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This Instant Pot Rice recipe is a healthier, juicier and flavor packed rice pilaf called plov. It all comes together in 1 pot (the instant pot!) and you won’t believe how quick and easy this is.
Traditionally, beef plov is made with white rice, but we used a brown rice which was perfect for the instant pot because it doesn’t get mushy while the beef becomes melt-in-your mouth tender. Brown rice is also way healthier and your hungry people may not even realize it is brown rice. It works so well in this recipe!
P.S. We’ve included our Amazon affiliate links below for the tools we used to make this recipe.
Watch How to Make Instant Pot Rice Beef Plov:
My husband gave me this Instant Pot for Christmas and I am already completely smitten with it! If you own an instant pot, chances are you are obsessed with it also. Let me know about your favorite instant pot recipes in a comment below. I’m so excited to put this amazing little pot to work!
Ingredients for Instant Pot Rice Beef Plov:
2 1/2 cups short grain brown rice (500 grams), rinsed and drained*
1 lb beef chuck or beef stew meat, cut into 3/4″ pieces
4 Tbsp olive oil
4 Tbsp butter
1 large onion, diced
3 large carrots, thickly julienned
3 cups (720 ml) very warm water
1 Tbsp salt (we used fine sea salt)
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground paprika
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 whole head garlic, unpeeled, cut in half crosswise.
1 Tbsp freshly chopped parsley to garnish – optional
*TIPS FOR SUCCESS: We used organic short grain brown rice (I buy the “Lundberg” brand bag sold in Costco). DO NOT USE quick cooking rice, parboiled or white rice – these would all need modifications in timing and water. Use a standard measuring cup or a kitchen scale to measure the rice (not the measuring cup that comes with your instant pot).
If you don’t own an instant pot yet, you can still make beef plov on the stovetop with this recipe and check out the creative grain we used in this newer version – wildly delicious!!
⬇Print-Friendly Instant Pot Rice (Beef Plov):
Instant Pot Rice (Beef Plov)

Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups short grain brown rice, 500 grams, rinsed and drained*
- 1 lb beef chuck or beef stew meat, cut into 3/4" pieces**
- 4 Tbsp olive oil
- 4 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 large onion, diced
- 3 large carrots, thickly julienned
- 3 cups 720 ml very warm water
- 1 Tbsp salt, we used fine sea salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp ground paprika
- 1/2 tsp ground coriander
- 1 whole head garlic, unpeeled, cut in half crosswise.
Instructions
- Rinse and drain rice and set aside. Set Instant pot to sauté on high heat (push sauté twice to switch to high heat) and add 4 Tbsp olive oil. Once oil is hot (but not smoking), add beef in a single layer and sauté until lightly browned (5 min), stirring occasionally.
- Add 4 Tbsp butter and chopped onion and stir 3 minutes until softened.
- Add julienned carrots along with all seasonings (1 Tbsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp paprika, 1/2 tsp coriander) and sauté 5 minutes until softened, stirring occasionally.
- Spread rice evenly over the top (do not stir). Push garlic halves cut-side-down, halfway into the rice. Pour very warm (or hot) water directly over the garlic cloves so you don't disturb the rice. Use the back of a wooden spoon to poke 5-7 holes through the rice to the bottom of the pot (this helps disburse flavor).
- Cover and cook on high pressure 30 min (I used the "Multigrain" setting). Let instant pot rest and naturally depressurize 10 min before switching to the venting position to release steam. Make sure the steam is fully released and the pressure valve has floated down before opening the pot.
- Remove garlic and set aside. Stir rice well to combine ingredients. We squeeze the garlic cloves back into the pot because they are melt-in-your mouth delicious.
Notes
**The meat will brown easier if you leave it at room temperature 30 minutes before starting to cook it.
Nutrition Per Serving
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
This instant pot plov also reheats really well on a skillet the next day so leftovers are a great thing!
Have you gotten on the instant pot wagon? It was actually this recipe that made me fall in love with my Instant pot (ahem 2 hours instead of 15 hours? YES!!!).
What is your favorite recipe to cook in the Instant Pot? I am always looking for new ideas. Thanks in advance my friends. I always love hearing from you :).
This recipe turned out absolutely delicious, I used long grain brown rice for 35 minutes and its perfect, best plot I have ever made….. Meat is literally melting in your mouth, so soft… Thank You Natasha for wonderful recipe!
Whenever I have a gathering at my house my menu is like 85% your recipes….:) Thank You for all your hard work!
Awww that’s the best! Thank you so much for sharing that with me! I’m all smiles!
Loved this! I was nervous, this was my first time using the saute feature on my Instapot. It worked great! I double the spices and we really enjoyed the flavors! Mixed with some chopped cilantro. Was able to make it during lunch break (I work at home) and it was easy for self-serve dinner. Thanks!
That is so awesome! I’m so happy to hear that you loved the result. Thanks for your wonderful feedback, Sarah.
This is a great recipe! Both the hubby and I love it
I’m so glad to hear that Melissa! Thank you for that great review!
Wonderful recipe! 😋Turns out perfect. Recommend X1,000.
That is so nice, thank you so much for your awesome review, Veronika!
Hello!! I don’t have an instant pot. But a crockpot. Can I still cook this on there?
Hi Sandra, I haven’t tested this recipe in the slow cooker but you can follow stop instructions right here.
My husband said that this was his favourite dish of anything that I have ever cooked! My 2 year old daughter and I loved this so much too! It is so delicious and so easy to make – thank you for another amazing and easy recipe!
You’re welcome, Andrea!! I’m so happy you enjoyed this recipe!
Hi Natasha,
Can I double this recipe?
I imagine yes you can, when you’re at the recipe you may click on Jump to recipe and then click the number of servings to adjust the ingredients, hope that helps!
Would the cooking time need to be doubled also if I double the recipe?
Hi Galina, I haven’t doubled this personally, but I would keep the time the same if doubling. One of my readers doubled it and reported the following: “I did do 2 lb of beef and doubled all seasonings. I also did 5cups of rice and 5 cups of water. Fit to a T in the 6QT. Came out perfectly fine.” I hope that helps!
Hi Natasha,
Would the recipe be the same with buckwheat instead of rice? I’m thinking the cooking time might have to be a little shorter?
Thank you very much for adapting the recipes for IP.
Adrieana
Hi Adrieana, buckwheat in the instant pot at those timings would turn to mush. We do have a wonderful buckwheat plov recipe here.
Natasha, if I double the meat, do I need to change anything else in this recipe? Add extra seasoning?
Hi, I haven’t tested with double the meat, but I would increase the seasoning or it may end up a little bland.
Thank you! I also only have regular table salt, do I use the same amount as the fine sea salt the recipe calls for?
I can’t say for sure since I haven’t tested that through but that sounds like it would work.
Thank you, Natasha! Can I use the same amount of regular table salt as fine sea salt? I don’t have any fine sea salt at the moment.
Hi Natasha, that should work!
You use less table salt than sea salt in recipe
Hello, Natasha! What setting should I put the pressure cooker on if i need it ready in two hours? I’d like to get it started in the morning, go to church, and come back to hot and ready plov
Hi Sulamita, the pressure cooker allows for faster cooking. I haven’t tried slowing this down to two hours to advise. If you experiment I would love to know how you like that.
if your instapot has a delay cook button on it I would experiment first while you are home and then if it works then you know that you can do it when you are not at home. Just a suggestion 🙂 Oh and when in doubt always refer back to your instruction book that came with your instapot. I hope that helpsa little. Happy instapotting 🙂
Hello Natasha!! Can I freeze this plov? I am trying to do some meal prep before I go into labor
Love love love your blog!!!!
Hi Olena, I haven’t tried freezing this but here is what one of our readers wrote “The rice and meat freeze well. The carrots will get mushy, but no big problem.” I hope that helps.
Thank you
This is one of our favourites! Full of yummy flavours. Again Natasha you rock!
That’s so awesome Lorraine! Thank you for sharing that great feedback with us!
Made today and it came out great. My partner commented twice how much she liked it! Only change I made was using long grain brown rice instead of short because that was what I had on hand. Definitely going to be making this on a regular basis
So great to hear that Jen, I’m so glad that you both enjoyed this recipe. Thank you for sharing your good feedback with us!
I’m going to make the beef plover but don’t have short grain brown rice but do have short grain sticky brown rice…. can I use that instead? Thx.
Hi Gidget, I haven’t made this with sticky rice. I imagine that would change the texture quite a bit and worry it would become too sticky! I would love to know how you like this recipe if you experiment!
We enjoyed this recipe very much. I used long grain brown rice because it’s what I had and it turned out just fine. The flavors were delicious. I served it as a main meal with a simple salad for four adults. It’s a keeper.
Hello Les, thanks for sharing that with us and for leaving good feedback. Great to know that grain brown rice works well with this recipe too!
I made this twice now and many of your recipes! Lovely♥️
Glad to know that you loved this. I hope that you enjoy every recipe that you try. Thanks for your great feedback!
When I make this recipe it burns in mine pot why is that I go by the directions and it burn.
Hi Virginia, I have not had that experience but I’m more than happy to troubleshoot, are you using manual high pressure? Are you stirring the ingredients to get some liquid under the chicken?
Did the meal actually burn or did you get the burn notice flash on the IP? My IP seems to give me that notice every time I use the sauce function and the try to cook with pressure. Get the pressure down, use your cooking utensils and scrape the charred bits from the base of the IP. My IP is very fussy and does this every time but a little deglazing or scraping makes it work fine on the next attempt.
After you sauté anything in the Instant Pot, you have to make sure the bottom of the pot is completely deglazed and clean of any stuck-on bits. If you don’t, you’ll get the “burn notice” from your Instant Pot. That’s been my experience anyways
Would long train brown rice work? I can’t seem to find short grain. Thankyou
Hi Shannon, I haven’t tested with long grain brown rice, but they should be fairly close. You might cook on high pressure an extra minute with long grain brown rice.
Worked for me! I did 33 minutes on multigrain hogh pressure for long grain brown rice.
I must say theres a reason why theres so many good reviews on this recipe. Its genius. My kids love it. The only reason i am not a big fan is that we cant stop eating it! …..
Thank you for that wonderful feedback Ksusha!
So, so good! Everyone loved it! I may cut down on the salt just a bit the next time. But dang, this is a keeper!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for the wonderful review!
A+ on this recipe. Been making it for a while now. My kids request it all the time.
I’ve been subbing in boneless skinless chicken thighs. Works just as good. Ukrainian mother-in-law even digs it.
Awesome! Thank you for giving this recipe an excellent review.