This Indian pilau rice is the perfect side dish for any curry, and it only takes 30 minutes to make. The golden-coloured pilau rice is naturally vegan and spiced with cloves, cardamom and cinnamon for extra flavour.

Want to Save This Recipe?
Enter your email and I'll send it straight to your inbox. Plus, get great new recipes from me every week!
Many people think that making restaurant-style pilau rice at home is difficult, but the truth is it's super easy to make your own.
There's nothing quite like pairing a homemade curry with some perfectly made Indian pilau rice that will soak up the curry and enhance its flavour.
Learning how to make pilau rice at home couldn't be easier. You only need a handful of ingredients, and since the pilau rice only needs very little hands-on time, you can make it while preparing your favourite curry.
What do you need to make for this easy Indian Pilau rice recipe?
Vegetable oil — Any vegetable oil works great for pilau rice. If you're not a vegan, you can also use some butter or ghee instead.
Onion — The slightly caramelized onion gives the pilau rice extra texture and flavour. Brown and red onions are both fine.
Rice — Long grain rice such as basmati is best for making pilau rice. Unlike in the case of risotto, you'll need to rinse the rice before adding it to the pan.
Cardamom pods — You can add the cardamom pods whole to the pan or you can split them. You can fish them out before serving if you want.
Ground cloves — Many pilau rice recipes call for cloves, but I found that you get so much more flavour by using ground cloves instead. Just ¼ of a teaspoon is enough.
Turmeric — This is the spice that gives the pilau rice its golden colour, so it's the only one that's not
Cinnamon sticks — I split a cinnamon stick in half before adding it to the pan to help release its flavour.
How do you make pilau rice?
- Heat the oil in a large pan that has a tight-fitting lid. Add the onion and cook on medium heat for a couple of minutes until softened.
- Stir in the cardamom pods, ground cloves, ground turmeric, bay leaves and split cinnamon stick and cook for another minute.
- Add the rice to the pan and stir until well coated.
- Add the boiling water to the pan and bring to a boil.
- Lower the heat, cover the pan with the lid and simmer for 15-20 minutes until tender to your liking.
- Turn the heat off and leave the lid on the pan for a couple more minutes. Remove the lid to let the steam dry off, remove the cinnamon stick and bay leaves, and fluff up the rice with a fork.
Serving suggestions
This easy pilau rice is the perfect companion to any curry. Try it with one of the many curry recipes on I have Skinny Spatula!
- Pumpkin Tofu Curry
- Easy Paneer Jalfrezi
- Butternut Squash Chickpea Curry
- Easy Prawn Tikka Masala
- Halloumi Tikka Masala
Recipe notes and tips
- This pilau rice is perfect for batch cooking. You can easily make a larger batch and freeze it for those days when you don't have a lot of time.
- To freeze the rice, allow it to cool until it reaches room temperature, then transfer to containers and freeze immediately. Defrost the rice in the fridge overnight and reheat it in the microwave until piping hot.
- To make sure your rice is fluffy and the grains are separate, always rinse your rice. You can even soak it for up to half an hour before cooking for the best results.
If you liked this easy Indian pilau recipe, have a look at some of my other Indian-style recipes:
- Easy Hot Smoked Salmon Biryani
- Easy Lentil and Chickpea Curry
- Aubergine and Red Lentil Curry
- Instant Pot Cauliflower and Cashew Curry (Vegan)
Looking for more delicious inspiration? 😄 Follow Skinny Spatula on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest!
Easy Indian Pilau Rice
This Indian pilau rice is the perfect side dish for any curry, and it only takes 30 minutes to make. The golden-coloured pilau rice is naturally vegan and spiced with cloves, cardamom and cinnamon for extra flavour.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 small onion
- 3 cardamom pods
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 cinnamon stick, split
- 300 g (1 ¼ cups) long grain rice
- 600 ml (2 ½ cups) boiling water
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large pan that has a tight-fitting lid. Add the onion and cook on medium heat for a couple of minutes until softened.
- Stir in the cardamom pods, ground cloves, ground turmeric, bay leaves and split cinnamon stick and cook for another minute.
- Add the rice to the pan and stir until well coated. Add the boiling water to the pan and bring to a boil.
- Lower the heat, cover the pan with the lid and simmer for 15-20 minutes until tender to your liking.
- Turn the heat off and leave the lid on the pan for a couple more minutes. Remove the lid to let the steam dry off, remove the cinnamon stick and bay leaves, and fluff up the rice with a fork.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
4Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 238Total Fat: 4gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 2mgCarbohydrates: 24gFiber: 1gSugar: 1gProtein: 2g
Nutritional information is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator.
Kelly sinclair says
We Tried this out last night after coming across the recipe on Google we made it straight away to accompany a curry dish we had cooked and It was so so easy to make and tastes 😋 absolutely beautiful aswel thank you ever so much its the best I've made ❤️
Alice says
Thanks so much for your kind message, Kelly! So glad to hear you enjoyed the recipe!
Jaynescott says
This has to be, without a doubt, the easiest and tastiest pilau rice I have ever had. I now make double the quantity and freeze any leftovers for another day ... although there's not much left if I'm honest 😮 Fabulous recipe, thanks Skinny Spatula 😀
Alice says
I'm so happy you liked it and thank you for taking the time to leave such a lovely review 🙂