This is the ultimate Pakistani Chicken Biryani recipe—featuring perfectly layered aromatic rice and incredibly tender chicken, all infused with rich spices. Whether it’s for a weekend dinner or a festive gathering, this biryani delivers bold, authentic flavor every time.
Chicken Biryani is more than just a dish—it’s a celebration of flavor, tradition, and aroma. As one of Pakistan’s most beloved meals, it holds a special place in every household, including mine. Over the years, I’ve cooked countless pots of Chicken Biryani, and I’ve perfected this recipe so I can follow it blindly and get the same authentic flavor every time.
Which Style Biryani is this Recipe?
You might wonder—why even ask? The truth is, there are many popular versions of Biryani across Pakistan and India, including Bombay Biryani, Hyderabadi Biryani, Delhi Biryani, Karachi Biryani, and Sindhi Biryani. My recipe is inspired by the Sindhi Biryani style, known for its hot, spicy flavors with a hint of tanginess. If you prefer a milder taste, be sure to check out my Hyderabadi Biryani recipe for a gentler, aromatic option.
Ingredients for Chicken Biryani
The Chicken Biryani recipe may seem intimidating with its long list of ingredients. However, the secret to success is organizing the ingredients into groups and following the steps carefully, one at a time. Here’s what you’ll need to make this flavorful Chicken Biryani:
Rice – the best choice of rice for Biryani is Basmati rice as they are considered to be premium quality rice. They are long grain and have distinct aroma. The rice grains remain separate and fluffy. Jasmine rice are the second best option for this Biryani recipe.
Chicken– I have used chicken with bones, cut into small pieces. If you prefer boneless chicken check my recipe for Boneless Chicken Biryani
Potatoes – are a must in Sindhi style biryani. If you don’t pefer to have them please feel free to omit them.
Ginger and Garlic – its essential to use fresh ginger and garlic.
Spices – Biryani gets all its aroma and taste from spices used. Different type of chillies ( powder, whole, dried) each give their own distinctive taste. To make it easy the spices can be broken down into two parts. The whole spices like Cardamoms, cinnamon, cloves, black pepper corns and star anise are used to make rice fragrant.
Red chilli Powder, Turmeric, crushed chilli, Cumin seeds, whole red dried chilli, coriander powder and garam masala add flavour to chicken.
Yoghurt – use any plain yoghurt. Greek yoghurt is best option. It gives creamy texture and thickens the gravy.
Tomatoes – fresh tomatoes finely chopped
Onions – thinly slice the onion and fry them until golden brown. Onions are used as gravy based and also used in layering and garnishing. You can also use store bought fried onion for garnishing and layering. I did that so you might notice in the video that I didn’t take some of them out.
Dried Plums or Prunes – are an essential for Sindhi biryani. They give this sweet and tangy flavour and compliments the spicy flavour of biryani. If you don’t have them at hand you can omit them but i highly recommend adding them. Dried plum also known as Aloo Bukhara are a bit hard to find. But prunes are easily available at supermarkets.
Lemon, Mint, Coriander – give a beautiful flavour and aroma to Biryani.
HOW To Make Chicken Biryani
Chicken Biryani is prepared in 4 main stages. I’ve broken them down step-by-step to make the process easy and manageable.
Prepare Chicken Curry
Fry the onions until they are light golden. You can take a little bit out for garnishing on the top later. Add chicken along with garlic ginger paste and fry until chicken changes colour. Add all the spices and fry the chicken on medium heat. If spices start sticking to the pan add a dash of water. Add yoghurt and cook until water from the yoghurt evaporates and oil starts to separate. Lastly add potatoes, tomatoes and green chilli. Cover and cook for around 20 mins or until tomatoes break down completely. The gravy should be thick not watery.
Parboil Rice
Biryani requires rice to be parboiled. The rice will continue to cook when they are layered up with the gravy. Add water in a pot along with aromatic spices (cardamom, bay leaves, black pepper, cloves, cinnamon) and salt. Once the water is boiling hot add the rice. The rice should be 80 % cooked. The easy way to check is break apart a grain of rice. You will be able to see that the outer layer of the rice is cooked and the inner part is still undone. Strain the rice and discard the water.
Layering the Biryani
Layer parboiled rice in a pot and put some chicken gravy over them. Sprinkle some fried onions, coriander, mint, green chilli and lemon slices. Repeat until you have 2 or 3 layers of chicken gravy and rice. The top layer will be rice. drizzle some yellow food colour or saffron. Sprinkle some fried onions and mint and coriander.
Steaming the Biryani
This is where all the magic happens and flavours get infused into the rice. Cover the pot with a tea towel or aluminium foil to ensure the heat remains inside the pot. This helps the rice to cook to perfection. Cook on really low heat for 15-20 mins.
WATCH HOW TO MAKE CHICKEN BIRYANI
TIPS TO MAKE THE BEST CHICKEN BIRYANI
- Use fresh garlic and ginger. It definitely lifts the taste and aroma of biryani.
- Its very essential not to fully cook the rice as this will result in gluggy and clumped up rice.
- The chicken curry should not be watery. It should be thick and dry, this helps it coats the rice well.
- Allow yoghurt to be at room temperature. It prevents it from curdling. The cold refrigerated yoghurt splits when added to high temperature gravy, resulting in a grainy texture of the gravy.
- After layering rice and chicken, cover the pot tightly and keep it on very low flame. Avoid opening it in between as it results in the pot losing heat. This can make the rice stiff and they will remain uncooked.
WHAT TO SERVE WITH CHICKEN BIRYANI?
The best thing about Biryani is its a complete meal in it self, all you need is Mint Yoghurt or Cucumber Raita and some fresh salad on the side.
Biryani pairs well with Chapli Kebabs or Gola Kebabs. If you prefer curry try Palak Paneer or Meatball (Kofte) Curry
CAN BIRYANI BE MADE AHEAD OR FROZEN?
Yes, Biryani can be made ahead. You can prepare the meat gravy in advance and can be refrigerated or frozen. Just reheat it and add little water. Boil the rice and layer it up.
You can freeze biryani too. Just thaw it when required and heat it in the microwave.
Other Rice Recipes to Try
Hyderabadi Dum Biryani
Chicken Pulao
AFGHANI PULAO
Give this Chicken Biryani recipe a try and let me know how it turned out in the comments below! I’d love to hear your feedback.
Chicken Biryani – Pakistani Style
Ingredients
- 3 Cups Rice See Notes
- 1 kg Chicken with bone cut into small pieces
- 3 Large Onions See Notes
- 1 tbsp Garlic
- 1 tbsp Ginger
- 3 Medium Tomatoes
- 2 Medium Potatoes See Notes
- 2 cups Yoghurt See Notes
- 1 cup Cooking Oil
- 2 Green Chillies See Notes
- 1 cup Coriander/Cilantro
- 1 cup Mint Leaves
- 5-6 Prunes or Dried Plums See Notes
- 1 Lemon Sliced
- 1 tbsp Yellow Food Colour or Saffron See Notes
Spices for Rice
- 2 Bayleaves
- 1 tbsp Black Peppercorns
- 1 tsp Cloves
- 1 Star Anise
- 2 Cinnamon Sticks
- 4 Green Cardamom
- 1 tbsp Salt
Spices for Chicken
- 1 tbsp Salt
- 2 tbsp Red Chilli Powder
- 1 tsp Turmeric
- 1 tbsp Cumin Seeds
- 1½ tsp Coriander Powder
- 1 tbsp Garam Masala
- 2 Dried Whole Chilli Optional
- 1 tsp Crushed Red Chilies
- 3-4 Prunes See Notes
Instructions
- Begin with soaking the rice. Rinse them with water and soak them for atleast 15 – 20 mins.
- While chicken is cooking, in a sperate pot add 8-10 cups of water. Add all the spices listed for rice. Cover and bring the water to boil.
- Drain the water from soaked rice and add them to boiling water. Cook untill rice are 80% done and then drain the water.
- Take a bigger pot that's big enough for holding rice and chicken. Layer it with rice, followed by half of the chicken. Sprinkle with mint, coriander, Green chilli and lemon slices. Repeat with one more layer of rice and chicken. Last layer would be rice. Drizzle yellow colour.
- Cover and cook on low heat for 10 – 15 minutes or untill rice are cooked. Serve immediately with salad and mint yoghurt.
Prepare Chicken Gravy
- In a pot heat oil and fry onions until golden brown. Take some out for layering later and set them aside on paper towel.
- Add chicken along with ginger and garlic. Fry for few minutes until the chicken changes colour.
- Add all the spices listed for chicken gravy. And fry the chicken for a few minutes. If the spices are sticking to the pot add a dash water.
- Add the yoghurt and cook until water evaporates and oil starts to separate.
- Add potatoes, chopped tomatoes and green chillies. Cover and cook on low heat for around 20 minutes or until there is no water remaining and the gravy is thickened. If it seems watery, turn the heat up and cook for few minutes.
Boiling the Rice
- Add 8-10 cups of water in a pot along with all the spices listed for rice. Cover and bring the water to boil.
- Drain the water from soaked rice and add them to boiling water. Cook until rice are 80% done. Drain them, discarding the water.
Layering and Steaming the Biryani
- Take a bigger pot that's big enough for holding rice and chicken. Add a Layer of rice and spread some of the chicken chicken gravy over them. Sprinkle with fried onion, mint, coriander, Green chilli and lemon slices. Repeat with 1 or 2 more layers of rice and chicken. Last layer would be rice. Drizzle some yellow colour or saffron infused water. Sprinkle some fried onions, mint and coriander.
- Cover the pot with a tea towel or aluminum foil. This to make sure the steam remains in and it helps to cook the rice to perfection. Cook on low heat for 10 – 15 minutes or until rice are cooked. Allow it to rest for a few minutes and then gently toss the rice to slightly mix the biryani but dont over mix.
- Serve immediately with salad and mint yoghurt.
Notes
- Rice – the best choice of rice for Biryani is Basmati rice as they are considered to be premium quality rice. They are long grain and have distinct aroma. The rice grains remain separate and fluffy. Also Basmati requires less water for cooking and they have a shorter cooking time as compared to the other types of rice. Jasmine rice are the second best option.
- Onions –You can also use store bought fried onion for garnishing and layering. I did that so you might notice in the video that I didn’t take some of them out.
- Green Chilli – If you don’t want to much spice, use very mild green chilli. You can also omit them in chicken gravy and just add little bit when layering.
- Yoghurt – use Greek yoghurt for best result. Most importantly it should be room temperature. Cold yoghurt from the refrigerator splits and curdles when added to hot gravy. If you forget to take it out beforehand just add a bit of warm water and whisk it before adding it in.
- Potatoes – If you don’t prefer to have them omit them. If you are using medium type of potatoes cut them into quarters.
- Prune/Dried Plums – If you don’t have them at hand you can omit them but i highly recommend adding them. Dried plum also known as Aloo Bukhara are bit hard to find. But prunes are easily available at supermarkets.
- Yellow Colour or Saffron. You can use yellow food colour. If you are using saffron, add some saffron threads in hot but not boiling water. Allow the colour to steep for 10-15 minutes.
Tried this out, it is definitely a recipe to keep. I used little bit less chillies than mentioned . The Biryani was so aromatic and flavoursome.
Thanks Amy, glad you like the recipe. Definitely its good to adjust chillies according to your taste.
Hi
May I ask when the potato should be added to the dish? This is not indicated……. Looking forward to making it.
My first attempt in making biryani myself and i was successful. You gave a complete list of ingridients and easy to follow step. If i can make it anyone can. It was finger licking good
Thanks for trying this biryani out. Its great that it turned out good for you in first attempt !!
This is showstopper biryani, a bit spicy but still enjoyable. Perfect blend of all the flavors. I loved this recipe. Especially the fried onions add delicious crunch and. Sweetness.
Thankyou for trying this recipe out. yes, it is spicy but you can always adjust the spice level. But Im glad that you liked it