This flavorful instant pot keema biryani, a spiced ground meat and rice dish, is going to be your new favorite one-pot meal.
What is Keema Biryani?
Keema biryani or keema pulao is a one-pot dish made up of spiced ground meat, long-grain basmati rice, and aromatic spices. It’s a weeknight favorite at our house as well as a dish we serve when we have last-minute company. It’s easy to make and impressive too!
This dish is very flavorful so I suppose it really is more like biryani since pulao is typically more subtle in flavor. You can call this keema biryani or keema pulao or keema rice or ground meat pualo. Or just call it “that super scrumptious rice dish from myheartbeets” which to be fair, could refer to any one of my super tasty rice recipes… okay, it’s not like we really need another name for this dish, lol. Whatever you call it, know that it’s absolutely delicious.
If you’ve tried my chicken biryani or my shrimp biryani or my lamb/beef biryani then you know I know good biryani. Biryani has been one of my favorite things to eat for as long as I can remember so I know what good biryani should taste like. This keema biryani is so dang good. You are going to love it!
Beef Biryani Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make this keema biryani:
- Ground Meat: you can use any ground meat you’d like. I typically use ground lamb or ground beef when making this, but chicken or turkey will work too.
- Basmati Rice: I love this brand of basmati rice – the grains are long and fragrant and cook perfectly every time.
- Whole Spices: cardamom, cloves, bay leaf, cinnamon, cumin
- Onion
- Garlic: you can use minced garlic or garlic paste.
- Ginger: you can use micned ginger or ginger paste.
- Green Chilli: you can use a minced serrano or green chilli paste.
- Ground Spices: coriander, paprika, salt, black pepper, garam masala, turmeric, cayenne
- Tomatoes
- Cilanto and Mint leaves: for garnish
If I’m making this keema biryani on a weeknight, I’ll sometimes leave out the herbs (I usually have cilantro in the house, but I don’t always have mint). If you’re serving this on a special occasion though then be sure to add the herbs. They add a bright fresh flavor to the dish. My goal for the spring/summer is to grow my own cilantro, mint, and parsley so hopefully, I’ll always have fresh herbs nearby. I have a brown thumb (both literally and figuratively) so I’m hoping I don’t kill my new plants right away.
How much should I cook the rice?
The best part about making biryani in an instant pot is that you don’t need to worry about this question because you cook the rice and meat together, in one pot, in the same amount of time.
Traditionally when making biryani, you cook the meat and rice separately but since we’re cooking it all together, we can cook the meat and rice together in 6 minutes (with a 10-minute natural release).
How long does does keema biryani last?
I would suggest eating this biryani within 2-3 days. You can also store it in the freezer for up to a couple of months.
What meat is best for biryani?
You can use any meat to make biriyani. I have many different types of biryani recipes on the blog. For this particular recipe, any type of ground meat will work. I typically use ground lamb or ground beef when making this, but chicken or turkey will work too.
Try another biryani recipe next!:
Looking for more ground meat recipes?
- Keema (reader favorite!)
- Kerala Ground Meat Stew
- Kerala Cutlets
- Ground Meat Vindaloo
Keema Biryani (Keema Pulao)
Keema Biryani (Keema Pulao)
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups basmati rice soaked for 15 minutes
- 2 tablespoons oil of choice
Whole Spices
- 5 cardamom pods
- 4 whole cloves
- 1 bay leaf
- ½ cinnamon stick
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 pound ground meat of choice
- 1 onion diced
- 5 teaspoons minced garlic
- 2 teaspoons minced ginger
- ½ – 1 Serrano pepper or green chili minced, adjust to taste
Ground Spices
- 3 teaspoons coriander powder
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- 2 teaspoons salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon garam masala
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne
- 2 tomatoes diced
- 1 ½ cups water
- ¼ cup cilantro leaves chopped
- ¼ cup mint leaves chopped
Instructions
- Soak the basmati rice in cold water for 15-30 minutes. Drain, rinse and set aside.
- Press the sauté button, then add the oil to the pot. Allow the oil a minute to heat up, then add the whole spices to the pot and give them a stir. Once the spices begin to sizzle, add the ground meat, onions, garlic, ginger, Serrano pepper and cook until the meat is mostly browned.
- Add the ground spices, mix well, then add the tomatoes and cook for 5-6 minutes, or until they have softened.
- Dump the rice on top of the meat (do not mix) then pour water on top. Sprinkle half the cilantro and mint on top of the rice.
- Secure the lid, close the pressure valve and cook for 6 minutes at high pressure.
- Naturally release pressure for 10 minutes. Open the valve to release any remaining pressure.
- Remove whole spices and sprinkle with remaining cilantro and mint.
Maryam says
If I wanted to add diced potatoes (large chunks), how should I modify the recipe? More water?
Sibi says
Hi Ashley. I love all of your biriyani’s and was wondering if you have tried any of them with riced cauliflower just to cut down on the carbs. I would greatly appreciate any tips you could provide. I am just not sure if the cook times would be the same in the instant pot for the riced cauliflower as regular rice. Thanks in advance for any insights.
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Hi Sibi, I have a cauli biryani in my ebook (South Asian Persuasion) but I have it on my to-do list to make and share an IP cauli biryani here on the blog – hopefully one day soon!
Srabana says
Hi Ashley, this is a great recipe, it’s become a weekly staple for us now (among many other recipes of yours)! Wondering if you’ve ever tried scaling it up – maybe doubling? I assume that I would just double the water and keep the timing the same? Any suggestions would be great.
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Hi Srabana, I’m so happy to hear that! I haven’t tried doubling this one myself but I’m sure it’ll be fine to do – just double all of the ingredients (including water) and keep the timing the same. Let me know how it goes!
Deb says
Hi, I would love to try this but I don’t have a pressure cooker. How would the recipe be adjusted for a slow cooker, or a regular pot on stove please?
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Hi Deb, I haven’t tried this using a different method but will update the post if I do. In the meantime, hopefully, another reader can help if they’ve tried!
Georgy Das says
Love this! Make it a few times a month and my family and friends are always amazed by the flavor. I do have a quick question. After you saute the whole spices, are you then removing (now or at some point before putting the rice in) them and putting it on top of the rice before pressure cooking? Your last instruction is to remove the whole spices which is a little tricky when they are somewhere in the biryani. Just wondering, thanks again for these awesome recipes!
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Hi Georgy, that’s so great to hear! We eat around the whole spices – I actually wrote a blog post about removing whole spices which goes into more detail if you want to check that out 🙂
Beth Romig says
This was super easy and bursting with vibrant, strong flavors. Highly recommend making this one!!
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Thank you, Beth! I appreciate the review 🙂
Nancy says
Made with brown rice, added a few minutes cook time and about 3/4 cup more water. I used two large spoonfuls of canned diced tomato. Threw in cashews at end. This was delicious!!
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Hi Nancy, that’s so great to hear! Glad the keema turned out well for you 🙂
Virginia says
This was a easy one and tasted yum too!
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Thanks, Virginia! Happy to hear that you liked this recipe so much 🙂
Margie says
A great biryani. So simple. So good to eat. Thanks Ashley
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Margie, glad to hear that 🙂 Thanks for letting me know how the biryani turned out for you!
Kazi Islam says
Did I miss something or does the recipe not mention the type/quality or how much ground meat I should be using?
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Hi Kazi, this recipe calls for 1 pound of ground meat – it’s listed in the ingredients but I can see how it looks hidden. I recently changed recipe cards and am working on figuring out formatting issues so thank you for bringing this to my attention!
JayCeeGee says
Like your IP recipes – but the the website is fraught with an overload of ads and is very distracting.
Anyway decided to buy the book on Amazon to stay focused.
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Hi JayCee, thank you for supporting me by getting my book, I really appreciate it! I’m sorry for the ads – just so you know though, the ads are how many of us bloggers are paid.