One pot easy chicken biryani….Mmm… who doesn’t like a Biryani… that’s just impossible lol…proper Indian comfort food. Really is just delicious, full of flavor and you just want to eat more of it. 

Biryani, a royal feast, a mixed rice dish with Indian spices cooked with meat, or vegetables or even both. 

There are many variations for Biryani, usually the meat is cooked and then the rice is cooked separately to about just 80% done and then the meat and rice is layered in a big pot with added fried onions, saffron milk, nuts and sultanas and finally cooked in a sealed pot on a very low heat until done. This one is super full of flavor… it’s absolutely delish. I only make this on special occasions just because it’s a little time consuming.

More about this one pot easy chicken biryani

There’s another variation which I make very often, maybe say once a week. I just change it around with either chicken or beef, additional vegetables. I mean the family love it, it’s easy, it’s all ready and done for anyone to plate up when they feel hungry. It’s a one pot super easy recipe that you can make in 30-40 minutes, yup that fast, especially for a rice and meat dish all in one. It’s got all the flavors of a Biryani, it’s filling and even better you can make it in a big batch and it will store in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. So you can heat it up and eat it whenever you like. It really is great to have for the kids too, they love it and it keeps them happy and full. Just what we need for us busy moms.

The main ingredients in this recipe are chicken breast, I go for chicken tenders, cut into 1 inch pieces. Rice of course, basmati rice is best to use, with its great aroma and beautiful long grains. The extra additional vegetables I use are tomatoes, potatoes cut into quarters, and frozen peas. I love the fact that there is a range of ingredients making it perfect for a one pot dish to enjoy.

Preparing the chicken

Once you cut the chicken pieces up, transfer them into a bowl and add in the ingredients for the marinade. Ingredients like grated ginger, minced garlic, chili powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, garam masala powder, salt, nutmeg, mace, lemon juice and mint chutney. Whenever there’s natural yogurt in my fridge then I add that too instead of the lemon juice. Mix everything up really well and let that marinate for 20-30 minutes.

Other ingredients for easy one pot chicken biryani

The vegetables,,,,It’s always a good idea to prep everything before you start cooking, it just helps to speed things up and makes everything so much more easier when you have to multitask. So peel and slice the onions, thin slices. Cut up the tomatoes, into wedges or you can even chop them up however you like, it doesn’t really matter. Peel the potatoes and cut them up into quarters, you can soak them in water (helps to remove excess potato starch) until you are ready to cook.

Basmati rice….Measure the rice out, so usually one cup of raw rice yields 3 and a half cups of cooked rice. When you are making Biryani you definitely want to make sure you have enough rice because everyone always wants more and of course you can store any left over in the refrigerator. 

In my recipe I usually go for 400g of chicken pieces and I would go for 4 cups of rice. So that’s probably enough for 8 servings. For my family of four that’s perfect.

Wash and rinse the rice under water 2-3 times, this helps to remove surface starches and will overall give you better cooked rice. Then soak the rice for at least 15-20 minutes, basically the longer you soak rice the less time it will take to cook, overall speeding up the cooking process. 

Once all of these steps are done you can go ahead and start cooking.

Cooking process for the chicken biryani

First you will need a heavy bottom pot, a Dutch oven will work well but any heavy bottom pot will really do.

Heat up the pot and add in the oil, here you can also use ghee (clarified butter) which gives the overall dish a more rich flavor. I just go for oil as I make this so often I just go simple really for this dish. 

Add in whole cumin seeds, 1 teaspoon, let that sizzle for 1 minute and then add in the sliced onions, you want to keep the flame on medium high and brown those onions, a dark golden brown. The onions will bring out the overall Biryani flavor and give the dish its beautiful color.

Once the onions have turned to that dark golden brown color it’s time to add in the marinated chicken pieces, in they go with a good mix on high flame. Cook for 2 minutes and then add in the tomatoes, potatoes and the frozen peas. Stir everything really well adding in a quarter cup of hot water. Cover and cook for 10 mins on medium high flame. Chicken breast doesn’t take long to cook, and also remember once the rice is added then everything will be cooked on a low heat for additional 15 minutes.

After 10 minutes of cooking the chicken and vegetables you are ready to add in the drained rice. At this point you want to make sure you mix everything in well, the rice with the chicken, vegetables and spices.

Then you need to pour hot water into the pot. I like to have my kettle ready with hot water. So for every cup of rice you add 1 extra cup of water, two parts water to one part of rice. Also add in the salt here too. I know we added salt in the chicken when marinating but you will also need to add some here too, mix well and let the rice come to a boil, then cover with foil and put the lid on the pot and simmer on the lowest flame for 15 minutes. 

After 15 minutes you can turn the flame off, and let the pot rest for 10 minutes before taking off the lid and serving. Be very careful when you take off the lid and foil, as there will be steam build up. Serve with a side of salad, fresh lemon wedges or maybe your favorite Indian chutney.