I grew up eating rice every day. White rice. Oh my gosh…so yum. On the occasion that I let my family eat white rice, we really EAT. IT. UP. There are no leftovers. We’re all fighting for the last grain of rice. Unfortunately for my family, I rarely cook just white rice. We’re always looking to add more fiber to our diet. So as a compromise, I mix brown and white rice together. I’ve only recently figured out that the family will eat all brown rice with the proper sauce applied on top. This Instant Pot Butternut Squash Congee doesn’t have a sauce but it does have the subtle sweet taste of butternut squash covering every morsel of brown rice.
What is congee? Congee is a creamy rice porridge found in many countries. The cooking process breaks down the rice and releases starch into the mixture which helps create the creamy consistency found in congee. There are many names for congee, from “zhou” in China to “xifan” in Taiwan to “risotto” in Italy. Each region uses different types of rice and adds different ingredients to create its own taste.
Butternut squash and brown rice both have high fiber content. One cup of butternut squash has 2.8g of fiber, while one cup of brown rice has 3.5g of fiber. Total fiber count in this recipe is a whopping 14g!
This Instant Pot Butternut Squash Congee is super flexible and can be spruced up to your tastes. Keep it vegetarian or throw in some sausages or spiced ground pork. If you add cheese to it, instead of congee, you get risotto! You can serve it as a main dish or as a side.
This one pot meal can be prepared in all of 5 minutes! The half hour cook / release time is made for relaxing. Beware, if you don’t already have diced butternut squash ready to go, cutting butternut squash does take additional time.
Instant Pot Butternut Squash Congee
Equipment
- Pressure Cooker or Instant Pot
Ingredients
- 1½ C brown rice
- 4 C low sodium chicken stock / broth or just water
- 3 C diced butternut squash
- 1 pkg sausage optional, 12oz
- ½ C shredded cheese optional
Instructions
- If using sausage, cut the sausages into bit size slices, else jump to the next step. Set the Instant Pot in "Saute" mode. Once the Instant Pot shows "HOT," heat / brown the sausage for 1-2 minutes. Remove from the Instant Pot and set aside for later.
- Add in the chicken broth. If you heated/browned the sausage in the Instant Pot, deglaze the inner pot by scrubbing all the brown bits off the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon.
- Add in the rice and butternut squash.
- Close the lid and turn the venting knob to the "sealing" position. Set the Instant Pot in "Manual" mode at 22 minutes. After the cook time is up, let the Instant Pot naturally release for 10 minutes and then release the remaining pressure by turning the venting knob to the "venting" position.
- Stir until the butternut squash blends in completely with the rice. If desired, stir in the shredded cheese and the sausage.
- Enjoy while fresh out of the Instant Pot!
Adapted from Confessions of a Fit Foodie Instant Pot Butternut Squash Risotto
