Make a perfect Persian Herbed Rice in your pressure cooker. This is a super simple, and very flavorful Instant Pot Sabzi Polo recipe that goes well with just about any meat or vegetable--although traditionally you'd have it with grilled fish.
What Is Sabzi Polo?
Sabzi in Persian means green and is used to refer to vegetables or herbs. Polo is like saying pilaf or pilau. So Sabzi Polo is just a green, herby, delicious rice.
This dish is traditionally made during the Persian New Year or as Nowruz food but of course no need to wait until then to make this delicious rice dish.
How To Make Instant Pot Sabzi Polo?
Now we are, of course, going to take a few shortcuts. The first one of these shortcuts is that we are going to use dried herbs for our Instant Pot Sabzi Polo.
You could, of course, use fresh herbs like:
- Dill
- Parsley
- Chives
- Scallions
But I find it is a lot easier to use a blend of dried herbs made specifically for this purpose. So I buy this Sabzi Polo blend from Amazon to make my Instant Pot Sabzi Polo.
And we're not going to soak the dried herbs. The Instant Pot does the soaking for you.
So basically just dump everything in the pot and cook.
How To Make Stovetop Herb Rice
Making Persian green rice on the stovetop is quite simple as well. It just isn't done quite as quickly as if you were to make it in your Instant Pot. Here's how you do it:
- Soak. Rehydrate your dried herbs in hot water for 30 minutes.
- Drain. Remove any excess water from your rehydrated herbs.
- Boil. Bring water to a boil and turn heat to low.
- Add. Combine dried rice, butter, and herbs and add to boiling water.
- Cook. Cover with a lid and cook undisturbed for 20 minutes.
- Stir. Gently stir the rice, so as not to break the grains.
- Taste. Make sure it is seasoned to your liking, and enjoy.
What Do You Serve Sabzi Polo With?
Traditionally, you serve this herbed rice recipe with fish. I've tried it with this amazing Broiled Salmon recipe and it was the perfect meal.
You could also make this Instant Pot Sabzi Polo with my air fryer Persian Joojeh Kabab which is an easy recipe for a very delicious chicken kababs.
I also have a ton of different Instant Pot Rice recipes here that you might like.
And if you're looking for more delicious rice recipes, my Nigerian Fried Rice recipe is absolutely bursting with flavor! Or make this delicious and authentic Indian Pilau easily and quickly in your Instant Pot! Peas and carrots with rice have never tasted so good!
Want More Vegetarian Recipes?
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Ingredients
- 1 cup (185 g) Basmati Rice, rinsed and drained
- 1/2 cup (118.29 g) mixed dried herbs for sabzi polo, either purchased packet or a combination of dried herbs such as cilantro, parsley, chives, and dill
- 1 1/2 cups (375 ml) Water
- 1 teaspoon (1 teaspoon) Kosher Salt
- 1 tablespoon (1 tablespoon) Butter
Instructions
- Place the rinsed rice in the inner liner of your Instant Pot. Add the mixed dried herbs, water, and salt and mix well.
- Cut up the butter into small pieces and sprinkle it over the rice.
- Cook the rice and herbs on high pressure for 4 minutes, and then allow the pot to sit undisturbed for 10 minutes.
- Release any remaining pressure, open the lid, and stir gently with a spatula, taking care to not break the rice.
Stove Top Sabzi Polo
- Rehydrate the dried herbs in a medium bowl of hot water for 30 minutes
- Drain excess water from rehydrated herbs
- Bring 2 cups of water to a boil in a pan
- Add rehydrated herbs, butter, and 1 cup of rice to boiling water and reduce burner to low
- Cook for 20 minutes undisturbed
- Lightly fluff rice with a fork
- Serve
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Nutrition
Originally Published April 13, 2018
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Sean
I made this recipe (triple the serving: 3 cups rice, 1.5 cup dried herbs, 4.5 cups water, etc.) and the rice came out over cooked, sticky and mushy. Cooked it under high pressure for 4 minutes and natural release for 10 minutes. How else does this recipe scale to 12 servings?
URVASHI PITRE
So for double the rice you can’t double the water. I use about 1.75 cups of water for 2 cups of rice. For 3 cups of rice you may need 2.75 cups or so of water
Jonathan
I doubled the recipe per your instructions (two cups of rice with 1.75 cups of water). I thought for sure it wouldn't work - but it turned out BEAUTIFULLY! While it was cooking, I prepared a 1/4 tsp. of saffron mixed into a couple of teaspoons of boiling water and let that sit. After the rice had cooked and the pressure was released, I fluffed the rice with a fork, then gently poured the saffron and water over the rice and let that sit until we were ready to serve it. It was so good!
Terry Pogue
Delicious and so pretty . Im making it tonight to serve with a crab dish
Blossom
Did you say to cook the rice for 4 minutes or 24 minutes?? Thank you.
Jaime N Duncan
I'd like to make this with a whole roasted chicken, what would good complimenting flavors be to season the chicken? I have never ever eaten Persian food before, but I love to try and cook as authentically/traditionally as possible.
URVASHI PITRE
Look at the joojeh kabab recipe. I did that in the air fryer but that’s authentic flavors. You may want to use a little turmeric so as to not use all that much saffron
mark
the Polo recipe looks GREAT ! And THANK YOU for the "serving" option in the recipe!! ....I hope ALL of your Instant Pot recipes have that option as I cook for only 1 or 2 people ....NICE feature !
URVASHI PITRE
Yes they all have the ability to scale up or down. It’s a mathematical calculation not a separately tested recipe so you may have to add a little water once in a while to achieve pressure. Enjoy!
Evelyn
What does it mean, careful not to break the rice?
Jaime Duncan
probably means careful not to squish the rice or something.
Barbara
I made this today and it was great. The timings on it were spot on. I put in dried cilantro, dill, and parsley.