This Uzbek Beef Plov (Beef Rice Pilaf Recipe) is just like traditional rice pilaf, but better! Tender beef, rice, spices, and veggies are cooked together in one pot. It’s a comforting and delicious meal that’s perfect for feeding a crowd!
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Uzbek beef plov recipe
If you want to make your entire family happy, then you have to serve them this Uzbek Beef Plov! Similar to a traditional rice pilaf, this beef pilaf recipe is made with seared beef, vegetables, garlic, and spices to take the flavors to new and delicious levels. The best part is it’s cooked all together in one big pot.
You don’t even need any complicated ingredients to make meat pilaf at home! All you need is beef chuck (or sirloin or lamb – your choice!), medium-grain rice, a few veggies, and simple spices. It’s delicious with pickled vegetables on top and a scoop of radicchio Caesar salad on the side.
Tools for Uzbek Beef Plov Recipe
Most Uzbek, Russian, and Ukrainian families have their own version of a beef plov recipe and my family is no different! While this version was inspired by my brother-in-law’s recipe, I added a few of my own touches to make it extra special. I know you and your family will love it as much as mine!
What is beef plov?
Beef plov is a one-pot Uzbek dish made with rice, beef, carrots, onions, garlic, and spices. While it’s a traditional Uzbek dish, it’s also popular among Russian and Ukrainian families. It’s a total comfort food designed to feed a lot of people, making it the perfect family-friendly recipe!
What’s the best rice for plov?
I prefer using Calrose medium-grain rice for this plov. Some recipes call for basmati or jasmine too, cooking times on that rice will vary though.
Beef rice pilaf ingredients
- Beef – Beef chuck, sirloin, or short ribs, or lamb works the best. The meat is cut into 1 inch pieces and seared before it’s cooked with the veggies and rice in a dutch oven. Each piece becomes so tender and juicy in the end.
- Rice – A medium grain rice is best for this pilaf recipe. I like to use Calrose rice.
- Vegetables – Carrots and onions are sauteed along with the meat while a full head of garlic is tucked into and cooked with the rice.
- Spices – All you need is cumin, turmeric, and salt.
How to make Uzbek beef plov
This one-pot recipe makes plenty for everyone! Once the beef is tender and the rice is cooked, you can dig into the easy Uzbek plov:
- Rinse the rice.
Add the rice to a fine-mesh strainer and rinse under cold water until the water is coming out clear. Once that’s done, place the rice in a bowl with water.
- Sear the beef.
Heat the oil in a dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot over high heat and add the seasoned beef. Sear until all sides are brown.
- Saute the vegetables and spices.
Turn down the heat, then add the onions and cook until they’re soft. Stir in the carrots and spices. Pour the water into the pot and add salt. Add a lid on top of the pot and simmer.
- Cook the rice.
Pour the rice into the pot and tuck the garlic head in the center. Cover the pot with the lid and cook. Don’t stir or fluff the rice until you think it’s ready to eat.
- Serve and enjoy!
Once it’s ready, take the head of garlic out of the pilaf and fluff the rice with a fork. Stir everything together, then serve!
Tips and tricks
- It’s crucial to rinse the rice first! This will remove all of the starch so you don’t end up with a gummy pilaf.
- Always preheat your dutch oven or pot first so the meat can cook and tenderize evenly. If you add the meat before the oil and pot is not hot, all of the delicious juices will seep out and dry out the meat.
- Cook the rice in heavily salted water so it absorbs as much flavor as possible.
- DO NOT stir or fluff the pilaf as it cooks.
- Beef pilaf is extra delicious served with pickles and pickled vegetables (like radishes and red onions)!
Storing and freezing leftovers
To store, keep the leftover pilaf in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week.
To freeze, place the leftovers in a freezer-safe bag or sealed container. It freezes well for up to 3 months.
To reheat, add the leftover beef pilaf to a skillet over medium heat until warmed through. But popping it in the microwave is ok too.
More one pot dinner recipes
- Mediterranean Chicken and Orzo
- Creamy Chicken and Gnocchi
- Instant Pot Cheeseburger Soup
- Greek Chicken Thighs with Potatoes
More popular Russian and Ukrainian family recipes
- Classic Ukrainian Red Borscht (Beet Soup)
- Easy Olivier Salad
- Ukrainian Cheese Pancakes
- Easy Chebureki with Beef and Pork
- Russian Herring Under Fur Coat Salad
Did you try this Uzbek Beef Plov (Beef Rice Pilaf Recipe)? Let me know what you think by leaving a comment below and giving this recipe a rating! Don’t forget to take a picture tag me on Instagram or use #lenaskitchenblog to be featured in my stories! I love seeing what you come up with!
Uzbek Beef Plov (Beef Rice Pilaf Recipe)
Ingredients
- ½ cup avocado oil, or canola oil
- 3 lbs beef chuck, or use beef sirloin or lamb, cut into 1 inch cubes
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 6 large carrots, peeled and cut into thicker matchsticks
- 3 tablespoons cumin
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- 1 ½ tablespoons kosher salt, or more to taste
- 6 cups hot water
- 3 cups medium grain rice, Calrose rice is what I use, rinsed
- 1 head garlic, keep whole, peel back the layer until you have one-two layers
Instructions
- Before you do anything, rinse the rice until the water is clear. Then add water into the bowl and let it sit while you prep the rest of the ingredients.
- Prepare the carrots by cutting them on an angle and then into thicker matchsticks, about ½ inch thick.
- Cut the onions into a small dice.
- Cut the beef chuck and cut into 1″ pieces. Pat it dry with a paper towel (this will help with the browning of the meat). Season with salt on all sides and set aside.
- Preheat a large heavy-bottomed 6-quart or larger dutch oven to high heat. Once it's hot, add in your oil. Once the oil is hot, add in the cubed meat and sear for 5-7 min over high heat until meat is browned, stirring every minute or so so it doesn't burn to the bottom of the pot. Note: it's so important to preheat the dutch oven first for the meat to brown over high heat, otherwise it will release its juices and dry out the meat.
- Turn down the heat to medium, add in the onions and saute for 3-5 minutes, until they become translucent.
- Add in the carrots and saute for an additional 2-3 minutes.
- Add in the spices and salt (adjust seasoning as needed per taste), mix well to combine.
- Add 6 cups of hot water. Note: The goal is for the water to be a bit saltier than you think you need, the rice will absorb a lot of the salt and will help to season it. This is when you taste and see if you’d like any additional seasoning.
- Bring back to a boil, then turn the heat to low, cover with a lid and let the meat and veggies cook for 25-30 minutes.
- Remove the lid, add in the rice, making sure to spread it evenly. Note: DO NOT stir the pilaf.
- Add a whole garlic head into the rice, make sure to tuck it in. Note: Peel back most of the layers until you only have 1-2 layers left. Make sure to clean off any of the dirt on the bottom and you can cut off the top a bit or leave it whole. You can clean the garlic to peel easier underwater.
- Cover with the lid, turn the heat to low, and cook covered for 30-40. You can open and check the rice at 30 minutes, but do not fluff the rice until you are ready to eat. If the rice still needs a few minutes, cover and cook for an additional 5-10 minutes.
- Once pilaf is done, remove from heat, remove the head of garlic and set aside, and gently fluff the rice and mix it in with the veggies and meat. Serve with pickled veggies and cooked garlic cloves. You can also add a side salad too.
Gayane
Thank you for the recipe. It came out perfect I used basmati parboiled rice and added a little bit of alepo pepper and ground coriander delicious. But your measurements were on point I just made double the recipe.
lena gladstone
So happy you enjoyed the recipe and made your own tweaks Gayane. Thank you for trying it.
zidane
There is something so inviting about plov when it is served fresh from the pot. The steam, the aroma, and the perfectly cooked rice all come together to make the dish feel warm and homey.
Mikhail
Made this 2x already and if you follow the directions as stated, it comes out perfect. Not watery or salty at all. I even used Minute Rice the second time because that’s what I had and it came out great. (Obviously shortens rice cooking time) follow the directions, pay attention to ingredients and it’ll come out great.
lena gladstone
I am so happy to hear that you enjoyed the recipe. Thank you for giving it a try.
Rebecca
The flavors were delicious and I used a tender chuck roast. I am Korean and eat a lot of rice, so I had qualms about adding 6 cups of water, so I added only 3 cups. I also only used half of the salt required in the recipe. The salt content, for my taste, was perfect at 1.5 tablespoons, but the rice was very mushy. I would make this recipe again, but with even less water.
lena gladstone
Thank you for trying the recipe, it’s a recipe shared by my brother in law, so I make it this way and it works out for me every time. If the rice isn’t the correct rice or isn’t prepared per my recipe instructions that can be the issue for mushy rice, I hope you give it a try again soon. Enjoy!
Eleonora Israili
Hello everyone, my family has been making plov for generations. This version comes very close to the childhood dish my grandmother made. The only difference is cumin and turmeric. Omitting both will give you the closest version to that dish.
lena gladstone
Glad you found my families recipe tasty. Thanks for sharing.
Elena
I made plov by Lena’s recipe the second time so far. It’s so delicious! Flavors are out of this world! Thank you Lena for another masterpiece!!!
lena
I am so happy to hear that Elena. Love this recipe.
Julie
I used kosher salt but still turned out too salty and too much water??. I will have to try this recipe again
David
Hello
I’m a chef and am going to try this for the fraternity I cook for. I purchased: lamb shoulder, chicken thighs, and sirloin tails already( the one time I had it it had these three proteins) I’m using basmati. How oils you recommend doing it? Sear all meat and place in hotel pans then add rice and water? Then oven. That’s typically how I cook rice. Thanks
Marina
Finally found the plov recipe I’ll be using!! The step by step instructions really helped, I also added a couple bay leaves, ground coriander and broth base seasoning??. Thank you!!
Sky
Unfortunately, we found it to be too salty even though I used only 2.5 tablespoons of kosher salt, instead of 3. We don’t use a lot of salt. Other than that it turned out good and relatively easy to make. I also used only 2 lbs of beef, seemed to be enough for this recipe. I’ll try it again using less salt.
Jessica
Always wanted to make Plov but I always thought it would be to hard to make. Lena’s recipe is simple to follow and it’s so flavorful I love comfort food so much sometimes I add siracha on top if im feeling spicy and I’ll also add a side of pickled onions. Yum! Thank you for this amazing recipe can’t wait to make it again.
Lena
3 stars for the easy to make recipe! And the flavor is AMAZING! I forgot to buy cumin so I used curry powder instead and it turned out DELICIOUS! However, I was a bit disappointed with how much excess water I had left after the pilaf finished cooking. Your instructions calles for 3 cups of rice and 6 cups of hot water. I think it would’ve been best to follow the traditional rice to water ratio for this type of rice (1;1.5) so I will give it another try 🙂
Evelina
It was a very flavorful recipe! Also added beef stock just because I’m trying to get the nutrients in my diet. Overall amazing and easy!!
lena
Wonderful!! I am so so glad to hear that this recipe was enjoyed. Glad you tried it with beef stock, I love that idea. Thanks a bunch for making it!
Elena
I dont understand it,ive read all amazing comments and made the dish based on the recipe but end up being too much salt,we couldnt eat it
very disappointed i wasted ingredients ?
lena
I’m so sorry to hear that. What salt did you use? Mine called for kosher salt. I’ve tested the recipe multiple times and it was perfect. If you used table salt, that would be an issue, it’s finer and saltier salt. I do hope you give the recipe a try again.
Sheri
Hi Lena,
This sounds delicious! I was wondering if you’re supposed to add the water that the rice has been soaking/waiting in when you add the rice or are you supposed to drain the rice first? I’m pretty sure that you’re supposed to drain it but I wanted to make sure.
Would it be possible for you to email me your response? I’ve had a couple of smaller strokes & they’ve left me a bit “ditzy” so I’m afraid that I’ll forget to check back for a response. ?♀️
I’m really looking forward to trying this. Thanks in advance for your help!
Sheri
Kateryna
It was delicious. Made it by the recipe, just swapped out for parboiled rice.
lena
Glad you think so, and so much better and cheaper too.
M
So flavorful and juicy. Adding this recipe to our monthly rotation
lena
Happy to hear you loved the recipe and you will be making it again.
Inna
I made plov this week. It was easy and simple and so delicious. Thank you Lena for your delicious recipes, can’t wait to try more!
lena
Ohh I’m so happy to hear that. Thank you for trying it. Can’t wait to see what you make next.
Anastasiya
Thank you for the tips! It makes more sense now since you explained it.
lena
Thank you so much, I’m so happy to hear that you enjoyed the recipe. Happy cooking.
Olga
Thus is exacly how I make my plov, but I never added turmeric to it. I usually adf paprika. I live turmeric , probably should try it.i bet it adds nice color to plov
lena
Thank you, it’s something my brother-in-law taught me from his recipe. It definitely adds a nice color to the plov.