Chickpea Biryani – Easy and wholesome, vegetarian Biryani with plump chickpeas cooked in caramelized onions and spices over fragrant basmati rice. Paired with a cooling cucumber raita and squeeze of fresh lime, this biryani makes a hearty meal.
Inspired from one of my favorite bloggers, Annika, this satisfying chickpea biryani with warm spices is my version cooked in the Instant Pot. Annika shares amazing family recipes on her blog with gorgeous photography and captivating stories. She uses a lot of seasonal ingredients to make healthy and delicious foods. Do check out her beautiful blog!
I love that the recipe uses very few spices that are easy to find: fresh ginger and garlic, turmeric, kashmiri red chili powder and garam masala.
Over the last few months, this Chickpea Biryani recipe has evolved to use my favorite kitchen appliance the Instant Pot. Here is an easy recipe that is versatile and can be adapted to suit your taste preference. Serve it with pickles, papad, diced red onions, fresh onions and cooling raita.
Variations for Chickpea Biryani:
- Add a teaspoon of black peppercorn for additional spice.
- Add 1 to 2 diced tomatoes along with the chickpeas for a tangy flavor.
- Substitute ghee with oil for a Vegan Chickpea Biryani.
- If using canned chickpeas, rinse and drain the chickpeas and skip the initial pressure cooking step. Add only 1/2 cup of water along with the chickpeas. Layer over soaked white rice and pressure cook for 6 minutes.
- To make chickpea biryani with brown rice, simply layer rinsed brown rice over the soaked and uncooked chickpeas. Increase the pressure cook time to 25 minutes. Same water proportions will work. Also no need to soak the brown rice since 25 minutes is good time for brown rice to cook.
Step by step recipe for Chickpea Biryani:
- Turn the Instant Pot to Saute(more) mode and heat 2 tablespoons of ghee. Add onions and saute for 10 mins, stirring frequently until the onions are caramelized. Take out half of the onion and reserve for garnishing the biryani (photos 1 – 2).
- Wash and soak the rice for 20 minutes. Drain after 20 mins and keep aside (photos 3 – 4).
- Add remaining ghee to the IP with half of the caramelized onions already in the pot. Add drained chickpeas, ginger, garlic, chilies, turmeric, red chili powder, garam masala, 1 teaspoon salt and 1-½ cup of water. Mix well (photos 5 – 6).
- Close the Instant pot and turn pressure valve to sealing. Pressure Cook for 20 minutes followed by quick release. Stir the chickpeas well. Spread the chopped mint and cilantro evenly over the chickpeas. Add drained rice, remaining salt and 2 cups of water. Make sure all the rice is under the water (photos 7 – 10).
- Close the Instant Pot lid with pressure valve to sealing. Pressure Cook for 6 mins. Allow 5 mins natural pressure release. Open the Instant Pot and garnish with the reserved caramelized onions and cilantro.
- Gently fluff the rice. Serve with cucumber raita and lime wedges.
Recipe for Cucumber Raita
- Peel 2 persian cucumbers. Grade or finely dice.
- Whisk 1 cup of plain yogurt in a small bowl and a sprinkle of salt.
- Mix cucumbers with yogurt and garnish with fresh cilantro.
Note – Check out this gorgeous beetroot raita recipe that also pairs up well with chickpea biryani.
If you are a Biryani lover like me, here are some more amazing recipes:
Here is a quick youtube video to show the twice pressure cooking step using soaked chickpeas to make this vegetarian chickpea biryani:
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An easy and wholesome vegetarian Biryani with plump chickpeas cooked in caramelized onions and spices over fragrant basmati rice.
- 1 cup dry chickpeas soaked overnight in warm water (will be 2 cups soaked)
- 3 tablespoons ghee divided
- 1 large onions thinly sliced
- 1 teaspoon ginger grated
- 1 teaspoon garlic grated
- 2 green chillies slit into half (optional)
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon kashmiri red chili powder or any mild red chili powder
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- 3 teaspoon kosher salt divided
- 2 cups long grain basmati rice
- ½ cup mint leaves chopped
- ½ cup cilantro chopped + ¼ cup for garnish
- Turn the Instant Pot to Saute(more) mode and heat 2 tablespoons of ghee.
- Add onions and saute for 10 mins, stirring frequently until the onions are caramelized. Take out half of the onion and reserve for garnishing the biryani.
Wash and soak the rice for 20 minutes. Drain after 20 mins and keep aside.
- Add remaining ghee to the IP with half of the caramelized onions already in the pot. Add drained chickpeas, ginger, garlic, chilies, turmeric, red chili powder, garam masala, 1 tsp salt and 1-½ cup of water. Mix well.
- Close the Instant pot and turn pressure valve to sealing. Pressure Cook for 20 minutes followed by quick release.
Stir the chickpeas well. Spread the chopped mint and cilantro evenly over the chickpeas. Add drained rice, remaining salt and 2 cups of water. Make sure all the rice is under the water. Close the Instant Pot lid with pressure valve to sealing. Pressure Cook for 6 mins. Allow 5 mins natural pressure release.
Open the Instant Pot and garnish with the reserved caramelized onions and cilantro. Gently fluff the rice.
- Serve with cucumber raita and lime wedges.
Recipe Video
If the top layer of rice looks a bit undercooked, simply fluff the top layer of the rice with a fork and keep the Instant Pot for 5 more minutes.
Use oil instead of ghee to make the Biryani vegan.
To make simple cucumber raita, mix 2 peeled and diced persian cucumbers with 1 cup of plain yogurt and a sprinkle of salt. Garnish with chopped cilantro.
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Update Notes: This recipe was originally posted in March 2018, but was updated in May 2019 with step by step recipe as well as new photos and tips.
Author: Archana
Hey there! I am a techie turned recipe developer, cooking instructor, and food blogger. I love food and enjoy developing easy and healthy recipes for busy lifestyles. I live New Jersey with my husband and two sons.
Wow. Looks absolutely yummy Archana 🙂
Thank you Malini!
Love Chicken Biryani so much! My favourite dish when ever I go to an Indian restaurant 🙂
Thank you! I agree, Biryani is my favorite Indian food too.
This was delicious!! I also added in green beans (like your veggie biryani recipe) and made it on the stovetop instead of with an IP, but it turned out perfect 🙂 I’m looking forward to eating leftovers for lunch this week!
For anyone else who doesn’t have an Instant Pot: I just followed the first few instructions above, used canned chickpeas, and followed the rice directions on how long to cook it! (20 minutes usually works well for me.)
Hi Becky, Thank you for your feedback. So glad you enjoyed it. The flavors only get better, the leftovers are going to be yummy!! Thank you for the details to help our readers without Instant Pot!
This looks amazing! How would I modify to make with brown basmati rice? Thank you!
Even easier with Brown Basmati rice! Add soaked brown basmati along with the chickpeas. Cook everything together for 20 mins and follow with NPR.
Thank you so much! Can’t wait to try!
You are welcome! Let me know how you like it.
How long do you soak the brown rice for?
Are you trying to make this recipe with Brie rice? You can soak for 20 mins and you will have to increase cook time to 15 mins
What rice brand do you use?
Kohinoor extra long basmati rice.
What a pleasant surprise!! You are so sweet. I’m sure your Instant Pot fans will love your version of this recipe. Thank you my sweetheart.
You are welcome. Took me a while to post the recipe and yes, all my Instant Pot followers are loving it. It is such a hearty dish and makes weeknight meals so easy.
wonderful biryani with chickpeas! looks awesome!!
Thank you!
Hi! Could I use canned chickpeas instead? And if so, I’m assuming the cooking time could go down to about 7 minutes?
Yes you can use canned chickpeas. You do not have to pressure cook them separately. Add rice along with the chickpeas. Also you will need less water for the chickpeas.
Hello
If I’m using double quantity for above recipe-does IP cooking time change?
Hi Nidhi, Same pressure cooking time for doubling the recipe. Let me know if you have any other questions.
The cup of rice measurement, is it a cup or the rice cup that comes with the IP?
I used regular rice cul
regular rice cup just for the rice (180ml) or for everything? 1 cup = 240ml
I use the same cup to measure all ingredients in this recipe.
Thank you. It was amazing, loved the flavours. Will be making this again, thank you!
Thank you Penny! I am so glad you enjoyed this.
High pressure or low pressure when cooking the chickpeas?
High Pressure
Unfortunately the burn notice came on as soon as the pot came to pressure. Did QR & rice was overcooked and mushy, stuck to the bottom of the pot. Followed recipe with tinned chick peas.
Hi Linda, I am so sorry that you got the burn message. Was the bottom of the pot deglazed well before closing the lid? Also what time did you se it for with canned chickpeas?
If I use brown basmati rice and canned chicpeas, do I put rice and chicpeas at same time in IP and how long do I cook for? Thanks.
Brown Basmati needs 22 minutes of pressure cook time. To reduce the cook time, rinse and drain the brown basmati rice thoroughly 2 times. Add 2 cups of warm water and soak the rice for 3 hours. Then you can cook both canned chickpeas and soaked brown basmati rice for 10 minutes and allow 10 minute of natural pressure release before opening the Instant Pot. Let me know if you have any other questions.
I would like to make this recipe with canned chickpeas, but was wondering if any of the 1/2 cup of water needs to be cooked down before adding the rice and additional 2 cups of water? Thanks! I tried your chicken biryani and it was absolutely delicious. Can’t wait to try this one!
Hi Andrew, You can make this dish with canned chickpeas. You can skip the initial pressure cooking of just chickpeas. Cook the canned chickpeas along with the rice. No need to cook down the 1/2 cup of water added with the chickpeas. Just makes sure to drain the canned chickpeas well.
If I am doubling the recipe, do I double the water quantities?
Yes
Hi, I was wondering for the chickpeas, soaked do I add 1/2 cup water or 1 and 1/2 cups? Also if I wanted to cook using soaked chickpeas and unsoaked brown rice, how would i go about adding other veggies? Like carrot, bell peppers?
For soaked chickpeas add 1.5 cups of water. Add vegetables along with brown rice. Hope this helps!