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!
Watch How to Make Vegetable Rice Pulao
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 to be 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.
Instant Pot Vegetable Rice Pulao
Video
Ingredients
- 1 cup Basmati Rice, (1 cup=250ml) rinsed
- 1 tablespoon Ghee or Oil
- 1 Green Chili Pepper, (optional)
- 1/2 cup Onion, sliced
- 1/2 tablespoon Ginger, minced
- 1/2 tablespoon 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 teaspoon Ground Turmeric (Haldi powder)
- 1/2 teaspoon Cayenne or Red Chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Garam Masala
- 1 teaspoon Salt
Whole Spices
- 1 Bay leaf (Tej Patta)
- 1 teaspoon Cumin seeds (Jeera)
- 1 stick Cinnamon (Dalchini)
- 1 Star anaise
- 4 Cloves (Laung)
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.
Nutrition
Check out other Instant Pot Rice recipes you might enjoy:
Beautiful easy simple recipe ❤️♥️
When making larger quantities of rice in the instapot , do you simply multiply the cook time – I need to cook for 30 – 40 people??
Hi Anjali – The cooking time remains the same, only increase the amount of rice and water proportionally. In a 6qt instant pot, you will be able to make 4-5 cups of rice max at once.
This was easy to make. I added more potatoes and veggies- needed to add more water as well. Taste amazing as leftovers the next day or 2nd day.
Hi Meeta, if I double the recipe for Pulao do I adjust the cooking time on the Instant Pot ?
Hi Parul – The pressure cooking time will remain the same even if you double the quantity for this pulao. I hope you enjoy it!
This was easy to make and delicious. I had another go to veg pilaf but this is my new favorite. I served it with butter chicken.
I’ll definitely try other recipes of yours 🤗
Hi Katrina – So good to hear that. Thank you for sharing your experience 🙂
I followed the measurements. I cooked 1.25 cups of rice with 1.5 cups of water and mentioned veggies. My Instapot alerted for burning so I had to add more 1 cup of water. Not sure why I had to add more water but pulao turned out perfect!
The flavor is delicious! My rice didn’t all cook quite enough. A few grains were half cooked. I love the flavor and wish I knew how to remedy that so I could make it again!
The measurements are correct, and the rice was excellent. I soaked my aged basmati rice for half an hour. Thank you.
Hi Meeta,
Did you soak the rice?
H Saritha – I don’t soak the rice for this recipe.
Hi Meeta, this recipe looks delicious. We love extra long grain basmati rice! I have only had it in restaurants. Do you know of any place that I could purchase an organic version either locally (we live up in Sonoma County) or online? We try to eat organic as much as possible. Thanks so much for all the great recipes!
Hi Christina – I see two brands with organic basmati rice, although they don’t mention extra long grain on their package. One is Royal and another 24 Mantra. They are available on amazon, but could be much cheaper at an indian grocery store. I see that the popular store India cash and carry might deliver in sonoma county, but they might have minimum order amounts for delivery. Hope that helps!