Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Uzbek Plov
Silk Road rice cooked in one kazan with lamb, mountains of carrots, cumin, and whole garlic heads.
Uzbek · medium · serves 6
prep 25 min · cook 70 min
~870 cal · 36g protein · 94g carbs · 39g fat · 6g fiber · 15g sugars · 11g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Plov (osh) is the crowning dish of Uzbekistan and the wider Silk Road, rice cooked in a single great cauldron (kazan) with lamb, a mountain of carrots, onions, cumin, and whole garlic and chickpeas, until every grain glistens with spiced fat. It is so revered that UNESCO recognizes it as intangible cultural heritage, and men called 'oshpaz' cook it for hundreds at celebrations.
The dish reflects Central Asia's crossroads history, cousin to Persian and Indian pulao, cooked over fire in a method perfected over centuries. The layering (meat and vegetables below, rice above, steamed together) and the prized crispy bottom are matters of pride and technique.
Plov is the dish of hospitality and occasion in Tashkent and across Uzbekistan, cooked for weddings, guests, and Sunday gatherings, and traditionally eaten from a shared platter.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, dairy-, nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
1.5 lbs lamb shoulder, large chunks
2.5 cups medium-grain rice, rinsed until clear
1.5 lbs, yes, that many carrots, thick matchsticks
2 yellow onions, sliced
2 whole garlic heads, unpeeled
2 tbsp cumin seeds (zira)
2 tbsp dried barberries (zereshk)
Hard to find? dried cranberries, chopped and rinsed, with a squeeze of lemon - barberries are sharply sour and barely sweet; cranberries are the reverse, so rinse off the added sugar and add lemon to push them back toward tart
2 whole dried chilies
2 tbsp salt
1/3 cup golden raisins (optional but loved)
1/2 cup
Instructions
1
Heat the oil in a heavy pot until shimmering. Brown the lamb (or mushrooms) hard; add onions and fry golden.
2
Add the carrots and half the cumin; cook 10 minutes until they slump. Nestle in the whole garlic heads, the chilies, the barberries, and the raisins.
✎ Chef’s note
Barberries are the marker that separates Uzbek plov from other pilafs: sharp, sour little berries that cut the fat. The garlic heads and chilies go in whole, are lifted out before the rice, and go back on top at the end.
3
Add hot water to just cover, salt hard, and simmer 20 minutes (10 for the vegan version). This broth is the zirvak, the soul of the plov.
✎ Chef’s note
Salt the zirvak until it tastes like slightly over-salted soup. The rice absorbs all of it, and a correctly seasoned zirvak is the difference between plov and plain rice.
4
Rain the rice evenly over the top, do not stir, now or ever. Add water to cover the rice by half an inch.
5
Boil until the water disappears from the surface, then poke steam holes, scatter the last cumin, cover tight, and steam on lowest heat 20 minutes.
6
Mound onto a platter in reverse, rice, carrots, meat, garlic on top, and squeeze the sweet garlic cloves over as you eat.
Tashkent wedding-plov tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Tashkent. Uzbek regions differ in method, not just recipe. Tashkent browns the meat, boils the carrots with it and steams the rice on top so the whole thing cooks in one kazan, while Samarkand cooks the components separately and layers them in the pot. Thursday, the old market day, is traditionally when it gets made.
🗺️
Uzbekistan. Uzbek cuisine is the crossroads of the Silk Road, anchored by plov, a fragrant rice pilaf of lamb, carrots, and cumin cooked in a giant cauldron. Bread (non), samsa pastries, and green tea define its generous, hospitable table.
🌍
Asia. Fermentation is the thread that runs the whole way across: soy sauce and miso, Korean doenjang and kimchi, Southeast Asian fish sauces, the soured batter behind an idli. Chilli is the newcomer among them, arriving only after 1500 with Portuguese and Spanish traders, which makes the heat in Sichuan, Thai and Korean cooking far younger than the fermenting underneath it.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Uzbekistan
KatlamaFlaky, layered pan-fried flatbread brushed with oil and folded, a Central Asian morning staple.
SamsaFlaky baked pastries filled with spiced lamb and onion, blistered golden in a tandoor, a Silk Road staple.
Chak-ChakCrisp fried dough pieces bound in warm honey syrup into a sticky golden mound, a Central Asian celebration sweet.
Browse all Uzbekistan recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Pot or saucepan, Steamer.
Storing it: Cool leftover rice quickly and refrigerate within an hour. Keep up to 2 days and reheat until piping hot all the way through.
Make it a Uzbekistan meal
Chak-ChakDessert
SamsaLunch
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Oshi PalavTajikistan
Zanzibar PilauTanzania
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Themes
Frequently asked questions
What is Uzbek Plov?
Silk Road rice cooked in one kazan with lamb, mountains of carrots, cumin, and whole garlic heads.
Where does Uzbek Plov come from?
Uzbek Plov is a Uzbek dish from Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
Can Uzbek Plov be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Uzbek Plov recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Uzbek Plov safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Uzbek Plov take to make?
About 95 minutes total (25 minutes prep, 70 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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