Easy Chicken Biryani

We eat a lot of rice in this house and to keep myself sane, I really need to switch it up a bit. This easy chicken biryani with medjool dates was incredibly delicious and was ready to serve in no time at all.

After the awesomeness that was cake and breakfast sausage for dinner last night, I felt like I needed to make it up to my kids for dinner tonight… so I made BIRYANI! An Americanized version but still! It was amazing!

Chicken, onions, tomato, yogurt, spices, rice. 😍 And it took less than 30 minutes. And the kids loved it. I will be making this again. Anyone else eating Indian tonight?

The trick to the rice is that while you are simmering the chicken, you are partially cooking the basmati rice in a separate pot! Mind blown. The texture is amazing. I love medjool dates and I usually have some on hand for smoothies so I added a few medjool dates chopped up at the end. If you don’t have any on hand, you won’t miss them!

Easy Chicken Biryani 

5 from 3 votes

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Easy Chicken Biryani

This easy chicken biryani is so easy and will be enjoyed by all. 

Course Main Course

Cuisine Indian

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Servings 6 servings

Calories 489 kcal

Author Erin Brighton

Ingredients

• 1.5 c basmati rice
• 1 large onion chopped
• 3 cloves garlic chopped
• 1 t salt
• 1.5 lbs chicken cut into bite sized pieces
• 1 tomato chopped
• 1 t turmeric
• 1 t paprika
• 1/4 t crushed red pepper
• 1 c plain yogurt
• 3 medjool dates chopped
• 3 T fresh cilantro chopped

Instructions

1. Rinse and set aside 1 1/2 cups basmati rice. 

2. Saute one large onion and 3 cloves of garlic in olive oil. Add salt.

3. Cut 1.5 lbs of chicken into one inch cubes. 

4. Chop 1 tomato.

5. Add turmeric, paprika, crushed red pepper and salt to plain yogurt. Stir.

6. Add chicken, tomato, and yogurt to onions and garlic. Simmer covered.

7. In a separate pot, boil water. Add 1.5 cups basmati rice. Cook 5 to 7 minutes. Drain. 

8. Add partially cooked rice to chicken, finish cooking another 10 minutes or so. 

9. At the end, if you wish, add chopped medjool dates. Stir to heat through and serve. Top with cilantro. 

My kids devoured this. There were no leftovers. We served this with some homemade, gluten free garlic naan. Sigh. Once in a while, I really hit it out of the park. I can’t wait to make this easy chicken biryani again. This recipe is easily adaptable to be vegetarian – just leave out the chicken.