A simple, easy, and flavorful Vegetable Biryani recipe made in the Instant pot pressure cooker with layers of spiced vegetables, warm spices, herbs like mint and cilantro, fried onions, and basmati rice. This delicious Veg Biryani recipe can be made in less than 45 minutes and is perfect for a weeknight dinner.
Oh no! Craving that irresistible Veg Biryani from your favorite restaurant but feeling overwhelmed by complicated online recipes? Don't worry-I've got you covered with a simple, one-pot, foolproof way to recreate it at home! All you need is your magical Instant Pot pressure cooker and 30 minutes to win over your family :).
This veg biryani recipe is one of my favorite easy biryani recipes similar to paneer biryani, soya chunks biryani, and chickpea biryani.
*In addition, See the Veg Biryani Video here to get a better idea of how to cook vegetable dum biryani on Instant Pot.
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What is Biryani?
Biryani, also known as beriani, biriani is a mixed rice dish with its origins among the Muslims of the Indian subcontinent. It is made with Indian spices, rice, meat, and/or vegetables in certain regional varieties. - Source Wiki
A lot of people get confused about the difference between Biryani and Pulao. In the traditional Biryani recipe, rice and meat or vegetables are cooked separately, assembled in layers, and then cooked on low flame (dum style) so that all the flavors are infused during the slow cooking. As a result, it is much richer due to homemade ghee, fried onions, and more spices. Whereas pulao is a medley of rice with either vegetables or meat, and both these things are cooked together with a mixture of spices.
Ingredients
- Vegetables: Add vegetables of your choice, a few other options are potatoes, mushrooms, bell pepper, and zucchini. However, some vegetables, like cauliflower, cook faster, so cut them into large florets. Cut other vegetables like beans, and carrots into 1 inch each. In addition, I have added paneer for protein.
- Rice: Traditionally, extra-long grain basmati rice is used for making biryani, and I used white basmati rice for this recipe.
- Fried Onions: I used store-bought fried onions since it saves time. If you don't have them handy, then take 1 large onion, thinly slice it, and saute with 2 tablespoons of oil till it caramelizes, or you can deep fry them too.
- Water: I used 1.25 cups of water for every cup of basmati rice to make this biryani in Instant Pot. Adjust water based on the type and quality of rice.
- Biryani Masala Powder: You can get biryani masala powder from any Indian grocery store or Amazon, or you can make it at home. You can use any brand, I have used Shan Biryani Masala for today's recipe. I highly recommend it, as it gives the Restaurant Style veg biryani taste. However, if you don't have biryani powder, replace it with the same quantity of garam masala powder.
How to Make Vegetable Biryani in Instant Pot
Pre Preparation
Rinse 1 cup of white basmati rice and soak for 15-20 minutes. Drain and keep aside.
Add 3 tablespoons of warmed milk to a bowl and soak 1 big pinch of saffron strands in it. Keep aside.
Marinating the Veggies
Take ½ cup hung yogurt (thick curd), 1 tablespoon ginger-garlic paste, ½ teaspoon turmeric, 1 teaspoon red chili powder, 1.5 tablespoons biryani masala powder, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, and salt in a large mixing bowl and mix well.
Now add 1 cup of diced carrot, 1 cup diced green beans (1-inch pieces), 1 cup cauliflower florets, 1 cup of paneer (½ inch cubes), mix very well, and marinate for at least 15 to 20 minutes.
However, if you don't have time, skip this step and add the veggies, and yogurt into the instant pot directly and saute.
Method
Press SAUTE on Instant Pot. Add 2 tablespoons ghee (or oil) into the pot along with the whole spices like 1 bay leaf, 1-inch cinnamon stick, 3 cloves, 3 cardamoms, 1 star anise, 1 single strand of mace, 1 teaspoon shah jeera (or cumin seeds). Saute for 30 seconds.
Secondly, add 1 large onion (thinly sliced) and saute for about 4-5 minutes or till onions caramelize.
Furthermore, add the marinated vegetables to the pot. Mix everything well and saute for 1 minute.
Also, Deglaze the bottom of the pot using liquids from the vegetables to remove any stuck bits to avoid BURN alert.
Top with half of the coriander leaves (about 2 tablespoons), mint leaves (about 2 tablespoons), and fried onions (about 2 tablespoons). Do not mix.
Spread the soaked basmati rice evenly over the veggies.
Now again, top with remaining 2 tablespoons coriander leaves, 2 tablespoons mint leaves, and 2 tablespoons fried onions. Sprinkle saffron milk on top of the rice, and do not mix.
Add 1 ¼ cups of water gently around the sides of the pot. Don't add water in the center. Make sure the rice is just immersed in water.
Do not mix the ingredients. After that, add 1 tablespoon of ghee over the rice, this is optional.
Select "MANUAL/PRESSURE COOK" (LOW Pressure) and adjust the time to 6 minutes.
After the pot beeps, Quick Pressure Release to stop overcooking the rice and vegetables.
Open the pot and fluff up the rice. Garnish with some more fried onions and coriander leaves.
Most importantly, Remove the steel insert, as it prevents the rice at the bottom from overcooking.
Lastly, Serve this Instant pot vegetable biryani with your favorite raita, salad, or vegetable kurma.
Stovetop Pressure Cooker Method
- Follow the same steps as that of the Instant Pot. Close the pressure cooker lid and cook on the lowest flame for about 20-25 minutes. Even if the pressure cooker whistles, it's fine. Other steps remain the same.
Serving Suggestions for Veg Biryani
Serve vegetable dum biryani with a side of onion tomato raita, or plain yogurt along with mango lassi.
Tips to make the best Vegetable Biryani
- Rice: Use top-quality long-grain basmati rice to make fluffy and fragrant vegetable biryani. However, you can also use short-grain rice like seeraga samba rice or sona masoori rice if that's what you have in hand.
- Paneer: If your paneer becomes chewy after pressure cooking, saute paneer separately and add in the end, or use homemade paneer.
- Marinating the Veggies: Marinating the vegetables is an optional step, but I highly recommend it because it enhances the biryani flavors.
- Biryani masala powder: Use Shan Biryani Masala to get restaurant-style veg biryani flavor. I highly recommend this brand. If you don't get biryani powder, replace it with the same quality of garam masala powder.
- Deglaze: Make sure to Deglaze the pot using liquids from vegetables to remove any stuck bits to avoid a BURN alert.
- Quick Release: After the pressure cooking, Quick Pressure Release to stop the overcooking of rice and vegetables.
Storage Suggestions
- Storage: Leftover veg biryani will last in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 days when stored in an airtight container.
- Freezer: You can freeze in a freezer-safe container or ziplock for up to 2 months in the freezer. Make sure to cool down the biryani to room temperature before storing it in the freezer.
- Reheat: Add a few tablespoons of water and reheat in a microwave or stovetop until warm through.
Recipe FAQs
Classic Hyderabadi vegetable biryani is made using basmati rice. This rice is thinner and longer than traditional rice. I prefer Daawat Traditional Basmati Rice or Tilda Legendary Rice Pure Original Basmati brands.
To make Vegan Vegetable Biryani, replace ghee with any neutral oil and yogurt with coconut cream or plant-based plain yogurt. You can replace the paneer with the pan-fried tofu or skip that. Replace milk to soak saffron with plant-based milk or water.
Ensure to Deglaze the bottom of the pot using liquids from vegetables to remove any stuck bits to avoid a BURN alert.
More Veg Style Biryani Recipes
Instant Pot Vegetable Biryani Recipe
Equipment
Recipe Video
Ingredients
Vegetable Marination for Biryani:
- ½ cup thick yogurt (hung curd) (thick coconut milk or use vegan yogurt)
- 1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste
- 1 large carrot diced, (about 1 cup)
- 1 cup green beans cut in 1 inch pieces
- 1 cup cauliflower cut in large florets about 1.5-2 inch
- 1 cup paneer cubed into ½ inch cubes
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon red chilli powder
- 1.5 tablespoons biryani masala powder
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- salt adjust to taste
Whole Spices:
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 inch cinnamon stick
- 3 cloves
- 3 cardamom
- 1 star anise
- 1 single strands of mace
- 1 teaspoon shah jeera (cumin seeds)
Other Ingredients:
- 1 cup basmati rice rinsed & soaked for 20 minutes
- 2 tablespoons ghee (use oil for vegan)
- 1 large onion thinly sliced (about 1 cup)
- ¼ cup mint leaves (pudina) chopped, divided
- ¼ cup coriander leaves finely chopped,divided
- ¼ cup fried onions divided
- 3 tablespoons milk (use water for vegan)
- saffron(kesar) few strands
- 1 tablespoon ghee optional
- 1 ¼ cups water
- salt adjust to taste
Instructions
Pre Preparation:
- Rinse the basmati rice and soak for 15-20 minutes. Drain and keep aside.
- Add warmed milk to a bowl and soak the saffron strands in it. Keep aside.
Marinating the Vegetables:
- Take yogurt, ginger-garlic paste, turmeric, red chili powder, biryani masala powder, lemon juice, salt in a large mixing bowl and mix well.
- Now add the chopped vegetables, mix very well and marinate for at least 15 to 20 minutes.However, if you don't have time, skip this step and add the veggies, yogurt into the instant pot directly and saute.
Instant Pot Method:
- Press SAUTE on Instant Pot. Add ghee or oil in to the POT along with the whole spices and saute for 30 seconds.
- Secondly, Add sliced onions and saute for about 4-5 minutes or till onions caramelize.
- Furthermore, add the marinated vegetables into the pot. Mix everything well and saute for 1 minute.Also, Deglaze the bottom of the pot using liquids from the vegetables to remove any stuck bits to avoid BURN alert.
- Top with half of the coriander leaves, mint leaves and fried onions. Do not mix.
- Spread the soaked basmati rice evenly over the veggies.
- Now again top with leftover coriander leaves, mint leaves and fried onions. Sprinkle saffron milk on top of the rice and do not mix.
- Add water gently all around along the sides of the pot. Don't add water in the center. Make sure rice is just immersed under water.Do not mix the ingredients. After that add 1 tablespoon of ghee over the rice, this is optional.
- Select "MANUAL/PRESSURE COOK" (LOW Pressure) and adjust the time to 6 minutes.After the pot beeps, Quick Pressure Release to stop overcooking the rice and vegetables.
- Open the pot and fluff up the rice. Garnish with some more fried onions and coriander leaves.Most importantly, Take out the steel insert as it prevents the rice at the bottom from overcooking.
- Lastly, Serve this Instant pot Vegetable Biryani with your favorite raita, salad, or kurma.
Stovetop Pressure Cooker Method:
- Follow the same steps as that of Instant Pot. Close the pressure cooker lid and cook on lowest flame for about 20-25 minutes. Even if the pressure cooker whistles, its fine.
Notes
Tips
- Always use top-quality long grain basmati rice for making biryani, this makes fluffy and fragrant Biryani.
- If your paneer is becoming chewy after pressure cooking, saute paneer separately & add in the end or use homemade paneer
- Make sure to Deglaze the pot using liquids from vegetables to remove any stuck bits to avoid BURN alert.
- After the pressure cooking, Quick Pressure Release to stop overcooking of rice and the vegetables.
- Use Shan Biryani Masala to get restaurant-style veg biryani flavor. I highly recommend this brand.
- Marinating the vegetables is an optional step but I highly recommend it because it enhances the flavors of the biryani.
Nutrition
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Divya
Made this today for Diwali and it came out great.
Akash Pratap Singh
Your Veg Biryani recipe is very good.
Shaheen
i make this Vegetable Biryani today at home to follow your steps, and the result was awesome!
Bhavana Patil
Thank you so much Shaheen:)
Phani Peesapati
Thank you for an amazing recipe. I just added some cashews and raisins as a final layer after toasting them in ghee. My husband loved it. It was for his birthday. II just got and instapot and I am so glad I tried your recipe first. I want to try your other recipes. My instapot did say burning, so i took of the top but it wasn't cooked yet, so i just moved the pot a little hoping that would help. It did and I kept it for 6 minutes. It turned out great .
PL
Madhu
Hi I did make this recipe it's quite delicious thank you for the recipe.can please post how to make chicken biryani just this
Bhavana Patil
Thank you so much Madhu, for trying the recipe. Glad you liked it. This is a vegetarian blog so we don't cook non-vegetarian recipes.
Tanu
Hi thanks for the recipe! Everytime i make biryani in my instant pot (including this recipe) it turns out very moist, not dry how it should be. Do you have any suggestions? I followed the recipe exactly how it was written but it still turned out moist
Bhavana Patil
Hi Tanu,
I get this question a number of times from my readers and friends.
It may depend on the rice, soaking time, the quantity of water used and sometimes even the veggies release the water. For me this recipe has always worked fine. I would suggest you to reduce water by 1/4 cup next time and don't forget to quick release.. Please share your feedback if you try again. Hope this helps.
Moti Mahal Delux OMR
Great, nice recipe. Thanks for sharing such a delicious recipe. Surely I will try it.
bhavana
Thank you Moti
SK
Oh my god. For the first time in my life, I cooked and ended up making decent tasting biryani as per this recipe. Thank you Bhavana. Now I will try other recipes. SK
bhavana
So happy to see your comment SK and also to hear you have started cooking these days :)...I highly recommend trying this easy potato peas curry too Potato Peas Curry ...You can simply replace potatoes with mushroom or paneer and reduce pressure cooking time to 2 minutes