This Vegetable Biryani with Paneer is a complete meal with grains, veggies, and protein. It begins with a base of caramelized onions, then builds layers of flavors with aromatic long-grain basmati rice and a combination of vegetables cooked to tender perfection. Each bite is infused with delicately balanced whole spices and a bold finish with garam masala.
The recipe was originally posted in May 2017 and has been updated with new photos and video
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I have been trying to perfect my veg biryani in the Instant Pot for months now. After the success of my easy InstaPot Chicken Biryani recipe in just a few tries, I was surprised to see how different it was to cook vegetable Biryani in the pressure cooker. The key to making perfect Instant Pot Veggie Biryani is to choose the right kind of vegetables and to cut them right so they all cook within 5 to 6 mins of pressure cooking time without getting mushy.
Inspiration and Technique
This simple Biryani recipe is inspired by my mom's famous vegetable pulao recipe. She cuts her veggies in a certain size and shape, which I thought was to make the dish look gorgeous. But now I understand that it also helps them cook perfectly each time.
The same trick of cutting the veggies and choosing the right ones helped me with this easy vegetable biryani recipe. Then my talented cousin gave me the idea of adding Paneer to this dish which really took the Biryani to a whole new level.
Ingredients
To make the best and most authentic tasting biryani, use homemade ghee, choose the right vegetables or organic frozen mixed vegetables, and long grain basmati rice. The whole spices and the homemade garam masala will do their magic to add beautiful aromas and bring this delectable recipe together.
Tips for perfect Biryani
- Use fresh garam masala
- Deglaze the pot using the liquids from the vegetables to remove any browned bits from the sautéing of the onions. This will help the Instant Pot come to pressure and also prevent the “BURN” signal. If you have an air fryer you can use it or perfect golden fried onions.
- Make sure all of the rice is under the liquids before closing the Instant Pot
- Although, Sauté (more) function on the Instant Pot works great for true one-pot cooking, you can also caramelize the onions using a stovetop in a non-stick pan. This will speed up the process and also will prevent the stainless steel insert from getting scorched which may lead to a “BURN” notice on the newer Instant Pot’s
Update to my original recipe
Certain brands of store-bought paneer can get chewy when cooked under high pressure. So I have modified the cook times for this recipe to 5 minutes on low pressure. Note: If your Instant Pot does not have the HI/LO pressure cook options, you can cook the biryani on high pressure and then gently stir in the paneer at the end.
Step by step instructions
Step 1 - Rinse and soak the rice in 2 cups of water for 20 minutes. Drain water after 20 mins. Set the Instant Pot to Sauté (more) mode and heat 1 tablespoon of ghee. Add thinly sliced onions and cook for 5-7 minutes or until the onions are lightly caramelized. Take half of the onions out and reserve them for garnish (photos 1 - 2).
Step 2 - Add remaining ghee, cumin seeds, cardamom, cloves, black pepper, and bay leaves. Cook for 30 seconds. Add all the veggies (carrots, green beans, mushrooms, red pepper, corn, paneer). Press cancel and deglaze the pot removing any browning. Use 1-2 tablespoons of water if needed. See the third picture below that shows how the bottom of the pot looks after properly deglazing. There should not be any browned bits stuck to the bottom (photos 3 - 4)
Step 3 - Add ginger, garlic, turmeric, red chili powder, garam masala, and half of the salt. mix well. Add mint, rice, and remaining salt. Add water. Mix well, making sure most of the rice is underwater (photos 5 - 8)
Step 4 - Close the Instant Pot with pressure valve to sealing. Select Pressure Cook(LO) and adjust the cooking time to 5 minutes. Follow with a quick release to stop overcooking the rice. Open the Instant Pot. Garnish with caramelized onions and cilantro.
How to serve vegetable biryani
Enjoy hot with yogurt or raita and a squeeze of fresh lemon. This spicy vegetable biryani goes well with refreshing watermelon juice, homemade lemonade, or mango lassi.
Loved the warm flavors of Biryani? Check out these Instant Pot Biryani recipes:
- Chicken Biryani
- Shrimp Biryani
- Chickpea Biryani with vegan options
- Healthy Brown Rice Biryani
- Low Carb Riced Cauliflower Chicken Biryani
- Fish Biryani
- Egg Biryani
Thank you to all who have tried this recipe. It has become so popular that when I published The Essential Indian Instant Pot Cookbook, I was requested that I also include this recipe in the cookbook. I hope you will enjoy 75+ modern recipes with authentic Indian flavors in my best-selling book.
Frequently asked questions
Yes, can be doubled in 6-QT or 8-QT Instant Pots
Store-bought paneer can become chewy after pressure cooking. Here are a few options: 1. Adjust pressure cook time to 5 minutes on low-pressure mode. 2. Sauté the paneer in a non-stick pan and add it to the Biryani in the end 3. Use homemade Paneer.
Press cancel before adding all the veggies. This will stop the pot from further overheating as you remove the browning from the bottom of the pot. Then add the veggies and deglaze the pot using the water contents from the veggies so that all the browning from sautéing the onions is removed. You can also use 1 to 2 tablespoons of water to remove the browning.
Yes. Follow the same recipe. No need to soak the quinoa. Just rinse thoroughly and drain all the water before adding it to the pot.
Yes. Substitute ghee with oil. Skip Paneer or stir in sautéed tofu in the end.
Do you love Indian food? Here are my top Instant Pot Indian Recipes to try:
- Easy Chicken Tikka Masala - Creamy tomato-based curry with chicken marinated in yogurt, red chili powder, turmeric, and garam masala
- Healthy "Butter" Chicken - Flavorful chicken in a creamy sauce with an orangish hue from the red chili powder and turmeric
- Spicy Misal Pav - A popular Indian dish made with spicy sprouted bean curry served with lightly buttered dinner rolls
- Tandoori Salmon - Tender, flaky salmon cooked in warm tandoori spices
- Easy Shrimp Curry - Tender-sweet shrimp lightly spiced with aromatic whole spices and tropical flavors from coconut milk
- Chicken Korma - A mild and healthy chicken curry cooked in whole spices and then braised in a yogurt-based sauce
- Kheema Pulao - A flavor-packed one-pot meal with fragrant long grain basmati rice cooked in ground chicken and aromatic-warm whole spices
- Madras Lentils/Daal Makhani - A creamy lentil dish cooked with whole black lentils and kidney beans, lightly spiced
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Recipe
Vegetable and Paneer Biryani - Instant Pot
Ingredients
- 2 cups Extra long grain Basmati rice
- 2 cups water for soaking
- 3 tablespoons ghee divided
- 1 large yellow onion thinly sliced
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 4 whole green cardamoms
- 4 cloves
- 10 whole black peppercorns
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 cup carrots chopped lengthwise into 1-inch x ¼ inch strips
- 1 cup green beans chopped into 1-inch pieces
- 1 cup white mushrooms halved
- ½ cup red pepper chopped into 1-inch x ½ inch strips
- ½ cup corn
- 1 cup paneer cubed into ½ inch cubes
- ½ tablespoon ginger grated
- ½ tablespoon garlic minced
- ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1 teaspoon Kashmiri red chili powder
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- 3 teaspoons kosher salt divided
- 2 cups water for cooking
- 2 tablespoons fresh mint chopped
- ½ cup cilantro chopped
Instructions
- Rinse and soak the rice in water for 20 minutes. Drain water after 20 minutes.
- Set the Instant Pot to Saute(More) mode and heat half of the ghee. Add sliced onions and cook for 5-7 minutes or until the onions are lightly caramelized. Take half of the onions out and reserve for garnish.
- Add remaining ghee, cumin seeds, cardamom, cloves, black peppers, and bay leaves. Cook for 30 seconds. Add all the veggies (carrots, green beans, mushrooms, red pepper, corn, paneer). Press cancel and deglaze the pot removing any browning. Use 1 to 2 tablespoons of water if needed.
- Add ginger, garlic, turmeric, red chili powder, garam masala, and half of the salt. mix well. Add mint, rice, and remaining salt. Add water. Mix well, making sure most of the rice is underwater.
- Close the Instant Pot with pressure valve to sealing. Pressure Cook(low-pressure) for 5 minutes followed by Quick release. Open the Instant Pot. Garnish with caramelized onions and cilantro. Serve hot with Raita or yogurt.
Video
Notes
- Have an air fryer? Use it or perfect golden fried onions instead of caramelizing the onions in the Instant Pot.
- Deglaze the pot using the liquids from the vegetables to remove any browned bits from the sautéing of the onions. This will help the Instant Pot come to pressure and also prevent the “BURN” signal.
- You can make this recipe Vegan by using coconut oil instead of ghee and extra firm tofu instead of paneer
- I have modified the cooking time for this recipe to 5 minutes LO pressure cook as sometimes store-bought paneer can get chewy when cooked under high pressure. If your Instant Pot does not have HI/LO pressure cook options, you can cook for 6 minutes under high pressure and then stir in the paneer in the end.
Nutrition
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Shalvini says
Archana, inaugurated my IP with your recipe. It turned out delicious... thanks for precise recipe!
Archana says
Hi Shalvini Thank you for your feedback. So happy to hear that you enjoyed the veggie biryani!
Mahuwa says
Hi Archana, thanks for your yummy recipes .. I tried chicken Biryani, the taste was flavorful but bottom got burn.. Today again I tried vegetable biryani same thing happened.. before finishing it shows burn.. I m very new to ip.. my ip doesn’t have manual, so I used pressure cook high for 6 minutes and quick release .. and bittom got burnt.. In my ip there is pressure cook and pressure level two buttons.I m confused should I use pressure level high and pressure cook for 6 minutes ..Appreciate your help
Archana says
Hi Mahuwa, Thank you for your comments. I am glad you enjoyed the flavors. Pressure cook is the same as Manual, so you cooked it correctly. To prevent the bottom from getting burnt, you need to deglaze the pot after you add the chicken using the liquids from the marinade. Scrape the bottom well using a spatula so all the browned bits are gone and until the pot looks clear. This helps the Instant Pot to come to pressure without burning the bottom further.
Varuna says
Archana, I've been making quite a few of your recipes since I got the IP during Thanksgiving. Everything tasted absolutely delicious. Thanks so much! I plan to make the vegetable & paneer biryani for a party. If I am doubling the quantity, will I need to adjust the cooking time?
Archana says
Hi Varuna! Thank you for your lovely feedback. If you double the recipe, you double all the ingredients and increase the sauté time. Pressure cooking time remains the same. Let me know how it comes out
Varuna says
Thanks Archana! It came out great and everyone thoroughly enjoyed it 🙂
Archana says
Great! So happy to hear this.
Kohos says
This is delicious! It was a bit too spicy for me but I will make again with just a pinch of red pepper, thank you for posting!
Archana says
So glad you tried and enjoyed the Biryani. You can reduce garam masala and red chili powder for less spicy.
Masooma says
Hi Archana - love this recipe! making it again for a larger crowd. Can you please advise on how I need to modify the recipe for 3 cups of rice? how much water do I use and how long do i cook for? Thank you!
Archana says
So take all the ingredients as noted and then half of everything again. Saute time for onions will increase. Same pressure cook time.
Amanda says
If I use brown basmati will there be any change to the liquid or cooking time?
Archana says
Hi Amanda, brown rice takes much longer to cook. Check out my recipe for brown rice chicken biryani on soaking and water ratio - http://ministryofcurry.com/brown-rice-chicken-biryani-instant-pot/
Nayomi Sajan says
Followed the recipe- did a 2 cups rice to 2 cups water ratio and hp 6 minutes with Natural release but rice came out very crunchy/al dente. Any suggestions? Any recs on how to salvage the rice that's already cooked with the veggies-would hate for all those amazing ingredients to go to waste.
Archana says
Hi Naomi, was the rice soaked as suggested? If nit then i would add another 1 cup of water and cook on Manual Hi for 3 minutes.
Nayomi Sajan says
Hey Archana!
To salvage the rice, I ended up adding a 1/4 cup of water and slow cooking it (adjust to less) for another 30 minutes. It definitely helped make the rice cook to a softer texture. It was super yummy. Loved the recipe. The kids ate it up!!
Yes, I had soaked the rice for 20 minutes. Maybe I will soak for a little longer next time and just add a little more water too, 1: 1.25 and see if that helps...If that does not work then I will definitely do manual high for 3 minutes. Thanks so much for your input!
Nayomi
Archana says
Hi Nayomi. I am so happy you were able to save the dish. Are you using basmati rice? And I agree 1:1.25 ratio may work better for you.
Kira says
Can you provide the cooking modifications if the recipe is made with quinoa instead of rice? Thank you!
Archana says
You do not need to soak quinoa. Same water ratio and time.
PK says
Made this recipe and turned out great. I was thinking that whole masoor would be a nice addition to this, for an added protein boost. Any suggestions on how to integrate masoor into the recipe so that it comes out cooked but not mushy or undercooked? I imagine it would need to be soaked in advance but not sure how long. Would love to include it with the rest of the ingredients instead of cooking it separately. Any advice would be appreciated 🙂
Archana says
Thank you for your feedback. Actually while masoor works great in this recipe. 6 mins is just perfect time for the masoor to cook and stay firm. Just add in 1/4 cup of masoor and 1/4 cup of water extra.
PK says
Thanks Archana. Would I need to pre-soak it or just rinse and add it in with the extra water?
Archana says
Just rinse and add!
charisma d shah says
I tried veg biryani today follow the recipe point to point and guess what amazing mouth watering delicious dish ready in minutes. Thank you for sharing
Archana says
Awesome!! Thank you for letting me know.
Sarita says
How could I make this with brown rice? I love the brown rice chicken biryani recipe you have
Archana says
Hi Sarita, Use the same timings as the brown rice chicken biryani for rice. As far as veggies, use hardy veggies, bag of frozen veggies and potatoes. I would skip, cauliflower and paneer as the cook time will be bit too much. Let me know if you have any questions and how this works out for you.
Soumya says
Dear Archana,
I’ve tried your paneer biryani multiple times in my 8qt instapot n I’ve followed the recipe to a T. The burn sign displays everytime as soon as pressure builds. So I’ve do a QR and the rice is pretty much cooked so I leave the lid on n let it cook in the remaining heat. Do I need to add more water for an 8qt? I love your recipes!
Archana says
Let me try it in my 8-QT and I will update you. I have a feeling it might need more water. I assume you are deglazing the pot before closing the lid?
anshu says
Hi Archana, I like this recipe, want to try it but would like to know the proportion for 8-QT also.
Archana says
Hi Anshu, same proportions. Just press cancel after adding veggies and scrape out any browning at the bottom of the pot. Follow same process otherwise
Anu Singh says
How many cups of rice are you using? I didn’t see that anywhere.
Archana says
2 cups
Jyoti says
Hi Archana, How much time rice will take to cook in Electric pressure cooker, with no Hi mode?
Thanks a lot.
Archana says
Basmati rice usually is cooked in 5 to 6 minutes in most pressure cookers.
Vrinda says
This comes out perfectly! The rice wasn't overcooked, the vegetables done just right. Awesome and thank you!
Archana says
Hi Vrinda! Thank you for your lovely feedback.
Sahana says
Hi Archana mam can I please know rice brand you are using. I live in US. I know your cooking magic is adding to that nice texture of rice but still want to know if rice type adds any magic.
Archana says
Hi Sahara, kohinoor extra long basmati rice
Sangeetha Karthik says
Hi Archana
I have tried this with kali jeera rice and it turned out really well. Thank you so much for the recipe .
Archana says
Thank you Sangeetha! I love the flavors and texture of kalijeera rice too!!
Suneeta says
This recipe looks awesome! I’m making it for a larger crowd (~30 people), so I was going to double the recipe and make it in batches and transfer to an aluminum tray and cover it. If it won’t be eaten for another hour or two later, any tips for where/how to keep it, or recipe modifications so the rice doesn’t dry out? Thanks!
Archana says
Your plan sounds good to me. I would suggest you caramalize onions on stovetop as a big batch to save time and burn issues with Instant Pot. Then take out cooked rice in aluminum trays and keep covered once it has cooled a bit. It will not dry out, I promise!! And do post your results! Good luck
Ketaki says
Hi Archana, I tried the biryani today, and it came out delicious!! As I ran out of paneer and Mushrooms, I added potatoes and green peas. Your measurements for all the ingredients were accurate. The biryani turned out very flavorful.
Archana says
Thank you for your lovely feedback! You made my day ❤️