This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy.
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 :).
My wife, and I love this recipe. It’s our official Sunday Supper. We did alter one thing. Instead of using hot water or beef stock, we use beef consumme. It adds so much flavor, and really finished the meals taste for me. Thanks for sharing! Enjoy everyone!
That’s nice to know, William. Thank you for sharing that with us!
Thank you for helping me with this meal! It’s Sunday and I’m at the grocery store getting what I need! Haha.
You’re welcome, enjoy!
My best friends are from Uzbekistan and were always telling me about Plov. I wanted a healthier recipe and I love my Instant Pot. This recipe is awesome and easy to make. My friends really enjoyed it as well. I have added it to my rotation of meals and make it every other week.
That’s so great! This is so much easier and faster and you still get the great flavor of authentic plov.
Hey,Natasha . Thanks so much for sharing this recipe with us, we really loved it. My husband not to long ago bought me the exact same insint pot you have,but i don’t have lots of recipes we love your website so can u please make more good yet simple recipes? Ribs r my next recipe to try.
Hi Olga, yes, we will definitely share our favorite recipes as we come up with them. In the meantime, here are all of our instant pot recipes.
This is one of our favorite dishes. I made this around ten times. Kids love it and ask for more. I put white rice and more beef. When I got Instant pot, this was our 1st recipe, we just love it. Thank you for all your delicious recipes, I tried at least half of them:)
That really makes my day! Thank you for sharing that with me.
Recently bought an instant pot. Third recipe and only winner so far .
There is something about the mix of these spices , tender beef and rice that is so comforting and delicious.
I put the soft garlic in at the end . Only thing I think I may have screwed up on is that the rice was a bit more moist , almost like a risotto like texture . I’m not sure if the cool time should be increased . Still delicious and will cook again . Only complaint is my stomach hurts from eating too much of this 😆
Oh no haha but I’m glad you enjoyed it very much! Thank you for sharing that with us.
Hello Natasha, I have been a YouTube subscriber for months now. And this is my first time making a recipe from you. I made this beef polov in my instant pot following your instructions, but unfortunately, I ran out of cumin and coriander and no fresh parsley, too. So I skipped them and didn’t expect much, but wowwww I was surprised because the dish came out very tasty! I can’t wait to make it again with complete ingredients. Waiting for my 3 year old to finish his beef polov while typing this. He says it’s delicious! More instant pot recipes please.
Thank you and God bless you more and more.
I’m so happy you enjoyed it, Julai! I can’t wait for you to try it with those spices too!
I made this original recipe several times and we love it so much but my kids aren’t a fan of brown rice, so this time I tried using Jasmine rice instead… it turned out amazing. My husband said it was the best plov he has ever had. I reduced the cook time to 20 min on high pressure and that’s the only adjustment I made. Beef was tender and so soft, rice was perfectly separated and had amazing texture and not mushy at all. The most perfect plov I’ve ever made 🙌🏻
I’m so glad you found a way for everyone to love it, Alina! That’s so great!
Hi, Natasha would love to try making this with Buckwheat? Is the timing going to be same?
Hi Natalie, buckwheat in the instant pot at those timings would turn to mush. We do have a wonderful buckwheat plov recipe here.
Is there no insta pot version of the recipe?
My rating was supposed to be 5 Stars for this dish. I clicked on the 5 stars. I’d give it a 10 if I could.
That’s sweet of you, Kim. Thank you!
Hi Natasha, if I were to use jasmine rice instead, how would I adjust the water and cooking time?
Thank you!
Hi Christie, Jasmine rice will get overcooked in this amount of time, you may try to make that less time, but I haven’t experimented to advise. Please see the recipe notes section of the print-friendly recipe card for details on the type of rice we used.
OMG, Natasha!! First: I love all your videos. They’re crazy fun! I’ve tried quite a few of your recipes already & they have been a hit. I haven’t written a comment on the others but, so far they are 5 Stars in my book! I had write a comment about this one because, I think I found my ALL Time Favorite! THIS IS IT!!
The aroma from this dish filled the house. My daughter walked in from work & was like: OMG!! It smells really good in here!! My husband woke up & was like: Oh! It smells really great in here!! What are you cooking?
Needless to say, I had two bowl fulls of this dish!!
Even though, I made one substitution to the recipe, it was ABSOLUTELY, delicious!! I substituted the Brown Rice for Wild Rice & it was, UH-MAZIN!! Thank you for this recipe!! It is a definite Keeper!!
Hi Kim! Thank you so much for your lovely review! I’m so glad you’re enjoying my recipes!
Hi Natasha!
Can you substitute beef for fattier cuts of chicken?
Hi Marina, I think that should work! Honestly, the only thing you would have to change is the meat and possibly how long to braise it. We have a similar recipe for chicken that you can use as a guide here. I hope this helps.
Hi Natasha, we LOVE this recipe and it’s a HUGE hit! Thanks so much! I’d love to make it for out vegetarian friends though… so wondering what to sub the meat with? Perhaps mushrooms? Have you tried a vegetarian version by any chance? 🙂
Hi Nadia, I haven’t tested it that way but I think it would work with mushrooms. I think it’s worth experimenting.
Plov turned out good! However, I do not see the purpose of sautéing because food doesn’t brown in the instant pot; it’s crowded once you add onions and carrots and the sides of the pot are high, therefore it just simmers.
So next time I plan to just dump it in and push go and let it do the work.
That should work too, I just love sautéing it first. It’s a personal preference.
I made this for supper last night. Cut recipe in half because it is for 2 people. We both loved it! Had leftovers for breakfast this am with eggs and toast. Next time I will make more. Thank you.
That’s so great, Karen! Thank you so much for sharing that with me!!
You mention that this makes 8 servings. How big is each serving (either by volume or weight)? Our son was recently diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes and we’re still learning how to calculate his insulin doses. I appreciate that you included carbs in the nutrition info! We just want to adjust based on how much we actually give him. Thank you!
P.S., this is now one of our staple meals. Our whole family loves it! Even the dog, who gets the bits of fat trimmed from the beef. 😉
I’m so glad you love this recipe. Unfortunately, I never measured the servings in cups. You might try something like the free MyFitnessPal app which can help you calculate nutrition with more fine tuning. Sorry I can’t be more helpful.
If I halved this recipe, would I still cook it for the same amount of time? It’s just me and my husband 🙂
Hi Teresa, since the rice and beef will require the same cook time, I would keep the cook time the same.
I made this last night. I doubled the recipe (except the salt) because there are four of us. It was amazing!! We all loved it, even my daughter who doesn’t really like brown rice. It’s now in our regular rotation of recipes!
That’s so great! It sounds like you have a new favorite!
I made this recipe last week and it was delicious! Thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe!
You’re welcome, Christy! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Do you have a version of this recipe that works in a slow cooker?
Hi Doug, I haven’t tested this recipe in the slow cooker but you can follow instructions right here.
Hi Natasha,
I was wondering if you think this would work with ground beef instead of stew beef? I bring a meal to church on Sundays and this would be yummy, but trying to keep costs down. Thanks!
I haven’t had a chance to test that out yet, but if you do please let me know how it goes.
What other method is suitable for cooking this recipe
Hi Glen, we have a note on that in the recipe but I’ll copy it here for you: “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!!”