My Biryani video is one of my most viral to date, so it deserves its own long format video to truly do it justice! This time, I decided a traditional Hyderabadi Chicken Biryani was in order. It’s easy, achievable and a great dish for serving lots of people! Let me know in the comments how yours went.
Category
Dinner
Servings
6
Prep time
2 hours
Cook time
1 hour
My Biryani video is one of my most viral to date, so it deserves its own long format video to truly do it justice! This time, I decided a traditional Hyderabadi Chicken Biryani was in order. It’s easy, achievable and a great dish for serving lots of people!

Ingredients
- 3 large red onions, sliced thin
- 200ml peanut oil for frying
- 1 kg chicken thighs, skin off
- 4 tbsp yoghurt
- 1 tsp chilli powder
- 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 3 tsp ginger paste
- 1 tsp garlic paste
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 2 green chillies
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 12 cardamom pod
- 2 tsp cumin seeds
- 6 cloves
- Salt to taste
- 1 bunch mint
- 1 bunch coriander
- 1 kg aged basmati rice
Directions
Start by making the crispy onions by heating up the oil in a saucepan over a medium high heat and frying the sliced onions in batches until golden brown.
Next, marinate your chicken by adding the chicken, 1/3 of the crispy onions, yoghurt, chilli powder, turmeric, garam masala, ginger, garlic, lemon juice, one cinnamon stick, 8 cardamom pods, 1 green chilli sliced thin, 1 tsp cumin seeds, 4 cloves, chopped mint and coriander and a tsp of salt in a large pot. Mix well and marinate for 4-24 hours.
- With the rice, rinse it twice then soak it in water for 40 minutes
- In a large pot, half filled with water, add 1 tbsp salt, 1 green chilli sliced lengthways in half, 6 green cardamom, 1 cinnamon stick, 2 cloves and 1 tsp cumin seeds and bring to a simmer.
- Add the soaked rice to the simmering water, stir once and cook for 6-8 minutes or until its just cooked. You still want a bit of bite in the rice.
- Remove the rice from the water and set aside.
- Place the marinated chicken onto a high heat and cook for 6-7 minutes, stirring every 1-2 minutes.
- Remove half of the chicken, then sprinkle half of the rice on the chicken in the pot.
- Next, add a layer of the crispy onions, some mint and coriander.
- Place the rest of the chicken and repeat with the rice, crispy onions and herbs.
- Place a clean tea towel over the lid of the pot and cover the biryani.
- Turn your element to medium high for 10 minutes, then turn it down to very low for 30 minutes. Take from the heat and let it rest for 20 minutes before taking the lid off and serving.
- Enjoy!
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19 Comments
Joe
22 June 2025In his second step, I assumed the ingredients that laid out a specific amount was only partial of what is called in the ingredient list, so I ended up using the whole thing if it didn't. So I used up all my herbs on the marinade part. Now I know why Chef Jean-Pierre says to read the entire recipe a few times.
Finally, the video calls for milk infused with saffron, but the written recipe doesn't even talk about this at all. I'm not sure why it's omitted. I know the video mentioned tumeric as an alternative to saffron, but no explanation why the lack of milk here. Again, I followed the written recipe to the letter, so perhaps the lack of milk contributed to the food at the bottom of my pot to burn?
It's a good recipe, and at least the portion that wasn't burned came out delicious. The rice was perfect and the chicken was on point. I can definitely go into round two knowing what I need to adjust. My main criticism is the written recipe needs to match the video or it'll confuse people like myself. It also does not bode confidence if I ever want to buy your cookbook.
Ryvamo
27 April 2025As others have said, about half the rice for 1kg of chicken seems plenty (i used little under 3 cups, as I see that in other recipes).
But thanks again for great recipe!
Shaun
26 April 2025... which worked well, because we found that there wasn't all that much chicken in the original attempt, either. Now, this was partially my fault. We're a whole family of people who hates dealing with bones in food, so I went with boneless thighs and just cut them up into pieces before marinating them. I did cut them a bit too small (not accounting for the fact that they'd shrink a bit), so the chicken was kind of hard to find in the finished dish.
So in the end, I used an entire 4.5 lb package of boneless skinless thighs from the store, trimmed and cut into decent-sized chunks, which worked out well with the increase in marinating sauce.
On top of that, we didn't really find much benefit to the "layered" approach, so before steaming, I just stirred everything together so it was all coated.
Also, when you're doing the final cook, I'd consider doing the medium-high part at medium, depending on your stove. I didn't think our stove was THAT powerful, but the first batch I tried left a nice layer of burned stuff all over the bottom of the pot which took ages to scrape off. Lowering the heat to medium left a little behind, but it was much more manageable.
Still, even with all the tweaks, it's still a really good recipe. Good flavor, and really hit the spot since we can't find a good indian restaurant in our area.
Sucheta
6 April 2025ChrisDGoosey
3 April 2025Asiakharlukhi
12 March 2025Porta
16 February 2025Sharon
10 February 2025Ahmad
7 February 2025Lewis
5 February 2025Grace
26 January 2025Elwyn
26 January 2025gilles
5 January 2025Fergus
29 December 2024Jawahar
19 December 2024Does the chicken have to be fully cooked before being layered with the rice ?
Andy
22 December 2024Harish
16 December 2024will wait for video on Panner biryani.. thank you Andy.
Andy
18 December 2024Anthony
31 August 2024