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This Beef Rice Pilaf is the best I’ve tried. I appreciate discovering recipes that are a hit with my whole family (it’s never awesome to be in the kitchen for hours and then be the only one eating what you made because you feel too guilty to toss your efforts into the waste receptacle (doesn’t that sound better than garbage can?).
This recipe makes a big batch which is great since it reheats really well. That’s my favorite way to eat it; crisped over a skillet and served with a pickle. I’m not sure why but I crave pickles with plov.
We’ve been looking for a great beef plov recipe for a L-O-N-G time! Plov is originally an Uzbek dish, but every Ukrainian I know makes and loves plov and this is more the Ukrainian version. P.S. I do have a chicken plov recipe posted here (if you wanted a quicker plov recipe).
I discovered this recipe through Olga’s Blog. Guess what, she’s a nurse too! I guess nurses make good food ;), or maybe we just happen to have a lot in common. Olga is such an inspiration. I don’t think I would have ever gotten to know her if not for blogging. Olga your recipe was deeee-licious. My husband (being Mr creativity) tossed in some coriander which added a nice floral somethin’ somethin’. It’s a new favorite in our house!
Ingredients for Beef Rice Pilaf:
1 1/2 lbs Beef chuck, beef sirloin or good quality beef stew meat
1/3 cup canola oil, or extra light olive oil (not extra virgin)
2 medium onions, finely chopped
3 medium carrots, cut into matchsticks or grated
1 tsp salt for the meat and veggies + 1 1/2 tsp salt for the rice
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp cumin
3-4 bay leaves
1 3/4 cups hot water for braising meat
3 cups long grain rice (Basmati or Jasmin rice work great!)
4 cups hot water when cooking rice
1 head of garlic
1 tsp ground coriander
How to Make Beef Rice Pilaf:
1. Trim beef of excess fat and sinews (aka the chewy stuff), pat the meat dry with a paper towel and chop into 1/2″ to 3/4″ pieces.
2. Preheat your dutch oven (or your large soup pot with a heavy bottom), to high heat. Once it’s hot, stir in your 1/3 cup canola oil. Once oil is hot, add chopped meat and saute uncovered 7 min over high heat until meat is browned, stirring every minute or so so it doesn’t scorch to the bottom of the pan.
Note: it’s important to preheat the dutch oven first for the meat to sear over very high heat, otherwise it will juice out and become dry.
3. Reduce heat to medium and Add chopped onion, stirring often until onion is softened (5 minutes). Stir in sliced carrots, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1 tsp paprika, 1 tsp cumin, 3-4 bay leaves and continue to cook over medium heat 5 minutes until carrots are softened.
4. Add 1 3/4 cups hot water, cover & simmer over medium/low heat 45 min or until meat is tender.
5. Meanwhile, rinse rice until water runs clear, then drain and set aside (this gets rid of the starch so you won’t end up with a sticky rice). Did I ever tell you I love my OXO strainer
6. Spread rice over the meat and add 4 cups hot water. Sprinkle the rice with 1 1/2 tsp salt (DO NOT STIR), bring to a boil then reduce heat to low and Let cook uncovered until most of the water is absorbed (10 min).
7. Cut off the base of your whole garlic head to expose the cloves. Put your head of garlic, cut side down into the center of the rice and sprinkle the top of the rice with 1 tsp ground coriander
8. Poke 7-10 holes through the rice to allow steam to escape to the surface, reduce the heat to low, then cover and cook an additional 15 minutes or until rice is cooked through. Remove the garlic head and bay leaves and stir everything gently to combine and you’re done.
You should make it. As soon as possible. If you share my pickle cravings, add them to your shopping list for this one!
Beef Plov (Beef Rice Pilaf) Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lbs Beef chuck, beef sirloin or good quality beef stew meat
- 1/3 cup canola oil, or extra light olive oil (not extra virgin)
- 2 medium onions, finely chopped
- 3 medium carrots, cut into matchsticks or grated
- 1 tsp salt for the meat and veggies + 1 1/2 tsp salt for the rice
- 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp cumin
- 3-4 bay leaves
- 1 3/4 cups hot water for braising meat
- 3 cups long grain rice, Basmati or Jasmin rice work great!
- 4 cups hot water when cooking rice
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 head of garlic
Instructions
- Trim beef of excess fat and sinews (aka the chewy stuff), pat the meat dry with a paper towel and chop into 1/2" to 3/4" pieces.
- Preheat your dutch oven (or your large soup pot with a heavy bottom), to high heat. Once it's hot, stir in your 1/3 cup canola oil. Once oil is hot, add chopped meat and saute uncovered 7 min over high heat until meat is browned, stirring every minute or so so it doesn't scorch to the bottom of the pan. Note: it's important to preheat the dutch oven first for the meat to sear over very high heat, otherwise it will juice out and become dry.
- Reduce heat to medium and Add chopped onion, stirring often until onion is softened (5 minutes). Stir in sliced carrots, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1 tsp paprika, 1 tsp cumin, 3-4 bay leaves and continue to cook over medium heat 5 minutes until carrots are softened.
- Add 1 3/4 cups hot water, cover and simmer over medium/low heat 45 min or until meat is tender.
- Meanwhile, rinse rice until water runs clear, then drain and set aside (this gets rid of the starch so you won't end up with a sticky rice).
- Spread rice over the meat and add 4 cups hot water. Sprinkle the rice with 1 1/2 tsp salt (DO NOT STIR), bring to a boil then reduce heat to low and Let cook uncovered until most of the water is absorbed (10 min).
- Cut off the base of your whole garlic head to expose the cloves. Put your head of garlic, cut side down into the center of the rice and sprinkle the top of the rice with 1 tsp ground coriander.
- Poke 7-10 holes through the rice to allow steam to escape to the surface, reduce the heat to low then cover and cook an additional 15 minutes or until rice is cooked through. Remove the garlic head and bay leaves and stir everything gently to combine and you're done.
I made a couple of changes. First, I added 3 tablespoons of tomato paste into the braising liquid. For the rice – my pot is not a dutch or a heavy bottom pot. This may help the folks who are getting rice that is not fully cooked because of the type of pot they are using. In a separate bowl, I combined 2 cups instead of 3 of rice (after washing) with 1 cup of water. I covered the bowl with a wet paper towel and microwaved the rice in two intervals of 4 minutes. I then added the rice into the braising pot with no additional liquid. From there, I followed the directions in the recipe by adding salt (I also added turmeric). I followed the times in the recipe (10 min uncovered, poke holes 15 minutes covered). I mixed the rice with the minute after the 15 minutes and it turned out perfect!
I have made plov many times for my family. This recipe is their favorite and they request it always.
Delicious! I doubled the beef and it still had a ton of rice. Also doubled the salt. Ate with a littl bit of sour cream and it was so good!
I have made this 3 times and do add a little extra meat. Takes a while, but so delicious. Had no issues with the recipe cooking correctly. Loved it!
Way too much liquid. Ruined the dish. The rice had to cook for 20min before it had reduced enough to put the garlic in. Overcooked.
Hi Rich, Did you simmer the meat and liquid for 45 minutes per the recipe? Also, make sure to use the correct rice and also the same proportions stated in the recipe. Also avoid using parboiled rice which wont’ absorb water properly.
I followed the directions precisely and used the right kind of rice, but the rice came out crunchy. I got the same result twice, not sure how to fix it. Everything else is really good in the recipe.
HI Lena, sometimes if the lid isn’t tightly fitting, it can release too much steam and also make sure the heat isn’t too high which would cause the same. If the rice seems crunchy, I would add a splash of hot water and cook a couple minutes longer.
I love the recipe, but did make a few changes. I put 3 cloves of garlic minced and sautéed them with the onions and I used beef bone broth instead of just water. More nutrients and much better flavor. For my meat, I used a grass fed beef chuck roast. This dish was so delicious.
I was thinking broth would give so much more flavor than just water.
I love most of your recipes but this one is so bland. It’s def a good starting point. But I personally love meat with every bite, or at least every other bite. So I would cut out a cup of rice. I would also, Make another зажарка, with ketchup to mix into the mixture at the end. It gives it a lot more flavor and is satisfying with every bite. I’m over here about to make my third zajaca to mix into it because the rice ratio to to the actual ingredients and meat is just not enough. Thank you for sharing recipes, though I truly do not know where I would be without your website!!!!
I totally agree with you about the rice part. I definitely cut it to two cups and it was enough. I also added khmeli-suneli spice mix and turmeric which brought up so much flavors. I have seen many different recipes of this dish and after a few experiments I cook my perfect plov.
I haven’t made it yet but was wondering if it can be made with brisket?
Hi Rebekah, I have not tested this with brisket to advise. If you experiment, let me know how you liked the recipe.
After reading many reviews, I think that failures might be due to the pot or cooking pan used: a thin bottom can burn the meat and take a different length of time to steam up the rice. A good heavy pot is key here, along with a steady low flame.
Instant pot version is much better. Followed directions to a T and jasmine rice was both sticky and mushy. Good flavor though
Hi Rayana, are you changing anything in the proportions of water to rice? The instant pot one calls for brown rice which normally takes longer to cook but this one should work well with the long grain white rice.
After reading the comments, I’m surprised I did so well with this considering I messed with the recipe! I added a bag of frozen sliced mushrooms that had been thawed, used frozen chopped onion that had been thawed, and I have no idea how many carrots I used since I was chopping up baby carrots because that’s all I had on hand. It came out great and reheated really well in a skillet- with dill pickles, of course! I have several servings frozen and look forward to pulling them out on busy days.
Hi Aurora! Thank you for sharing that with us.
Did the instant pot version and this version and BOTH TIMES THE RICE COMES OUT MUSHY AND STICKY, what am I am doing wrong???
HI Franny, did you make sure to use the brown rice and not white rice? White rice cooks much faster and will get mushy which is why we call for brown rice in the instant pot version.
I have learned with making rice in the Instantpot you need to make sure the keep warm setting isn’t on once it’s done cooking.
Hi Natasha I want to make this in my slow cooker but it is not big enough to add the rice. Can I cook the rice separately then add it to the dish?
I imagine that will be fine too
Hi Natasha!
I will be making this for the first time tomorrow for guests who have been asking me to make it for them (they LOVE it!) and I am a bit nervous since I will have lots of other things to cook as well. Can I make this in the morning and reheat it before dinner? if so, how do you recommend I do that so it doesn’t come out soggy? Thank you in advance and fingers crossed I do a good job! 🙂
Ps. is it ok if I increase the beef amount?
Hi Michelle, This recipe makes a big batch which is great since it reheats really well.