I was a vegetarian before marriage and thanks to the husband, I started exploring a whole lot of different foods – egg being one of them. My parents never forced any of their beliefs upon us and were quite broad minded. Though from an orthodox vegetarian family, there never were any reservations with regard to food. It’s only because of my personal choice that I don’t meat. That being said, the husband cajoled me into tasting egg and it was an instant liking. I particularly love egg biriyani and my MIL being a biriyani expert made it quite a number of times during our first year of marriage. I started loving it and had been replicating her biriyani recipe in my kitchen too.

There is a huge contrast between how my mom and MIL make their vegetable biriyani. Amma’s biriyani is rich with coconut-mint base, mildly spiced, less-masala-istic. On the other hand, MIL’s biriyani is spicy, rich with masala and flavorful with no distracting elements. To say that I love both these variations of biriyanis would be an understatement and that I think is the beauty of cooking – there is never the question of right or wrong. Everything is tasty in its own terms and everyone makes tasty food 🙂

One Pot Egg Biriyani

Biriyani is a flavorful rice cooked with meat and vegetables. In this One Pot Easy Egg Biryani recipe, eggs are cooked along with rice and biryani masala there by infusing maximum flavors to both rice and eggs. This base biryani recipe is basically Tamil style and can be adapted to any vegetable, paneer or meat based biryani recipes. If you skip the eggs, you would get a very nice Kuska recipe, that’s just great on its own. I make this biryani in a heavy pan on stovetop but it can be easily made as Pressure Cooker Egg Biryani too. Checkout other Biryani recipes

Thalassery Egg Biriyani Ambur Dum Biriyani Kuska Biryani Chettinad Veg Biryani Thalappakkatti Veg Biryani

Egg Biriyani Recipe with Step by Step Pictures

Wash and soak 1 cup Basmati rice in 2 cups of water for 15-20mins.

In a thick bottomed/heavy pan, heat 1.5 tablespoon oil. Add 1 green cardamom, 2 cloves, 2” cinnamon stick and 1 dried bay leaf.

When the cloves and cardamom are puffed, add 1-2 slit cut green chillies. Fry for a minute.

Next add 1 large onion finely chopped. Fry on medium flame until translucent and light golden brown.

Add 1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste. Fry for 2 minutes until there is no raw smell.

Next add 1 small tomato finely chopped. Cook until tomatoes are mushy for 2-3 mins on medium heat.

Add ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder, ½ tablespoon Kashmiri red chilli powder and ½ teaspoon garam masala powder and fry until raw smell is gone for 2-3 mins on low flame.

Now add 2 tablespoon thick curd and mix well. Cook until the oil oozes out from the sides.

Next add ¼ cup each of finely chopped mint and coriander leaves. Cook for a minute.

When the masala mixture comes together, add the 2 cups of water used to soak the rice. Add 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Add salt as needed.

When the water comes to a boil, check for salt and spice levels. Both salt and spiciness should be little more than required for just the water, that way when rice is cooked it tastes perfect. Drop the 2 hard-boiled eggs into the water.

Add the soaked basmati rice to the boiling water. Stir well and cook on medium flame for 4-5 mins covered. Then reduce the flame to low and cook covered for another 9-10 mins. If using pressure cooker, cook for one whistle on low flame or two whistles on medium flame.

When you open the lid, the water should be completely evaporated and the rice should look cooked. Don’t be tempted to mix/poke about the rice. Keep it closed for another 10-15mins.

Rice continues to cook through the residual heat and forms perfect grains instead of being all mushy. Fluff it up gently.

Serve hot with onion raita immediately.

Recipe Notes

To perfectly hard boil the eggs, drop them in cold water and boil for 12 mins. Drain off the water and let them rest in room temperature water for about 10 mins. Eggs will be very easier to peel off. Adjust spices as per preference. I used 2 cups water for 1 cup rice. Depending on the type and age of rice, use between 1.5 cups to 2 cups of liquid. You can replace 1 cup of water for a cup of thin coconut milk for an aromatic version.

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📖 Recipe

I would be delighted to know if you have tried this recipe, don’t forget to share your feedback and comments below. If you have any questions, you can e-mail me! I am also available on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and Twitter 🙂 Note: This recipe first appeared on June 15th 2015 and has been updated with step by step pictures & detailed instructions on June 28th 2021.