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. 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.
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. Serve it with yogurt, which helps to compliment the spice in the pilaf.
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Veg Pulao or Vegetable Pilaf is an easy one pot rice dish mixed with a variety of vegetables and mildly flavored with spices.
- 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
- 1/2 tsp Ground Turmeric (Haldi powder)
- 1/2 tsp Cayenne or Red Chili powder
- 1/2 tsp Garam Masala
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 Bay leaf (Tej Patta)
- 1 tsp Cumin seeds (Jeera)
- 1 stick Cinnamon (Dalchini)
- 1 Star anaise
- 4 Cloves (Laung)
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.
Recipe Video
- 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.
If you make this pilaf, leave a comment, share your creation on our facebook page or on instagram with #pipingpotcurry.
Check out other Instant Pot Rice recipes you might enjoy:
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Hi! I just got a 3 qt duo- mini instant pot. Will this recipe work or should i reduce the quantities?
First time ip user here:) and very first rice recipe trying with it.
Hey Sivalami – Congratulations on the new instant pot. This recipe should work in a 3qt too. Hope you enjoy it!
Hi Archana..
PLZ suggest…I tried ur recipe a couple of times with 1:1.25 ratio..and tried to make 3 cups (3 : 3.75) in IP ..But always it says “burn” after around 5-6 mins from the time I set it into high pressure for 3min setting (as I said in ur recipe)..Any idea! why is this happening ??
I almost stopped using my IP as I didn’t find any help with tat
Hey Suga3 – Can you share what type of rice you are using? It is possible it is a different type of rice which needs more liquid (eg. sona masoori). I would suggest to try with 1 cup rice and 1.5 cups water and see if it works better (for sona masoori, readers have suggested 1:2 rice to water ratio). Also what size instant pot are you using? I would love to help you get through the hurdle and get you using the instant pot. Thank you!
Hi Archana
Thanks for replying! I’ve used Royal Basmati Rice from Costco in my 6Qt Instantpot
Hey Sugaathri – This is Meeta here (in case you are confusing with Ministry of Curry). Give 1:1.5 ratio a try. Also make sure there is not much time between adding water and pressure cooking the pulao. Hope that helps!
Wow! This has to be the best recipe for the Instant Pot I have tried so far. Quick, easy and delicious. My husband and I just devoured the whole batch in one go. It’s a great way to use leftover veggies on a day you can’t bother standing in the kitchen for too long. Thanks and greetings from Germany!
Hello Stephanie – So happy to hear you enjoyed the pulao. This is definitely something we cook frequently when we want a quick one-pot meal. Thank you for sharing back your review!
Hello Meeta,
I tried this out and it was yummy.
If I make this with 4-6 cups of rice, I assume I double the qty for all ingredients and water.
Should I still keep the pressure for only 4 minutes? Please clarify
Hello Indu – Thank you! I would increase the ingredients proportional to the amount of rice. I have done a max of 4.5 cups of pulao in a 6qt, so do make sure you are not overfilling the instant pot. The pressure cooking time will still remain the same.
This turned out really well! I added a little bit of paneer and it was terrific. Thanks!
Hey Sandy – Glad you enjoyed the pulao. This is our favorite when we need a quick meal. Thank you for sharing back your review 🙂
Followed your recipe to the letter and it tastes GREAT !
Thank you SO MUCH.
Hey Anand – Happy to hear you enjoyed the pulao. Thank you for sharing your review!
Hi – this is Kirthika here..
I have enjoyed cooking your recipes. Thank you for the awesome recipes. I have a question – do we have to soak the basmati rice (Costco one is what I use), if so how long?
Thanks!
Hey Krithika – Thank you so much. Glad to hear that you have been enjoying the recipes. I do not soak the basmati rice for this pulao, just wash the rice well and drain the water. Hope you enjoy it!
Hi! I wanted to give this a try tomorrow. I just made chilli as my first dish tonight. Turned out great but the insta-pot is a little intimidating at first. Still making my way around to it, haha. Anyways, need to make for about 20 servings. Any idea on the amount of time that I should set it for? Also, would I need to cook the potatoes slightly before putting it in or will it automatically cook in there?
Hey KP – I suggest to make maximum 4-4.5 cups of rice pilaf in a 6qt, as otherwise the pot could be too full (I have tried 4.5 cups, which worked perfectly). The cooking time will remain the same. The potatoes don’t need to be cooked before, they will cook in the suggested time under pressure. One suggestion is to fluff the pilaf right after you open the pot (or even transfer to serving bowl) and remove the stainless steel insert from the instant pot so the lower layers do not overcook. I hope you enjoy it!
Thank you! Can’t wait to try it out, looks so delicious!!
Hi,
Thanks for the detailed instruction for the beginners and the pulao turned out too good. Could you help me prepare this with delay timer? I tried keeping the same timing and used same quantity of water and kept an hour of delay timer after pouring the rice. After 1 hour when the instant pot was ready to cook, I got the message “Burnt” in instant pot. Should I increase the water quantity?
Hello Meearnbuck – Thank you for sharing your review. The rice does soak up water, so more water could help. I would guess 1/4 cup more. However I am not sure if that will solve it, as I have not tried myself. Please do share if you succeed with the delay timer for this pulao.
Thanks for the response. I tried the same recipe with 1/2 cup more water and it turned out to be a success. First when mixing the food in the below half seemed to be slightly mushy but when I mixed carefully it came out as separate grains as we expect the pulao to be. Next time I may try with 1/4 cup but I doubt what if it doesn’t cook properly. As you said maybe the latest models need more water even for cooking without delay. Maybe 1/4 cup in case you don’t use delay.
If 1/2 cup extra worked for you with delay timer, then go with it. I agree that with the newer versions 1/4 cup extra water would anyway be okay. Thank you so much for sharing back your experience. It is always helpful for other readers.
What can I omit in the recipe if I have pulao masala?
Hello Kiara – Unfortunately it is hard for me to say as I dont know the ingredients in the pulao masala. But I would guess as it is for pulao it might have all the main ingredients such as Turmeric, Red Chili powder, some garam masala ingredients. You can still add some whole spices if you like. Hope you enjoy it!
Hello,
I have tried a number of your recipes. Almost all of them have turned out wonderful. This one is the best of all. Just made it today, and it turned out awesome. What would be the measurement of water, if I were to cook it with brown rice ?
Thanks.
Hey Namita – So happy to hear that you have enjoyed multiple recipes, and this pulao. For your question regarding using brown rice, I am not sure brown rice will work well with this recipe. The reason being brown rice take much longer to cook and in that much time the veggies will overcook and become mushy. Usually I use 1 cup rice to 1.25 cup water for brown rice and 22 minutes at high pressure with NPR. I hope that helps!
Hi Meera I have a question for you instead of vegetables can I cook with chicken or lamb. Thanks
Hi Indra – Check out the Chicken Biryani recipe here. It is the easy version like a pulao, so you can add chicken and if you like additional veggies along with it. Hope you enjoy it!
Hi, I ama first time Insta Pot user, and your Veg Pilaf recipe is the first dish I am making. I just tried your recipe to the T.
After I set on Pressure Cook mode for 4 minutes, I didn’t get any sound in 4 mins. Instead the IP showed BURN mode.
What did I do wrong?
Hey Shreedavy – So sorry to hear that the recipe did not work for you, especially as a first dish. I have been hearing more issues with Burn message in newer models of instant pot. I am just trying to figure out the issue, hence asking these questions – Did you use basmati rice for the pulao? Was anything stuck to the bottom of the pot when you changed to pressure cooking? Did the pressure build, i.e. pin came up?
Hi Shreedavy..Did u soak the rice ? I got the same problem..nothing was stuck to the bottom before changing it to manual mode..I deglazed it before to make sure tat nothing was stuck..The pressure did not build up and said burn in few mins..☹️..
In the list of ingredients there in no green chili listed . However it added in step Two of the directions. What type of chili and how much should be added
Hey Sally – You are right, I missed adding green chili to the ingredients, updated now. I use thai or birdseye, but really any you have or prefer can be added. It is an optional ingredient, so it you prefer mild pilaf, skip it. Hope you enjoy it!
Gonna try this now. Does the cooking time change for frozen veggies?
Hello Sharan – The cooking time would not change even if you add frozen veegies, as we want to keep the same time for cooking the rice in the pulao. I have made this recipe with frozen veggies too and it works. I hope you enjoy it!