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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 :).




I have five or six packages of ground lamb in the freezer. I think I’ll take a chance and make this using some of that. What do you think?
Hi Brad, I haven’t tried this with ground meat but I think it could work if you don’t break up the meat too finely when you are browning it. I wish I could give you better instructions but I just haven’t tested this with ground meat.
Could I do something similar in a crockpot? Probably beef stock added? Need an InstaPot! Haha 🙂
Hi Sarah, I haven’t tried this in a crockpot. I think it could work but I haven’t tested it to provide instructions on that. When not using an instant pot, we have a few other pilaf recipes that are staples in our house.
Hi Natasha,
Can you please recommend something to julienne carrots? Something that can also make Korean carrots as well? I appreciate your help!
Hi Vladimir, I think I have what you are looking for! We discovered this slicer on Amazon (affiliate link) a while back and love it!
Thank you, Natasha! Love your website!
My pleasure, glad I can help! Thanks for following!
Hi I want to try this recipe out but I only have the Minute Rice whole grain brown rice which is ready in 10 mins on stove top so just wondering if you would know the modifications for using this rice in terms of amount of water and cooking time in instant pot…thanks!
Hi Michelle, I think that type of rice would become mushy and overcooked on high pressure in the time it takes for the beef to become tender in an instant pot.
Have you tried this recipe using lamb instead of beef? Wondering if there would be variations in the herbs. My wife makes a great plov, being from Uzbekistan. I will try it in the pot.
Hi Jonathan, I haven’t tried lamb in this recipe, but if you experiment with that, please let me know how you liked it! Sounds like a great idea! 🙂
My first time ever using an instant pot. We used your instant Pot Rice (Beef PLov) recipe and loved it. We will keep this one, I didn’t have ground cumin so just left it out. This was very good, The whole family liked it. Thank you for posting.
My pleasure Rose! I’m happy to hear the recipe was a hit. Thanks for sharing your great review!
Wow, what an amazing recipe! This is going to become part of my regular dinner rotation. I love plov, but have never learned how to make it because it always struck me as so time consuming. But this was easy and delicious and the perfect texture. I used mostly brown jasmine rice with the proportions you recommended and it turned out really nice. Thanks for bringing post-Soviet cuisine to the Instant Pot! I look forward to more recipes!
My pleasure Masha! I’m glad to hear how much you enjoy the recipe. Thanks for sharing your fantastic review with other readers!
I wanted to love this recipe after reading it and watching the video, but I was disappointed. I followed it exactly, I just didn’t find there was any flavor to it. I normally love your recipes Natasha.
Hi Lauren, I am always happy to help troubleshoot. This is normally a very flavorful dish with the spices – did you modify the seasonings or change the proportions in the recipe? Make any substitutions?
This is my new favorite recipe! I’ve made it three times in the last month. I’m always short on time so I use white rice and cook for 15 minutes in high pressure. It’s amazing every time. Thank you for the recipe!
You’re welcome Jilian! I’m happy to hear how much you love the recipe. Thanks for sharing your excellent review!
Really love plov and cooking in the instant pot! Looking forward to try making it using your recipe next week.
Please post more instant pot recipes.
This recipe has gotten rave reviews, I hope you love it! I plan on keeping the Instant Pot recipes coming!
I tried this recipe for dinner tonight and I must say it truly is full of flavor! I used chicken breast (didn’t have beef) and white rice (I ran out, so I compromised) But it turned out delicious! I just had to set the timer to 8 since the white rice cooks faster. I will definatley make this more often! Thank you for sharing this yummy recipe! And I will add-After working all day this meal took me no more than 30 minutes, which is such a win! The longest part was chopping carrots and onions!
You’re welcome Jessica! I’m happy to hear how much you love the recipe! Thanks for sharing your excellent review with other readers!
Can I use long grain brown rice? This will be my first time cooking in my new IP.
Hi Joyce, I haven’t tested this with long grain brown rice so keep in mind if you are substituting that long grain requires a little less water and also may cook slightly faster than short grain.
I used long grain brown rice and used 2.5 cups of water kept the cook time at 30 minutes. Might try 25 next time. It still turned out wonderful though. Delicious and flavorful, with a great bite to the rice. Thanks for this!
My pleasure Cheryl, I’m glad to hear that!
Sure would love some tried and true recipes for the Instant Pot….Thanks
Could I use 2lbs of beef instead of 1lb or would that be too much for a 6Qt.
Hi Megan, I do think it might work for the larger sized instant pot. It may be slightly too much to double it in the 6Qt instant pot.
Ok. Thank you!
I was looking for a plov recipe similar to my moms; however, instead decided to try this one with beef and brown rice (was a first time). I did do 2lb 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. Husband not a fan of the Russian style plov, which I am- so this recipe is a medium since he likes it.
I’m glad to hear the recipe was a success! Thanks for sharing your review with other readers Olga!
Just by reading through the entire post and recipe, I can already feel this pot rice will definitely tastes so good! Thank you for sharing this with us, Natasha!
My pleasure Elizabeth! When you decide to try it, please let me know what you think!
Made this tonight and it was delicious!! It was a little difficult finding short grain brown rice but finally was able to get my hands on it. I did read the comments first and used beef broth instead of water and doubled the spices recipe (except the salt). I also added some chopped baby bella mushrooms! Definitely a keeper (I’d add more garlic next time). So delicious!
I’m glad to hear how much you enjoy the recipe Alice! Thanks for sharing your great review with other readers!
Hi Natasha, I wondered if you could substitute beef broth for the water?
When I cook rice in the rice cooker I always use chicken broth.
Hi Pam, absolutely that will work, just keep in mind beef broth has some added salt so you may need to reduce salt slightly in the recipe.
Hi Natasha, any idea whether/how I can use the instant pot for the braised potatoes with pork and chicken cream cheese chili?
Hi Marta, I haven’t experimented with those so it is difficult to say since Instant pot needs some modifications with most recipes. With the chili, one reader reported making it on manual high pressure for 23 minutes using frozen chicken breasts.
I cooked rice all the time. I don’t use the measuring cup that comes with the instant pot. I’m Asian. I’ve been eating rice since I was in my mom’s womb. I know how to cook rice. I follow your recipe to the exact.
Please let me know what you think of the recipe Jody!
Never made Plov before. I could not believe how easy it was to make in the Instant Pot. The flavour was fantastic, and the meat very tender. I did add Cremini mushrooms to ours as we love mushrooms, and we did fight over the garlic as well, as you said, so good! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe.
You’re welcome Dan! I’m happy to hear how much you and your family enjoy the recipe. Thanks for sharing your excellent review with other readers!