Published: Jun 3, 2019 || Modified: Aug 23, 2020 by Farrukh Aziz

Mutton Biryani Recipe - How To Make Mutton Biryani

Name: Mutton Biryani Recipe
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 75 min
Ingredients: ¼ cup Coriander Leaves (tightly packed); 4-5 Green Chilies (you may adjust as per preference); 16– 18 Garlic Cloves; 3 inches Ginger Piece; 1 teaspoon Peppercorns; 5-6 Cardamom; 6– 8 Cloves; 250 grams Yoghurt (thick); ¼ cup Golden Fried Onions (birista); 1/2 tablespoon Garam Masala Powder; Salt To Taste; 1 kilogram Lamb or Goat Meat on bone (Cut in medium sized peices); 8 tablespoons Oil (divided); 5 Potatoes (medium, cut in large cubes); 2 Onions (large, finely sliced); 2 inch Cinnamon Stick; 2 teaspoons Cumin Seeds; 1 teaspoon Turmeric Powder; 3-4 teaspoons Kashmiri Red Chili Powder; 1 tablespoon Coriander Powder; Water as needed; 2 Tomatoes (large , sliced / wedges); 4-5 Green Chilies (slit or sliced); 4 cups Long Grain Basmati Rice (800 gms); Water as needed; 2– 3 Bay Leaves; 1 ½ inch Cinnamon Sticks; 1 teaspoon Caraway Seeds (shajeera) or Cumin Seeds; 3– 4 Cloves; 5– 6 Green Cardamom

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The Best Mutton Biryani Recipe – Prepared with utmost care and love, it holds a regal legacy from the kitchen of Nawabs and Nizams.

Mutton Biryani is a royal dish that indeed needs no introduction or mentions.

The beautifully spiced and fragrant layers of biryani rice centred with juicy, tender meat and masalas, bliss! Let us see how to make it at home.

Overhead shot of Bombay Mutton Biryani served in large black bowl with raita on the side.

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About the recipe
Meat marination ingredients
Boiling the rice
Layering the biryani
Top Tips
Step by step instructions
How to make pakki biryani in the Instant Pot?
📖 Recipe

To all the non – veg lovers out there, have you ever said NO for a biryani??? I at least do not think so. Thank God, no one from my family tends to fall in these categories.

There may be a few, who specifically believe that making biryani is very technical and tough game. But if you mentally prepare yourself for achieving your goal you can do anything.

Indeed, it is a game of cooking strong and getting the perfect taste out of each ingredient. But never lose hope or confidence. Failure comes with a message of giving another try to make it a success.

About the recipe

Today, I am sharing the most demanding authentic Bombay Mutton Biryani recipe with you all. Generally, the meat biryani is made by two methods.

One is the Hyderabadi Kacche Gosht ki Biryani and the other method is pakki gosht ki biryani. And my this particular recipe falls under the pakki category.

Here is the difference between the two methods:

In Kacchi mutton biryani, the layer of marinated and uncooked meat pieces is placed as the bottom layer. Then the cooked rice is layered on the top of marinated meat layer followed by the process of slow cooking.

Whereas in Pakki mutton biryani, we cook the marinated mutton first. And then we layer it between the rice. In this method, we do not use raw papaya paste at all. For the reason, we will be cooking the meat well before the layering part.

Usually, any recipes of biryani do involve a series of steps to follow. It indeed includes marination, to cook mutton, to cook rice, layer the cooked mutton and rice and then dum it.

Another important thing that makes the biryani royal and rich in taste is the making of birista.

Birista, particularly, is the most effort indulging process of making as per many people. We were told as a kid that a person who can make a perfect birista is the one who can make anything. And I took that too seriously in my head.

You will always find a big batch of fried onions in my freezer.

You Can Check My Step By Step Process On How To Make Birista For Biryani

Right from chopping to frying, it is an eye keeping procedure. And, if you miss the point of turning off the flame at the right time, you may probably burn the onions.

Meat marination ingredients

Let us get our hands over to the meat marination. The recipe of mutton biryani calls for goat meat (lamb) on bone. Clean and wash it well, then drain all the water, if any.

Then, you need to make a paste of fresh ingredients to gives a nice spicy and tasty punch to the meat. So, assemble peppercorns, cardamoms, cloves, garlic cloves, ginger pieces, coriander leaves and green chilies. Now, grind these all in into a paste.

After that, take thick yoghurt, birista, garam masala powder and ground paste into a bowl, and marinate the mutton pieces into it.

Further, the other elements that we need to make mutton masala base are sliced onions, cumin seeds, cinnamon sticks, tomatoes, green chilies.

The spice powders that goes in are red chili powder, turmeric powder and coriander powder.

Boiling the rice

I have used long grain basmati rice, bay leaves, shah jeera, cinnamon sticks, cloves, star anise, water, ghee and green cardamom (choti elaichi).

Layering the biryani

Indeed, you need some more ingredients here as well. So, gather a stack full of mint leaves, birista, saffron soaked in milk and ghee are perfect enough to go with the layering.

The homemade mutton biryani may seem to be pretty lengthy in process with too many preparations. But trust me, it is very easy to make.

Top Tips

Most noteworthy here is, always use aged best quality long grain basmati rice. Never ever compromise on this point.

Longer the grains of rice better will be the mutton biryani, both visually as well as in taste. I prefer to use at least 1 year aged Basmati rice for making biryani.

Some people also like to use sella rice as well. Hence you may choose it if you want to. But, the basmati rice is always the winner.

Personally, I love to use a little large than medium sized pieces of a lamb or goat shoulder meat cut.

It gives a nice and tender chunks when cooked perfectly. However, you can use raan (hind leg meat cut) to make mutton biryani.

Secondly, always marinate the meat in masala for atleast 2 hours. I prefer the marination over night. Yes, marination is the soul to any of the biryani recipes except the egg biryani.

Be sure to cook the rice as mentioned, i.e 90 percent which is exact 9 minutes from the point when rice starts boiling on high heat.

Also, do not stir the rice too much while boil as it may break the rice grains. Hence, the result will not be as we want it to be.

Lastly, do not use thin bottom pan, always use heavy bottom pan or handi or dutch oven to make the dish.

For the final dum, always, cook the biryani on high for 5 minutes and them simmer to dum for 15 minutes. This helps in generating steam well cooking the it perfectly each time.

Enough of philosophy for today, I believe! Let’s get started with step by step images for our lip smacking Bombay style mutton biryani recipe.

Here's some more dishes you may wanna try at home for your weekends meals. Chicken Biryani, Prawn Biryani, Vegetable Biryani, Mutton Korma, or Chicken Tikka Masala, Lamb Biryani.

Step by step instructions

Preparation and Marination

To begin with, first, add all the ingredients mentioned under "to grind to paste" into a blender and blend it to a fine paste. (photo 1)

Then, in a large bowl, add ground paste, 1/4 cup fried onions, whisked curd, and garam masala powder along with salt. (photo 2)

Now, add clean and washed mutton and mix well. (photo 3)

Allow the mutton to marinate for 2 hours atleast (preferably over night) under refrigeration. (photo 4)

Step by step picture collage of marinating the meat for biryani.

Frying the potatoes

Once the mutton is ready to cook, then heat oil in a pan, add potato cubes. (photo 5)

Fry the potatoes until golden. Then take them out and set it aside for later use. (photo 6)

Cooking the biryani gravy

First, heat oil in a heavy bottom pan or handi. (photo 7)

Then, add sliced onions, salt and fry until pink. (photo 8)

Once the onions softens, add cinnamon sticks and cumin seeds and cook. (photo 9)

Fry everything until onions starts picking up golden colour, do not over brown or burn it. (photo 10)

Step by step picture collage of making mutton biryani masala gravy.

Now, add marinated mutton and saute on high 5-6 minutes until raw small goes off. (photo 11)

Then, add red chilli powder, turmeric and coriander powder and mix. Now, add 2 cups of water, cover and cook the mutton until tender. (photo 12)

This will take approx 50 minutes as I have made it in handi. Do not over cook the mutton at this stage. Keep stirring in between to avoid burning. If water dries up, you may add more.

But you can make it pressure cooker as well to save time. Also, make sure, if you are cooking it in pressure cooker, do not add to much water at a time. We need to cook it such that not much water is left in cooked mutton.

Now, add tomato slices, fried potatoes and chilies and cook for another 5 minutes. (photo 13)

You will see oil layer on the top, and mutton masala has not much water into it. This is the perfect mutton masala for biryani recipe. (photo 14)

Now, carefully scoop out the layer of oil in a bowl and set it aside for later use.

Cooking the rice

While the mutton cooks, clean and wash the rice and soak it for 45 minutes. (photo 15)

Then, in a large pot, add enough water, bay leaves, cinnamon sticks, shajeera (or cumin seeds), cloves, cardamom, star anise, ghee and salt. Bring it to a boil. (photo 16)

Once the water starts boling, starin the soaked rice and add into boiling water. (photo 17)

Cook the rice until 90 percent done. (photo 18)

Do not over cook or rice will get sticky and will break in biryani. Immediately strain the water and set the rice aside.

Step by step picture collage of boiling the rice for meat biryani.

To layer the biryani

Now, in a large pot in which you want to slow cook or dum the rice and meat, add half the cooked rice as a bottom layer. (photo 19)

Then, add the cooked mutton and spread evenly. (photo 20)

Sprinkle mint leaves, 1 tablespoon ghee, 1/2 of the soaked saffron and birista. (photo 21)

Then, add the reamaining rice over the meat layer evenly. (photo 22)

Step by step picture collage of layering the cooked mutton and rice for biryani in pot.

Now, pour remaining ghee, saffron milk and reserved oil that we scooped out from the masala gravy. (photo 23)

Finally, put a clean cotton cloth over the top and cover it with the lid putting heavy weight on the top of the lid. Slow cook (dum) the biryani for 20 minutes, first on high flames for 5 minutes and then simmer for 15 minutes. (photo 24)

Slow cooking the Mutton Biryani on stove top.

Once the biryani is done, allow it to rest for 15 minutes. Then carefully dish out the mutton biryani. Serve with raita of your choice.

How to make pakki biryani in the Instant Pot?

Making mutton biryani is Instant pot not at all difficult. But, to make this layered one you need to cook rice on stove top and the, you can simmer it in IP.

As I own 6 quart IP DUO60, when making mutton biryani, I either reduce the recipe to half or 3/4 of the below measure.

It is either 500 grams mutton and 2 cups (400 gms) of rice or 750 gms mutton and 3 cups (600 grams) of rice.

1 kg of mutton with 900 grams of rice can be cooked easily in 8 quarts IP.

Follow the exact method of marinating the meat with masalas as mentioned.

You can fry the potatoes either in pan on stove top or sauté it in IP before cooking the mutton. Set it aside.

Then, cook the mutton masala in Instant Pot for 15 minutes on "High Pressure".

Do not add too much water as we will have lot of gravy otherwise to reduce until it reaches required consistency. 1/2 cup - 3/4 cup is good enough to proceed with the pressure cooking.

I usually cook it between 15-17 minutes depending upon the meat cut I use. Shoulder cut meat chunks cooks well in 15 minutes.

Let the pressure release naturally.

Add fried potatoes and tomatoes, and sauté it for 3-4 minutes. If you have lot of water left behind, sautéeing will help in reducing.

Scoop out some oil from the meat and reserve.

Boil the rice up to 90% in large pot on stove top or Induction as mentioned below. Then strain the rice and keep it aside.

In the IP, Cooked mutton masala will be at the base. Sprinkle mint leaves, 1/2 of the saffron soaked milk and ghee.

Layer the rice evenly on top of the mutton masala. Top the rice with the remaining saffron milk, ghee and also, pour the reserved oil form the mutton masala.

Close the lid to sealing position, press 'Keep Warm' mode on and slow cook it for 30-40 minutes.

For me, the ideal time that works here is 35-40 minutes.

Once cooked, switch off the IP and let the biryani rest for 10 minutes.

Pakki Mutton Biryani in Instant Pot is ready, dish out and serve with raita along the side.

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