This Leftover Roast Chicken Biryani is quick, easy and is all made in just one pot!! It’s a great way to use up leftover roast chicken or rotisserie chicken, but if you don’t have any leftovers, don’t worry! I have included a quick and easy way to ‘create’ some leftovers. This curry is also dairy free and gluten free.
I really love a good chicken biryani. There’s something so delicious about how the spices flavour the rice and chicken and how the chicken flavours the rice – yum! But if you check out the recipes for an authentic chicken biryani, it all seems rather complicated, time-consuming and faffy.
Not my version! My quick and easy Leftover Roast Chicken Biryani can be made in less than 30 minutes, only uses one pot AND makes great use of leftover roast chicken.
And it doesn’t have to be leftover roast chicken. You can use ready cooked chicken from the supermarket or any leftover meat you fancy – beef or lamb would go especially well. This would also be a great way to use up your leftover turkey at Thanksgiving or Christmas time.
Alternatively, you could simply dice and stir fry a couple of chicken breasts before getting started on the rest of the recipe (see the recipe notes for exact instructions).
This Leftover Roast Chicken Biryani tastes great the next day, either cold or heated up in the oven for about 20 minutes at 180C / 160C fan/ gas mark 4 / 350F (Make sure the rice and chicken are cooked until piping hot.)
If you like a good biryani then you might also like to check out my Lamb Keema Biryani – made with lamb mince for a very quick and easy midweek meal. And if you are as much of a fan of quick and easy curries as I am, then do check out all my other curries too!
The best wine match for a chicken biryani (IMHO) is an aromatic white such as Riesling, Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc. If you prefer red, try a soft and fruity merlot from somewhere like Bordeaux, New Zealand or Chile – a Chilean Carmenere would also work well. A dry, fruity rosé also goes well with chicken biryani – I would go for something from the South of France or Spain.
If you like this recipe…
…you might also like:
- Slow Cooked Lamb Bhuna
- Easy Homemade Chicken Tikka Masala
- Easy Chicken Jalfrezi
- Slow Cooked Chicken Bhuna
- Easy Homemade Chicken Stir Fry
Need more ideas for your roast chicken leftovers?
Need more ideas? Check out my collection of easy leftover chicken recipes >>
Leftover Roast Chicken Biryani
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil (or rapeseed oil or coconut oil)
- 1 onion sliced
- 1 red pepper sliced
- 3 cloves garlic crushed or grated
- 1 teaspoon chilli flakes (or to taste)
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 3 teaspoons garam masala
- 2 teaspoons turmeric
- 400 g cooked chicken (see notes) shredded
- 300 g basmati rice
- Salt and black pepper to taste
- 400 ml coconut milk
- 200 ml water or chicken stock, if you prefer
- 100 g frozen peas
- 2 tablespoons fresh coriander/cilantro plus extra for garnish (optional)
- Pickles/chutneys/naan bread/chapattis – or whatever you like to serve with a biryani.
Instructions
- Put the tablespoon of olive oil and the onion and red pepper in a large frying pan or sauté pan (must have a lid), fry gently over a low heat with the lid on for 3 minutes or until softened but not browned.
- Add the garlic, chilli and spices and fry for 2 minutes.
- Add the shredded chicken, rice, salt and pepper. Stir to coat the chicken and rice in the spices, then add the coconut milk and water and bring to the boil.
- Put a lid on the frying pan and turn the heat right down, simmer for 8 minutes then add the frozen peas, stir once and replace the lid.
- Cook for a further 5 minutes or until the rice is done to your liking. If it starts sticking before the rice is cooked, add an extra splash of water.
- Finally stir in the 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh coriander (cilantro).
- Sprinkle extra coriander on top and serve with all your favourite extras, such as naan breads, pickles and chutneys.
Notes
- If you don’t have any cooked chicken, simply take two large chicken breasts and dice them into bitesize pieces. Stir fry for 5 minutes over a high heat until they are nicely browned. Tip out onto a plate and then continue with the rest of the recipe – you can use the same frying pan so it’s still a one pot recipe!
- Nutrition information is approximate and meant as a guideline only.
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Jacqui |Recipes Made Easy says
another recipe from you to pin for later. I so often make rissoto with my left over chicken but given my lads love of Indian food they would be sure to love this so I shall make it next time
Eb Gargano says
Thanks Jacqui! Let me know how it goes down with your boys!! Eb x
Donna says
ah leftover roast curries are my favourites and a biryani is always good! Great recipe! #cookblogshare
Eb Gargano says
Thanks Donna – so with you on the leftover roast curries thing – so good!! Eb x
Mary Reach says
Great flavor! Way too dry!
Will make it again but cut back the rice from 10.5 oz to maybe 7.5.
Otherwise very nice.
Eb Gargano says
Hi Mary, Good to hear you enjoyed the flavour! But I am so sorry to hear you found it too dry. I was aiming for a traditional biryani texture, but of course we all have our own tastes and preferences. I hope your adapted version is more to your liking! Eb 🙂
Cat | Curly's Cooking says
Such a tasty and vibrant looking dish. This is a simplified version that I wouldn’t be afraid to try!x
Eb Gargano says
Thanks Cat – it really is easy peasy! And quick too 😀 Eb x
Corina Blum says
This looks so tasty and would definitely be a great recipe to make with the leftovers of a roast dinner! I love the fact that it’s so quick and easy to make. Thanks for sharing with #CookOnceEatTwice x
Eb Gargano says
Thanks Corina. It really is very quick and easy – perfect for a busy weeknight! Eb x
Jessica says
I’d have say that a chicken biriyani is one of my all time fave dishes!!! This one looks like a super easy version, perfect for mid-week! Bookmarking it for later!! Thanks for linking up! x
Eb Gargano says
Thanks Jess – it’s so good, isn’t it? There’s just something wonderful about all those flavours mixing and melding in one pot! Let me know what you think if you try it!! Eb x
Karen, the next best thing to mummy says
This looks great and relatively easy to prepare so I will be giving it a try very soon #brillblogs@_karendennis
Eb Gargano says
Thanks Karen – let e know how it goes!! Eb x
Honest Mum says
This looks amazing. I don’t eat chicken anymore or any meat but I’ll make this for the kids x
Eb Gargano says
Thanks sweetie. It would be so easy to make vegan! I would swap the leftover chicken for a combo of roasted aubergine and cauliflower. Hope your family like this as much as mine!! xx
Jenny Walters says
Gosh this looks so good Eb.I love the fact that it starts off as leftovers and ends up as leftovers.Genius!!It sounds full of flavour yet perfect for a midweek quick rustle!Pinned.Thanks for sharing!#CookBlogShare
Eb Gargano says
Hahaha – yes it so is. It’s like everlasting food!!! Thanks for your kind comments. Eb x
Mandy says
You really do make the best leftovers recipes Eb. I know that my family would really enjoy this.
Eb Gargano says
Thanks sweetie. This would be so easy to make vegan too! Just swap the leftover chicken for some roasted veggies, such as aubergine and cauliflower. Hope your family like this as much as mine!! I’m definitely going to have to add vegetable biryani to my ‘must make’ list now. Eb x
Allison says
My rice was not even remotely done after following the cooking times in the recipe. What did I do wrong?
Eb Gargano says
Oh no! I’m sorry to hear that this recipe did not work out for you. The only thing I can think of is that rice brands do vary and some may need a longer cook time than others. I suggest you try cooking the dish for an extra 5 minutes and check to see if it is done. If not try a further 5 minutes and check again. You might need to add extra water each time to ensure the rice doesn’t dry out, and don’t put the peas in until it’s nearly done or they will get overcooked. Just a couple of other things to check… did you ensure you brought the rice up to the boil before turning down to a simmer? (End of step 3) and did you ensure the rice was covered with a lid while it was simmering (step 4). Both those things could also have had an effect. Hope it works out better next time – let me know how it goes! Eb 🙂
Susan says
While I enjoyed this dish my rice also wasn’t soft. Next time I will try parboiled rice.
Eb Gargano says
Hi Susan, so sorry to hear your rice wasn’t soft. It does depend a little on the type of rice you buy… and of course your personal preferences about how soft you like your rice! I used Tilda Basmati Rice in this dish, which normally cooks in 10 minutes, when boiled. It takes a few minutes longer when done like this – biryani style – but always comes out a good texture for me… soft, with just a touch of ‘bite’, but not mushy. It may be that your brand of rice needs a little longer… if this is the case, there is no need to par boil the rice… simply add a little extra water to the biryani and cook for a few minutes longer… until your desired texture is reached. Hope that helps! Eb 🙂
Maureen Sinclair says
I also had issues with the amount of liquid. I doubled the amount of water. The flavours were great and with the adjustment to liquids and stirring often…. it all worked out!
Eb Gargano says
I am sorry to hear you had issues with the amount of liquid, but great to hear it was such an easy fix and it all worked out in the end! Eb 🙂
Jenn says
Wondering if you turned up the burner and brought it to a boil quickly. I read a couple of comments about the same problem, so I purposely left my burner on just below medium and let it come to a boil more slowly. For my basmati rice the timing worked out, but I did start with 250 ml of liquid instead of 200 ml, since that’s how much chicken broth I had.
Jennifer b says
After you measure rice and wash it, you can soak it in water for at least 20 minutes. I only recently discovered that basmati rice is always supposed to be soaked before cooking. It makes a big difference to the cooking time for this dish. I also didn’t need to add as much extra liquid when I soaked the rice first.
Eb Gargano says
Thanks for sharing this tip with us! The brands of basmati rice that I use don’t say to to this on the packet, so I never have and this recipe always works out perfectly for me. But I wonder if some basmati rice brands need this step and some don’t? That could explain why some people find they need to cook the rice for longer and some don’t. Eb 🙂
Mallory Brisson says
This was yummy! Very easy, and a nice variation to the creamy pasta/rice dishes that are common for using up leftover chicken. I found it a bit more dense than the typical biryani. But a great recipe I will be making again.
Eb Gargano says
Yay! So pleased to hear that you enjoyed this. Thanks so much for taking the time to let me know. Always makes me happy! Eb 🙂
Amanda says
Hi, I don’t have coconut milk and limited access to grocery (quarantine). Can I use a mix of sour cream, or yogurt, or heavy cream, or any other liquid in lieu of coconut milk?
Eb Gargano says
Hi Amanda! Yes all of those will work (though you will obviously get a slightly different taste!) but my best recommendation would be to use chicken stock in place of the coconut milk and just stir through a small amount of cream right at the end. Hope that helps! Eb 🙂
Phoenix says
Do you cook the basmati Rice first then add it? The basmati Rice rice I have seen in the shop all require rinsing after cooking. Where as the white rice I have in the cupboard only requires rinsing before cooking
Eb Gargano says
There’s no need to cook or rinse the basmati recipe in this recipe! Eb 🙂
Jennifer says
I rinsed and drained the rice in a strainer before adding it to the recipe and it turned out fine. Rinsing is one of the ways of reducing the arsenic content of rice.
Chris says
Are you suppose to use uncooked rice?
Eb Gargano says
Yes – this recipe works great with uncooked basmati rice. Do double check the rice packet, if you are concerned. The basmati rice I use says it takes 10 minutes to cook, if yours takes longer you may need to cook this for a little longer… add a splash of water if the biryani gets too dry before the rice is fully cooked. Eb 🙂
Sherri says
I made the recipe as written and this one will definitely be made again and again! Thank you so much for including standard US measures as well as metric, saved me having to do the conversion.
Eb Gargano says
Yay! So pleased to hear you enjoyed this so much 😀 And glad you found the US measures helpful. I do it now for all my new recipes and every time I update a recipe, but I’ve still got quite a few that still need updating – a long job, but I’ll get there eventually! Eb 🙂
Rick says
Hi. When your recipe calls for rice, it would be really helpful to say whether you mean pre-cooked rice, or raw rice. That simply isn’t clear.
Eb Gargano says
Hi Rick, The standard convention in recipe writing is to say ‘rice’ when you mean raw rice and to specify if you use pre-cooked or easy cook or any other variation. I use this standard convention in all my recipes so you can rest assured that when I say ‘rice’ I mean raw rice. I always specify if I use pre-cooked or easy cook rice. Eb 🙂
Chris Maurer says
Until now I had dismissed homemade biryani as ‘too much trouble’, but this recipe is so easy it encouraged me to try. The results were a great success and this has become a keeper.
As someone else noticed, the texture is a little more dense than ‘fussy’ biryani , but the individual rice grains are still firm without being underdone. You must use white basmati rice, there is a brown version here in the US that takes 40 minutes to cook and won’t work for this dish.
Can I suggest adding a handful each of toasted slivered almonds and currants when you add the peas?
Thanks again for adding this recipe to my repertoire.
Eb Gargano says
Aw, thanks for this lovely review! I am so pleased you enjoyed my recipe so much. Thank you for your advice regarding brown basmati in the US. The brown basmati in the UK works just fine in this recipe – so thank you for your advice that that is not the case in the US! And I love the suggestion to add toasted slivered almonds and currants – YUM! Eb 🙂
Beverley Marshall says
This is now my family’s absolute favourite! There’s no better way to use up leftover chicken, delicious!
Eb Gargano says
Aw, yay! I am so happy to hear that Beverley 😀
Cat says
I was glad to find this recipe, using all ingredients I had on hand, since I had roast chicken and a craving for Indian, didn’t have any biryani paste. It was pretty good, definitely edible. I did cook the rice in the pressure cooker ahead of time and stir it in (a necessary modification since I live at altitude), but otherwise followed the recipe. It seemed to be missing a flavor I’m used to in biryani and I noticed there weren’t any dried fruit or nuts, so I threw in some chopped dried apricots and cashews. I also served with yogurt. That helped, but even with those improvements it still didn’t rise to 5 star amazing in my opinion.
Eb Gargano says
I am sorry to hear this dish was not quite to your liking. But I love the idea of adding dried apricots and cashews. Eb 🙂
Susan says
The flavours were delicious but rice still very uncooked, so the chicken and peas then became over cooked, I did follow exactly, I ended up adding more stock and cooked it much longer
Eb Gargano says
Hi Susan, I am so sorry to hear this. I wonder if your brand of basmati rice needs longer to cook than the one I use? I usually use Tesco or Tilda white basmati rice. Both state 10-12 minutes on the packet are are always cooked to perfection when I make this recipe. If your brand of basmati rice needs cooking longer, then I suggest you add the chicken and peas in a little later to avoid overcooking. Hope that helps!
Em says
I omitted the chili pepper so my toddler wouldn’t say it’s “too spicy,” and realized after I started cooking that I was out of coconut milk, so I subbed one part coconut oil to three parts unsweetened almond milk. Only thing missing was salt – interesting that the recipe doesn’t call for any, definitely needs it. Overall easy to make and very tasty.
Eb Gargano says
Good to hear you enjoyed this! The lack of salt was an omission on my part – thanks for spotting it! I have now corrected this. As you so rightly point out, this recipe definitely needs a touch of salt. Eb 🙂
Ann says
Delicious biryani – best use of left over roast chicken I’ve made & will definitely recommend & make it on a regular basis (+ had all the ingredients at hand to make it) Thanks for the recipe 😊
Eb Gargano says
Yay! I am so happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe so much. Thank you for taking the time to leave a review… and especially for the 5 star rating!
Cyndi says
Are you using coconut milk or the creme of coconut milk? Anxious to make this Saturday!! Thanks for your time.
Eb Gargano says
Hi Cyndi, sorry for not getting back to you sooner – I have been on holiday! I use coconut milk. Hope that helps. Eb 🙂
Aubrey says
This chicken biryani was DELISH! I got a little excited on my Costco rotisserie chicken haul and was looking to make something more exciting this weekend than my usual fare. This recipe was so yummy! Even my picky eating kiddo loved. Thank you!
Eb Gargano says
Aw, yay! I am so happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe so much… and especially that your picky eating kiddo loved it too 😀 Thank you for taking the time to leave a review!
Ian says
Pleasantly surprised by just how good this was. Only two of us, so cut down the ingredients by half and only used four or five chilli flakes as my wife doesn’t like things too spicy but it was great and up there with the best biryani I’ve had.
Eb Gargano says
That’s so great to hear! Thank for this lovely feedback… and especially the 5 star rating! Eb 🙂
mparker says
Just made this for dinner last night. Nothing was left in the pan. Very easy to make and very very tasty. I have just started cooking Indian food at home, so I had all the spices needed. I had everything prepped and ready, so it was just 1,2,3 and 20 minutes later dinner was done. The rice cooked perfectly per the recipe, and I added chicken broth just to loosen it up a bit. This one is a keeper to use when you want to get away from boring leftovers.
Eb Gargano says
Aw yay – that’s so great to hear! Thanks for this lovely review and especially the 5* rating 😀