With over 100 5-star reviews, this Vegetable Biryani recipe is one of our reader favorites! It requires only 15 minutes of hands-on time before it gently simmers on the stovetop. Vegan and gluten-free.
The dark does not destroy the light; it defines it. It’s our fear of the dark that casts our joy into the shadows.
Brene Brown
I learned how to perfect this biryani recipe while visiting Northern India! Fragrant and exotic, this vegetarian version is quick and easy and has simple ingredients: basmati rice, healthy vegetables, and chickpeas.
The secret to the best biryani? It’s all in the spices! This Biryani recipe is infused with aromatic Indian spices, which is the secret to its amazing flavor! It tastes warm, exotic, and earthy with a hint of sweetness. Spoon our Cilantro Mint Chutney overtop- a feast for the senses!
Ingredients In Vegetable Biryani
- Basmati Rice– or most long-grain rice, will be light and fluffy. You can use brown basmati; see the recipe notes.
- Onion getting these lightly caramelized will give the best flavor.
- Ginger and Garlic – for savory depth.
- Olive oil or ghee– for richness.
- Veggies- bell pepper and carrot. Feel free to add others- zucchini, eggplant, etc.
- Chickpeas– for a little protein! Or sub-green peas or edamame.
- Spices– garam masala, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, star anise, cardamom, chilli powder, turmeric, bay leaves.
- Vegetable Broth– make sure it is flavorful or make your own broth!
- Optional Garnishes: raisins, cashews, cilantro leaves, and Cilantro mint chutney.
- See the recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
Vegetable Biryani (instructions)
Step one: Biryani starts with softening the onions in olive oil, creating the base of the flavorful dish. Then add the garlic, ginger, and veggies, and cook until tender-crisp.
Step two: Add all the spices and toast them for a couple of minutes, then set one cup of the veggies aside. Add the rice, saute with the veggies for one minute, add veggie stock and salt. Top with drained chickpeas, raisins, and the cup of veggies you set aside.
Step 3: Cover tightly, placing a thin kitchen towel between the rice and the lid, folding the edges over the lid. This helps create a good seal and allows the rice to cook more evenly. Reduce heat to medium-low, being sure to maintain a gentle simmer.
Step four: Simmer gently on medium-low for 15-20 minutes. Take a quick peek to ensure all the water is gone, and replace the cover. Turn the heat off, and let it stand for 5-10 minutes.
Serving suggestions
Fluff the biryani with a fork and place in a serving dish, top with the spiced veggies you set aside, and sprinkle with toasted cashews, raisins, and cilantro. Serve with a side of our cilantro mint chutney!
Storing Biryani
Leftovers will keep up to 4 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Reheat gently on the stovetop, in a warm 350F oven, or in the microwave. Biryani can also be placed in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating.
What to serve with Vegetable Biryani
Biryani Faqs
A mixed rice dish. Originating among the Muslims of South Asia. It is a staple comfort food in many households.
Yes, it contains vegetables, spices that are great for digestion, and protein from the chickpeas!
Cilantro mint chutney and Raita as well as Bombay carrot salad.
More Indian recipes you may enjoy!
Hope you enjoy!
Love this recipe? Please let us know in the comments and leave a 5-star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating below the recipe card.
Vegetable Biryani | 60-sec video
Vegetable Biryani Recipe
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 20
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 6
- Category: vegan, vegetarian, main
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Indian
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Quick and Easy Vegetable Biryani! A fragrant Indian rice dish infused with Indian spices – vegan adaptable and gluten-free. A quick and easy weeknight meal. I highly recommend serving with Cilantro Mint Chutney.
Ingredients
- 2 cups white basmati rice (see notes for brown basmati)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil (or sub ghee or coconut oil)
- 1 large onion, thinly sliced
- 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
- 1 cup diced carrot (or use match sticks)
- 4 garlic cloves, rough chopped
- 2 teaspoons fresh ginger, grated or use ginger paste
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin (or sub 1 tablespoon whole cumin seeds)
- 2 teaspoons coriander (or use 1 tablespoon whole coriander seeds, cracked open)
- 1 teaspoon garam masala (or sub chili powder w/a pinch cayenne)
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (or one cinnamon stick)
- 1/4 teaspoon cardamom (or 3 crushed cardamom pods)
- 1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 star anise pod (optional)
- 4 cups veggie stock (or chicken stock) (For fluffier rice use 3 1/2 cups.)
- 3/4 teaspoon salt, more to taste
- 1 can chickpeas, drained, rinsed
- 1/2 cup raisins
- Garnish: 1/4 cup cashews and chopped parsley or cilantro
Serve with yogurt or our Cilantro Mint Chutney (vegan adaptable!)
Instructions
- In a large skillet, or braiser or Dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and sauté, stirring often, until tender and golden, 5 minutes. Turn heat to medium, add the veggies, garlic and ginger, and sauté 4-5 minutes until tender-crisp.
- Add spices and bay leaf, and stir one minute, toasting the spices. Remove one cup of the mixture and set aside.
- Add the rice and saute it with the veggies for one minute. Add the with veggie broth and salt, stir.
- Top with drained chickpeas, raisins, and the cup of veggies you set aside. Bring to a boil over high heat, then gradually lower heat to medium-low, maintaining its simmer. When simmering, cover the pot with a thin dish towel, then place the lid over the top of the towel, and bring the four corners of the towel up and over the lid. This will tighten the seal and keep the steam in, allowing the rice to cook more quickly and evenly.
- Simmer on medium-low, 15 to 20 minutes or until the rice has soaked up the liquid. Take a quick peek, if done, replace the lid, turn the heat off, and let stand for 5-10 minutes.
- While it is simmering, make the Cilantro Mint Chutney!
- Uncover the Biryani and fluff up with a fork. Top with the toasted cashews and cilantro.
- Serve with optional Chutney.
Notes
***Instant or “Quick Cooking” Basmati Rice does not taste good here.
Basmati Rice: The liquid rice ratio may vary -please refer to your rice package instructions. For example, my basmati rice says 1 cup rice to 2 cups water. If yours says 1 cup rice to 1.5 cups water, please adjust veggie stock accordingly.
Brown basmati rice: soak it in hot water while you prep your ingredients. Brown rice will require 10-15 more minutes of cooking time and more liquid. Check package directions for cooking time and liquid requirements- adding more liquid if need be! Each rice is different.
Variations: You are welcome to add other veggies to the biryani- here I’ve added thinly sliced sweet peppers. Zucchini, eggplant or even mushrooms (saute them first) would be nice. If you want to add chicken to this, make sure to season it well and brown it first before adding to the rice mixture to simmer.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 ¼ cups
- Calories: 385
- Sugar: 10.2 g
- Sodium: 416.2 mg
- Fat: 6.8 g
- Saturated Fat: 0.9 g
- Carbohydrates: 73.6 g
- Fiber: 5.5 g
- Protein: 8.6 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
Thank you! I’m going to try it soom 🙂 Will the cooking time be different if I use dried cheakpeas? What quantity?
Hi Gili, it would be very different. I would recommend cooking the chickpeas ahead, separately. It would make things a lot easier for you.
Hi from Sydney, Australia. I now have a vegan 14 year old, a lacto-vegetarian 18 year old, a carnivore lactose intolerant husband and I am pescatarian and avoid gluten. EVERYONE loved this recipe — the first I have cooked from your blog (but not the last!) Thanks for giving me a recipe that made everyone happy and took 30 mins to cook. Genius.
Great to hear and glad this recipe worked so well for you!
yummy! five star plus
Oh my gosh I’m in heaven! My body and soul were craving vegetarian but my hubby is a Paleo carnivore type, so if I fix vegetarian it better be good. This was AMAZING!!!!!!! So bursting with flavor, texture, and aroma. YUM!!!!!! I related to Sylvia since I’m a Pacific Northwest girl too (originally). I’ve subscribed and can hardly wait for more wonderful and healthy recipes. Thank you!!! xx
Glad to hear it Robin- happy you are here!
I made this for our family. I followed the recipient exactly. It came out delicious! Everyone loved it!
Great to hear!
followed the recipe and it worked perfectly.
offers great flexibility as “2 cups of veg” means you can use whatever is in the fridge.
use more or less chilli to cary the heat.
fed it to non vegans and they loved it.
Although all your vegan recipes get a 10/10, this is my favorite!! I make it with whatever veggies I have in the fridge but love it with red pepper, carrots and sweet potato. Love it with my homemade ginger mango chutney (mangoes from my tree)
Hello Sylvia..I just made this dish and it is delicious..it was really easy to make and it tasted fantastic.
Thank you so much!
Hi Sylvia, I loved this recipe. I included it in my roundup of 10 Easy Vegan Dinner Recipes.
https://www.happierwithtea.com/easy-vegan-dinner-recipes/
Thank you so much for sharing your recipe!
Freya
Thanks Freya! Appreciate this1
Absolutely delicious!
I made this for our dinner tonight, fabulous flavours, loved it… thanks Sylvia another great dish ❤️
thanks Pam, glad you liked it!
Fabulous flavors and the aroma in the house, gees we were hungry all day. We paired this with grilled lamb tips. My husband made a marinade using your spices and let it mingle in the fridge about 1 ½. Thanks to all those wonderful spices it came out SO GOOD and topped with your Cilantro/Mint Chutney – just WoW! Thanks, you for sharing your recipes with this food lover. Sissy
Yay Sissy! Glad this worked for you!
I really liked this dish. It’s elegant, exotic and delicious. Do you know how much water and cooking time I would need to increase if using whole grain basmati rice? Thanks.
Thanks so much Oran! I would read the brown rice package instructions and adapt from there.
Awesome meal. Added crushed pappadums over the top and have tried with both the cilantro chutney and your Zhoug, can’t decide which works better. Your blog is amazing.
Thanks Ryan!
Hi, where I’m from, we don’t really measure in yields. Does 6 yields mean 6 plates or servings?
6 smallish servings 🙂
My family, including my 7-year old, really enjoyed this recipe! I don’t have much experience cooking Indian food, but this recipe was easy to follow. I love how healthy it is too. Thank you!
Thanks Melissa!
My husband and I made this last night. WOW the flavor is so amazing. Thank you so much for this
Thanks Jennifer, glad you liked it!
Are we supposed to cook the rice before adding it to the Biryani? It was a bit unclear with the basmati rice having a link to a recipe for how to cook it
Sorry, Jon, I understand the confusion and fixed the link! No, don’t cook it first! 🙂
This was great! We ate it in lettuce wraps. Toddler approved!
Great to hear!!!
So delicious! This was a hit at my house. Thank you!
Hi,
Would it be possible to freeze any leftovers?
Thanks,
Yes, of course, this should freeze well!
Love this recipe.
Hi Sylvia, This recipe looks amazing and I plan on making it this weekend. Is it spicy? I like flavor but do not tolerate hot spicy very well. Thanks!
It’s pretty mild!
Hi Sylvia
I’m always looking for GF vegan meals for my daughter in law that match what I’m cooking for the others. This one outranked the meat one because all the flavours pinged and I was able to dial down the heat (she’s not a great fan). Everybody took serves of this instead of the lamb biryani.
Many thanks!
Nice!
Hi Sylvia
I’m always looking for GF vegan meals for my daughter in law that match what I’m cooking for the others. This one outranked the meat one because all the flavours pinged and I was able to dial down the heat (she’s not a great fan). Everybody took serves of this instead of the lamb biryani.
Many thanks!