The invention relates to a production method for instant rice. The method is characterized in that: a raw material of rice is subjected to screening, elutriating, immersing, cooking and separating to obtain cooked rice; hot air is adopted for the first drying to obtain the cooked rice having a moisture content of 30-40%; the cooked rice having a moisture content of 30-40% contacts a osmotic solution comprising functional sugar and gravy salt to carry out a osmotic treatment; then the hot air is adopted for the second drying to obtain the cooked rice having a moisture content of 15-20%, a water activity of 0.55-0.65 and a rehydration time of 8-10 min. According to the present invention, the osmotic solution containing the functional sugar is provided for carrying out the osmotic treatment for the cooked rice, the osmotic solution is uniformly dispersed in the cooked rice, such that the cooked rice has characteristics of specific nutritive peculiarity, high moisture content and low water activity. In addition, after rehydrating, the cooked rice has characteristics of good quality, complete grains of the cooked rice, no hard center and good springiness.