Easy Instant Pot Vegetable Biryani Recipe - Tickling Palates (2024)

Our favorite Vegetable Biryani now made even more quicker and full if flavours easily with the help of Instant Pot. This easy to cook, one pot veg biryani is made with fragrant basmati rice, vegetables, paneer, aromatic whole spices and herbs.

This delicious biryani, bursting with authentic flavors gets done in just 40 mins including the prep time making it the perfect show stopping centre dish on your dining table for any special occasion.

You can also make it as an easy week night dinner, no matter how tired you may be after a long & busy day at work as it is really "EASY" and also you guessed right, 'One Pot' freeing you from a multitude of pots and pans to wash after cooking.

Unlike pressure cooker vegetable pulao which is very easy, cooking an authentic biryani is bit more tedious.

From marinating ingredients, soaking & cooking, but it is truly worth the effort making this pressure cooking Biryani in Instant Pot a breeze with literally no demand on our time.

The ingredient list may look long but everything is already there in your pantry and you do not have to go hunting for anything.

Though the ingredients look the same as in the 'veg dum biryani', you cannot simply follow the same procedure while cooking in Instant Pot.

The addition of ingredients in stages varies as it helps to prevent them from sticking to the inner pot bottom giving you the dreaded "burn" message. So follow the steps exactly for a great biryani cooking experience.

Why make Veg Biryani in Instant Pot?

• Easy one-pot recipe.
• Aromatic and authentic biryani bursting with flavours.
• Vegetarian & Gluten Free with options to make it 100% vegan.
• Wholesome and completely well balanced meal on its own.
• Suitable both for a special occasion or for a busy weeknight dinner.
• Takes less than 40 minutes with just 10-15 mins being hands on.

Ingredients

Yogurt/Curd: Make sure to use fresh and thick curd. Beat it well with a spoon or fork before adding. Do not skip adding curd as it helps to keep the rice from drying out giving the much-needed moisture. It also balances all the tastes in the biryani.

Vegetables: Always use the freshest of veggies. Chop them thick or chunky so that they don't turn mushy while cooking and still retain good texture after cooking.

Saffron: It not only gives good color but also gives a sweet and floral aroma to the biryani making the biryani look rich and royal. Do skip adding it, if you do not have these on hand.

Ghee & oil: I have added a combination of both ghee & oil. If you want the biryani to be richer, use only ghee.

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Best rice variety to use

Using basmati rice makes the biryani more fragrant and gives the best results. It also looks more presentable when serving it at a party or get-together.

I have used un-branded basmati rice here. I have also tried this same recipe with India Gate Dubar and got perfect results.

You can also use seeraga samba rice but is short-grained as I have done in this stovetop veg dum biryani.

Soaking time for rice

When cooking biryani in the instant pot, I would strongly suggest not to let the rice soak any longer than 15 mins.

Any time more than that can make the rice go mushy depending on the brand of rice you are using. So, no matter what brand of rice you are using, 10-15 mins seem to be the magic time.

If you are going to cook on the stovetop and do a 'dum' process, you can soak it up to 30 mins but not when you are going to cook in Instant Pot.

Replacements & Substitutes

You can skip adding paneer, but I love the chewy texture of it in this biryani.

You can also use soya wadi or chunks in its place. But make sure to soak them in hot water for 10-15 mins and squeezing out the excess water before adding it to the pot.

You can skip adding whole spices if you do not like biting into them and instead crush them coarsely in a spice grinder and follow the recipe.

Instead of using ghee roasted cashews to top the biryani before serving, you can also use fried onions also called 'Birista'. To make it, refer to this 'Burmese Veg Atho' recipe.

You can also use ghee fried or toasted bread cubes which happens to be my most favorite.

Best Instant Pot Setting

To make this Instant Pot vegetable biryani, the heat is kept at 'Less' throughout the entire cooking process.

It helps to prevent the veggies from overcooking during sautéing, spices powders from getting burnt, and the rice from overcooking during pressure cooking.

Canceling the 'Keep Warm', doing a 'Quick Release' as soon as the display flashes "END" and immediately lifting the pan out prevents the rice and veggies at the bottom of the pan from overcooking.

Let the biryani sit for 5 mins undisturbed. It will not only help release any excess moisture but also the heat to even out normally keeping the rice fluffy, separate, and not sticking to each other.

Vegan Substitute

Yes, of course. This instant pot vegetable biryani is gluten-free & vegetarian but you can easily make this into vegan by replacing it,

• Paneer with tofu or soya chunks
• Ghee with oil
• Milk with any plant based milk of your choice though cashew milk will work well than any thing else.

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This post is sponsored by Instant Pot.

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