This style of Chicken Biryani is called the ‘Pakki-Biryani’, where the chicken and the rice are cooked separately and then combined in the final step. There are a lot of different ways of making Biryani and here is one simple, easy and yet incredibly delicious recipe that is just ‘too good’ and we had to pass it on. Do not get intimidated by the number of ingredients or the steps…just follow along step-by-step and WOW your family and friends! Also, check out the prefect accompaniment for this Biryani — Cilantro & Mint Raita We think they were made for each other…
Ingredients:
Chicken with bones – 2 lbs, cut
Basmati Rice – 2 cups
Water – 8 cups
Yogurt (Curd) – 1.5 cups
Potatoes – 1, large (cubed) – optional
Oil – 3 tbsp
Clarified Butter (Ghee) – 2 tbsp
Garlic – 2 tsp (minced)
Ginger – 2 tsp (minced)
Green Chili – to taste
Cinnamon Stick – 2″piece
Bay Leaves – 2
Black Cardamom – 1
Mace – 3 pcs
Green Cardamoms – 4
Cloves – 4
Whole Peppercorns – to taste
Golden Raisins – 1 tbsp
Cashews – 1 tbsp (heaped)
Salt – to taste
Black Cumin – 1 tsp
Cumin Powder – 1 tsp
Coriander Powder – 1 tsp
Turmeric Powder – 1/4 tsp
Red Chili Powder – to taste
Saffron (Kesar) – 1/4 tsp
Mint Leaves – 2 handfuls (chopped)
Cilantro – 1/4 cup (chopped)
Fried Onions – 1 cup (divided)
Method:
1. Wash and soak the Rice for a minimum 1/2 hour.
2. In a pan, bring 8 cups of water to boil.
3. Once boiling, add Green Cardamoms (2), Bay Leaves (1), Salt and Oil (1tsp).
4. Add in the washed Rice to boiling water.
5. Once the Water starts boiling again, time and cook for 5 minutes (the Rice needs to be 3/4 way done).
6. Drain the water from the Rice and keep aside.
7. In a separate bowl, mix Saffron and Water (1 Tbsp), keep aside and allow it to soak.
8. Heat a pan on medium heat, add in the Oil and the Clarified Butter.
9. Once hot, add in the Cashews and Golden Raisins, fry for a couple of minutes till the cashews get a light golden color.
10.Remove from the Pan. Make sure you drain all the Oil. Keep aside.
11.Add in the balance of whole spices – Cinnamon Stick, Mace, Bay Leaf, Black & Green Cardamom, Peppercorns & Cloves.
12.Fry for under a minute.
13.Add in Black Cumin (use regular Cumin if Black is not available).
14.Allow them to sizzle.
15.Add in Ginger & Garlic, fry for another minute. Keep stirring.
16.Add in the washed, cleaned pieces of Chicken. Mix well.
17.Once the Chicken looks sealed, add in the following while stirring constantly – Yogurt, Fried Onion (1/2 cup), Cilantro (save some for garnish), Mint, Green Chili, Potatoes and the dry spices – Coriander, Cumin, Turmeric, Red Chili & Salt.
18.Mix very well. Cover and cook for about 10-15 minutes (the chicken should be 3/4 of the way done).
19. Pre-heat oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit (approx 121 degrees C).
20.Coat an oven-proof dish with a little oil.
21.Start by layering the Chicken at the bottom of the dish along with a few pieces of Potatoes (saving the gravy for top layer).
22.Fluff up the Rice and add a layer of it on top of the Chicken with half of the Rice.
23.Layer the balance of the potatoes and all the gravy on the rice layer.
24.Next spread the balance of the Rice.
25.Layer the Cashews, Raisins, Fried Onions, Cilantro and Saffron.
26.Drizzle a little bit of Oil.
27.Cover with an air-tight lid or a foil and bake for 1 hour or till the potatoes are cooked.
28.Once out of the oven, take a ladle and mix it gently but well.
29.Allow it to sit for 5 minutes and serve with ‘Cilantro & Mint Raita’
30.Serves 8.
Tips:
1. Chicken with bones works best for this recipe, but if you prefer boneless, then you will need to cook the chicken a little less.
2. Fresh Mint is sometimes not easily available. Substitute for dried, crushed Mint, available at Indian grocery stores.
3. You can also add in full boiled eggs along with the gravy…looks good and tastes very good.
4. For a stronger orange color to the biryani, add the Saffron before the Cashews and Raisins.
5. If you feel that the Biryani is overcooked, use the handle-end of the ladle to mix in without mushing up any more.
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How to make chicken biryani at home, easy biryani recipes, basmati rice, the best murg biryani recipe.
Are u supposed to broil or bake at 25o degrees at the end.
praatho cut into sqaure strips .lit the pot por in 4 tablespoons of oil put in chopped green chillies and onions put in potatoes minced mutton and curry powder sprinke some water for masala add in salt stir fry for 15 mins let saute
Hi
Very good tutorial. I am a student in california and I just started cooking stuffs and not so good in that. I would like to know what are the vegetables that can be added with chicken so that it tastes good. I added capsicum with chicken and it wasn’t tasting good. And I hate to cook vegetarian dishes but still I want to eat some vegetables. I know it sounds crazy but please suggest me. Thank you…
gautham
hello,
thanks for the recipe, just one question:
how can you keep silver foil inside owen. It conducts the electricity, showing sparks. Or am i missing something?
Kedar
Hi Kedar,
We are using a regular oven for this recipe, not a microwave — so the foil should be no problem. If you use a microwave, you can cover with a plastic wrap or glass lid (if your baking dish comes with it).
Hi Anuja and Hetal,
Excellent recipe, I tried it yesterday watching the video and turned out great. I used stove instead of Oven for the last step, it turned out great. This is the first time I made and was happy the way it turned out. Thanks again!
Hi Anuja and Hetal
Thanks for giving such a wonderful recipe.I tried it twice and it was very nice. I like the way both of you tell it’s very simple and very nice. Thanks again for all your recipes.
Hi Anuja and Hetal,
I made the briyani yesterday and it was so good. Following your direction was so easy and simple. Thank you for giving great recipes.
Ecxellent biriyani… I tried it twice.. brilliant…thanks a lot lovely ladies……
Hi
I tried this biryani but since I did not had few things it didnt turned out to be well. I will get all the things next time and again try.
Kindly show Mutton biryani – kolhapuri style. I once tasted the kolhapuri mutton biryani and it was awesome.
HELLO THERE
I LOVE YOUR RECIPES. THE CHICKEN BIRYANI WAS GREAT. I HAVE A QUESTION. I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW A GOOD RECIPE FOR FISH BIRYANI. MY HUSBAND LOVES FISH BIRYANI AND I WANT TO SURPRISE HIM WITH A DIFFERENT RECIPE. I WILL APPRECIATE IF YOU COULD HAVE FISH BIRYANI ON THE WEBSITE OR EMAIL ME.
tabassum4@yahoo.com
THANK YOU.
LOVE YOUR SHOW AND I TELL EVERYONE ABOUT YOUR RECIPES.
hi , i finally tried this recipe yesterday and it was great .. thanks
its very nice recipe, txs to all team
Hi Heatl and Anuja,
Tried ur chicken biryani recipe yesterday, and it turned aout great! I have a question though, do I have to reduce the gravy, before I put it on to the rice? My gravy was a bit too thin. All in all, I find ur website & ur videos superb. A great help for young wives abroad!
Hi Heatl and Anuja,
Tried ur chicken biryani recipe yesterday, and it turned aout great! I have a question though, do I have to reduce the gravy, before I put it on to the rice? My gravy was a bit too thin. All in all, I find ur website & ur videos superb. A great help for young wives abroad!
hi ladies:
what do you do with the red onions?
eat them silly
Hi Hetal and Anuja,
Can I make the chicken masala(gravy) a few days before making the biryani? So that iI can just make the rice part and put it on the tray on the day I plan to serve biryani. If yes,what is the best way to store in the freezer or refrigerator?
Hi Hetal and Anuja,
I tried most of ur recipies and they are awesome. And for Chicken Biriyani, i don’t have oven.
Could you please tell me the exact temperature and timings to do it on stove ?
Also, can i cook it in the pressure cook ? I feel like, If i cook biriyani in the pressure cooker, the chicken will not taste good. If i am wrong,Could you please tell me the timings and water level for this also ?
I am expecting your reply as early as possible.
Hi Hetal and Anuja,
Can you tell me how you prepare those fried onions.
1.I first tried to shallow fry using a bit of oil it turned out soggy.
2. Then I fried it without oil on a non-stick pan and it looked a bit of a disaster.
Do I need to deep fry it or something . Please help me out. They look so crispy and nice in the video of yours.
I lived in Bangladesh and could never figure out why I could never make “beresta” as good as they did in Bangladesh. The “onions” or Piyaz in Bangladesh are actually what are called shallots in the US and they have a very low moisture content and they fry up nice and crispy. I would buy shallots if possible if not, I have taken finely sliced onions and rolled them with a rolling pin between paper towels to get rid of the moisture before frying. I usually go through a whole bunch of paper towels but I get them how I like them. Currently I am still using a big bag of beresta from Bangladesh that our former household help gave to me last time I was there because she knew how much I liked it.
Thanks Austin… for sharing a great idea with us and our viewers!
There is an even better way to fry onions crisp.Cut the onions very thin and sprinkle salt on the slices and mix it thoroughly so that the onion strands may spread out.Leave it for half an hour and all the water will ooze out.Take a bunch out and squeeze a little to release the water and then fry in hot ail.Adding a teaspoon of sugar while frying will help to caramilise them nicely.
hi
did u grind the fried onoins?v dont have oven in india can i cook in pressure cooker if so how can u tell me……….
I tried it was really nice.thanks a lot.
Hi Vandana,
If you absolutely don’t have the mint, you could omit it. But, do try this with the mint (whenever you get it), it has a wonderful aroma and flavor. Another option is dried mint leaves.
Hey Hetal and Anuja
I love your site!! I ahve tried some of the recipes and they have always turned out fantastic! The videos are so helpful. They make everything look easy. I wanted to try this biryani and was wondering if i could omit the mint because i don’t have any on hand. Will it affect the taste a lot?
Thanks! I will try it next time
Hi Zarah,
Sorry to hear that the biryani did not turn out as expected:-(
Regarding the ‘umph’ factor, we do try to keep our dishes on medium as far as spices are concerned. Biryani is one dish that is best when it is made a little spicy. So I would suggest you double or triple the green chilies, black peppercorns and the red chili powder (to taste).
About the chicken – if the chicken pieces are very big, they tend to be very bland and tasteless inside so I would jab the chicken with a knife or a fork so the flavor goes all the way in or cut the chicken into smaller pieces.
Next issue, saffron. If the saffron is very old, the threads do not release enough color and flavor. In that case, it is best to use a motar and pestle and grind/powder it with salt or sugar (in this case salt) and then add it to the dish.
Hope this helps.
oh oh one other thing-> the chicken didn’t seem to have much flavor hmmm…
I made this yesterday and it was good! By the way thank you for answering so quickly. 🙂 a couple things bothered me a little though; the biryani didn’t have enough umph and the saffron didn’t turn as orange as i had hoped. if i doubled the masalas would it give it more kick? and what can i do to make the saffron have more color? I know it’s possible without food coloring i’ve had it homemade like that; ugh maybe i’m doing it wrong :'(
Hi Zarah,
Although mace has a great flavor, it is not the most important ingredient. You can omit it altogether and still enjoy the biryani.
Take care!
There is only one Indian store in my area and they do not carry mace is there anything i can substitute it with? Or do I need to omit it all together?
for the briyani rice you buy the briyani masala .any way thanks for the splendid recepie i want to this for nices birthday
My husband heard about this website on our local desi radio station and asked me to check it out one afternoon when I was wondering what I felt like eating. Some chicken biryani sounded mmmm… good. I followed the recipe except I fried onions, then put the masala and cooked the chicken. It turned out fantastic! Great job on the easy to follow video and recipe. We both loved the chicken biryani.
Hi Mike,
You can make this Chicken Biryani extra spicy by adding more green chilies (try Thai green chilies), red chili powder or both. Restaurant food tastes and looks fabulous but unfortunately, many restaurants use food coloring to make the dish look more appealing. In this recipe, we have used saffron to achieve the color and flavor without using food color.
Hi, an Indian restaurant around me recently closed, but made incredible Chicken Biryiani. However, there rice was yellow, and the dish was very spicy. How do I make a Biryani extra spicy?
Potatoes in biryani is also yummy. We make it without raisins and cashews, but with potatoes. This recipe is to how we make it in our family accept for a few things 🙂
thanks Anuja, but i don’t have a stove either .never mind i will try some other time.thanks once again and keep up the good work you’ll are doing.
Fiona,
Unforunately, we do not know how a hob works and how long you need to cook in it. If you don’t have an oven, our suggestion out be to cook it on the stove.
Take a big pot and pour in some water, now put the biryani pot into the big pot (make sure that the biryani pot does not touch the bottom of the big pot). The water needs to touch the biryani pot and make sure the biryani pot is well seals and has a tight cover. Cook on medium-to-high heat for 30 minutes.
This will prevent the biryani from burning at the bottom and yet cook it. Hope this helps.
hi,
still waiting.
hi,i wanted to know if i could use the hob instead of oven to cook the biryani.if yes than how long should the chicken and rice be cooked. waiting for ur reply.
thank you.
Hi..
I like ur receipies.Can u make a video demo of Mutton Biryani..Please..
Thank you
Vegetable Biryani video coming very soon!
Hai guys,
Please share the recipe for vegetable Biryani.
Thanks.
Hi i like ure site alot. Very nice recpies.Iam from pakistan n u know we made biryani, in our recpie we also used tomatoes in it and really it becomes delious taste but i did not saw tomatoes in ure recpie but i want to try this recpie very soon n hope it will also come out delious.Can u teach us how to make Ras Malai.
thanks
Vini,
Mace is also known as Javatri. It is available at any Indian Grocery store.
hi wath is mace? pls tell me
hi Wath is mace? pls tell me
Thank you so much for this video. I made this recipe and it was good. The onions, I just fry them then added them to the Chicken and Yogurt. I did not add the onions to the end of the recipe.
hello didi,
how to make veg. biryani or hydrabadi & panner burji?
can u seen the recepie & video of hydrabadi biryani or veg. biryani & panner burji?
actually i saw another site of panner burji’s recepie but i can’t understand & ur alls recepie is vry easy & great thing is u seen the all recepie videos.
actually we r vegiterian & my husband’s vry like biryani & panner burji.
hope u seen this recepie & panner burji.
i m waiting ur recepie video.
tank u so mutch.
Oops…well, I was in the middle of making the Biryani when I noticed it, soooo, mine has onions…lol
Fortunately, I happen to really like onions and was out of fried onions, so it should be fine!
Thanks for letting us know!! 🙂
Hi HW,
We owe you an apology for the confusion and thank you immensely for pointing out a mistake. The ‘infamous’ Onions belong to a different recipe and somehow snuck in here during editing. We have fixed the recipe and will fix the video as soon as we get a chance.
Once again, thanks for bringing it to our notice.
The recipe calls for 2 med onions. I’ve watched the video twice and gone through the recipe several times and I can’t for the life of me find where you add the onions.( not the fried onions, the other ones) I assume you add those to the chicken mixture along with the potatoes? Or do you add them with the garlic and ginger? Help!