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.
Watch How to Make Rice Pudding / 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!
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 made in the instant pot that you might enjoy:
- Sabudana Kheer – This gluten-free Sabudana pudding is made with tapioca pearls and milk in the instant pot.
- Seviyan Kheer – Also called Vermicelli Kheer or Semiyan Payasam, this delicious dessert can be made in the instant pot in less than 25 minutes.
- Carrot Pudding – Carrot Kheer is made with carrots, milk, cashews and dates, with the added aroma of cardamom & saffron. A delicious & satisfying desert, with no added sugar.
- Coconut Almond Laddoo – A quick sweet recipe that can be made in just 20 minutes for any occasion.
Rice Pudding / Kheer – Instant Pot
Ingredients
- 5 cups Milk, whole
- 1/2 cup White Rice , preferably small or medium grain, rinsed
- 1/2 cup Sugar , (adjust to taste), see notes
- 1/4 cup Roasted Mixed Nuts, chopped or sliced (cashews, almonds, walnut, pistachios) (optional)
- 1 tablespoon Raisins, (optional)
- 1 teaspoon Cardamom powder (Elaichi), (optional)
- 1/8 teaspoon Saffron (Kesar), (optional)
Instructions
- Sanitize the instant pot steel insert, lid and sealing ring thoroughly. If you have an extra sealing ring for sweet foods, use it.
- Add all the ingredients in the instant pot steel insert. Close lid with vent in sealing position. (Based on your preference, you can add sugar, nuts and raisins after pressure cooking too)
- 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.
Video
Notes
- Try to boil 1/2 cup water in the instant pot on sauté mode, then add other ingredients. Make sure the water is already steaming before adding other ingredients.
- After opening the pot, take the instant pot steel insert out of the pot so the bottom layer does not overcook or stick to the pot.
- Add cinnamon powder and vanilla essence to get a different flavor.
- You can use brown sugar instead of white sugar, based on your preference.
Nutrition
Check out the collection of 10 Instant Pot Indian Desserts from the best blogs here.
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!