Best Chicken Biryani (Karachi style)

This is the BEST Chicken Biryani recipe with step by step instructions and photos which will help demystify everything for you. With this recipe, you will be able to make the perfect biryani: perfectly cooked rice, tender chicken, lots of potatoes and masala, and an unbelievable harmony of spicy and tangy flavors in every bite. A spoon-full will take you straight to Pakistan!

If you're having a hard time trusting me, this recipe comes from a die hard Karachi foodie (my sister in law), and we all know Karachi has the best biryani in Pakistan. Believe me, no one will eat this and say it tastes like pulao!

Read the full blog post below for detailed notes, tips, tricks, photos and videos.

Note: This post contains affiliate links.

WHAT IS BIRYANI?

Biryani is a delicious and aromatic dish that hails from the Mughal empire in the Indian subcontinent. It is a rice pilaf cooked with various spices, meat or fish, and vegetables.

Debates about the "right" way to make biryani, or the "best" type of biryani are truly endless. Indian vs Pakistani, Hyderabadi vs Karachi, dum biryani vs marinated biryani, tomatoes or no tomatoes, potatoes or not potatoes. We can go on and on and on. But the simple fact is that the beauty of biryani lies in this diversity of flavors, textures, and methods. Each rendition is special in its own way.

Karachi biryani vs Hyderabadi biryani

This recipe specifically is for a Karachi street style biryani. Although I have never eaten Hyderabadi (Indian) biryani myself, I understand from my research that there are a few main differences between the two:

• Karachi biryani uses more masala (spices) while Hyderabadi biryani lets the flavor of the meat shine
• Karachi biryani uses both yogurt and and tomatoes, while Hyderabadi biryani skips the tomatoes resulting in less "masala"
• Karachi biryani fondly uses potatoes while Hyderabadi biryani does not

THE STORY BEHIND THIS BIRYANI RECIPE

Biryani is something that has always intimidated me, even as someone who loves cooking, and I have had far too many failed attempts in my past. So I had honestly given up hope, until I visited my sister in law. She's from Karachi and a self-confessed biryani fanatic.. and the biryani she cooked was truly lifechanging.

So I took no time getting down to business, and made her teach me everything. I was surprised to learn she uses boxed spice mixes, because I had used the same mixes before and my biryani was nothing like hers. But I learned that what makes her biryani special is the ingredients she uses and how she uses them. More on that later!

Anyway, I was in Pakistan recently and started craving this biryani. Call me crazy, but I decided to make a huge amount for my entire family. And by some miracle, the biryani turned out amazing. Everyone was obsessed with it, especially my uncle, who said this was the first time he had eaten biryani in Punjab that didn't taste like pulao.

My confidence in my biryani making skills = revived.

And here we are.

WHAT MAKES THIS CHICKEN BIRYANI SPECIAL

So you may be wondering what makes this Chicken Biryani recipe special, if it uses boxed spice mixes commonly used in Pakistan. Well, there are few things that make this recipe special and incredible:

• A combination of 2 types of Biryani masalas, added in abundance. This recipe uses both Shan Bombay Biryani Masala and Sindhi Biryani Masala, and the ratio of spice to everything else is higher than usual. You can order these spices on Amazon or easily find them in Indian / South Asian grocery stores
• Extra yogurt. This adds a fresh flavor and more masala, which we love!
• Lots of sliced lemon. Thinly sliced lemon along with its peel is added to the biryani masala, and adds a wonderful tangy and slightly bitter kick to the biryani
• Lots of dried aloo bukhara (plum). This adds texture, moisture, and the most delicious sweetness to the biryani! You can find this in Indian / South Asian supermarkets
• A unique way of cooking the tomatoes. In every biryani recipe I have ever seen, tomatoes are chopped and cooked down at the beginning to make a "masala". This recipe, however, adds the tomatoes towards the end and keeps them in slices. They become soft but hold on to their shape, and provide a unique juicy texture and flavor to the biryani

VIDEO TUTORIAL

Here's a quick video tutorial for this Chicken Biryani recipe:

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METHOD WITH PHOTOS

Detailed instructions are provided in the recipe box at the bottom of this post, but let's go over the steps with photos to help you visualize everything:

First, go ahead and prep all the ingredients so they are ready to go:

For the biryani masala, start by frying the onion in oil until it becomes golden:

Add the ginger garlic paste and cook for a minute. Then add the chicken and cook on high heat until it looks light brown:

Then, add the yogurt, salt, masalas and potatoes and toast for a few minutes:

Add the sliced lemon, cover and cook until the potatoes are just cooked through:

Stir in the dried aloo bukhara and green chilies:

Now, for the fun twist! Add the tomatoes on top of the masala in a layer along with some mint and cilantro. Cover and cook until the tomatoes have softened:

With that, the biryani masala is done! Now go ahead and boil the rice until it is just cooked through but still has a bite to it:

Finally, it's time to layer! In a clean pot, add a third of the rice and drizzle over some food color and mint and cilantro. Then layer on half of the biryani masala:

Repeat this until all layers are done, you will end with a third and final layer of rice on top:

The last (but not least) step is to give the biryani "dum" (steam). Place the heavy-bottomed pot on the smallest burner on the lowest heat setting with weight on top, and cook until steam rises through the rice. Then go ahead and very gently mix the biryani (you don't want to mix it all the way, just give it a few flips):

Serve with yogurt raita, and enjoy!!

IMPORTANT TIPS

Perfecting Biryani is not an easy task, so I strongly recommend reading through and following these tips!

Avoid multitasking

If you're a beginner to biryani, don't try to multitask. First prep all ingredients, then cook the biryani masala, then boil the rice, then layer and steam. You can start multitasking by boiling the rice while the masala is cooking once you gain some more intuition and experience!

Use your judgment instead of blindly following timestamps

It is important to be paying attention to every step and what outcome you need to achieve, instead of following the recipe times to a t. How long a step takes for you may not be the same as it takes for me, due to different ingredients, pots, stove types, etc. So when cooking potatoes, check with a fork whether they're at the right stage of doneness. When cooking rice, check frequently whether it is still hard or not.

Don't alter the recipe too much

I recommend giving this recipe a go first before you try to customize it. I do NOT recommend skipping or substituting any ingredients. However, if you want:

• You can adjust the quantity of green chilies up or down to get your desired level of heat
• You can reduce the amount of lemon and dried aloo bukhara if you're not sure if you like them, but don't reduce by more than half

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

How to achieve tender chicken in biryani

The key to get tender and soft chicken as opposed to dry and chewy is to use bone-in chicken instead of boneless. You can use any part of a chicken, but I like to use chicken leg quarters and specifically ask for them to be cut into medium pieces (this means a drumstick will likely be cut into 2 pieces). The smaller pieces allow for better cooked chicken and more flavor.

How to perfectly cook rice for biryani

This is arguably the most important part of a biryani recipe. The rice is parboiled (i.e., not fully boiled) at first and completes its cooking in the "dum" stage. At the end, it should be fluffy and perfectly cooked, with each grain standing up on its own. If the rice gets mushy or overcooked, the biryani will be ruined. So here are a few tips:

Use Sella rice

Sella rice is partially pre-cooked long grain basmati rice with the husk still attached. The husk increases the cooking time of this type of rice and makes it much more resistant to becoming mushy. This is a great type of rice to start with if you're not experienced with biryani!

If you feel comfortable with cooking rice, you can also use long grain basmati rice.

Wash the rice thoroughly

Rinse the rise at least 4-5 times in cold water until the water appears more clear. This will remove its starchiness. Then soak it in cold water while you prepare the biryani masala.

Cook to 75% of the instructions to parboil

Each brand and type of rice will have a different cooking time. So my recommendation is the follow the cooking instructions given on the package, but aim for 75% of the cooking time. For example, if your pack instructs boiling for 10 minutes, you should be aiming for 7-8 minutes instead.

Check for doneness constantly

At the 50% mark, start watching the rice closely, scooping out a little bit every 30 seconds and pressing between your fingers (or teeth) to check for doneness.

Undercooked rice will have a raw, hard center, which can be felt when biting into it and seen as a white opaque middle if you break the kernel. Overcooked rice will be fully cooked and start to break easily if mixed. Perfectly parboiled rice for biryani is just cooked - the kernels swell up, don't have an opaque raw middle, but still have a bite to them (i.e., not mushy or soft).

When I cook with Sella rice, I add the rice to boiling water and cook for 8-10 minutes.

What if I accidentally overcook rice for biryani?

Check the rice once it is cooked and strained by gently pressing it between your fingers.

If it breaks easily but is not mushy, it is just slightly overcooked. At this stage, you have the option to skip the dum (or reduce the dum time) to avoid making the rice mushy.

If the rise gets mushy if you press on it, it is too overcooked. At this stage, I don't recommend using the rice at all as the biryani will be ruined. Instead, save it for another use and make a new batch of rice.

How to give "dum" (steam) to biryani

In the dum stage, the biryani masala is layered with the rice and cooked on low heat until steam penetrates through the layers. This is an important step as it enhances the flavor of the biryani.

In order to give dum effectively,

• Ensure the rice is perfectly parboiled, and both the rice and the masala are hot
• Use a heavy bottomed, straighted edged dutch oven pot. The biryani will take longer to steam but the rice won't burn as easily on the bottom. If you don't have this kind of a pot, use any large pot you have but place a flat griddle underneath
• Use a large spoon to poke holes through the layers of the biryani to allow the steam to penetrate easily
• Cover the pot tightly. You can wrap a tea towel around the lid, place it on top of the pot, and place some heavy weight on top. This will allow steam to build up inside
• Cook on very low flame, ideally the smallest burner, to avoid burning the biryani
• Check for the steam. When close to beind done, lift just an edge of the lid and see if you see steam escaping. If not, you likely need to cook a bit longer!

Can I swap the chicken for a different type of meat?

I don't recommend swapping the chicken for a different type of meat in this recipe as I have only tested it with chicken.

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