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    Rice Pilaf Recipe

    Last Updated On: Apr 6, 2025 by Aarthi

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    Rice Pilaf Recipe with Step by Step Pictures. Aromatic rice pulav made with basmati rice, whole spices, onions which is cooked in ghee. Perfect rice dish to serve with any spicy curries like chicken tikka masala or butter chicken.

    Rice Pilaf

    One of my go to rice dishes, specially during weekends when I plan for an elaborate feast of chicken curries and mutton dishes. This is simple yet so flavourful, makes a perfect dish to serve with curries.

    Jump to:
    • About Rice Pilaf
    • Rice Pilaf Ingredients
    • How to Make Rice Pilaf (Stepwise Pictures)
    • 📖 Recipe Card

    About Rice Pilaf

    Rice pilaf is also known as pulao or pulav. It is originated in India but also made in other parts of the world. The pilaf is a mildly flavoured rice dish. Rice is flavoured with ghee, whole spices like cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, black pepper, bay leaf.

    Many recipes doesn't used onions, but I like the sweet onion flavour. But I don't add ginger garlic paste in this recipe, because it might over power the whole spices. This is easy to put together, you can cook this in a pressure cooker or just a regular pot. I prefer cooking in a pot.

    Similar Recipes,

    Plain basmati pulao

    Veg Pulao

    Chicken Pulao

    Rice Pilaf Ingredients

    Basmati rice - use finest quality basmati rice for this recipe. Since the flavour totally depends on the rice quality and whole spices, try to use the best quality possible. Any aged variety of basmati rice would be good.

    Onion - onion adds flavour and taste to the pulao. Make sure to cook them till golden brown to render the sweet flavour from onions.

    Whole Spices - I used a combination of Cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, black pepper and bay leaves

    Ghee - I prefer to cook my pilaf in ghee but you can cook in butter as well.

    How to Make Rice Pilaf (Stepwise Pictures)

     
     
    Grab your ingredients
    Crackle whole spices in ghee
     
     
    add in onions
     
     
    cook till golden brown
     
     
    add in soaked rice
    pour in water
     
     
    bring to a good boil
     
     
    cook it
    DONE
     
    DIG IN STRAIGHT AWAY

    More Pulao Recipes to Try

    • Mutton Pulao in Pressure Cooker Recipe
    • Chicken Pulao Recipe
    • Egg Pulao Recipe
    • Ghee Rice Recipe
    • Pulao Recipe (Basmati Pulao)
    • Soya Chunks Pulao Recipe

    📖 Recipe Card

    Rice Pilaf Recipe | Aromatic Rice Pulao Recipe

    Rice Pilaf Recipe with Step by Step Pictures. Aromatic rice pulav made with basmati rice, whole spices, onions which is cooked in ghee. Perfect rice dish to serve with any spicy curries like chicken tikka masala or butter chicken.
    5 from 1 vote
    Print Pin Rate
    Prep Time: 5 minutes minutes
    Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes
    Total Time: 30 minutes minutes
    Servings: 4 servings
    Calories: 261kcal

    Equipment

    • Cooking pot

    Ingredients

    • 1 cup Basmati rice-1 cup
    • 1 large Onion peeled and sliced thinly
    • 2 tbsp Ghee
    • 3 tbsp Coriander leaves for garnishing
    • 2 tsp Salt or to taste

    Whole Spices

    • 1 stick Cinnamon
    • 4 no Cloves
    • 4 no Cardamom crushed slightly
    • 1 tsp Whole Black Pepper
    • 1 no Bay leaf

    Instructions

    • Wash rice in lots of water and soak it for 30 minutes. Strain in a colander and set aside.
    • In a thick bottom pan add ghee and heat it up. Add in cloves, cardamom, bay leaf, pepper, cinnamon and fry for 30 seconds. Add in onions and cook till golden. Add in the rice and fry for 2 min.
    • Pour in 2 cups of water and bring that to boil. Once it starts to boil, cover it with a tight fitting lid and let it cook on a very low flame for 10-15 mins. Once it has absorbed all the water, fluff it with a fork and let it stand for 10 min covered.
    • Add in lots of coriander and mix well. Serve hot with any curry.

    Nutrition

    Serving: 1servings | Calories: 261kcal | Carbohydrates: 43g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 0.003g | Cholesterol: 19mg | Sodium: 1170mg | Potassium: 151mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 47IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 48mg | Iron: 1mg
    Tried this recipe?Mention @yummytummyaarthi or tag #yummytummyaarthi!
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    More Rice Recipes

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    • Ramzan Nombu Kanji Recipe

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    Aarthi

    About Aarthi

    Over the past few years I’ve been on a mission to find and create recipes that I can make from scratch. I hope you enjoy the recipes on this blog as they are tried and true from my kitchen to yours!

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Mijú

      at

      El arroz me gusta!!!
      Un saludito

      Reply
    2. PJ

      at

      Looks so delish!I too am doing the same theme 🙂

      Reply
    3. sabina

      at

      Perfect dish for lunchbox...quick and tasty...

      Reply
    4. jayasree

      at

      Rice is cooked to perfection. Simple,aromatic pilaf.

      Reply
    5. Maria Pilar-COCINICA

      at

      Me gusta mucho el arroz basmati y me has enseñado la forma de cocerlo bien. Gracias. La traducción del navegador no es muy buena, pero he podido entender perfectamente.

      Feliz verano

      Reply
    6. Mugdha

      at

      flavorfull rice...love wid chicken...:)

      Reply
    7. lacasitadeazucar

      at

      Tiene muy buena pinta.

      Reply
    8. Dzoli

      at

      It is an art to make rice thsi fluffy.And with right ingredients there is nothing to say..just sit down eat and enjoy;)

      Reply
    9. harini-jaya

      at

      good one!

      Reply
    10. Reshmi Mahesh

      at

      Flavorful and yummy...

      Reply
    11. Suma Gandlur

      at

      Love the simple, aromatic rice preparation.

      Reply
    12. Torviewtoronto

      at

      aromatic rice looks delicious

      Reply
    13. Priya (Yallapantula) Mitharwal

      at

      wow, that does look very aromatic.
      I too have seen her tv episodes 🙂

      Reply
    14. Cool Lassi(e)

      at

      Pulao looks awesome! I can feel the aroma all the way across the world!

      Reply
    15. Pavani

      at

      What a flavorful rice dish. I'm going to try this next time I make pulao. Thanks for sharing.

      Reply
    16. Gayathri Kumar

      at

      Rice looks so inviting..

      Reply
    17. unnathi veenai

      at

      i think salt is not added...

      Reply
    18. umamahi

      at

      akka where did yu get those cook books?plz let me know i wanna buy..:)

      Reply
    19. Aarthi

      at

      @umamahiI got it online

      Reply
    20. Aarthi

      at

      @unnathi veenaiI added salt along with onion, missed that photo

      Reply
    5 from 1 vote (1 rating without comment)

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