This One Pot Vegetable Biryani is the restaurant quality meal that you’ve been looking to add to your meal plan! You’ll love all the flavors!
This one pot vegetable biryani is an amazing dish that is perfect for your meal planning endeavors. Whether you want an anti-inflammatory recipe, an all-in-one pot dish that’s easy, or just a delicious recipe, this one has you covered!
You are going to love the flavors at the end of this dish!
What is Biryani?
Biryani is a mixed rice dish that includes vegetables and spices. Often times it is accompanied by meat; however in this vegetable biryani dish it is not.
While the exact origin is unknown, Muslims in Southern Asian claim this dish.
We do not claim that this is an authentic dish to any one culture and our variation may differ than other biryani dishes you may have grown up with or had in restaurants. We hope you enjoy our take on this dish.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Flavorful – By using the ingredients in their natural form, we’re able to give a huge boost of flavorful to this one pot meal
- Feeling After Eating– when you eat this meal, your body feels amazing. Not full or bloated, but satisfied and thankful
- Versatile – You can easily switch up the herbs or spices, even the vegetables that are being used to create a huge amount of versatility in one recipe
🥘Recipe Ingredients
Gather your ingredients!
- Brown Basmati Rice – we use a brown basmati rice for not only anti-inflammatory reasons, but also that we love how basmati rice hold up in one pot dishes without being mushy
- Vegetables – we are using a combination of potatoes, peppers, carrots and onions for this version
- Chickpeas- we are using chickpeas since there is no meat in this vegetable version. Chickpeas not only add texture, but also protein
- Spices – We are using fresh aromatics and dried herbs to create amazing flavorful dish that will heighten your senses
See my recipe card below for a complete list of the ingredients with measurements.
Substitutions and Variations:
- Brown Rice – you can use other rices based on your preferences or even do another grain like quinoa for this recipe. It’s important to keep in mind that you may need to adjust the liquid to grain ratio depending on what type of rice or other grain you are using
- Vegetables – feel free to switch up vegetables based on what you have. Still being mindful of cooking times for denser vegetables like potatoes and a shorter cook time for something like asparagus. Other vegetable ideas are green beans, corn, tomatoes, etc.
- Chickpeas- feel free to swap with things like seitan, meatless crumbles, soy curls, mushrooms, beans, and more
- Additional Items – sometimes biryani includes eggs – feel free to add in some warm tofu scramble or Just Egg scramble at the end of the dish if you prefer that route.
Step by Step Instructions for One Pot Vegetable Biryani:
Step 1. In a dutch oven, over medium heat, add oil. Once heated, add onions and sauté until softened (about 5 minutes).
Step 2. Add star anise, bay leaves, cloves, cumin, cinnamon, cardamom, salt and pepper. Toast seasonings by nonstop stirring for 1 minute.
Add ginger and garlic and cook till fragrant (about 30 seconds). Add carrots and potatoes. Cook 2-3 minutes.
Step 3. Add bell peppers, cashews, garam masala, chili powder, coriander, turmeric, and additional salt. Stir and cook for 2-3 minutes.
Add drained rice and chickpeas.
Step 4. Add vegetable stock and coconut cream. Stir well and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered for 20-25 minutes or until liquid has absorbed. Turn off heat and let sit covered for 10 minutes.
Step 5. Remove lid, fluff with a fork carefully. Add in raisins and lemon juice and stir. Garnish with cilantro. Serve.
Recipe FAQs:
There is coconut cream and cashews in this recipe. You can omit the cashews or replace them with a safe nut for you. The coconut cream can be replaced with either a safe dairy free yogurt that you like (mindful of the flavor) or a safe non-dairy milk mixed with a ½ tablespoon cornstarch.
Yes, this recipe is made as a meal prep recipe. Once everything has cooled, you can store it in air tighter containers in the fridge for up to 5 days.
This dish does make a lot of food; however, yes. You will want to ensure that your pot is large enough or you need to use two pots.
We do not recommend freezing this recipe.
One of the biggest tips to fixing mushy rice is to make sure you soak it first. It pulls out the excess tarch to help the grains absorb water better when cooking.
If you still end up with mushy rice, then you can:
1. add a piece of bread to the top of the rice and cover. the bread will soak up excess moisture.
2. place on a baking sheet in an even layer and place in the fridge for 30 minutes
3. Baked at 350F on a baking sheet in an even layer for 5 minutes.
If none of these ways work, we recommend making a new batch.
Other Vegan Rice Recipes to Consider:
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Did you make and love this recipe?
Click the 5 stars in the recipe card above or below in the comment section! This is a great way to support us so we can continue to bring great recipes!
One Pot Vegetable Biryani
Ingredients
- 2 cups uncooked brown basmati rice
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 large yellow onion thinly sliced
- 1 star anise
- 2 bay leaves
- 3-5 whole cloves
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon cardamom
- ¼ teaspoon salt more or less to taste
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper more or less to taste
- 5 garlic cloves rough chopped
- 1 teaspoon fresh ginger grated or use ginger paste
- 1 cup carrots diced or match sticks
- 1 small potato cubed
- 1 red bell pepper thinly sliced
- ¼ cup cashews sub with peanuts
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
- ½ teaspoon salt more or less to taste
- 1 15oz can chickpeas drained, rinsed
- 4 cups veggie stock
- 3 tablespoon coconut cream thick part of canned coconut milk
- ½ cup raisins, optional
- 2 tablespoon lemon juice
- fresh cilantro or parsley, for garnish, optional
Instructions
- Soak uncooked rice in a bowl covered in water for 30 minutes. Completely drain.
- In a dutch oven, over medium heat, add oil. Once heated, add onions and sauté until softened (about 5 minutes). Add star anise, bay leaves, cloves, cumin, cinnamon, cardamom, salt and pepper. Toast seasonings by nonstop stirring for 1 minute.
- Add ginger and garlic and cook till fragrant (about 30 seconds). Add carrots and potatoes. Cook 2-3 minutes. Add bell peppers, cashews, garam masala, chili powder, coriander, turmeric, and additional salt. Stir and cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Add drained rice, chickpeas, vegetable stock and coconut cream. Stir well and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered for 20-25 minutes or until liquid has absorbed. Turn off heat and let sit covered for 10 minutes.
- Remove lid, fluff with a fork carefully. Add in raisins and lemon juice and stir. Garnish with cilantro. Serve.
Sue
This recipe was absolutely fabulous.
May I ask why it is not recommended for freezing.
Thanks so much
Larisha Bernard
Hi Sue, so glad you enjoyed it! We don’t recommend because some of the ingredients may become mushy when thawing/reheating and it is just better fresh. That being said, if you don’t mind that, then we don’t see any reason why you couldn’t
Coral
This recipe is amazing! So flavorful. Perfect for a cold autumn day!
Larisha Bernard
Awesome!
terri
this might be my favorite thing i’ve ever cooked… so good and so simple!
Larisha Bernard
that’s amazing! so happy to hear that
Kat
Made this tonight after making the chickpea curry last weekend. 10/10 will make this again. The flavor profiles are ON POINT 💯 10/10 will be making again.
Larisha Bernard
so glad to hear that!