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Instant Pot Chicken Biryani

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Authentic and flavorful chicken biryani ready to eat in an hour? Yes, it’s absolutely possible with an Instant Pot!

Instant Pot Chicken Biryani

This aromatic and mouthwatering chicken biryani is a family-favorite. In fact, I think I like chicken biryani just as much – possibly more than my butter chicken. That is saying A LOT y’all. But really, what’s not to love about perfectly seasoned chicken + rice in one pot?

Check out my chicken biryani video here:


I’m sharing this recipe for the most amazing Instant Pot Chicken Biryani from my cookbook, Indian Food Under Pressure. It’s a recipe that deserves to be on the blog because I believe that everyone should be able to make authentic and delicious chicken biryani in one pot if they want to. Think: tender pieces of chicken and perfectly cooked rice all coated in a perfect blend of spices. SO GOOD.

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I LOVE biryani. I’ve been eating biryani all my life and have tried so many different types of biryani. I have already shared a veggie biryani, egg biryani, shrimp biryani and a lamb/beef biryani on the blog and am so happy to be adding chicken biryani to the list!

Instant Pot Chicken Biryani

If you are familiar with biryani, then you know it typically takes a very long time to prepare and requires dirtying several dishes. With my recipe + your handy dandy Instant Pot, you can make a one-pot recipe that is just as good as the traditional version and creates less mess! It takes just 10 minutes of prep time and can be ready-to-eat in under an hour.

This dish is easy enough to make on a weeknight and impressive enough to serve to your guests at a dinner party. So invite me over for dinner, won’t you? 😉

Instant Pot Chicken Biryani

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Instant Pot Chicken Biryani

Instant Pot Chicken Biryani

★★★★★ 5 from 26 reviews
  • Author: My Heart Beets
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Description

This flavorful chicken biryani is a family-favorite. Biryani, a well- seasoned meat and rice dish, typically takes a long time to prepare and requires dirtying several dishes but this one-pot recipe is just as good as the traditional version and creates less mess! It takes just 10 minutes of prep time and can be ready-to-eat in under an hour. It’s easy enough to make on a weeknight and impressive enough to serve to your guests at a dinner party.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup basmati rice, soaked 15-30 minutes
  • 3 tablespoons ghee
  • ⅓ cup cashews, halved
  • 2 tablespoons golden raisins

Whole Spices

  • 1 onion, thinly sliced
  • 4 teaspoons minced garlic
  • 2 teaspoons minced ginger
  • 1 ½ pounds skinless and boneless chicken thighs, cut into quarters

Ground Spices

  • 1 cup water
  • ½ cup fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
  • ½ cup fresh mint leaves, chopped

Instructions

  1. Soak the basmati rice in cold water for 15-30 minutes. Drain, rinse and set aside.
  2. Press the sauté button. Add the ghee to the pot. When it melts, add the cashews and raisins. Stir-fry until the cashews begin to turn golden. Remove the cashews and raisins. Set aside.
  3. Add the whole spices and stir. Once they begin to sizzle add the onions. Stir-fry for 6-7 minutes or until they turn golden brown.
  4. Add the garlic and ginger and stir-fry for 30 seconds.
  5. Add the chicken and stir-fry 6-7 minutes or until the outside of the chicken is no longer pink.
  6. Add the ground spices and mix to coat the chicken.
  7. Dump the rice on top of the chicken (do not mix). Add water.
  8. Sprinkle half the cilantro and mint on top of the rice.
  9. Secure the lid, close the pressure valve and cook for 6 minutes at high pressure.
  10. Naturally release pressure for 10 minutes. Open the valve to release any remaining pressure.
  11. Discard the whole spices. Sprinkle with remaining cilantro and mint and garnish with the ghee-coated cashews and raisins.

Notes

If you love my chicken biryani, then be sure to check out my Instant Pot Cookbook: Indian Food Under Pressure for more tasty Indian recipes!

Instant Pot Chicken Biryani

 

Comments

  1. This looks amazing, will definitely be making it next week! Sorry if this information is somewhere, I couldn’t find it – how many portions does this make?

    Thanks

    Reply

  2. I have made this chicken biryani many times now, and it is SO good. I’ve also made your shrimp biryani and the brown rice and beef biryani, and the chicken is my favorite. Thank you for sharing your awesome recipes! I bought your cookbook, and have made several recipes, all very good. I do have a question for you – I have a slight allergy to onions and garlic and have been reading about asafetida; do you have any recipes using this as a subsitute for alliums? I would love to find a good one!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

    • Jess, it makes me so happy to hear that you’ve tried all of my biryani recipes (more to come, soon)! Glad you like the chicken biryani so much – thank you for letting me know! To be honest, I haven’t used hing in cooking because it’s very difficult to find a gluten-free asafoetida (although I may be getting my hands on some soon) so I’m not very familiar with it. Are you in my Instant Pot for Indian Food facebook group? Someone in there recently asked about no garlic/onion recipes and it was quite a long discussion – they discussed asafoetida as well. It may be helpful for you!

      Reply

      • This recipe is really good 🙂 But what I really came here to say is that I bought some gluten-free asafoetida a while back and I’ve been loving it.

        It’s blended with fenugreek, so I think that’s pretty reasonable! I don’t think I can taste the fenugreek.

        ★★★★★

        Reply

  3. I made this tonight and it was delicious! My 7yo loved it. I couldn’t figure out what made it so spicy since I didn’t use cayenne or chili powder. Not sure if it was the paprika or Garam Masala. It was a bit spicy for my son but the flavor was so good he kept eating it anyway!!

    Reply

    • Kristen, I’m so happy to hear that you and your kiddo liked it! As for reducing the heat next time though, try leaving out the black pepper. Garam masala already has black pepper in it so maybe the extra bit made it too spicy for him? Thanks for letting me know how it turned out for you 🙂

      Reply

  4. I’m so excited to try this recipe! I have ground cloves, but not whole – can i substitute that? Online it’s seems to say one teaspoon of whole cloves is 3/4 teaspoon of ground cloves. Do you think that would work, or would it change the dish too much? I also don’t have the cinnamon stick – would cinnamon powder work?

    Reply

    • Hi Ani! I would say to just leave the cloves out — ground cloves are much stronger in my opinion and it’s really easy to overdo it. It’ll still be good even without it! As for the cinnamon, you can just add a pinch of powder. Can’t wait to hear what you think of the dish!

      Reply

    • Jon, if you want to use brown rice with this recipe then I suggest using quick cooking brown basmati rice – it takes the same amount of time as white basmati rice. I think using regular brown basmati rice could result in overcooked chicken but I haven’t tried it so I can’t say for sure. If you try, please let me know!

      Reply

  6. I don’t eat chicken but made this for my husband and son. Now, thanks to you, our local restaurant will be losing business because they have declared that they will never be ordering from the restaurant again. The fragrance and taste was amazing and the boys said the chicken was fall-off-the-bone tender (we used drumsticks, didn’t have thighs). The only disappointing thing is that I have owned my InstantPot for over two years, and have only just now realized it can do this – all this time I had exclusively been using it only as a pressure cooker 🙁

    ★★★★★

    Reply

    • Varusha, haha wow!! I’m so happy o hear that they like the biryani so much!! Thank you so much for letting me know how it turned out 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of any other recipes you try with your instant pot!

      Reply

  7. This was a big hit in our household. Living in Hawaii the humidity got to some of my spices, so I had to leave out the paprika and substitute caraway seeds for the fennel, but the dish was still super delicious. My 10 year old asked for seconds and was happy is finished as her friend was being picked up so she didn’t have to share – that alone speaks volumes. Have definitely made it into our favorites rotation. Thank you!

    Reply

  8. If I want to increase the rice to 2 cups, will I need to increase any of the spices and cooking time? I assume I must increase the water though.

    Reply

  10. The unofficial, national dish of Trinidad and Tobago is called Pelau. It’s a one pot rice and chicken (or whatever meat) meal. We take it to the beach for an all day “lime”, or cook it up for whatever occasion when there’s a large group hanging out. This recipe is similar to a pelau, but with deeper flavors. It doesn’t taste quite Indian, it doesn’t taste quite Trini. It hits that sweet spot in between where when I make this for my family, they will say…”I didn’t know you had such a sweet hand!” I’m not known for my cooking skills in the family. 🤣🤣❤

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  12. Thank you for this and all your recipes! It was delicious. My 7 year old gave it an 8/10 (and it’s really spicy). My kids (and I) love Indian food but I was way too intimidated to make it until I came upon your blog. Thank you!

    Reply

  13. I loved the recipe! How would you make a vegetarian/tofu biryani? Just substitute the chicken for the tofu?

    Reply

  15. Hey, thanks a lot for the recipe! I made it and now it tasted really good. However, it turned out more like chicken and curry mixed with rice. It wasn’t dry like Biryani is. It was very wet. Wonder what I did wrong!? 😟

    Reply

  16. i keep forgetting to pull chicken out of the freezer. i’m newer to instant pot. what are you throughts on frozen chicken? some bloggers say its fine to use? thanks!

    Reply

  17. Hi Ashley this was great. Could you post a chicken biryani recipe for the instant pot that uses a yogurt marinade?ped

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  18. The last step instructs you to “Discard the whole spices.” But the “Whole Spices” section includes several types of seeds and minced ingredients. How do you discard such things after they’ve been mixed together with everything else?

    This looks pretty tasty.

    Reply

  19. Hi this is nyla i am new to this community and also to instant pot ans its recipes. I like your biryani recipe. Plz tell ne the ratio of rice n water for intant pot. As when i cook on stove top i add 1 is to 2.for example 1 cup rice 1 and hslf cup water.somy question is what wull be ratio in instant por.
    Thanks in advance
    Regatds. Nyla

    Reply

  20. Hi Ashley, I made this last night, and it turned out great!! I love your biryani recipes – I tried this chicken one and the shrimp biryani. The instant pot recipe makes it so easy and efficient to make the biryanis without sacrificing taste!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  22. Hi Ashley, can the chicken biryani be made with chicken drumsticks instead of boneless chicken? If yes, what would be the cooking time? Thanks, love your recipes ❤️

    Reply

    • Hi Swapnil, you can use chicken drumsticks but I’d suggest removing the skin as it’ll get soggy in the IP. It should cook in the same amount of time. Let me know how it goes!

      Reply

  23. This was delicious! I used brown basmati rice and about 20 minutes was a good cooking time (plus 10 minutes of the natural pressure release). I might double the raisins next time but otherwise, this was a wonderful recipe. We just moved to a rural area and we miss having an Indian restaurant nearby. I’m looking forward to working through more of your recipes as I try to learn more about Indian cooking. Thank you!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

    • Sarah, that’s great to hear!! Thanks for letting me (and others reading this) know how it turned out with brown basmati rice! Can’t wait to hear what you think of any other recipes you try!

      Reply

  27. what rice do u use..? any particular brand. Also, r u using brown rice in this recipe, y is the color so brown? I never get that color..

    Reply

  28. I received my Instant Pot just a few days ago..after almost memorizing the manual I made this Chicken Byriani recipe as my first meal.

    I order this dish every time I go to an Indian restaurant..I was happy to discover the recipe makes it even better than my favorite restaurant does.

    Thanks for the recipe and looking forward to making more….I love Indian food.

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  29. This was awesome! Made a double batch with brown rice cooked for 20 minutes and 10 minutes natural pressure release. Thanks for another yummy version of chicken and rice in the instant pot for this busy mama. The 1.5 year old and 4 years old loved it too!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

    • Elizabeth, I’m so glad you and your kiddos loved it! And good to know that it worked well with brown rice! Thanks so much for letting me know how this turned out for you all 🙂

      Reply

  30. I received the instant pot yesterday ( I ordered it after seeing all your recipes), I made the chicken biriyani today. It’s delicious and full of flavor, the best biriyani I have made so far. I ordered your cookbook and looking forward to trying more recipes . Thank you.

    Reply

    • Tina, that makes me so happy to hear!! Thanks so much for letting me know how the biryani turned out for you 🙂 I hope you love all the recipes you try from my book!

      Reply

  31. OH MY GOSH THIS WAS SO GOOD!!! I rarely brag about my dinners but I’ve told everyone in the office about this one. I didn’t have the “whole” version of a few spices (cinnamon, cumin, and cardamom) so I used 1/2 to 1 teaspoons of the “ground” version (eyeballed it) – still absolutely amazing recipe!!!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  33. Love most of your recipes but sadly this is a pulao, not a biryani. I am not sure which “gharana” of biryani has cashews and raisins in it – neither the authentic Awadhi, nor the diluted Lucknow/Calcutta derivative. Also, this recipe will definitely pass as an excellent pulao, but not really biryani.

    However, I will give it a go and I am sure I will love it “as a pulao”

    Reply

  34. We really loved this recipe. We like heat, so added a few sliced serrano chilies and upped the cayenne a bit. It was a perfect consistency. I also added a touch of cayenne and the cinnamon to the nuts and raisins. (Then threw the cinnamon back in per the directions. I will make this recipe again. Thanks.

    Reply

  35. Just made this and it is fantastic! I reduced the chicken to 1 lb and threw in a cup of frozen peas and two carrots sliced into sticks (I borrowed from your veg biryani recipe!). Also, raisins fried in ghee – YUM.

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  36. Made this for the first time yesterday. Biryani has always seemed like too much work for me but this Instant pot Biryani turned out great and so much less work. Big hit with my family. Thank you

    Reply

  37. Hi! I want to make this with boneless beef stew cubes. Should I pressure for 7 minutes still? Or maybe 10?

    Reply

  38. What about yogurt? My mom says it’s a mystery to add yogurt to the meat but I didn’t see it in your recipe. How can I incorporate it?

    Reply

  39. I have made this twice now. Today I’m planning time number three. It’s so good, so exquisitely delightful, that it makes me proud it came out of my kitchen! I haven’t found an Instant Pot curry recipe so far that has rocked my world, but this biryani recipe is one of the best meals I’ve ever made, and maybe the best. Thank you Ashley!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

      • Oh a dry curry in the Instant Pot. I have to try it! Thank you Ashley! I just joined your Facebook group, and I’m very excited to try more recipes. I’m actually making this biryani again today.

        Re: the curries, we have tried your Instant Pot butter chicken, and the one from Two Sleevers, and neither was quite like the restaurant experience for our tastes. Maybe it’s not possible with all these shortcuts? They both told my brain “this is curry!” when I ate them, but there was something missing compared to the restaurant style. I don’t know what. It’s still so wonderful to cook food that tastes authentically Indian without the long slow steps that are traditionally involved.

        Reply

        • Matt, awesome! I’m glad you joined the group and I can’t wait to hear what you think of the bhuna if you try it! So when it comes to butter chicken, the method is mostly the same but everyone does things differently – just to confirm though, you’re definitely using the fenugreek leaves, right? Because that makes a surprisingly big difference when it comes to the flavor of butter chicken. If there’s a restaurant whose BC you really love, I suggest asking them questions about it – ask if they use a lot of heavy cream or ghee or ask if they add nuts in the butter chicken (this will give you an idea of whether they add cashew paste – some folks do this). Some restaurants will even use tandoori chicken instead of cooking chicken in the curry and call it butter chicken – that can also make a difference. I hope you’re able to achieve that butter chicken flavor you’re seeking! Keep me posted 🙂

          Reply

  40. Hi I tried the recipe today.but the rice was over cooked.first time i’m Using instant pot.don’t know what I did wrong…but the taste was yummy..is the same time frame for all IP?

    Reply

    • Hi Rose, rice can definitely vary – I have tried several brands and they’ve worked with the timing but my absolute favorite rice is aahu barah – I link to it in the post. If you can, I’d suggest trying it with that rice 🙂 Or you can also try quick releasing pressure after 5 minutes – that may help too!

      Reply

      • Ok thank you. I made it with the green and it smelled amazing. Sadly it smelled much better then it tasted. I couldn’t really taste the spices. I will try adding a little extra next time.

        Reply

  42. I’m so excited to try this recipe! I don’t have cardamom pods but I have ground cardamom-will it be a problem to substitute in ground cardamom?

    Also your butter chicken recipe is my husband and I’s absolute favorite dish ever!!!

    Reply

    • Hi Kristin, if you use ground cardamom just use a pinch as it’s more concentrated than the pods. I hope you love this! Let me know what you and your hubby think!

      Reply

  43. So delicious! I’d never tried this dish before but will certainly be making it again! Husband loved it too and he is so picky I usually don’t share with him, but he was so impressed he took some over to share with neighbors.

    ★★★★★

    Reply

    • Kristin, I’m so happy to hear that!! Thanks for letting me know how much you guys liked it 🙂 And how nice of you to share with your neighbors – I hope they loved it too!

      Reply

  44. This was my first time ever making biryani-had heard that it was a very time consuming process so was amazed when it turned out really well. Even my teenage daughter said it was okay and she has very high standards. I used butter with a dash olive oil as it didn’t have ghee and I was a bit worried that the rice on top hadn’t cooked but when mixed it seemed fine in the end.

    Reply

  45. I absolutely love this. I think the next time I make it I will leave the salt out completely. I’m not a big salt person and I don’t think it needed any. I am allergic to black pepper and so I made my own garam masala. The spices were absolutely amazing. That’s why I love Indian food. The thing I love the most is every bite had a new explosion of flavor.

    I have an instant pot Ultra and I sometimes have difficulty with it burning the bottom of anything that has basmati rice in it. I made sure that I rinsed the rice very well after soaking for 30 minutes. The nice thing about this recipe is the rice is not on the bottom at all. I also lifted the chicken up a bit to let some of the water down underneath.

    Thank you and I look forward to making more of your recipes.

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  46. I bought your book Indian food Under Pressure online and made this last week – it was lovely and now have found your site so will be making a lot more of your recipes. What I would like to know is when you specify cashews as in your chicken Korma for the creamy cashew sauce do I buy raw or already roasted cashews.

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  47. Hi Ashley – I tried your veg biryani and it came out awesome. I want to try the chicken biryani tomorrow. can I use breasts instead of thighs?

    Reply

    • Hi Nayan! I’m so glad you liked the veg biryani 🙂 I haven’t tried using chicken breast in the chicken biryani so I can’t say for sure but I think it’ll turn out fine. Let me know what you think if you try it out!

      Reply

  48. Hello! Looking forward to making this recipe tomorrow! I’m a new IP user, just got one a few days ago! In the instructions it says “stir fry” when cooking. I don’t have the button on my IP…how do I go about doing so?

    Reply

  50. delicious! thank you for the recipe. it’s the best chicken biriyani I’ve ever made. Appreciate it!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  51. Hi! Im a new instant pot convert and just bought one, what size do you use for the recipes you post? mine is the 6 quart one. excited to try some of these and wanted to make sure itll be the right size:)

    Reply

    • Hi Divya! I test all of my recipes using the 6 quart (that’s all that was out when I first bought mine lol) so try any recipe on the site 🙂 Let me know what you think!

      Reply

      • just made it today and it looks and taste amazing! my picky 3yo and 1.5 yo daughters also agree!:)my 1st ever biriyani attempt! my family is from kerala but im born and brought up here so only now venturing into indian cooking. love that u have a mix of north and south indian recipes!!!
        would i be able to double this recipe and still safely make in the 6 quart..? if so any other adjustments needed? thanks ashley!

        ★★★★★

        Reply

        • I am so happy to hear that your kiddos loved the biryani! That makes me so happy to hear 🙂 Yes you can double the recipe – just double the ingredients but keep the cook time the same. I can’t wait to hear what you think of any other recipes that you try!

          Reply

  52. Ashley, I just want to take the time to say how much I am obsessed with your website, especially this recipe. I was born in Hyderabad so I’m super picky about biriyani. This recipe is perfection! I’ve made it countless times. I just made the veggie version too! I also loooove your Chana Masala and chicken curries. The measurements are perfect for everything. I just ordered your IP cookbook on amazon and can’t wait for it to come. Thank you so much for everything you do!!!

    Reply

    • Veda, that makes me so happy to hear! I’m so glad you like the biryani so much! And the chana masala and curries 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of any other recipes that you try!

      Reply

  54. Flavor was amazing! I used the correct rice to water ratio but the basmati rice came out mushy . Any idea why? Thanks

    Reply

    • Monica, so happy to hear that you liked the flavor 🙂 As for the rice – I have found that it really depends on the brand. I recommend the brand I use in the post but if you’re using another brand of basmati rice you may have to play around with the times – perhaps try a 5 min cook time and a 5 min npr next time? Let me know if that works better for you!

      Reply

  55. Turned out excellent! Even my 15 months old toddler loved it :). Thanks for the perfect recipe! 🙂

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  56. This is a very good recipe and makes biryani relatively easy to make. I was wondering if you can marinate the chicken beforehand to give it even more flavor. If so, how would you suggest marinating it? Thanks again and I am going to try more of your recipes!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  57. How do you suggest removing the whole spices at the end? Are we seriously supposed to dig through the rice and chicken mixture, picking out cardamom pods and fennel and cloves and cumin seeds?

    Reply

  58. I are this tonight and just loved it. Thank you for posting it—it’s definitely going to be part of our rotation!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  60. Thank you for this recipe! I have made the chicken, shrimp, and egg biriyani and all three turned out great! I love the way you format your recipes online and the exact measurements so it is very simple to follow. Your biryani recipes are definitely my favorite biriyani recipes to make!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  61. This was delicious! My super picky husband and kids even enjoyed it. We decided it would make a great make ahead meal to pack for work lunches throughout the week! Will definitely be making this again.

    ★★★★★

    Reply

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