Welcome to how to make Nandos Spicy Rice In The Instant Pot. Discover the secret behind delicious Portuguese spicy rice cooked to perfection in the Instant Pot and then served with the Peri Peri Chicken of your choice.
I must say that I am totally and utterly addicted to rice. In fact I can’t remember a time when I didn’t like rice as it was always part of my diet and something that I always got excited over.
Though it has never been good to my abs. I literally look at a Paella and I have gained 9 pounds in weight!
But it doesn’t mean I don’t dream and always want rice. It just means that there is usually some cauliflower rice involved instead these days!
Looking back though my first memory of rice is probably in local restaurants.
I would have some pilau rice at the Indian restaurant with my butter chicken along with a garlic naan bread and it would be foodie heaven. Or trips to the Chinese restaurant would involve a good helping of egg fried rice.
Then as I got older I discovered a love for seafood paella and would be lost without the staple Spanish dish whenever I visited Spain. Even now when we cross the border into Spain I am always talking about where I am going to get my Paella fix!
But now as I find myself celebrating the 9th year of living here in Portugal and I am head over hills truly in love with the food and in particular the rice.
I have eaten out at many Portuguese restaurants and there are 2 staples you will always find with every meal. One would be the delicious Portuguese spicy rice and the other would be a Portuguese salad. Then whatever your main dish would be, would be served with these two.
There would be Piri Piri Chicken with rice and salad, steak with rice and salad, chicken kebabs with rice and salad. And the list goes on and on. Oh and I better not forget the bread and olives that you eat while you are waiting for your food to arrive. Clearly we are talking a lot of traditional Mediterranean food here and that you can see that the Portuguese wouldn’t last even a day on the Paleo diet!
The spicy rice would always have a kick to it, but would never be that spicy that it would blew your face off. I like to taste the flavours of my food without feeling like it is so spicy that you can’t taste what else is in it.
In reality what I like is to taste all those great flavours that go into the rice. The garlic, the saffron, red pepper, parsley, coriander and the green peas. Then of course the spicy element that brings the rice dish alive.
Then I tend to keep some in the fridge and serve some cold as it is perfect for the beach at this time of the year. Or take it to a friends barbecue for something different to taking a bottle of wine.
To make it into a cold spicy rice afterwards, simply allow it to cool overnight, then add 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise along with a little Greek yoghurt. Then you could also do the same with pasta dishes too.
If you are new to making Nandos Spicy rice then you need to learn first:
- It’s all about the Mediterranean flavours
- Garlic is the star of the dish
- It’s has a beginner spice volume
- You can add leftover chicken to it to make a big family hearty meal
- Use your marinade into the stock for the best flavours
Plus we make it in the Instant Pot and with a pan for a really quick spicy rice dish. It saves a lot of time and blink and it is all cooked.
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How To Make Nandos Spicy Rice
- Instant Pot
- 200 Risotto Rice
- 3 Tbsp Homemade Nandos Marinade
- 3 Garlic Cloves
- ¼ Red Pepper
- Handful Green Peas
- 2 Limes juice and rind
- 1 Vegetable OXO Cube
- 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
- Pinch Saffron
- 1 Tbsp Parsley
- 1 Tbsp Coriander
- 1 Tbsp Thyme
- Salt & Pepper
- Mix the marinade with the OXO cube and a cup of warm water and place it in the bottom of the Instant Pot with the saffron. Mix it with the rice and place the lid on your Instant Pot.
- Set the Instant Pot to sealing and cook for 10 minutes on the rice setting.
- While the rice is cooking peel and dice your red onion. Peel your garlic cloves and thinly slice the garlic. Dice the red pepper and remove the seeds.
- In a medium sized pan on the hob cook the red pepper, green peas, garlic, red onion with a little olive oil, until it has some colour.
- Add the rind and the juice from the lime and stir well.
- When the Instant Pot beeps manually release pressure and give it a quick mix with a wooden spoon. Add to your Instant Pot rice your cooked ingredients from your pan.
- Stir the ingredients into the rice along with the rest of your seasonings.
- Mix well, taste and if needed add extra salt and pepper before serving.
This Nandos Spicy Rice is a mild version, if you want it spicier then I suggest you add a teaspoon of Piri Piri spice to your rice just before serving it.
What happens is that the rice carries on cooking in the Instant Pot when it is left to rest, while you’re mixing in the other ingredients, so the rice really takes 11 minutes to cook, but if you leave it on for 11 it will end up too mushy.
For a Plan b) You could remove the rice and finish the cooking process in the Instant Pot, but I prefer not to. This is because you can preparing and cooking everything else while the Instant Pot is busy and it means less time in the kitchen.
Or the Plan C is that you can sauté the pan contents first, add the rice then cook everything in the Instant Pot, but again it adds to the cooking time.
I use risotto rice as it makes a much better rice dish and is more filling with you needing less rice to feed your family. But you could use a traditional medium grain rice instead.
For the best chicken stock in your recipes I would recommend Kettle & Fire. Unfortunately they are not available in the UK so if you are UK based I would use OXO cubes.
Where To Source Your Vegetable Stock To Make Nandos Spicy Rice In The Instant Pot:
How To Make Nandos Spicy Rice Podcast
We also have created a short version of the recipe into a Podcast. We have loaded it up onto our Itunes account and it is great for a quick download and then you can save it to your phone and then have it in your kitchen with you as you cook.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:39 — 3.4MB)
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | RSS
You can download it on Itunes or also access it on Stitcher and AudioBoom too.
How To Make Nandos Spicy Rice On Slimming World
I love the fact that this Nandos Spicy Rice is just perfect for the Slimming World Diet. You can make it in bulk and eat it whenever you like, take it to work with you for lunch, have it as a side for your Piri Piri Chicken or have it with a summer salad.
But you’re probably wondering what we are talking Syn wise for such a great dish? Well it actually works out at 6 Syns for the olive oil for the whole dish. This works out at just 1.5 Syns per person.
Plus if you bulked it up with some cooked chicken you could make an even bigger meal, share it between more people and really reduce the Syns.
Calories In Nandos Spicy Rice?
If you are wondering about the calories you’re consuming in this Nandos Spicy Rice, well it is not as bad as you would have thought.
It works out at 297 calories per serving. Incredibly low in calories for a quick lunch or dinner or like I mentioned earlier for a quick picnic side for the beach.
Kathy says
For clarification (I live in the U.S., but I am a big fan of Portuguese cuisine),
1. Does “200 Risotto Rice” mean 200 grams of risotto rice?
2. Is the “red pepper” a red bell pepper (very mild)? If not, what other name might the red pepper be called? About how many grams would be the equivalent of ¼ red pepper?
3. Are the Parsley, Coriander, and Thyme all fresh herbs?
Samantha and Dominic says
Hi Kathy,
Number 1 is a yes. As is number 2 it is a red bell pepper. You could use fresh herbs and sometimes we do but on this recipe we used dried herbs in the little jars.
Thank you for your comment.
Kind Regards
Sam