Mutton Biryani is a luscious meal made by cooking mutton with rice, tempered onion, mint, tomato and spices. Mutton Biryani is a celebration meal that is relished with brinjal gravy and raita. Learn to make Mutton Biryani with step by step pictures.
Our Sunday lunch is incomplete without a quick one pot meal with mutton / chicken biryani / veg biryani. This mutton biryani is our staple during weekends as my family loves it. Do try and enjoy this mutton biryani!
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About Mutton Biryani
Mutton Biryani is a flavorful, aromatic one pot meal made by cooking mutton along with basmati rice, aromatic herbs and spices. I usually make biryani a bit extra to save the leftovers for next day as it tastes great.
Amma makes the best mutton biryani and this recipe is from here. Most of the traditional recipes are from her cookbook and this biryani is very special as it is her specialty recipe. My friends and relatives are always praises for her biryani so wanted to record the recipe here.
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Mutton Biryani Ingredients
- Mutton – Choose tender fresh mutton, cut them into small pieces.
- Rice – Seeraga samba rice or basmati rice / long grained rice is recommended for this biryani.
- Ginger garlic paste – Biryani is incomplete without adding ginger garlic paste.
- Spice Powders – I have used turmeric powder, red chili powder, biryani masala powder, coriander powder.
- Curd / Yogurt – Thick curd neutralizes the hotness of the spice powders.
- Masala powder – A special masala paste is prepared by roasting whole spices and grinding to a fine powder.
- Onions – Onions are sliced thin, fried to crisp and added at the final stage.
- Tomatoes & Herbs – Tomatoes gives tanginess to the dish and are added with chopped mint leaves & coriander leaves for flavor while marinating.
- Tempering – Cinnamon, cloves, bay leaf are seasoned in ghee / oil.
How to make Mutton Biryani Step by Step
1.Roast the ingredients listed under ‘to roast & grind’ for few minutes till nice aroma rises. Then grind it to a semi coarse powder. Set aside.
2.Grind ginger,garlic and green chillies to a fine paste. Add all the ingredients under ‘to marinade’.
3.Mix well till the mutton is evenly coated. Set aside for at least 20 minutes. Meanwhile heat oil + ghee in a pressure cooker – add the ingredients listed under ‘to temper’. Add onion, ginger garlic paste and saute till slightly browned.
4.Then add tomatoes and saute till mushy. Then add coriander and mint leaves , saute till it shrinks then add coriander, red chili powder and saute for 3 minutes.
5.Then marinated mutton and saute for 5 minutes until raw smell leaves. Then add 1 cup of water and pressure cook for 5-6 whistles.
6.Once pressure releases, open – switch on and add the biryani masala powder and saute till the water is absorbed fully and it becomes to gravy consistency. Then rinse rice and keep it ready.
7.Add rice, food color(if required) required salt and mix well with the gravy. Pressure cook with 2 cups of water for a whistle in medium flame, simmer it and leave for 6-8 mins. Switch off. Once pressure releases – open, garnish with coriander leaves, add lemon juice and fluff it up with a fork.
Serve it hot with raita and thalicha.
Expert Tips
- Amma always uses seeraga samba for any biryani especially for nonveg biryani. As I posted chicken biryani with basmati rice I wanted to try mutton biryani with seeraga samba.
- Biryani masala powder gives a nice flavor to the biryani. You can make it in bulk and use it for any biryani variety.
- The biryani is medium spicy so adjust spice level according to your taste buds.
- After mutton is pressure cooked, make sure you bring it to gravy consistency before rice and water is added. The ratio of rice : water is 1 : 2 cups.
Serving and Storage
Mutton Biryani with raita is an unbeatable combo! Onion Raita, Pineapple Raita , Cucumber Raita, Carrot Raita are some of the raita suggestions.
If you have any more questions about this Mutton Biryani Recipe do mail me at [email protected]. In addition, follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest ,Youtube and Twitter .
Tried this Mutton Biryani Recipe? Do let me know how you liked it. Also tag us on Instagram @sharmispassions and hash tag it on #sharmispassions.
📖 Recipe Card
Mutton Biryani Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup seeraga sambar rice
- 1 medium sized onion chopped lengthwise
- 1 medium sized tomato chopped roughly
- 2 teaspoon ginger garlic paste
- 1 teaspoon red chilli powder
- 1 teaspoon coriander powder
- 1/4 cup coriander leaves
- 1/8 cup mint leaves
- 2 cups water + 1 cup for cooking mutton
- 2 teaspoon lemon juice
- salt to taste
To roast and grind for Biryani Masala powder:
- 2 nos cloves
- 1/4 inch cinnamon
- 1 no cardamom
- 1/4 teaspoon shahi jeera
- 1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 small maze
- 1 no star anise
To temper:
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 2 tablespoon ghee
- 1/2 inch cinnamon
- 1 no cloves
- 2 nos bayleaf
For the marinade
- 1/4 kg mutton
- 2 tablespoon curd
- 1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste
- 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder
- 1/2 teaspoon coriander powder
- 1 teaspoon biryani masala powder
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Roast the ingredients listed under ‘to roast & grind’ for few minutes till nice aroma rises. Then grind it to a semi coarse powder. Set aside.
- Grind ginger,garlic and green chillies to a fine paste. Add all the ingredients under ‘to marinade’.
- Mix well till the mutton is evenly coated. Set aside for at least 20 minutes. Meanwhile heat oil + ghee in a pressure cooker – add the ingredients listed under ‘to temper’. Add onion, ginger garlic paste and saute till slightly browned.
- Then add tomatoes and saute till mushy. Then add coriander and mint leaves , saute till it shrinks then add coriander, red chili powder and saute for 3 minutes.
- Then marinated mutton and saute for 5 minutes until raw smell leaves. Then add 1 cup of water and pressure cook for 5-6 whistles.
- Once pressure releases, open – switch on and add the biryani masala powder and saute till the water is absorbed fully and it becomes to gravy consistency. Then rinse rice and keep it ready.
- Add rice, food color(if required) required salt and mix well with the gravy. Pressure cook with 2 cups of water for a whistle in medium flame, simmer it and leave for 6-8 mins. Switch off. Once pressure releases – open, garnish with coriander leaves, add lemon juice and fluff it up with a fork.
- Serve it hot with raita and thalicha.
Notes
- Amma always uses seeraga samba for any biryani especially for nonveg biryani. As I posted chicken biryani with basmati rice I wanted to try mutton biryani with seeraga samba.
- Biryani masala powder gives a nice flavour to the biryani. You can make it in bulk and use it for any biryani variety.
- The biryani is medium spicy so adjust spice level according to your taste buds.
- After mutton is pressure cooked, make sure you bring it to gravy consistency before rice and water is added. The ratio of rice : water is 1 : 2 cups.
Hamaree Rasoi
Simply a Masterpiece. Wish I was there to have a taste of this biriyani.
Deepa
Prathima Rao
Perfect dish for a feast!!! Looks inviting..;)
Prathima Rao
Prats Corner
indianspicemagic
Yummy Biriyani.Wounderfully presented.Wish i were your neighbour.
Vidya
Biryani looks very inviting..loved it.
Pushpa Suren
Hey Sharmi, i think you have mentioned chicken instead of Mutton in the ingrediant list(marinate) as well as in the procedure….
Arthy Suman
Perfect dear…drool-worthy dish…
Sharmilee! :)
@Pushpa : Its a typo thanks for noting down…just corrected it 🙂
DivyaGCP
Wish I could have it now.. My favorite..
Neela Manogar
Mutton biriyani made out of seeraga samba rice is just fabulous. Looks so tempting.
Pavithra Elangovan
Sharmi … I got confused cos u mentioned chicken in the ingredient. I had sent your link to my friend who wanted recipe for Mutton Biryani. Hope she will love it.
Sharmilee! :)
@Pavi : Yes it was a typo…corrected it today mrg seeing my friends comment…
kausers kitchen
My fav…wish i cud hv it ryt nw…:)
MJ
the way you are explaining by pics by step by step its awesome !!
aru
Heeyyyyyy sharmii….!!!!!!! I rocked this biryani today. First year 'Engagement' anniversary for me today. So this was the surprise for hubby. BUT! I made one bigg bigg mistake, instead of using biryani rice – i used pachai arusi !!! Can u imagine ! Wat a fool i am, i dont know wat got into my head while cooking. i was so scared. BUT it came out so well. tasted awesome too. hubby loved it……… Thank you for the dish.., it made my day!!! 🙂
Sharmilee! :)
Haha it happens at times….good to hear that it came out well..If you dont have seeraga samba rice then replace it with basmati rice.
Megha's delicacies
Hi Sharmi,
This is a truly wonderful recipe posted by you that does not require store bought biryani masala etc… We followed this one, and it came out superb. I am going to use this receipe from now on! One small change though, instead of the optional food color, I added saffron and milk to the rice!
Thank you for posting it.
Akshaya Prabhu
Hi sharmi! I tried your kaima idly. It was awesome. Can we substitute chicken in this recipe? If yes how much of water should I use??
Sharmilee! :)
Yes you can use the same recipe and make chicken biryani too.Water level doesnt change just reduce the number of whistles as chicken cooks faster.
Samy
How about Salt?
and
Turmeric powder?
Sharmilee! :)
I missed it, just updated it…thanks for notifying 🙂
Jeyaram
hi sharmi
thanks for the wonderful mutton biryani recipe.
First time in my life I cooked today, that too biryani.
its awesome. my wife is pure veg. gave some biryani to our house owner.
expecting the comments from them.
thanks again.
By
Jeyaram
Muthukaruppi Meyyappan
Hi Sharmi..
Is see raga samba rice similar to biryani rice… Will it cook faster like briyani rice…how many whistles this one need?
SHARMILEE J
Yes it cooks a bit faster as the rice is very small…may be you can give 3 whistles in medium flame.
Viji
Hi Sharmi..
I am a beginner and trying your recipies one by one…Made kuska rice and it came out sooo good…Thanks sharmi…Me gonna try your mutton biriyani,can i use readymade biriyani powder for it? Thanks again
SHARMILEE J
Yes you can use…
Meenakshi Y
Tried this recipe today it came out awesome:)
hema shree
thanks for the yummy recipe!!!!!!!!
hema shree
thanks for recipe
Lavanya Balaji
Hi Sharmi…
Thanks for the recipe…
I have got 2 doubts in the recipe.
Do we need to prepare seperate ginger garlic paste apart from what we used for marination?
When to add the water for rice? Is it after the water used for meat to cook absorbed..
SHARMILEE J
Yes gg paste has to be prepared separately.
Add water after rice is added….check step7
jason jj
In gonna try this tomoro itself… Waiting for yummy
jason jj
I'm gonna try this tomoro itself… Waiting for the yummy
Priya
Awesome post!! can anyone please tell me where I can get seeraga samba rice in US. I cannot bring rice from India so want this rice badly while making briyani.
Jasmine
Hi sharmi , Nice recipe .Going to try it out tomo . I have a doubt .You dont seem to have mentioned the quantity for the ginger garlic paste to be sautéed with the onion .Please help
SHARMILEE J
I missed it, thanks for letting me know…now have updated:)
Manju Mary
Hi Sharmi,
Planning to cook mutton biryani for this N we year.but the quantity is more, 1k of mutton n 4 glass of rice,I can manage with the ingredient s but worried abt water.
My concern is how many glass of water to cook the meat n there after at the last how many glass of water to cook rice? Help
Thanx
SHARMILEE J
The water quantity depends on the number of whistles you are going to cook mutton……add water little above the immersing level.For rice it should be 2 cups for 1 cup of seeraga samba rice…Hope this helps!!
Aishwarya M
Hi Sharmi! When should the biriyani masala powder be added? in the marinade or after the mutton is cooked? And aslo should i soak the seeraga samba rice before adding for 10 mins or so?? going to try it today!
SHARMILEE J
Both in the marinade and after mutton is cooked as mentioned in the steps….No need to soak if seeraga samba rice is used
Aishwarya M
Thanks Sharmi! Have tried few of your recipes.. And all are a hit!! Whenever I want to cook something new, I just browse through your site!! Thanks again!! 🙂
sharmeela
Is coriander powder a must one?
Sakthi
Tried this biryani recipe today and it was very tasty!!
Shrinidhi G
Mam where do we get shahi jeera in coimbatore???
SHARMILEE J
Nilgiris,Nuts and Spices
cynthia elizabeth
Hi Sharmi.. I tried it for the first time.. It was delicious.. But the rice was not separate as shown in the pic. It was bit smudgy.. Cud u tell me wat wud ve gone wrong
SHARMILEE J
If its overcooked the rice may become mushy…
GS Karthika
Thank u for not using coconut milk and making a delicious biryani.it came out well wn I tried.
Buvimurali
Really delicious..very clear way of teaching..easy to follow and we get very tasty hotellike biriyani..thank you
Bhuvi murali
dear mam,
really it came very tasty like muslims briyani.. I too think that For mutton briyani SEERAGA SAMBA rice is the best..
very clear tutorial …congratulations …
Sadhanya Sanjay
Hi Sharmi
Last Sunday I prepared this Biryani and it came out so well. Whole family enjoyed.
I have a doubt, 3/4 th of the cooked biryani had nice texture. The rice was separated a
nd lengthy. But the bottom 1/4th was over boiled. What could be the reason?
How to overcome?
Sharmilee J
This sounds new to me…not really sure did you mix the rice well with the masalas before you closed the cooker?