Meatless Vegetable Pilaf with Carrots
No meat - one of the tastiest you’ll try! If you’re fasting or don’t eat meat, this pilaf is a great alternative. Replace meat with prunes: faster to cook, still hearty.
Updated : 11 February, 2026
Easy
About 30 min.
Ingredients
500 milliliters
Water
220 grams
Rice
80 grams
Prunes
1
Carrot
40 grams
Garlic
2 teaspoon
Vegetable oil
0.5 teaspoon
Paprika
0.5 teaspoon
Cumin
0.5 teaspoon
Ground coriander
to taste
Ground black pepper
to taste
Salt
Table
Table of volume measurements:
- teaspoon - 5 ml
- dessert spoon - 10 ml
- tablespoon - 20 ml
- glass - 200 ml
Preparation
Step 1
How to make meatless pilaf with vegetables and carrots? Prepare the ingredients. You can use long-grain rice, but parboiled pilaf rice works best - it holds its shape and won’t get mushy. Instead of the spices listed, use any you like or a ready-made pilaf spice blend.
Step 2
Rinse the rice very well until the water runs clear.
Step 3
Wash and pat dry the prunes. It’s best to use pitted prunes; if yours have pits, remove them. If prunes are very dry, they’re often soaked in boiling water for 10 minutes. Mine were dry, but I didn’t soak them - I just rinsed them well first in cold water and then in hot water. The time the pilaf cooks and rests will be enough to steam and soften the prunes.
Step 4
Wash and peel the carrots. Cut them into matchsticks or grate on a coarse grater - either is fine.
Step 5
Peel the onion. Usually onion is added chopped (step 7), cut into small cubes. However, I prefer adding a whole onion and removing it from the finished dish.
Step 6
Peel off the top papery layers from the whole head of garlic and rinse it.
Step 7
Heat vegetable oil in a deep skillet or saucepan. Add the carrots (and the onion too, if you’re using it chopped) and sauté over medium heat until the carrots are soft (and the onion is translucent). You can also cook pilaf in a kazan-style pot.
Step 8
Add paprika, cumin (zira), coriander, salt, and pepper to the carrots. Stir quickly.
Step 9
Add the rinsed rice and the prunes. Mix thoroughly with the carrots.
Step 10
Pour in boiling water, and add the whole onion if you didn’t add it earlier.
Step 11
Simmer on the lowest heat, covered, for about 30 minutes. In the finished pilaf, excess liquid will evaporate, the rice will swell and absorb water, and the total volume will increase about 2-2.5 times.
Step 12
5 minutes before it’s done, push the whole head of garlic into the almost-finished pilaf. Turn off the heat and let the pilaf rest 10-15 minutes under the lid.
Step 13
Serve the pilaf on plates. Enjoy!
Author note
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