Pakistani Chicken Biryani Recipe (The BEST!)
It took me absolutely no effort to bring you this biryani recipe. All I had to do was find the best biryani in Houston, dissect it, hound poor Rizwan for details, perform 10+ trials, use the concepts in Salt Acid Fat Heat to further perfect it, survey my email list for preferences, interpolate to figure out spice quantities, and you know…cry a little.
In short, I literally ate, slept, and breathed biryani until I could proudly publish this most-beloved, highly requested recipe and do it justice. Phew. Let’s do this.
More Famous Chicken Recipes: Butter Chicken, Chicken Jalfrezi, and Chicken Karahi
Notes on the Ingredients for Chicken Biryani
I’ve intentionally chosen the ingredients and quantities to give this biryani a strong foundation. That said, this recipe can take quite a bit of substitutions and adaptations and still be excellent.
- Oil/Ghee: I’ve used oil for fluidity and ghee for taste.
- Onions: You can either thinly slice them (more traditional) or finely chop. If using a food processor to do this, pulse to chop so that it doesn’t blend into a paste.
- Bone-in, cut up, skinless chicken: I buy pre-cut up pieces of a whole chicken, but bone-in, skinless chicken thighs work too.
- Whole spices: A generous amount of whole spices are a distinct characteristic of biryani. Of course, whole spices are meant to be discarded while eating. If you find them too much, you can always reduce the amount or place them in a spice/muslin bag.
- Garlic + Ginger: I use a mortar and pestle or a food processor to crush them.
- Tomatoes: Since biryani has lots of sour ingredients like yogurt, dried plums (alu Bukhara), and lemon, I’ve found keeping the tomatoes to a minimum gives it just the right amount of tang.
- Yogurt: Not only does a yogurt marinade make the chicken more tender and flavorful, but it also makes cooking the chicken much smoother. For a dairy-free option, try using coconut milk.
- Rice: I suggest using aged, long-grain basmati rice you can find at some grocery stores, any Indian/Pakistani specialty store, or online.
- Dried Plums (Alu Bukhara): I always go for the helping of biryani with these sweet surprises. Alu Bukhara are often used in biryani to give a sweet, tangy taste. They’re usually available at South Asian grocery stores, but if you can’t find them, you can either substitute with dried prunes or omit.