Vegan Biryani

This vegan biryani recipe is an absolute feast for the senses. As you spoon the fragrant basmati rice onto your plate, you'll soak up the aromatic herbs and the colorful mélange of tender vegetables nestled within. With every bite, your taste buds will be treated to a burst of spices, including cumin, coriander, and garam masala. The dish is both filling and satisfying, with a range of textures that keep your palate engaged. Whether you're a lifelong vegan or just looking for a meat-free meal, this biryani is sure to satisfy.

My vegetable biryani recipe is not only completely sattvic, and packed with flavor, but also features a balance of nutritious vegetables and herbs. The dish includes a medley of veggies, such as string beans, carrots, potatoes, peas, and cauliflower, that add both texture and color to the dish. The spices are complemented by fresh herbs like cilantro, curry leaves, and mint, which not only add freshness, and aroma but also provide medicinal benefits. Want to build a complete meal around this? Serve it with my dreamy, easy-to-make red lentil dahl, and my completely plant-based butter chicken.

Whether you're trying to incorporate more plant-based meals into your diet or simply looking for a new flavor sensation, this vegan biryani is going to make you super happy!

*This post contains affiliate links, so I may earn a tiny commission when you make a purchase through links on my site at no additional cost to you.

Jump to:

• 🥰Why you are going to adore the ever-loving heck outta this recipe
• 🧈Ingredients
• 🍚There are so many types of rice to choose from to make the perfect biryani!
• 🚂Toot Toot Substitutions
• 🤯Some different styles of veg biryani you might want to try
• 📖Step-by-step instructions
• 🍽️Serving Ideas
• 🔪Equipment
• 🫙Storage
• ❗️Top tips
• 🪷What is sattvic cuisine?
• 🤷‍♀️FAQ
• ✌️Other Indian dishes that go great with this:
• 🥑Some other vegan recipes I know you are gonna love:
• Vegan Biryani

🥰Why you are going to adore the ever-loving heck outta this recipe

• It happens to use no onions, garlic, or mushrooms, which will delight you if you happen to follow a sattvic lifestyle. 
• Nutritious and filling: Packed with vegetables, fiber, and healthy fats, this biryani is a nutritious and filling meal that will keep you satisfied.
• This recipe is completely gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, and sugar-free!
• Great for entertaining: With its impressive presentation, complex flavors, and easy ability to be multiplied into larger batches, this dish is a great option for dinner parties or special occasions.
• If you want to breathe some fresh life into leftovers, you can make this with the plain rice you have remaining from another meal.

🧈Ingredients

• Aged basmati rice-  Aged basmati rice is a premium variety of long-grain rice that has been stored for at least a year to enhance its flavor and aroma. During the aging process, the moisture content of the rice decreases, resulting in a firmer texture and distinct nutty flavor. Aged basmati rice is prized for its long, slender grains that cook up fluffy and separate, making it a popular choice for biryanis, pilafs, and other rice dishes. This rice is often more expensive than regular basmati rice due to the extended storage time and careful selection process required to ensure quality. Aged basmati rice is also considered to be healthier than other rice varieties, as it has a lower glycemic index and contains more protein and fiber.  You can TOTALLY use regular ol’ basmati rice and even a variety of other (non-basmati) rices entirely.  Check my notes on that below.

• Kashmiri red chili powder- Kashmiri red chili powder is known for its vibrant red color and mild heat, with a subtle fruitiness and smokiness. It is often used to add color and flavor to dishes such as tandoori chicken and biryanis.  If you can’t get any, a mild paprika can stand in for it, maybe with a tiny little bit of cayenne added to it if you would like it to be on the spicier side.

• Curry leaves- Curry leaves are an aromatic herb commonly used in Indian cuisine, especially in some regions of South India. They have a pungent flavor, and otherworldly, delicious aroma and are often used to add depth and complexity to curries, soups, chutneys and so many dishes. They make a great house plant, which is the best way to always have a supply of their fresh leaves.   You can find them for sale at most Indian grocery stores.  I have found that you can buy a couple bags of the fresh leaves and freeze them.  While they aren’t 100% quite as vibrant that way, they still lend their fragrance and flavor to dishes for a couple of months after being frozen. 

• Saffron threads- Saffron is a spice derived from the stigma of the crocus flower and is one of the most expensive spices in the world due to the labor-intensive process required to harvest it. Luckily you need just the tiniest pinch of it in this recipe. It is known for its distinct flavor and aroma, and is often used in cuisines such as Indian, Persian, and Mediterranean to add color and flavor to dishes.

See the recipe card at the bottom of this page for the complete list of ingredients and their quantities. 

🍚There are so many types of rice to choose from to make the perfect biryani!

👉Some of the best basmati rices to choose from specifically for biryani or rice bath dishes:

• Aged Basmati Rice: This is my personal top choice for making biryani or bisi bele bath (my favorite rice dish from Karnataka where I used to spend time every year). The aging process helps to enhance the flavor, individuality of the grains, and aroma of the rice, making it a popular choice for biryani.

• Extra-long Grain Basmati Rice: This is a premium variety of Basmati rice that has extra-long grains and is known for its fluffy texture. It is also a good choice for making biryani as it absorbs the flavors of the spices and other ingredients well.

• Super Kernel Basmati Rice: This is a premium variety of Basmati rice grown in the Punjab region. It has extra-long grains and a distinct aroma and flavor that make it a popular choice for biryanis and other rice dishes.

• 1121 Basmati Rice: This is a high-yielding variety of Basmati rice that is grown in the Sindh region of Pakistan. It has long grains and a nutty flavor that make it a popular choice for biryanis and other rice dishes.

• PK-385 Basmati Rice: This is another variety of Basmati rice that is grown in Pakistan. It has long grains and a delicate flavor, making it a good choice for dishes where the rice is the star of the show.

👉Some great non-basmati rices you can use for biryani:

• Kalijira Rice: Kalijira rice is a small-grain rice that is commonly used in Bengali cuisine. It has a delicate flavor and a slightly sticky texture that makes it a good choice for biryani. I go to West Bengal as often as possible (especially to visit Nabadvip), and lemme tell ya, rice is kinda a big deal there!

• Red Rice: Red rice is a whole-grain rice that is high in fiber and nutrients. It has a nutty flavor and a chewy texture that adds a different dimension to the biryani.

• Arborio Rice: Arborio rice is a short-grain rice, commonly used in Italian cuisine for making risotto. It has a creamy texture and a slightly nutty flavor that can work well in certain types of biryanis.

• Jasmine Rice: This fragrant rice variety is commonly used in Southeast Asian cuisine. It has a slightly sweet flavor and a soft texture, making it a good choice for biryani.

• Brown Rice: Brown rice is a healthier alternative to white rice and can also be used for making biryani. It has a nutty flavor and a chewy texture that adds a different dimension to the dish. Brown rice needs more water (sometimes as much as 2 cups of water to 2 cups of rice,) and will take a little longer to cook than white basmati. 

🚂Toot Toot Substitutions

• Curry leaves - if you can’t get fresh curry leaves, frozen or dried ones are ok to use too.  If you can’t get either of those, just leave them out because NOTHING is quite the same as curry leaves.  Don’t substitute curry powder- that’s something else completely.

• Kashmiri red chili powder - you can substitute mild paprika, with a tiny pinch of cayenne added to it instead of Kashmiri chili.

• Vegan butter- if you don’t live somewhere where you can find a good quality vegan butter (a.k.a. margarine), you can really substitute it for an equal amount of almost any cooking oil you have.  Just pick something that doesn’t have a strong flavor.

• Cashews- If you have a nut allergy, you can totally just leave the cashews out of this recipe. But if you want the protein they contribute to the dish, replace them with an equal amount of cooked chickpeas.
• String beans- If you have them on hand anyway, you can get away with substituting the cup of fresh chopped string beans for a cup of frozen green beans.  

🤯Some different styles of veg biryani you might want to try

• Be the O.G. with O&G- most biryani recipes are made with onions and garlic in them.  This recipe is completely sattvic, which is how I prefer to eat at home.  But if you love the flavor and fragrance that onions and garlic provide, just add a small diced onion, and two minced cloves of garlic to the pan when you are adding the cooked potatoes and carrots.  You can also top the dish with fried onions if you are crazy for onions like my dad.

• Thalassery style biryani: This is a biryani from the coastal town of Thalassery in Kerala, South India. It is made with a short-grain rice called jeerakasala instead of basmati, but follows the same cooking method.  You can approximate the Kerala flavor by adding a teaspoon of fennel seeds, a cinnamon stick, and doubling the amount of cloves to the rice when it is initially cooking.

• Vegan Hyderabadi Biryani: This is a famous biryani from the city of Hyderabad (home of Juno.com, the email provider from the 90’s that my wife still used until a couple years ago). It is normally made with basmati rice, meat (usually chicken or lamb), and a blend of spices that includes saffron, mint, and cinnamon. You can replace the meat by adding 1 ½ cups of chopped seitan to the pot when you are frying the cashews and cauliflower.  I like to sauté it for long enough for the seitan to brown a little bit on all sides so it has a satisfying meaty mouthfeel. 

📖Step-by-step instructions

You wanna see how this yummy thing gets made? I will walk you through the whole quick process. Or you can follow along with the easy-to-print recipe card towards the bottom of this page.

Mix in the cooked rice, rosewater, and salt, and make sure to break up any clumps of rice so that the vegetables and seasonings are fully distributed, and the rice becomes a lovely shade of yellow/orange.

To serve, garnish the dish with fresh cilantro and mint leaves.

🍽️Serving Ideas

This biryani is absolutely heavenly paired with some of my vegan butter chicken.

This is also great to simply eat with some steaming hot easy-to-make red lentil dahl, freshly grilled chapati, naan, or roti and some vegan raita, or just a little of your favorite Indian-style pickle (I love green mango pickle and alma pickle the best).

🔪Equipment

Whoopee!  This is another recipe that you don’t need any fancy gear to pull off.  Just a nice dutch oven or large pot to cook everything together in, a smaller pot to cook the rice, and another to boil the carrots and potatoes in.

🫙Storage

This biryani stores well, and can be a great option for meal prep. Just portion it into containers and keep under refrigeration for up to 4 days.

To reheat a small portion (1-3 cups of biryani), add a few drops of cooking oil and a couple of tablespoons of water to a frying pan and heat them over a high flame.  Once the liquid is getting hot, add the rice and place a cover over the pan.  Lower the flame immediately to medium and cook for about 4 minutes until heated throughout.  

If you are reheating a large amount (like the full yield of the recipe), you may use as much as ⅓ cup of water when reheating, and you will probably need to open the lid to stir the rice once or twice while it’s reheating.  Reheating the full batch will take about 7 minutes on a medium flame.

🪷What is sattvic cuisine?

In Ayurveda (in sanskrit ayuh= life/lifespan veda= science), the sattvic diet is believed to promote spiritual growth and development by fostering purity, clarity, and tranquility of the mind and body, and subtle body. This is because the sattvic diet is considered to be light and easily digestible, which can help to reduce physical and mental heaviness and promote a sense of lightness and clarity.

From a psychological perspective, the reasoning behind avoiding onions and garlic (and to varying degrees nightshade vegetables) is about creating food that is less designed for the sole purpose of sense gratification. From a western perspective, that is a very difficult idea for many modern cooks and eaters to grapple with.

From a spiritual perspective, the sattvic diet is thought to help remove physical and mental impurities that can hinder spiritual growth and development. 

Sattvic diet is especially important for Vaisnavas (devotees of Visnu, Krsna, Balaji, Lord Rāmacandra, and his various personalities and forms).  This is because Vaisnavas tend to be “prasadaterian”, only consuming food that is offered to the lord before eating the spiritualized remnants.  Because onions, garlic, meat, eggs, and stimulant aren’t preferred by Krishna and all of his forms, these ingredients are not cooked with for the pleasure of the Lord.

In addition, a sattvic diet is believed to help calm the mind and promote mental clarity, which can be helpful for those who are seeking to deepen their spiritual practices, such as meditation or yoga. When the mind is clear and free from food-derived sensory disturbances, it is easier to focus and connect with the divine.

Finally, the sattvic diet is thought to promote a sense of compassion (karuna) and nonviolence (ahimsa), which are important principles in many spiritual traditions. By consuming foods that are ethically sourced and prepared with love and care, we are able to cultivate a deeper sense of connection and empathy with all living beings.

Overall, the sattvic diet is seen as a powerful tool for promoting physical, mental, and spiritual health, and can be a valuable part of a holistic approach to wellness.

🤷‍♀️FAQ

✌️Other Indian dishes that go great with this:

These are some of my favey dishes to serve with this:

🥑Some other vegan recipes I know you are gonna love:

📲 Say hi on social!! 👋 Follow me on facebook, instagram, or twitter for more recipes

❤️Love this recipe? It helps me out greatly if you leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟rating in the recipe card below and maybe even leave me a lovey-dovey comment too!

Print