Instant Pot Beef and Brown Rice Burrito Bowls
Try this Instant Pot Beef and Brown Rice Burrito Bowls recipe, or contribute your own.
Try this Instant Pot Beef and Brown Rice Burrito Bowls recipe, or contribute your own.
- Carbohydrate 174.488337813841 g
- Cholesterol 408.6350405 mg
- Fat 88.504027351913 g
- Fiber 11.2277689810223 g
- Protein 137.173538622313 g
- Saturated Fat 41.3218306740285 g
- Serving Size 1 1 recipe (1426g)
- Sodium 2752.79815261607 mg
- Sugar 163.260568832819 g
- Trans Fat 8.94787732080297 g
- Calories 2058 calories
Step-by-step
- Chop mushrooms super fine or blend in a food processor. In a larger bowl, combine ground beef and mushrooms and kneed until mixed well.
- Turn Instant Pot onto saute and wait until it is hot to add meat. Cook meat until no longer pink then drain off excess fat and water. Turn Instant Pot off.
- Return meat to pot then add brown rice and broth on top. Don't stir. Add taco seasoning to the top and use a spoon to lightly move it around. Do not disturb the rice below.
- Close Instant Pot and set to sealing position. Select manual high pressure (the manual button or the pressure cook button on the newer models) and set timer for 22 minutes. When timer is up allow for a full natural release (this takes about 12-15 minutes).
- Give everything a good stir then move the rice mixture to the side. Add black beans to the empty space and close up the pot. Let it sit for 5 minutes to warm the beans. Do not set it for any cook setting because you will burn the rice and beans!
- Once beans are warmed give everything another good stir and serve! Top with all of your favorite toppings.
Throwing brown rice, ground meat, and broth into a pressure cooker all at once without accounting for grain density leads directly to unevenly cooked starches and scorched bottoms. Rice requires specific liquid ratios to hydrate fully under pressure, which means layering the ingredients precisely without stirring is mandatory for preventing the dreaded burn notice on high-wattage cookers. When chopping the button mushrooms to blend into the lean ground beef, pulsing them until they mimic the texture of minced meat ensures they render their moisture completely during the initial saute phase without leaving watery pockets in the finished base.
Batch cooking this grain and protein mixture works remarkably well for advance meal preparation, provided the cooked base is cooled rapidly to room temperature before portioning into airtight glass containers. Stored properly in the refrigerator, the beef and rice base maintains its structural integrity for up to four days without the grains breaking down into a gummy paste. Freezing is equally viable for extended storage lasting up to three months, though dairy toppings like sour cream and shredded cheese must be omitted entirely prior to freezing because emulsions break and separate into unappealing pools of fat upon thawing.
Reheating frozen portions requires adding a tablespoon of water or beef broth to the container before covering it loosely and microwaving at medium power in two-minute increments, stirring frequently to ensure heat distributes evenly through the dense center of the packed rice. Alternatively, transferring a thawed portion to a small saucepan over medium-low heat with a tight-fitting lid allows steam to reconstitute the grains gently without scorching the bottom of the pan. Fresh garnishes like diced tomatoes, cilantro, and avocado should always be applied after the heating process is complete to preserve their vibrant textures and bright, contrasting temperatures against the warm grain bed.
Swapping the brown rice for white long-grain rice demands a drastic reduction in cooking time down to six minutes under high pressure, because white rice lacks the tough outer bran layer that slows down liquid absorption. Quinoa or farro can also replace the brown rice, though each alternative grain brings vastly different starch levels and water absorption rates that require careful calibration of the liquid volume to prevent either a watery soup or a dry, unpalatable mass.
