This chicken pulao is an easy one-pot dish with tender chicken, potatoes, and mildly spiced with simple spices and refreshing herbs perfect for a comfort meal.
Chicken Pulao is one of our family’s favorite meals. While an impressive Chicken Biryani is a dish to celebrate, this chicken pulao should be on top of your list of rice dishes as well.
This chicken pulao is a true comfort dish, that doesn’t take as long as making Biryani, but it is equally flavorful and delicious.
Easy chicken pulao for any day of the week
This chicken pulao is an easy main dish. It is perfect for a slightly elaborate weeknight meal or a weekend meal perfect for entertaining.
You’ll love this easy chicken pulao recipe. It is:
- A true one dish meal – it comes together in one pot
- Mildly spiced and refreshing – with lots of spices and herbs
- The ultimate comfort food – with tender chicken, perfectly cooked potatoes, and fluffy rice
Recipes you’ll love
If you’re looking for more Pakistani and Indian Rice dishes, here are some of our favorites:
- Pakistani Chicken Biryani Recipe
- Ribbon Rice: Layered meat and rice dish
- Keema Masoor Pulao: One-Pot Pilaf with Lentils and Ground Beef
- Beef Pilau (Pulao)
Ingredients for Chicken Pulao
- Rice – We typically use long-grain-aged Basmati rice for our rice recipes. We love using Royal Basmati Rice.
- Ginger – Garlic Paste – This is a popular addition to lots of Pakistani and Indian dishes. It is made with equal parts of crushed ginger and crushed garlic. If you opt to make your own, you can make a big batch of ginger-garlic paste ahead of time and keep it in the fridge for about two weeks.
- Yoghurt – or Dahi adds flavor and moisture to the chicken pulao.
- Oil – any neutral oil will work for this recipe. We typically use canola or vegetable oil when cooking.
- Onion – we typically use either a white or yellow onion for this pulao, and dice it before adding it to the pulao.
- Potato – cut the potato into small bite-sized pieces for this recipe.
- Green Chili and Cilantro – these add a little heat and freshness to the chicken pulao.
- Whole Spices – cumin seeds whole, cinnamon stick, bay leaf, black Cardamom, cloves, black peppercorns – these whole spices are added at the beginning of the recipe, and really make this chicken pulao flavorful.
- Ground spices – Coriander powder and Cumin powder – the ground spices are added to the pot a little later in the recipe, and round out the flavors.
How to make Chicken Pulao?
Wash and soak the basmati rice for 30-45 minutes.
Peel and cut potatoes ½ to ¾-inch pieces and transfer to a bowl of water to avoid it from browning
In a pot on low to medium heat add oil and the whole spices (cumin seeds, cinnamon stick, bay leaf, cardamom, cloves, black peppercorns) and cook for a couple of minutes till fragrant.
Increase the heat to medium to high and add the potatoes and cook till slightly brown or almost cooked. Add the diced onion and cook for a minute until softened and translucent.
Add the chicken pieces and the ginger garlic paste. Continue to stir and cook until the chicken is no longer pink.
Add the chopped green chili and mix well.
Add the cumin, black pepper powder, and salt, cook for a minute.
Next, add the yogurt and chopped cilantro and mix well and cook for a couple of minutes.
Drain the soaked rice and add it to the pot. Add about 3 cups of water
The water should be approximate ½ “ above the level of the rice.
Let the water come to a boil then cover. Reduce the heat to low and let it cook till the rice is cooked and the potatoes are tender.
Use a fork to fluff the rice and to check potatoes are cooked as well.
Tips for Chicken Pulao
- For perfect chicken pulao rice, make sure that the water level is about ½ “ above the level of the rice. Too little water will result in undercooked rice, too much water will result in mushy rice.
Chicken Biryani and Chicken Pulao use different cooking techniques. Chicken biryani is a layered rice dish – the meat curry and the rice are cooked separately then layered in a pot to finish. Pulao is usually a one-pot meal where the chicken, rice, and aromatics are all cooked at the same time.
Long grain rice such as aged Basmati rice or Sela rice is best for Pulao. The perfect pulao rice is fluffy but the grains should hold their shape in the final dish, without being mushy or sticky.
Serving Suggestions
Chicken pulao is delicious when it is fresh, but also keeps well when stored in the fridge for 3-5 days in an airtight container
This Chicken Pulao is the perfect main dish on its own, but you can also serve it along with some plain yogurt or mint raita, carrot pickle (gajar ka achaar), and a simple salad.
if you’re looking for some appetizers to serve along with chicken pulao, here are some of our favorites:
- Keema Samosa – Beef Samosa
- Potato chops: Indian Style Meat and Potato Croquettes
- Shami Kabab: Pakistani Ground beef and Chickpea Kabab
If you give this recipe a try, we’d love to see it! Tag us on Instagram @thespicemess
Chicken Pulao
Ingredients
- 300 grams or 1 chicken breast cut into bite-sized pieces.
- 1.5 cups Basmati rice
- 1 tablespoon ginger & Garlic paste
- ½ cup yoghurt
- ½ cup oil
- 1 medium onion diced
- 2 medium Potatoes
- 1 tablespoon ginger & Garlic paste
- 3-4 Green chilli chopped
- ½ cup chopped cilantro
- 1 tablespoon Coriander powder
- 1 tablespoon Cumin powder
- Salt as per taste
Whole Spices
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds whole
- 2 ” cinnamon stick
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 Big black Cardamom
- 3 cloves
- 7-10 black peppercorns
Instructions
- Wash and soak the basmati rice for 30-45 minutes.
- Peel and cut potatoes ½ to ¾-inch pieces and transfer to a bowl of water to avoid it from browning
- In a pot on low to medium heat add oil and the whole spices (cumin seeds, cinnamon stick, bay leaf, cardamom, cloves, black peppercorns) and cook for a couple of minutes till fragrant.
- Increase the heat to medium to high and add the potatoes and cook till slightly brown or almost cooked. Add the diced onion and cook for a minute until softened and translucent.
- Add the chicken pieces, and the ginger garlic paste. Continue to stir and cook until the chicken is no longer pink.
- Add the chopped green chilli and mix well
- Add the cumin, black pepper powder and salt, cook for a minute.
- Next, add the yoghurt and chopped cilantro and mix well and cook for a couple of minutes.
- Drain the soaked rice and add it to the pot. Add about 3 cups of water
- The water should be approximately ½ “ above the level of the rice.
- Let the water come to a boil then cover. Reduce the heat to low and let it cook till the rice is cooked and the potatoes are tender.
- Use a fork to fluff the rice and to check potatoes are cooked as well.
- Serve with carrot achaar, kachumber with yoghurt.