This Instant Pot Takikomi Gohan is Japanese mixed rice with chicken and vegetable pressure cooked in a savory dashi broth. It makes a delicious and quick weeknight meal!
Looking for more ways to cook various rice dishes in your instant pot? Today we will use the trusty pressure cooker to make Instant Pot Takikomi Gohan, a versatile Japanese rice dish with a colorful mix of ingredients. Everything is cooked in one pot, and nutrition wise, it is a wholesome, comfort food to enjoy on a hectic weeknight.
This rice recipe is specifically created for those of you who practically cook everything with the instant pot. If you don’t own an instant pot, you can prepare takikomi gohan following my rice cooker method.
Watch How to Make Instant Pot Takikomi Gohan
This Instant Pot Takikomi Gohan is Japanese mixed rice with chicken and vegetable pressure cooked in a savory dashi broth. It makes a delicious and quick weeknight meal!
What is Takikomi Gohan?
Takikomi Gohan (炊き込みご飯) is a Japanese rice dish cooked with dashi and soy sauce along with mushrooms, vegetables, meat, or fish.
Takikomi Gohan often includes seasonal ingredients such as matsutake mushrooms in Matsutake Gohan or chestnuts in Kuri Gohan. We also put different ingredients to make all kinds of variations. On the blog, we have:
- Gobo and Miso Takikomi Gohan
- Sweet Onion Takikomi Gohan
- Ginger Rice
- Sansai Gohan (Rice with Mountain Vegetables)
- Classic Takikomi Gohan (stovetop)
There is a similar dish called Maze Gohan (混ぜ御飯), which flavorful ingredients are mixed into cooked rice.
4 Key Points when Making Instant Pot Takikomi Gohan (Japanese Mixed Rice)
1. Cut the ingredients into similar sizes.
Ingredients should be cut into similar sizes for two reasons. One, you don’t want to eat chunky big ingredients when you’re eating soft tender rice. And two, all the ingredients are cooked at the same time; therefore, tougher ingredients should be cut into slightly smaller than tender ingredients.
2. Add the seasonings right before cooking rice.
Takikomi gohan is always cooked with soy sauce and salt. These ingredients prevent the rice from absorbing water, so make sure to soak the rice for 20-30 minutes before cooking. Japanese short grain rice is ALWAYS soaked prior to cooking because it is more plump and thicker and it takes time to become tender.
3. Do not mix rice and ingredients.
When you add the ingredients to the rice, you may want to mix it all up. Actually, it’s best not to. In order for the rice to cook evenly, rice should not be mixed up with the ingredients, and stay below the ingredients. That way, rice gets access to water easily without interferences from the meat and vegetables.
4. Fluff the rice after 10-minute natural release
Set timer for 10 minutes when the Instant Pot beeps to let you know it’s done cooking. Then release remaining pressure by opening the valve. You do not want to keep too much moisture in the cooker, so open up the pot and release the moisture and fluff up the rice.
Japanese Ingredients in Takikomi Gohan & Their Substitute
Don’t feel restricted to use the same ingredients when it comes to Takikomi Gohan. As I mentioned earlier, Takikomi Gohan has many variations and you can definitely make yours with whatever you like. Here are the ingredients I used today, with tips on substitution.
- Dried shiitake mushrooms: Shiitake mushrooms, especially dried ones, have amazing aroma and flavors. Plus, you can get the delicious “shiitake dashi” out of the soaking water, which you can use to cook the rice! You can find dried shiitake mushrooms at any Japanese or Asian grocery stores and online at Amazon. Alternatively, you can use fresh shiitake mushrooms (but can’t get dashi out of fresh ones) or other mushrooms.
- Gobo (burdock root): Japanese/Asian grocery stores and Whole Foods carry gobo, but it may be costly or come in bulk (I have many gobo recipes). If you can’t find it, you can skip and add other root vegetables, such as turnips.
- Aburaage (deep-fried tofu pouch): The tofu pouch adds extra flavors & texture to the mixed rice, so I almost always like to add this ingredient. It’s the same tofu skin used for Inari Sushi, but it’s not seasoned (basically the tofu skin before seasoned). You will find it in a freezer or tofu section at Japanese grocery stores and sometimes Asian grocery stores carry similar deep fried tofu that is a small cube shape. You can cut it up for use.
- Mitsuba (Japanese parsley): This Japanese herb makes the dish extra tasty, yet it is extremely hard to find if you don’t have a well-stocked Japanese grocery store. Use chives or green onion/scallion instead to add some green color.
- Dashi: The fundamental Japanese stock is what makes the rice dish “authentic” Japanese. Chicken broth or vegetable broth will not make Takikomi Gohan. You can use any dashi you like – Awase Dashi (Kombu + Katsuobushi), Kombu Dashi, and Shiitake Dashi. You can pick 3 ways to make dashi (dashi powder, dashi packet, or from scratch).
The Wonder of Instant Pot Japanese Mixed Rice
Besides being convenient, you’ll learn that takikomi gohan makes a great template for trying new flavor combinations. I hope you can lean on the recipe anytime when you need to make a fulfilling meal for the family.
Japanese Ingredient Substitution: If you want to look for substitutes for Japanese condiments and ingredients, click here.
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Instant Pot Takikomi Gohan
Video
Ingredients
- 2 rice measuring cups uncooked Japanese short-grain rice (180 ml x 2 = 360 ml; 10.6 oz, 300 g)
- 2 dried shiitake mushrooms
- ¼ cup water (to hydrate dried shiitake mushrooms)
- 1 chicken thigh (4-5 oz, 113-142 g)
- ½ Tbsp sake (for marinating chicken)
- 1.8 oz gobo (burdock root) (⅓ cup sliced gobo)
- 1.8 oz carrot (⅓ cup sliced carrot)
- 1 piece aburaage (deep-fried tofu pouch)
- 3 sprig mitsuba (Japanese parsley) (for garnish; or use green onion)
Seasonings
- 1 ½ cup dashi (Japanese soup stock; click to learn more)
- 1 ½ Tbsp soy sauce (Use gluten-free soy sauce for GF)
- 1 Tbsp mirin
- ½ tsp kosher/sea salt (I use Diamond Crystal; use half for table salt)
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients. Make dashi if you don’t have it around already and let it cool to room temperature (you can place the pot with dashi in it over a bowl of iced water).
To Prepare Rice
- In a large bowl, measure and add 2 rice measuring cups (360 ml). Rinse the rice under cold water, by gently rubbing the rice with your fingertips in a circling motion. Submerge the rice in water and pour out the starchy water. Rinse and repeat until the water becomes clear. Soak rice in water for 20-30 minutes. Meanwhile, start preparing the ingredients.
- Here's how the rice looks before and after soaking for 20 minutes. Drain water completely. Set aside for 10 minutes. If you don’t have time to wait, then shake off the excess water the best you can.
To Prepare Ingredients
- In a small bowl, add dried shiitake mushrooms and ¼ cup water. Put a heavy object on top so the shiitake mushrooms will be submerged under water. Let them soaked till tender or while you prep other ingredients.
- Cut the chicken thigh into slanted, smaller bite-sized pieces. I use “Sogigiri” Japanese cutting technique to create more surface so it will cook faster. Add ½ Tbsp sake to remove any unwanted smell from the chicken.
- Peel gobo skin with the back of a knife. You don’t use a vegetable peeler to peel gobo’s skin because the earthy delicious flavor is just right below the skin and you don’t want to peel it off. Cut the gobo in half lengthwise.
- Thinly slice each half diagonally. Soak the gobo in water to prevent it from turning brown and to remove any astringent taste.
- Cut the carrot in half lengthwise and thinly slice diagonally.
- Pour hot water over aburaage to get rid of the excess oil. Some people skip this step as the oil is cleaner these days. I do it anyway. Cut in half lengthwise.
- Cut the tofu pouch into thin slices and squeeze water out.
- Roughly, you will need ⅓ cup each of sliced carrot, sliced gobo, and sliced aburaage.
- By now shiitake mushrooms should be hydrated and tender. Squeeze them to remove the excess liquid in the bowl. We will use this reserved liquid “Shiitake Dashi”. Remove the stem from each shiitake mushrooms.
- Thinly slice the mushrooms. If it’s a big mushroom, cut the slices in half.
- In a 2-cup measuring cup, add 2 Tbsp shiitake dashi (the reserved liquid from hydrating shiitake mushrooms). If you are worried about small particles that are left in the liquid, you can strain the liquid using a tea strainer. Then in the same measuring cup, add 1 ½ Tbsp soy sauce, 1 Tbsp mirin, and ½ tsp salt.
- Lastly, add dashi so that the seasoning is 360 ml.
- In a large bowl, add chicken, shiitake mushrooms, carrot, gobo, aburaage, and the seasoning from the previous step. Mix well.
To Cook Rice
- Transfer drained rice and make sure the rice is evenly distributed and flat.
- Add the ingredients and seasoning liquid on top of the rice. DO NOT MIX rice and the ingredients. Try to evenly distribute the ingredients and flatten without mixing with rice.
- Close the lid and click MANUAL. Set HIGH pressure for 2 minutes.
- Make sure the steam release handle points at “sealing” and not “venting.” The float valve goes up when pressurized (it takes roughly 10 minutes to pressurize).
- When it’s finished cooking, the Instant Pot will beep and switch automatically to the “Keep Warm” mode. Let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes (10-minute natural release) and then proceed with a quick release by turning the steam release handle to the “venting” position to let steam out until the float valve drops down. DO NOT EXCEED MORE THAN 10 MINS. I recommend setting a timer. When you do a quick release, hold a kitchen towel and do not place your hand or face over steam release valve. The steam should be left only a little bit after 10 minutes of natural release.
- Fluff the rice with a rice scooper immediately to avoid burning the rice on the bottom. Instead of “mixing”, try to “cut” the rice at a 45 degrees angle as you fluff.
- Cut the mitsuba into small pieces. If you don’t have mitsuba, you can use green onion.
- Serve Takikomi Gohan in individual bowls and garnish with mitsuba.
To Store
- The best way to store Japanese rice is to freeze, even if you use it the following day. Read this post.
