This Instant Pot Chicken Biryani has fragrant rice cooked with tender, juicy chicken along with lots of warming spices and caramelized onions. This Indian chicken and rice dish is popular all over the world. This one-pot version made in a pressure cooker is easy to make even on busy weeknights in less than an hour.

This biryani has been on repeat in my house. My older daughter absolutely loves it. If you ask anyone to make biryani, all that would come to their mind is – first, the best, most flavorful rice dish, and then, it takes a long time to make and involves multiple steps.
This recipe is different than the traditional biryani. It is made as a one-pot dish in the pressure cooker, similar to my vegetable biryani. Yes, that’s right, I use just one pot to cook this biryani and one bowl to marinate the chicken. The biryani is just as flavorful with the complex flavors from mixing the rice, marinated chicken, caramelized onions, spices, and saffron!
If you want to make biryani on the stovetop, here is my authentic chicken biryani, egg biryani, shrimp biryani, and mutton biryani recipe.
Table of Contents
Watch How to Make Instant Pot Chicken Biryani
What is Biryani?
Biryani is one of the most popular Indian dishes that is made with rice, meat and/or vegetables, and spices. Traditionally, biryani has layers of meat and rice that are slow-cooked in a heavy-bottomed pot on the stovetop or in the oven, unlike pulao. This is called Dum Biryani.
It is believed that Biryani originated in Persia and was brought to India by the Mughals, just like Mughlai Chicken Zaafrani. There are many variations of biryani in different regions of India. Hyderabadi, Chettinad, Malabar, and Sindhi are a few of the variations you might hear about.
Why you will love this Instant Pot Biryani?
- One-pot: This biryani made in the instant pot does not require cooking chicken and rice separately and then layer it together. This means we make it all in one pot, which means less mess and dishes. But mind you, it is just as flavorful as the authentic dum biryani.
- Takes less than an hour to make: This includes marination and pressure cooking time. So it is just 30 minutes of active effort to make this one-pot meal!

How to make Chicken Biryani in Instant Pot?
When I think of biryani, layers of meat and rice topped with lots of caramelized or fried onions come to my mind. And I did not want that to change even if I was making this one-pot version of my Chicken Biryani. So let me show you how I achieve that in the instant pot!
Let’s start with getting the ingredients ready for the biryani.

Onions: In this recipe, I caramelize the onions by sautéing in the pot before adding the other ingredients. Traditionally, fried onions are also added to biryani. However, remember that store-bought fried onions are not gluten-free. So feel free to fry them separately at home if you like. You can add some fried onions when marinating the chicken and some on top after cooking the biryani.
Chicken: I used boneless chicken thighs in this recipe. You can also use bone-in chicken when making biryani. Just pressure cook for 4 minutes before layering the rice. More details in notes.
Marinating the Chicken
We will marinate the chicken as that makes it much more tender and flavorful. Add the yogurt, spices, ginger, garlic paste, lime juice, mint, and cilantro leaves. Mix all well and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

At the same time, rinse the rice with water and soak it. I always use long grain basmati rice for biryani. The final dish looks amazing with the extra long-cooked rice.
When you are ready to start cooking, soak the saffron strands in warm milk.
Caramelize the Onions
Start the instant pot on sauté mode and let it heat. Add ghee and then the cashews and raisins and saute them for about a minute until they are lightly golden. Take out and reserve for later.
Then add in sliced onions and caramelize them. This is the cooking step that takes some active effort, as you need to stir the onions frequently as they caramelize. Once caramelized, remove and keep aside half the onions. We will use these to garnish at the end.
Add the whole spices and saute for 30 seconds to release their aroma. Add in the marinated chicken and cook for 3 minutes, stirring frequently.

Pressure Cook the Biryani
Make sure to deglaze the pot as you sauté the chicken. This is important to avoid the bur message. Then, spread the chicken at the bottom of the pot.
Add in the rice and spread it over the chicken. Spread the saffron soaked in milk.
Then add the water and pressure cook the biryani.

After pressure cooking, the rice should be well-cooked and fluffy. They should not be mushy.
Garnish with the reserved caramelized onions, cashews, and raisins. Garnish with chopped cilantro leaves.
Do not overmix the biryani in the pot. When you scoop out the biryani from the pot, do it from the bottom of the pot so you get both chicken and rice with each scoop.

Enjoy this tasty Chicken Biryani with raita.
Check here for 15 side dish recipes to serve with biryani!
Tips to Make Perfect Chicken Biryani
- Prep the ingredients: It helps to have all the ingredients ready before you start to cook biryani.
- Marinate the Chicken for at least 20 minutes. It helps to make the chicken tender and flavorful.
- Deglaze: Make sure to deglaze the pot well so that you don’t get a burn message.
- Use high-quality spices. If possible, make Garam Masala at home for the extra bold flavor. Here is my mom’s Garam Masala recipe.
- Use ghee to get the real flavor of biryani. I like to make ghee at home in the instant pot.
- Enjoy this biryani with a cooling raita such as this Cucumber Raita. And serve Sheer Khurma as a dessert.

Hope you enjoy this easy one-pot biryani. Do share how it turned out in the comments, or share a photo on Instagram with #pipingpotcurry.
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Instant Pot Chicken Biryani
Equipment
Video
Ingredients
- 1 lb Chicken, boneless cut into 1.5" inch pieces
- 1 cup Basmati Rice, washed and soaked for 20 minutes
- 2 tablespoon Ghee
- 10 Cashews
- 12 Raisins
- 1 Onion, thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoon Milk, warm
- 10 strands Saffron (Kesar)
- 1 cup Water
For marination
- 1/2 cup Plain Yogurt, I used full-fat
- 1 teaspoon Garam masala
- 1 teaspoon Kashmiri red chili powder
- 1/2 tablespoon Ginger, paste
- 1/2 tablespoon Garlic, paste
- 1 teaspoon Salt, adjust to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon Ground Turmeric (Haldi powder)
- 1 tablespoon Lemon juice
- 2 tablespoon Mint leaves, chopped
- 2 tablespoon Cilantro leaves, chopped
Whole Spices
- 1 stick Cinnamon (Dalchini)
- 2 Bay leaf (Tej Patta)
- 5 Green Cardamom (Elaichi)
- 1/2 teaspoon Cumin seeds (Jeera)
- 1/2 teaspoon Black Peppercorns
- 4 Cloves (Laung)
Instructions
Marinate the chicken:
- Add chicken in a bowl with all the marinate ingredients. Mix well and refrigerate it for 30 minutes (or up to 8 hours).
Preparing the biryani:
- Add the milk to a small bowl and warm it in the microwave. Add the saffron strands to it. Keep aside.
- Start the instant pot on sauté mode and heat it. Add ghee, and then the cashews, raisins and saute them for about a minute until they are lightly golden. Take out and reserve for later.
- Add in the sliced onions. Cook them for about 10-12 minutes until onions caramelize. Stir frequently, so they don't stick to the bottom. Take out half of the caramelized onions.
- Add the whole spices and saute for 30 seconds. Add the marinated chicken. Mix well and saute for about 3 minutes minutes. Make sure to deglaze the pot well. Then spread the chicken evenly on the base of the pot.
- Spread the rice evenly over the chicken. Spread the saffron soaked in milk on top of the rice. Then add the 1 cup of water to the pot. Close the lid with vent in sealing position.
- Change the instant pot setting to manual or pressure cook mode at high pressure for 4 minutes. When the instant pot beeps, do a 10 minute NPR. Let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes, then quick release the pressure manually.
- Garnish with the reserved caramelized onions, cashews and raisins. Garnish with chopped cilantro leaves. Serve chicken biryani with raita.
For some reason my rice kept being mushy, would u know why that is? I followed directions exactly how its stated on the recipe
Hi Joseph – Sorry to hear the rice did not turn out perfectly. Which rice did you use? I like to use extra long grain basmati rice (royal brand) for making biryani.
Thank you for sharing. This recipe is so simple. I do not have an Instant Pot, but I will prepare this biryani in my Rice cooker. I am sure it will turn out perfect.
Warm regards.
Hi Mary – I hope the biryani turned out well.
I made this for my family for dinner and it was absolutely delicious and easy! I made the recipe using 1.5 cups of long grain rice and set the InstantPot to 6 minutes instead of 4 minutes. I also used more mint and cilantro for the chicken marinade and added one green chili. I really appreciated your recipe and will be adding this to my dinner rotation.
Hi Neena – So happy to hear you enjoyed the biryani. Thank you for sharing the changes you made.
Wow great recipe!! You should bring your own recipe book out I would buy it.
Thank you for your kind words, Yeasin!
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Hi, thank you so much for this recipe. What is the rice to water ratio for biryani? I have to make this for 10 people. The chicken releases water when cooking, so if I use 2.5 cups of rice, how much water do you recommend? I tried another IP Biryani recipe and the rice turned out mushy. Thanks so much!! Anjalika
Hi Anjalika – I usually cook basmati rice with a ratio of 1 cup rice to 1.25 cup water. However here taking into account that the chicken released liquid, I have reduced the water down to 1 cup. So I feel that this ratio of 1:1 will work well even if you double the quantity of rice. Would love to hear how it turns out!
Can I replace chicken with goat and cook the same time?
Hi Rainer – Goat typically takes longer to cook. I would suggest to cook it with brown basmati rice if you have. Cook on high pressure for 22 minutes. Would love to hear how it turns out.
Hi Meeta,
I love biryani, and the Instant Pot makes it sooo much easier. I would like to use brown basmati rice but am worried it would overcook the chicken. What are your thoughts.
Your recipe looks great!
Hi Ren – You are right, if you use brown rice in this recipe as is, that would not work well. I would suggest to soak brown rice in hot water for 3 hours, then use it in this recipe. Cook on rice mode (low pressure for 12 minutes). Would love to hear how it turns out.
This is so tasty! Thanks for posting. I’m slightly annoyed at myself for not doubling or tripling the recipe.
Hi – So good to hear that 🙂
Fabulous! Empty plates and smiling faces. I used 1.5 lbs chicken thighs, 1.5 cups of basmati, and scaled all species, herbs, and liquids to match. Finished dish had perfect texture and taste. No adjustments needed. Thank you very much for this recipe.
Hello there – I’m delighted to hear you liked the recipe. Thank you for sharing it 🙂
My husband made this chicken biryani yesterday. The recipe is really simple, and most of the stuff is available at home other than saffron. came out so good in ip. Love all of recipes. Please tell me how do I register to ur mailing lists.
Hi Bhavna – So happy to hear you both enjoyed the biryani. Here is the link to sign up for my emails – https://view.flodesk.com/pages/5f09581fafcf2b0026e8f061