with Dill.
- You can also top the Salmon with sliced lemon rings.
- SERVING IDEAS: Serve the Salmon on top of the rice and drizzle the drippings or sauce from the foil packet on top of the Salmon. Squeeze some more lemon juice on top of the fish and rice. Enjoy!
- You can Use Water or stock / broth to cook the rice.
Andrea says
Hello-
Interested in making this, looks yummy! I was wondering if I could use parchment in place of foil? Also, could I use frozen salmon, if so would I change anything? Thanks in advance!
Foodies Terminal says
That’s awesome Andrea, hope you like the recipe as much as we do 🙂 Unfortunately, I have never tried cooking Salmon in Parchment packets in the Instant Pot. It might not work well because the sauce and juices from the fish might make the paper soggy and hence, it might pop open! However, you can make the recipe with un-thawed frozen salmon. I would keep the cooking time the same. For thawed frozen salmon 5 mins might be a little too much particularly if the fillets are on the thinner side (wild caught salmon are way thinner in the USA) 🙂 Let me know Andrea if you have any other questions regarding the recipe, would love to answer 🙂 Take care Andrea. – Meghna.
Kathryn McCormick says
The recipe turned out delicious and easy to understand, especially since I had not used the steamer for salmon. Thank you, Meghna!
Foodies Terminal says
So glad to hear that Kathryn 🙂 Thank you so much for your lovely feedback and giving the recipe a try 🙂 Keep coming back for more such good recipes and take care Kathryn 🙂 – Meghna.
Tracy says
This recipe is so flavorful! Thank you so much, I didn’t change anything and the taste was just perfect.
Foodies Terminal says
Thank you Tracy for your lovely feedback. So glad that you loved the recipe 🙂 Keep coming back for more such easy recipes. – Meghna.