Instant Pot Chicken Biryani Recipe | Easiest Pressure Cooker Biryani (2024)

Once you make this Instant Pot Chicken Biryani recipe, you will never go back to making it any other way. This is by far the easiest way to make a chicken biryani recipe.

What Makes This Instant Pot Chicken Biryani Recipe So Great

• Simple. Biryani recipes take forever, they involve multiple steps with confusing instructions that ask you to cook the rice at 25%, 50%, and 75%. I'm a statistician and a cook, and I don't even know the difference between 50% and 75% cooked rice. No worries about that with this recipe. Make this Instant Pot chicken recipe without any complicated steps or instructions.
• One-Pot. Biryani recipes seem to dirty every dish in the house--and then they get eaten within minutes. I figured out how to make an authentic-tasting pressure cooker chicken biryani in the Instant Pot--without dirtyingevery dish in the house.
• Delicious. So just so you know, if I'm ever on death row I will ask for Instant Pot Biryani for my last meal. That's how much I love it. In fact, this recipe is so good that it has become a favorite of my readers.

What Does Chicken Biryani Taste Like?

Chicken Biryani is a heavily seasoned chicken and rice dish that is as fragrant as it is delicious. It is predominantly seasoned with cumin seeds, cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves. You will also enjoy the nutty flavors infused from the ghee.

Ingredients You'll Need

Spices for tempering OR Use 2 Teaspoons of Garam Masala

• Ghee or butter
• Cumin seeds
• Cinnamon
• Whole Cloves
• Whole Black Peppercorns
• Cardamom Pods

Veggies

• Onion
• Minced Ginger
• Garlic
• Jalapeño Peppers
• Cilantro
• Chopped Mint

Chicken and Rice

• Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs
• Basmati Rice
• Kosher Salt

How To Make Chicken Biryani In The Instant Pot

• Heat. Warm the ghee in your Instant Pot and when it's hot, put in all the tempering spices.
• Brown. Once they start to sizzle, put in the thinly sliced onion and cook until it's well-browned and crisp at the edges.

• Add. Add in the ginger, garlic, and jalapenos and cook for 2-3 minutes.
• Chicken. Put in the bite-size chicken pieces and salt. If you're using ready-made garam masala instead of whole spices, add it now and mix well.

• Spread and Sprinkle. Spread out the chicken and veggie mixture to cover the bottom of your Instant Pot. Sprinkle the chopped cilantro and mint on top of it.
• Rice. Spread the rinsed, drained rice across everything. Do not stir.

• Water. Pour in the water, and gently push the rice down so it is covered by the water.
• Cook. Cook on high pressure for 5 minutes, and let the pressure release naturally. for 10 minutes. Then, release all remaining pressure.
• Serve. Open and inhale deeply! Enjoy the true-to-tradition aroma of this dish and then either mix it gently from the bottom, or serve by scooping up a layer from top to bottom so you've served chicken, herbs, and rice in every serving.

Tips for how to Make This Instant Pot Chicken Biryani Recipe

• Assemble ingredients. The easiest way to do this is to get all your spices together, and chop all your veggies at once, keeping the piles separate.
• Prepare Rice. Rinse and drain basmati rice before you start and chop the chicken as you're cooking the veggies.
• Garam Masala. If you do not want all the individual whole spices, you can use ready-made garam masala or make your own homemade garam masala. Just add 1-2 teaspoons of Garam masala after you put in the chicken.
• Ghee. Many of us will tell you, it's not a proper chicken biryani recipe if there's no ghee in it, so make your own homemade ghee, and taste the difference.

What Do You Eat With Chicken Biryani?

Though this Instant Pot Chicken Biryani is a complete meal in itself, here are a few side options:

• Easy Indian Carrot Salad - A simple and light side dish.
• Instant Pot Coconut Chickpea Curry - An easy and delicious vegan recipe.
• Indian Cucumber Salad - A refreshing combination of cucumbers and peanuts.
• Indian Cabbage Slaw - Healthy, nutritious, fast, and vegan.

Is Chicken Biryani Healthy?

Chicken Biryani might not be what a foodie would typically define as "healthy", but there are many things about this dish that make it tip toward the healthy side of the food scale.

Instant Pot Chicken Biryani is an Indian recipe that is low in saturated fats, which can't be said about a lot of other traditional Indian foods.

It also only has 246 calories per serving and boasts a substantial 17 grams of protein.

More Instant Pot Recipes?

• Instant Pot Lamb Biryani - Tender morsels of lamb, marinated and cooked with rice.
• Instant Pot Vegetarian Paneer Biryani - Easy, authentic, kid-friendly, and vegetarian.
• Kheema Biryani - Simple, quick, and delicious.
• Low Carb Keto Chicken Biryani - A low carb version of Chicken Biryani.
• Easy Chicken Korma Recipe - Authentic Indian Chicken Korma at home.
• Instant Pot Chicken Tikka Masala - Make this authentic Indian dish with very little work.
• Chicken Vindaloo - Make vindaloo in minutes rather than hours!

Pin It!

This Instant Pot Chicken Biryani recipe may notlook that impressive, but let me tell you, it is so tasty, with such complex flavors, I doubt I'll be going out for Chicken Biryani any time soon! Make sure to share this recipe with your friends on Pinterest and Facebook so they can enjoy it as well!

Originally Published March 10, 2017

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