Potato Biryani or Aloo Biryani recipe is a one-pot dish that's delicious, aromatic, and flavorful, prepared with basmati rice, baby potatoes, and spices in the Instant Pot Pressure Cooker or Stovetop. It is known as Aloo Biryani in Hindi (aloo = potato). It takes less than 30 minutes to prepare and is perfect for office lunch boxes.
It is a perfect biryani to make if you have guests at home or for your weekend treats. I already have several different types of biryani on my blog, and you can expect several more varieties to come soon.
There is another version of aloo/potato biryani which is also called aloo dum biryani will be sharing the recipe soon.
Potato Biryani Ingredients
How to Make Potato Biryani in Instant Pot
Press SAUTE on Instant Pot. Add oil, and once it's hot, add cinnamon stick, cardamom, cloves, and bay leaf.
Add potatoes and saute them for 2 minutes till they turn light golden brown.
Then add sliced onions, green chilies, ginger-garlic paste. Saute for 2-3 minutes until they turn light brown -stir regularly.
Add tomato and cook for 2 minutes till tomatoes turn mushy.
Then add curd (yogurt), mint, coriander leaves, biryani masala powder, turmeric powder, and cook for another minute.
Add rinsed Basmati Rice, water, salt, and give a stir.
Close the Instant Pot with pressure valve to Sealing. Cook on High Pressure for 5 minutes.
Once the pot beeps, Wait for NATURAL PRESSURE RELEASE (NPR).
Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Aloo or Potato Biryani is ready. Serve with Onion raita or plain yogurt.
Stovetop Pressure Cooker Method
- Heat a pressure cooker with oil on medium flame, add cinnamon stick, cardamom, cloves, and bay leaf.
- Add potatoes and saute them for 2 minutes until they turn golden brown.
- Then add sliced onions, green chilies, and ginger-garlic paste. Saute for 2-3 minutes until they turn light brown - stir regularly.
- Add tomato and cook for 2 minutes till tomatoes turn mushy.
- Then add curd, mint, coriander leaves, biryani masala powder, turmeric powder, and cook for another one minute.
- Add rinsed basmati rice, water, salt, and give a stir.
- Cover the cooker with a lid and cook for two whistles.
- Aloo Biryani is ready. Serve with Onion Raita or plain yogurt.
What to Serve with Potato/Aloo Biryani?
Serve Potato Biryani recipe with any kurma, and yogurt or raita.
Tips & Variations
- For vegans, you can skip yogurt and add lime juice.
- To make aloo biryani, you can use baby potatoes or large potatoes, I have used cubed large potatoes here.
- You can get biryani masala powder from any Indian grocery store or amazon. You can use any brand. If you don't have biryani masala, then replace it with garam masala powder.
- You can also replace potatoes with sweet potatoes to make healthier choices.
- Do a QR Release (QR) if you don’t have time, and then open the lid.
- Increase or decrease spice accordingly.
- You can add fried onions on top before serving.
FAQs
A classic biryani is made using basmati rice. This rice is thinner and longer than traditional rice. I prefer Daawat Traditional Basmati Rice or Tilda Legendary Rice Pure Original Basmati brands.
Yes, baby potatoes will work best for this recipe. Or you can also dice regular potatoes into 2-inch pieces if you don't find baby potatoes.
I have used yogurt (curd) in this recipe; you can make this vegan by either using non-dairy yogurt like soy or coconut yogurt else, you can replace yogurt with the juice of a half lemon.
If you like potatoes, then check out more Potato Recipes
More Veg Style Biryani Recipes
Instant Pot Potato Biryani (Aloo Biryani)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups basmati rice [Measuring cup (1 cup = 250 ml)]
- 3 large potato(aloo) cut into large cubes
- 1 medium onion thinly sliced
- 1 large tomato
- 1 tablespoon ginger-garlic paste
- ½ cup mint(pudina)
- ½ cup cilantro(coriander leaves)
- ½ cup curd (yogurt) dairy free can be used
- 1 tablespoon biryani masala powder
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder (haldi)
- 2 green chilies
- 2.5 cups water
- 3-4 tablespoon oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
Whole Spices
- 1 inch cinnamon stick
- 2 bay leaf
- 2-3 cloves
- 2 cardamom
Instructions
Instant Pot Method:
- Press SAUTE on Instant Pot. Add oil, and once it's hot, add cinnamon stick, cardamom, cloves, and bay leaf.
- Add potatoes and saute them for 2 minutes till they turn light golden brown.
- Then add sliced onions, green chilies, ginger-garlic paste. Saute for 2-3 minutes until they turn light brown -stir regularly.
- Add tomato and cook for 2 minutes till tomatoes turn mushy.
- Then add curd (yogurt), mint, coriander leaves, biryani masala powder, turmeric powder, and cook for another minute.
- Add rinsed basmati rice, water, salt, and give a stir.
- Close the Instant Pot with pressure valve to Sealing. Cook on High Pressure for 5 minutes.
- Once the pot beeps, Wait for NATURAL PRESSURE RELEASE (NPR).
- Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Aloo or Potato Biryani is ready. Serve with Onion raita or plain yogurt.
Indian Pressure Cooker Method
- Heat a pressure cooker with oil on medium flame, add cinnamon stick, cardamom, cloves, and bay leaf.
- Add potatoes and saute them for 2 minutes till they turn light golden brown.
- Then add sliced onions, green chilies, ginger-garlic paste. Saute for 2-3 minutes until they turn light brown in color - stir regularly.
- Add tomato and cook for 2 minutes till tomatoes turn mushy.
- Then add curd, mint, coriander leaves, biryani masala powder, turmeric powder, and cook for another one minute.
- Add rinsed basmati rice, water, salt, and give a stir.
- Cover the cooker with a lid and cook for two whistles.
- Aloo Biryani is ready. Serve with Onion Raita or plain yogurt.
Notes
- For vegans, you can skip yogurt and add lime juice.
- To make aloo biryani you can use baby potatoes or large potatoes, I have used cubed large potatoes here.
- You can get biryani masala powder from any Indian grocery store or amazon. You can use any brand. If you don't have biryani masala then replace it with garam masala powder.
- You can also replace potatoes with sweet potatoes to make a even more healthier choice.
- Do a QR Release(QR) if you don’t have time and then open the lid.
- Increase or decrease spice accordingly.
- You can add fried onions on top before serving.
Nutrition
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Nasimah
Hiya, how to avoid getting the 'burn' sign once the pressure cooker setting has been set?
quite frustrating!
thanks nasimah
Bhavana Patil
Hi Nasimah, Its quite frustrating...First of all make sure correct amount of water is added and also make sure you deglaze the inner pot before setting the timer. If you get burn erroR, You can just cancel the pressure cooking and wait for sometime for natural pressure release.. Sometimes in that pressure rice gets cooked or just add some more water and cook. Hope this helps.
SB
How can we make this with brown basmati? The cook time for that is ~22 minutes, which would make the potatoes mush. Any solution to that?
bhavana
Frankly i havent tried making with brown rice.I would say making biryani separately and then add roasted potatoes in the end after rice is cooked.