Vegetable Rice Pilaf or Pulao is an easy one pot rice dish mixed with a variety of vegetables and mildly flavored with various spices. We will make this in the Instant Pot. You can also use the same recipe to make it in a traditional pressure cooker. As you can imagine, this is a one pot dish and hence it is super quick and easy. I make this on any day after I come back from work and don’t have much time to get dinner on the table.
The best part is that this is not only a quick meal, it is also very nutritious similar to Spinach Rice and Khichdi. We are adding loads of vegetables and you can choose to add veggies of your choice. I added a mix of carrots, green beans, green peas, edamame and corn.
Looking for other easy Instant Pot Indian Recipes? Here are 29 Best Instant Pot Indian Vegetarian Recipes for you to try!
Tips to make Perfect Rice Pilaf in Instant Pot
- I usually don’t use the rice mode in the instant pot to make basmati rice. Instead the manual mode works perfectly and also takes less time. But don’t forget to give some time, about 10 minutes, before you release the pressure manually (5 minutes NPR).
- Follow the time and do not overcook. I personally prefer each grain of rice perfectly cooked and separated. It should not be mushy.
- In this recipe, I have used frozen vegetables. But you can also use fresh vegetables.
- Add roasted cashews for additional goodness. You can add them before pressure cooking to the rice.
Rice Pilaf with vegetables can be a complete meal for busy evenings similar to my Instant Pot Vegetable Biryani. Serve it with yogurt, which helps to compliment the spice in the pilaf.
Recipe Video
Vegetable Rice Pilaf / Pulao Recipe - Instant Pot Pressure Cooker
Ingredients
- 1 cup Basmati Rice (1 cup=250ml) rinsed
- 1 tbsp Ghee or Oil
- 1 Green Chili Pepper (optional)
- 1/2 cup Onion sliced
- 1/2 tbsp Ginger minced
- 1/2 tbsp Garlic minced
- 1/2 cup Tomato chopped
- 1 Potato medium, cut into small peices
- 2 cups Mixed Vegetables (Carrots, Green Beans, Peas, Corn, Edmame) frozen or fresh
- 1 1/4 cup Water
Spices
- 1/2 tsp Ground Turmeric (Haldi powder)
- 1/2 tsp Cayenne or Red Chili powder
- 1/2 tsp Garam Masala
- 1 tsp Salt
Whole Spices
Instructions
- Start the instant pot in sauté mode and heat it. Add ghee, whole spices and sauté them for 30 seconds until the cumin seeds change color.
- After they start to splutter, add the green chili, onion, ginger and garlic. Sauté for 2 minutes until onion turn transparent.
- Add tomato and spices. Mix well.
- Add potato and mixed vegetables. Mix well.
- Add the rice and water. Mix the rice with the vegetables. If anything is stuck to the bottom of the pot, deglaze it. Close the lid with vent in sealing position.
- Change the instant pot setting to MANUAL or pressure cook mode for 4 minutes at high pressure.
- When the instant pot beeps, do a 10 minute NPR. This means let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes, then release the pressure manually.
- Fluff the rice gently. Vegetable Pilaf is ready. Enjoy with homemade yogurt or raita.
- Note: Remove the insert from the instant pot, so the lower layer of rice does not overcook from the hot base.
Notes
- Adding whole spices is optional. You can enjoy this vegetable pilaf even if you don't have all the whole spices in your pantry.
- To reduce spice, skip the cayenne.
- Stovetop Variation: If you don't have an instant pot, you could also prepare this beet pulao in the stovetop pressure cooker. I suggest one whistle for the rice, and let the pressure release naturally.
- Vegan Variation: Use your favorite vegetable oil to make this pilaf.
- This recipe was created in a 6qt Instant Pot DUO60 Multi-use Pressure Cooker.
Note: Nutrition values are my best estimates. If you rely on them for your diet, use your preferred nutrition calculator.
Nutrition
Check out other Instant Pot Rice recipes you might enjoy:
Is the chopped tomato fresh or canned? Excited to make this!
hi- any suggestions on how cooking time may need to be adjusted if you pre-soak rice? I typically soak for 20 min, rinse. and then cook. Thanks in advance and I love your recipes!
Hi Asha – I soak the rice for my vegetable biryani recipe, then use low pressure for 6 minutes with quick release. Here is the recipe for your reference – https://pipingpotcurry.com/instant-pot-vegetable-biryani/
Is the cooking time the same for 2 cups of rice ? The water should be 2 and 1/2 Cups?
Hi Nalini – Yes the cooking time will remain the same even if you double the recipe. Do double the amount of water.
Awesome recipe. Tried it today with instapot. Came out extremely well. Thanks !
Glad to hear you enjoyed the pulao, Swathi!
Hi Meeta,
i bought 6 QT Ip last week and new to IP world.
I followed your instructions and made pulav of 2 cups . pressed pressure cooker mode and set timer for 5 minutes
when i came back at IP i saw burn sign.lot of rice was stuck to the bottom.do we have to manually cancel after 5 minutes are done?
doesnt IP do it on its own? What am i doing wrong? water level was not that less.i added 2 cups of water .
Hi Priya – So sorry to hear you had trouble with making pulao. Here are couple of things that you can check – 1. Were you using basmati white rice, as the proportion for rice to water can be different for other varieties of rice. 2. Deglazing the pot is very important, especially with newer versions of instant pot. Basically make sure nothing is stuck to the bottom before you start pressure cooking.
I would love to hear if this helps when you try making pulao again.
Right on! This is a terrific recipe.