Kheer or Payasam is an Indian favorite dessert for special occasions. It is basically rice pudding made with rice and milk infused with saffron, cardamom and assorted dried fruits. This Kheer made in the instant pot is a game changer. The best thing about this, no stirring and it is ready in less than 40 mins!
Traditionally making kheer meant keeping milk and rice on the stove for 2 hours and stirring it frequently until the milk thickens and becomes creamy. With the Porridge setting in instant pot, the same thing happens, but you just dump all the ingredients and go your happy way to enjoy yourself!
As Diwali is approaching, I have been wanting to make some desserts that we can share with family and friends. Food, or rather desserts are integral part of Indian Diwali celebrations. You visit friends or have them over. But really, everywhere you go, you will find a table full of snacks and desserts laid out for you to enjoy. Oh, I love Diwali (how can a foodie not? 😉
This is going to be my dessert addition to Diwali potluck’s this year – Instant Pot Kheer.
How to make Kheer in Instant Pot?
This rice pudding is super easy with just adding all ingredients to the instant pot and setting it on porridge mode. The instant pot does it’s magic and perfect aromatic rice kheer is ready for you in 30 mins. If you have not tried kheer in instant pot yet, you just have to!
Here is a short 1-minute video of how you can make rice kheer in the instant pot.
I hope you enjoy this easy and delicious Instant Pot Indian Dessert – Rice Pudding. Do share how it turned out!
Here are some other dessert that you might enjoy – Brown Rice Kheer, Seviyan Kheer, Carrot Pudding and Coconut Almond Laddoo.
★ DID YOU TRY THIS RECIPE? Don’t forget to give a ★ rating. Just click on the stars in the Recipe Card to rate!
An Indian favorite dessert for special occasions - Rice pudding made with rice and milk infused with saffron, cardamom and assorted dried fruits.
- 5 cups Milk whole
- 1/2 cup White Rice preferably small or medium grain, rinsed
- 1/2 cup Sugar (adjust to taste)
- 1/4 cup Roasted Mixed Nuts chopped or sliced (cashews, almonds, walnut, pistachios) (optional)
- 1 tbsp Raisins (optional)
- 1 tsp Cardamom powder (Elaichi) (optional)
- 1/8 tsp Saffron (Kesar) (optional)
Add everything in the instant pot. Close lid with vent in sealing position.
Set instant pot to PORRIDGE mode for 20 minutes on high pressure. When instant pot beeps, let the pressure release naturally.
Open Instant Pot and mix well. Rice pudding is ready. Serve warm or chilled.
If needed, to get the desired consistency, cook on SAUTE mode for 2-3 mins. Or add more milk, mix and let it boil for a minute.
- Sanitize the instant pot thoroughly - the steel insert, lid and sealing ring. If you have an extra sealing ring for sweet foods, use it.
- If you don't have already roasted nuts. Add 1 tbsp of ghee in the instant pot and saute the nuts for about a minute. Then follow the recipe.
- When kheer is stored, it gets thicker and creamier. If you prefer, you can thin the consistency by adding more milk.
- This recipe was created in a 6qt Instant Pot DUO60 Multi-use Pressure Cooker. I do not recommend making this in a 3qt or doubling the recipe in a 6qt, as the milk boils and can come out.
- Variations:
- Add cinnamon powder and vanilla essence to get a different flavor.
- You can use brown sugar instead of white sugar, based on your preference.
Note: Nutrition values are my best estimates. If you rely on them for your diet, use your preferred nutrition calculator.
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Check out the collection of 10 Instant Pot Indian Desserts from the best blogs here.
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This recipe looks wonderful. Do you know if I can make this in a cuisinart electric pressure cooker (cpc-600). It didn’t have a porridge setting. Thank you!
Hey Nicole – Thank you. I have not tried in a cuisinart pressure cooker, so hard for me to say. The main thing with porridge setting is that it cooks at a lower temperature than pressure cooking. IF there is such a setting in the cuisinart, that might work. I would love to hear if you try it!
Will basmati rice work for this recipe?
Hey Susan – Yes, basmati rice will work for kheer. Hope you enjoy it!
Can this be made with soy or almond milk?
Hey Syema – I have not tried myself, but some readers reported back that they made this kheer with almond milk and enjoyed it. So do give it a try!
Have made it few times already & it turned out perfect every time. Can i double the recipe in 6 qt ?
Hey Dimpy – Glad to hear you enjoyed the kheer. I have not doubled the recipe, but another reader did and said it worked for them. So I would say give it a try, but be close to the instant pot, just in case it overflows. Please do share the result if you try doubling the kheer.
Do you think I can double the recipe if I have an 8 qt?
Thanks!
Hey Zahraa – Yes, I believe that will work. One of the readers did double and it worked fine. Hope you enjoy it!
What about pressure setting ?
High or medium
Going to make first time in instant pot
Thanks
Hey Kiran – I used the default high pressure setting on Porridge mode. I have clarified in the recipe. Hope you enjoy it!
I’m curious how this would taste if you didn’t use saffron. If needed for flavor can you suggest something different? I haven’t ever used saffron because it so expensive!
Hey Pam – You can absolutely skip saffron and it will still be great. I have made it without saffron many times too. Hope you enjoy it!
I made the kheer last night for the first time ever and it was delicious. The color was a little brownish though. I used 1% milk instead of whole milk and a little less sugar than it asked for and it turned out great!
Thank you for such an easy recipe!
Hey Baljit – So happy to hear you enjoyed the kheer. It does get slightly brownish when cooked under pressure, but still has the same great taste. Thank you for sharing your review!
Hi
Thank you so much for the milk kheer recipe..
I tried it with doubling the ingredients and it was super hit at the get together
Hey Sathya – So happy to hear that everyone enjoyed the kheer at your get together. Thank you for sharing your review 🙂
Yesterday I made this almost exactly as written (I used only 4 cups of milk, and I omitted the saffron). It is absolutely delicious! Thank you so much for posting this recipe!
So happy to hear you enjoyed the rice pudding, Dana. Thank you for sharing your review!
I just got the instant pot and this was the first recipe I tried. It tastes good but it turned out a bit messy for me. Even though I cooked it with lesser quantity that listed in recipe I had a lot of milk come out of the closed steamer valve. Not sure if its suppose to do this. But it made the top lid of instant pot covered with splashes of milk.
Hey Sakshi – Sorry to hear that happened. Ideally the milk should not come out, maybe next time add even lesser milk before cooking, and then some add later after cooking in porridge mode. What size instant pot are you using? I am glad at least the taste was good. Please do clean the lid and parts properly, before using for other dishes.
Made this today- was a bit thicker than what we prefer so added some more milk and simmered it for a little bit. It was delicious- we all enjoyed it. Thanks
Hey Saima – Sure, do adjust the milk as needed. It also thickens as you refrigerate it. Glad you like the kheer 🙂
Mine came out brown. And tasted a bit odd too. Not burnt but different.
Hey Stuti – My kheer was a bit brown too, but the taste was the same. I hear that there is some caramelization when milk is cooked under pressure. I am sorry to hear you did not enjoy the taste. Maybe a slow cooked kheer recipe might work better.
Can v do this as pot in pot style and close the lid the pot inside?
Hey Avi – I have not tried pot-in-pot for kheer, so cannot say how it will work. I typically don’t close the pot I use inside for cooking with PIP method.
The Kheer turned brown in the instant pot – did I do something wrong? I put it on porridge for 20 mins like you mentioned but was the pressure to be high or low? I know the brown comes from sugars caramelizing if the heat is too high – how can we avoid that in IP?
Hey Jaz – It did not happen to me, however the option I see is to add sugar after the kheer is cooked in porridge mode. I used the default high pressure setting for porridge mode. I hope the kheer you have made tastes good!
It still tastes yum but it has a reddish brown Color and I can taste a bit of the caramelization – I will try your tip next time ! Thanks!
Glad it still tastes good! Let me know if you try with adding sugar later ????
Thank you for the recipe!
Will it also work for vermicelli kheer?
Hey Dwayne – I think the settings would be different for vermicelli kheer, as vermicelli cooks very quickly. I will share that once I have a foolproof recipe for it.
Looks so yummy! I’ve never had IP. I did not know that the MINI exist. It would be perfect for. Can’the wait to get it, and too cook this pudding. I even have a saffron! 😉 Thank you for sharing! Your baby is so cute!
I just read my own comments… OMG! My phone missed some words, and added some extra “abracadabra”. Hope you understand. 🙂
Instant Pot is perfect for such pudding’s. I was excited when I just threw in the ingredients and the result for this creamy delicious pudding. I hope you win the mini!
(I don’t see the abracadabra anymore 🙂 )
I’m guessing this would also work in a pressure cooker. Going to try it anyway, since I haven’t decided yet whether to buy an instant pot. Is white sugar the ‘culturally appropriate’ sweetener or would molasses or molasses brown sugar (jaggery?) be more appropriate, at least in some areas of India? I might try agave nectar sometime also. I use it in my chai all the time now.
I also learned (from someone who makes Chinese breakfast rice porridge often), that if you wash and then freeze your rice, it breaks up and turns into a porridge consistency very quickly.
Hello Rachel…yes, you can make it in a regular pressure cooker. I would keep it for half the time, as I made this in the porridge mode which keeps the instant pot at a regulated lower temperature. Traditionally kheer was made in a pot on stovetop, keeping it at low flame for more than an hour to get the thick consistency.
White sugar is what we typically use in India for Kheer. But jaggery or agave are great choices too, and might imparts a little different taste than sugar. But I am sure will still be delicious.
I have not heard about the Chinese trick before, certainly sounds interesting. Let me know if you try it! Hope you enjoy the rice pudding.
I finally got around to trying it. Very simple to do in the pressure cooker (I set it a bit above ‘rice’). I did end up leaving it uncovered to cook a bit longer, but I’ve got a nice consistency now- I think partly due to the frozen rice trick. As I ended up buying extra milk, I may experiment with the agave and maybe with some rose water. Some of the recipes call for it, but the first time I made some, I overdid it, so didn’t want to chance it this time. Thank you very much for the recipe.
Yay…Glad you liked the rice pudding. It is wonderful when it is thick and creamy. This is a great versatile dish to try variations, do let me know how the rose water works!