Chicken Pulao Recipe - Palate's Desire (2024)

Chicken Pulao is a easy , finger-licking main course dish made with spice marinated chicken , coconut milk and aromatic basmati rice. This dish is perfect for a quick meal as it is a one pan dish and gets ready within 30 minutes .

I make this easy chicken pulao in a pressure cooker on a stove top . You can make this in your one pot also.

Serve chicken pulao with any of your favourite raita like onion raita , mint raita or burani raita .

Here are some of the otherPulao Recipesthat I often make for my weekday meal or to pack lunch box . Few of my favourite includes Chana Pulao , Chettinad Mushroom Pulao , Palak Paneer Pulao and Vegetable Bath

About this recipe

Chicken Pulao is also called Chicken Tahri , it is a rice meal made using rice and is mildly flavored with Indian spices . You can also similarize this recipe with your favourite chicken biryani but with lighter version and lesser calories.

If you are short of time and crave to eat Chicken Biryani then this recipe is really for you. From start to end , I make this chicken pulao in just 30 minutes ! Of course with proper planning and multitasking , if you want to know how I do it in such a lesser time, read the full post completely.

Like Biryani this has no layers instead in this Pulao I have mixed everything in a pressure cooker and cooked together . You can use one-pot also to make this chicken pulao at home easily inder 30 minutes.

This chicken biryani is ,

• Delicious
• Mildly Spiced
• Cooks in 30 minutes
• Easy to adapt

Ingredients

Chicken Pulao requires very basic ingredients and few whole spices which are easily available in most of Indian Pantry. Incase if any of the listed whole spicies is not available in your kitchen then skip and go ahead , still this dish tastes delicious.

For marination

Chicken– Try to use bone-in chicken to make this pulao. As bone releases a lot of juices and everything is cooked in these juices , it makes the pulao tastes delicious. If bone-in chicken is not available, you can use boneless chicken as well.

Spice Powders - Turmeric powder , red chilli powder and garam masala are used here.

Others– You will also need basic ingredients like ginger paste, garlic paste, salt, lemon juice and oil for marination.

For making the Pulao:

Rice– Use the premium quality basmati rice to make this pulao as it tastes great . If not available , you can make this with any less starch variety of rice too. But just be sure to use the correct liquid ratio to to make rice.

Ghee and Oil– I have cooked this pulao in vegetable oil and ghee. You can also cook it in any flavourless oil or clarified butter completely.

Liquid– I have used coconut milk and water to cook this pulao . But you can also replace water with chicken stock to cook this pulao. Adding coconut milk will enhance the flavour of this pulao.

Spices– You will need regular whole spices like bay leaf , cloves, cinnamon, black cardamom, green cardamom , black peppercorn , star anise and fennel seeds. If any of the mentioned ingredient is not available then feel free to skip .

Fresh Produce– You will need fresh ingredients like onion, tomatoes, green chilli, ginger paste, garlic paste, lime juice, mint, and coriander leaves.

Coconut Milk - Adding coconut milk into this pulao add subtle flavours and sligthly creamy texture to the pulao.

Spice Powders - You need to add basic spice powders like red chilli powder and coriander powder . Depending on your taste you can either increasse or decressse the amount used in the recipe.

Nothing can taste without Salt , add it as per your taste.

Variations

Yogurt - You can replace coconut milk with ½ cup of thick curds to make this pulao.

Saffron-You can also add saffron soaked milk while cooking the rice.

Chicken Stock - You can also cook rice with chicken stock for more intense and flavourful biryani.

Grain - You can use either brown rice , millets or quinoa to make this chicken pulao recipe.

Tips

Make sure to rinse rice 3-4 times, untill water runs out clear. And then soak the rice for minimum 15 minutes upto 30 minutes before cooking, as it will result in fluffy and separate rice.

You can also marinate the chicken as long as you want but minimum 15 minutes is must for chicken pieces to be flavourful.

Use long grain Basmati Rice for the best results, as they turn out be more aromatic.

Serving Suggestions

Serve Chicken Pulav pair well with raita's like Onion Raita , Cucumber Raita and Pudina Raita or with any of your favourite salan.

Wlile serving , you can garnish pulao with crispy Birista, fried cashews, lime wedges, fresh mint and coriander leaves.

Recipe Notes

If using coconut milk , then don’t use yogurt and vice versa.

Rice to Liquid ratio in this recipe is 1: 1.5 , that is for every 1 cup of rice 1.5 cups of liquid is used. As I have taken 2 cups rice , I have used 1 cup coconut milk and 2 cups water. If you are using ½ cup yogurt instead of 1 cup coconut milk , then use 2.5 cups of water to make this recipe in cooker.

Adjust the spice levels as per your taste

Watch the Video

How to make Chicken Pulao Recipe

Marination

Into a mixing bowl add chicken, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, garam masala powder, salt, , ginger paste, garlic paste, lemon juice and oil .

Mix well everything and set aside for 15-20 minutes.

Preparations

Whilst start your preparations, rinse rice 3-4 times and soak in water 15 minutes.

Make other preparations like chopping onions, tomatoes, green chillies, coriander and mint leaves.

If extracting fresh coconut milk then you can use 1.5 cups of grated fresh coconut and process along with water to get 1 cup of coconut milk. Alternatively, you can use store bought coconut milk too.

To make Chicken Pulao

Heat ghee and oil in a pressure cooker or on any heavy bottom pan.

Once the ghee is hot, add bay leaf, cloves, cinnamon, black cardamom, black peppercorns , star anise , mace few strands and fennel seeds ; fry for a few seconds.

Now add green chillies , ginger , garlic paste and sliced onions, fry for 2-3 minutes until raw smell goes off.

Add the chicken with marinade and cook for 5-6 minutes on medium heat

Cook until chicken colour changes from pink to white completely.

Now add in chopped tomatoes , chopped coriander and mint leaves mix well and cook until tomatoes turns mushy.

By now chicken would have cooked 50%. Now add coconut milk and mix well everything.

Add red chilli powder, coriander powder, salt and mix well.

Now add soaked rice

and mix well everything, let it cook for 1-2 minutes before adding water.

Add 2 cups of hot water and give a stir .

Cover lid and pressure cook on medium heat for 1 whistle. When pressure settles down on its own , remove the lid and fluff the pulao with a fork.

Drizzle some ghee , add lime juice and garnish with coriander leaves.

Mix well and serve with onion raita or any of your favourite salan.

Recipe Card

FAQ's

Difference between Chicken Pulao and Chicken Biryani

Can we use Mutton to make this Pulao?

Yes, you can use Mutton instead of Chicken to make the Pulao, but the cooking time will differ. Mutton takes longer than Chicken to cook.

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