This recipe for the Instant Pot Ground Beef and Rice Shawarma is what happens when you come home tired after 4 long days of driving, everyone is hungry, there's almost nothing in the fridge and you need to cook dinner for 5 people.
It really was just time for some plain comfort food.
I had ground beef, a package of shredded cabbage and cole slaw, the odd onion and a few slivers of garlic, and of course, I always have rice and spices in my house (Asian girl syndrome).
So I decided to just throw what I had into the Instant Pot, and decided if it didn't work, there was also Pizza on call.
Everyone had been moving, driving, hauling boxes, etc. all day, and we were all tired and just needed some comfort food before we went to bed.
Some of us may or may not have eaten 3 servings of the rice and meat before crawling into bed. As a matter of fact, this recipe has even become a favorite of my readers.
I served this with a side of kale, and we had Vietnamese Yogurt for dessert. The whole thing took 20 minutes from start to finish. It doesn't get easier than this.
History of Shawarma
Okay let's be specific--this is not really a shawarma. A Shawarma (Arabic: ????????) can be either one of those loaf of meat, not unlike my Gyro recipe a or it can be chunks of spiced chicken, like in my Chicken Shawarma recipe. Or if you're like me and like to play around with food traditions, you can make Shawarma green beans.
Shawarma typically looks like this hunka grilled meat. Long slices are cut off and inserted between pillowy pieces of pita bread, with a little tzatziki on it, and off you go, with one of the tastiest sandwiches you've ever had.
But when it come to chicken shawarma, usually it's chunks of meat. So why am I calling this Ground Beef Shawarma then?
I'm doing that because it actually tastes a lot like the Chicken Shawarma recipe I created, and it has the same spice mixes.
So if you have leftover spice, I'd like you to check out the Chicken Shawarma recipe and see if that doesn't fit the bill for you as well. Here's what that Chicken Shawarma looks like:
The Recipe steps for this Instant Pot Ground Beef and Rice Shawarma are:
- Sauté aromatics briefly
- Sauté ground beef briefly
- Add spices, water, and rice
- Cook at high pressure for 5 minutes, 10 mins NPR
Equipment & Ingredients You May Need to Make Ground Beef & Rice Shawarma
- Instant Pot Mini Duo or Instant Pot 6 quart or Instant Pot 8 Quart
- Measuring cups
- Measuring Spoons
- Vegetable Oil
Want More Beef Recipes?
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- Corned Beef and Cabbage- A classic done in a fraction of the time.
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Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon (1 tablespoon) Vegetable Oil
- 1 cup (160 g) onions, chopped
- 5 cloves (5 cloves) Garlic
- 1 pound (453.59 g) Lean Ground Beef
- 1.5 cups (375 g) Water, or broth
- 1.5 cups (277.5 g) Basmati Rice, rinsed and drained
- 4 cups (70 g) shredded cabbage
- 4 tablespoons (2 teaspoons) Shawarma Spice
- 1 teaspoon (1 teaspoon) Kosher Salt
- 1/4 cup (4 g) chopped cilantro, for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Turn your Instant Pot onto Sauté on high. When the display reads HOT, add oil. When the oil is hot and shimmering, add the minced garlic and sauté for 30 seconds.
- Add onions and ground beef. Stir while breaking up the ground beef clumps. Don't worry about cooking the beef at this stage, just break it up well. Note, if you have ANYTHING sticking to the bottom of the Instant Pot, pour in 1/4 cup of water and thoroughly deglaze the bottom of your pot.
- Add rice, water, cabbage, salt, and shawarma spice.
- Cook on High Pressure for 5 minutes, and allow the pressure to release naturally for 10 minutes. Release remaining pressure.
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Nutrition
Don't forget to check out my other Best-selling Instant Pot Cookbooks!
Indian Instant Pot, Keto Instant Pot, Instant Pot Fast and Easy, Healthy Instant Pot & Vegetarian Instant Pot.
Franky
This recipe calls for both 4 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons of shawarma spice mix… which is it?
Hope it’s tablespoons because its cooking now! 🙂
AshleyThompson
It's 4 tablespoons for cooking and up to 2 teaspoons for finishing spice after cooking depending on your preference. I'll try to make that more clear in the instructions. Thanks!
Vicki
This recipe was not a huge success for me. Despite deglazing the instant pot, I got the "burn" message THREE times, and had a difficult time getting this to cook properly. In addition, I thought the flavor was just OK. I won't be making this again.
Vince
Hi Vicki: i also got ‘burn’ if i stirred/mixed the spices in the water and rice. If you follow steps in order: after following instructions with meat, add water, then rice (don’t mix!) then cabbage on top of rice, then spices and salt on top of the cabbage ( don’t mix:) ) . Lid on then pressure cook. When lid is removed , then stir in spices. It seems powder from spices or maybe starch from rice allows a build up on the bottom of pot. If I follow the recipe in order with no stirring, it works perfectly every time:) Good luck!
Liz
5/5 stars, I love it! I added some extra veggies that I had to the pot while cooking the onions. Also made a garlic yogurt sauce to go with it. Super easy and quick to make.