Instant Pot Dal Khichdi - a one-pot delicious meal made with lentils, rice and a few spices. One pot Indian lentils and rice dish is the easiest and comfort dish to make on weekdays and goes well with yogurt and pickle.
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Khichdi also called khichri, khichadi, khichuri is the most preferred dish given to the person healing from illness as it is light on the stomach and easily digestible.
Arguably one of the quick and easiest dishes that pops in mind when you are exhausted after a long day at work or on lazy days when you are craving for a simple and wholesome meal. It is also considered an ideal first food to introduce to the baby.
Dal Khichdi Recipe Variations
You can either substitute red lentils and moong dal with toor dal (split pigeon peas), chana dal (split chickpea), split moong dal (small yellow lentils), or use the combination of all lentils. Ensure the total quantity remains 1 cup.
As chana dal and toor dal (split pigeon peas) take longer than other lentils to cook, soaking them in hot water for at least 20 minutes helps cook faster.
Alternatively, you may have to set a timer to 15 - 20 minutes if the lentils are not soaked.
For the vegan version, replace ghee with oil.
For a gluten free version, use gluten-free asafoetida or just do not add it.
Khichdi is considered the best solid food to introduce to babies. Do not add salt, ginger and spices except turmeric and cumin if making for infants.
To make it healthier add vegetables - carrot, beans, potato, peas, cabbage, turnip, kohlrabi. It is a great way to make kids eat vegetables without any fuss.
Add green chilies for an extra spicy kick.
How to serve Khichdi?
Usually, this one pot rice and lentil dish is paired with pickle, papad (poppadum) and cucumber raita or onion raita for a wholesome and complete meal.
The humble khichdi can be turned into a dish to feast on by serving it with a simple side dish along with pickle such as allam pachadi, yogurt. Side dishes such as Jeera aloo, aloo gobi, kohlrabi curry, and potato fry goes well.
Serve it with starters such as paneer majestic, potato 65 to spice up your meal.
You can serve instant pot khichdi with plain yogurt or a glass of mango lassi or rose lassi for kids just in case they feel it is spicy. Sweetened yogurt helps to ease the spiciness.
Stove-Top Method
Rinse and wash lentils and rice with cold water 3-4 times. Soak them in sufficient water for 20 minutes.
Melt ghee in a deep-bottomed pan over medium-low heat. Put the cumin and saute for a few seconds.
Add ginger, asafoetida, onion and saute for 4-5 minutes until the onion starts browning.
Stir in tomato, turmeric, chilli powder, salt. Mix well and cook for 3-4 minutes until tomatoes turn soft and mushy.
Add water, increase the flame slightly and bring it to a rolling boil.
Drain the water from the soaked rice and lentils and then add them to boiling water (reduce the flame and then add rice and lentils).
Mix until well combined and cook for 10-12 minutes or until water is completely absorbed and rice lentils are cooked and soft.
Turn off the flame, add coriander and mix khichdi well.
Ingredients
Rice and Lentils: I have used basmati rice here. Sona masoori rice, ponni, brown rice or any short-grained rice works equally well. Water quantity may vary depending on the rice variety. Toor dal, moong dal and masoor dal have been used in this recipe. You can either replace these lentils with chana dal, split moong dal or use a combination of different lentils.
Dry and Whole Spices: Cumin seeds, red chillies, turmeric powder, chilli powder, asafoetida (hing) are the main spices required to make dal khichdi.
Vegetables: Onion, tomato, ginger and coriander. Feel free to use various vegetables to make it nutritious and healthy.
Liquids: I've used water to cook khichdi. Vegetable stock can be used as well. Ghee has been used to saute vegetables and spices. For a vegan option, you can substitute it with any cooking oil or vegan butter.
How to make a khichdi?
1 & 2. Rinse and wash lentils, rice and soak in water.
3 & 4. Plug in an instant pot and turn Saute Mode ON
5.
Melt ghee and saute cumin, asafoetida and ginger.
6. Saute onion and red chillies until onion turn soft and translucent.
7. Add tomato, salt, dry spices and saute until soft.
8. Turn saute mode OFF. Add drained rice, lentils and water.
9. Close the pot with lid. Set pressure cook mode with high pressure and timer for 5 minutes.
10. Once timer goes off, let the pressure release naturally (NPR) for 10 minutes and then turn the knob to the vent position to manually release the remaining pressure. Wait until the pin goes down to take the lid off the pot.
Add coriander and stir well.
Serve piping hot instant pot dal khichdi with any side of your choice.
Check out zucchini dal made with moong dal.
Notes
You can use just one variety of lentils or a combination of various lentils.
I've used basmati rice. Any rice varieties - sona masoori, ponni, long grain, brown rice work just fine. You may have to adjust the water though.
Generally, khichdi must be of porridge consistency. But you can add more water to get thinner consistency and cut down water to get a thick consistency.
Adjust spices to suit your taste.
The cook time mentioned in a recipe card includes the time IP takes to come to pressure and start the timer.
Ensure to deglaze the pot before setting the timer to prevent the BURN message. Even a tiny bit of vegetable or spice stuck at the base of the pot results in a BURN message.
More Instant Pot Recipes
Methi Pulao: a healthy, tasty and nutritious one-pot rice dish made with fenugreek leaves and few basic spices.
Mango Dal: tangy and spicy lentil curry made with raw unripe mango, toor dal (split pigeon peas) and basic spices.
Dal Palak: a simple one-pot curry made with spinach, red lentils and basic spices.
Vegetable Upma: a simple vegan savoury dish made with semolina, water and vegetables.
Cabbage Poriyal: a popular south Indian stir-fry made with shredded cabbage tossed with coconut and few basic spices.
📖 Recipe Card
Instant Pot Dal Khichdi
Equipment
- 1 Instant Pot
- 1 Wooden Spoon
Ingredients
1 cup =250ml ; 1 Tablespoon =15ml ; 1 Teaspoon =5ml
- 1.5 Tablespoon Ghee/Clarified Butter
- 1 Teaspoon Cumin
- 2 Dried Red Chillies each broken into 2 pieces
- ¼ Teaspoon Asafoetida (Hing)
- 1 Teaspoon Ginger finely chopped
- ½ cup (or) 99gms (or) medium size Onion chopped
- ⅓ cup (or) 78 gms (or) medium size Tomato chopped
- ½ Teaspoon Turmeric
- 1 Teaspoon Chilli Powder/Cayenne
- Salt as required
- ½ cup (or) 121 gms Moong Dal/Small Yellow Lentils
- ½ cup (or) 112 gms Masoor Dal/Red Lentils
- ¾ cup (or) 147 gms Basmati Rice
- handful Coriander leaves chopped
- 4 cups (or) 1000 ml Water
Instructions
- Check the notes and tips at the bottom of the recipe for extra info and help.
- Rinse and wash lentils and rice with cold water for 3-4 times or until water runs clear.½ cup (or) 121 gms Moong Dal/Small Yellow Lentils, ¾ cup (or) 147 gms Basmati Rice, ½ cup (or) 112 gms Masoor Dal/Red Lentils
- Soak them in warm water for 20 minutes, meantime prep the vegetables and gather all the required ingredients to start cooking.
- Plugin Instant Pot, turn sauté mode ON.
- Melt ghee and add cumin. Saute and let it sizzle for few seconds.1.5 Tablespoon Ghee/Clarified Butter, 1 Teaspoon Cumin
- Now dried red chillies followed by asafoetida and ginger. Saute for few seconds.2 Dried Red Chillies, ¼ Teaspoon Asafoetida (Hing), 1 Teaspoon Ginger
- Add onion and saute for 4-5 minutes until onion softens and start to turn brown.½ cup (or) 99gms (or) medium size Onion
- Now add tomato followed by salt, turmeric, chilli powder/cayenne. Saute for 5 minutes or until tomato softens. Add a splash of water onion-tomato mixture starts to dry out or sticks to base of the pot.⅓ cup (or) 78 gms (or) medium size Tomato, ½ Teaspoon Turmeric, 1 Teaspoon Chilli Powder/Cayenne, Salt
- Turn the saute mode OFF. Deglaze the pot and ensure the spices or vegetables are not stuck to the base of the pot to prevent BURN message.
- Discard the water from soaked lentils and rice, add it in the pot.
- Add water and stir well.4 cups (or) 1000 ml Water
- Secure the pot with lid and turn the knob to SEALING position.
- Turn pressure cook mode ON, set timer to 5 minutes at high pressure.
- Once timer goes off, let the pressure release naturally (NPR) for 10 minutes. Then turn the knob to vent position and wait until the pin goes down.
- Take the lid off the pot, add coriander and mix well.handful Coriander leaves
- Serve piping hot dal khichdi with pickle, yogurt or any side dish of your choice.
Notes
Nutrition
KEEP IN TOUCH
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Welcome to Flavours Treat. I share vegetarian recipes made with wholesome, mostly fresh ingredients. Every recipe has easy-to-follow instructions with process shots (detailed step-wise pictures), a short video and lots of tips to help your cooking journey. Read more
Lia says
Easy & tasty comfort food, love how it turns out with the Instant Pot!
Geetha Priyanka says
So glad you loved it.
Savitha says
Khichdi looks absolutely delicious. Love your quick but easy to understand videos. I made few of your IP recipes which turned out perfect. Can't wait to try my family favourite khichdi in IP.
Geetha Priyanka says
Thanks a lot, Savitha. I'm so glad you are happy with my instant pot recipes. I'm sure IP khichdi will not disappoint you.