Biryani masala powder recipe – Flavorful, aromatic & easy to make at home. This homemade biryani masala powder can be used to prepare any kind of Biryani like a hyderabadi veg dum biryani, easy chicken biryani in cooker or a simple hyderabadi chicken biryani. It can also be used to make chicken curry of your choice.
Today’s markets are flooded with ready made powders and masalas that many buy them instead of preparing at home.
But making biryani masala powder at home is very easy. The aroma of fresh homemade spice powder is always superior to the store bought ones. It can be prepared in bulk and freezed. It lasts for an year, if packed in separate containers or foils and handled with moist free spoons and hands.
For years i had been hunting for a good homemade biryani masala powder recipe that is suitable for home cooking that is not very pungent nor very spicy but should have a good and moderate aroma of spices. This recipe has been updated overtime for making it better.
The original recipe that many of my blogger friends have tried from my blog is still the same except that I have added new ingredients to make it the best. To reduce your dish from becoming pungent, use in moderate quantities.
To retain the aroma of the biryani masala powder, make small packs of the powder using foil or freezer safe jars and freeze them. Open and use them one after the other when you need it. You can even mill the ingredients which is often the best. Please stick on to the quantity of ingredients mentioned for best results.
Ingredients or spices used to make biryani masala or chicken masala powder
How to make biryani masala
1. Dry roast the spices one after the other on a low flame to prevent burning them. You could sun dry too instead of roasting or you could totally skip the process of roasting as i sometimes do and i find no difference.
2. Cool the spices and powder in a blender or you can mill it, sieve and store in an airtight jar. I powder the left over again and sieve, repeating the process thrice.
3. Store biryani masala powder in a clean airtight glass jar.
An image of kalpaasi, stone flower called as dagad phool in hyderabadi langauge. This is my latest addition to the biryani masala powder. Do not skip this if you intend to use it for chicken recipes.
Biryani masala can also be stored in refrigerator.
More Masala powder recipes on the blog
Punjabi garam masala powder
Sambar powder
Pav bhaji masala powder
Simple garam masala powder
Homemade biryani masala powder recipe
Biryani masala powder recipe | How to make biryani masala recipe
For best results follow the step-by-step photos above the recipe card
Ingredients (US cup = 240ml )
- 1 bay leaf or tej patta
- 1 ½ tsp saunf or fennel seeds or sompu or sombhu
- 2 star anise or biryani flower
- 10 to 12 Green cardamom or elaichi
- 2 Black cardamom or badi elaichi
- 1 tsp Pepper corn or kali mirch
- 5 pieces cinnamon or dalchini (2 inches each)
- 1 tbsp cloves or lavang
- 4 tbsps Coriander seeds or sabut daniya
- 2 tbsps Shahi jeera
- 1 Mace (membrane covering 1 nutmeg) or javitri (refer notes)
- ½ tsp Nutmeg or jaiphal – grated
- 3 stone flowers or kalpaasi or dagad phool – medium sized
Instructions
- Clean up the spices one after the other to pick and discard stones and debris. Wipe clean bay leaf, mace and cinnamon stick with a cloth or tissue.
- On a low flame, dry roast the spices each separately until they begin to smell good. You can skip roasting and just sun dry them for few hours until crisp. Cool them completely. This step will increase the shelf life.
- Add them to a blender jar or spice jar. Make a fine powder. They can also be milled to a fine powder in a mill.
- Sieve and store biryani masala powder in an airtight glass jar. You can use the coarse particles to make masala tea. Biryani masala can also be freezed for an year without losing the flavor.
- Use biryani masala powder as needed while making any kind of biryani. To make chicken masala curry, use as needed based on the recipe.
Notes
- Left over coarse powder after sieving can be used for curries or for making masala tea. Do not use coarse masala for making biryani as it totally spoils your dish.
- Roasting and sun drying are done to bring out the aroma of the spices and to prevent the masala powder from getting worms or going rancid.
- If you are going to refrigerate the powder, you can skip the roasting part. i just take my spices right from the freezer , measure and make the powder. The powder warms up on its own by the time it is fine powdered.
- Saunf or fennel seeds can be increased to 1 to 1.5 tbsps if you like the flavor.
- Mace is the outer membrane or aril surrounding the nutmeg. This recipe needs 1 full mace with several strands. Nutmeg usually comes with the shell. Do not mistake the shell of the nutmeg to be mace.
Alternative quantities provided in the recipe card are for 1x only, original recipe.
For best results follow my detailed step-by-step photo instructions and tips above the recipe card.
NUTRITION INFO (estimation only)
© Swasthi’s Recipes
Do i shell the cardamoms’ or use them whole?
Use them whole
What kind of saunf do I use? The thick one,which is usually used in pickles or the fine one which is eaten as a mouth freshener?
Hi,
Use the larger one. I haven’t tested this with smaller saunf
also is that 1 tablespoon of laung? or should it be one teaspoon?
yes it is 1 tablespoon. Regarding your queries below:
I haven’t weighted it in grams to tell you exactly. It will be the same as the whole spices you use.
How much to use depends on the recipe you will follow to make your biryani or curry. This one is made for the recipes on this blog. Start with 1.25 teaspoons for 1 lb along with 1 tsp coriander powder. Adjust after your first trial
how much masala in gms does it make and for how much chicken in lbs/kgs the masala is?
Can I replace shah jeera with plain jeera
The flavor will be different with jeera. You can use 1 tbsp jeera
Biryani turned out awesome with the homemade masala.
Glad to know Michelle
Thank you Swathi for being so generous and sharing your super detailed recipes with us. I love the way you give the reader the confidence in following your recipes and the alternatives you offer and the Instant pot methods as well. You don’t realise how you’ve made life easier for a lot of women who want to learn traditional recipes in an easy way. Once again, thank you so much. Bless you my dear.
Hello Usha
You are welcome! So happy to read your comment! Thank you so much for leaving a note.
🙂
Great home made masala powder. I use it for vegetarian and non vegetarian curries.
Thank you Samantha
This looks great! I was just about to make another batch of my old biryani masala recipe and saw yours. Your addition of kalpasi and anise should really be tasty.
QUESTION about the star anise: Two WHOLE STARS or just two fingers?
Thanks!
Hi,
Thank you! It is 2 whole star anise. I have the picture of the same in the post.
Question: Is it fine to make biryani and garam masala without jaiphal(nutmeg) and is it okay to not add stone flower
Yes it is fine to skip both of them for garam masala.
But for biryani masala it does make a difference. Stone flower is the main spice for meat biryani. However it is still fine to make it without them.
Helpful tips and easy to follow recipe
Thanks Sonia
Hi,
I made the biryani masala and have been using for biryanis. You have recommended using it for chicken curry too. So if I use this masala in chicken curry do I also add garam masala as per my usual method? How much biryani masala should be added to 1 kg of chicken? Thanks
Hi Sonia,
I use it in place of garam masala. How much to use depends on the kind of curry you are making. I mean it depends on the recipe. I use about 1.5 to 2 tsps for 1 kg chicken to make a normal chicken curry like this. Just to let you know, my family felt chicken curry and chicken biryani flavors were the same when I used this. Use it if you don’t have any other garam masala. Hope this helps.
Perfect blend of spices and aroma. Made paneer biriyani and was just perfect!
Thank you!
I have a recipe for chicken biryani I want to try but it calls for biryani masala paste. I would prefer to make myself and like your recipe for biryani masala powder – but how do I convert/measure as a paste?
Hi Sally
Biryani masala paste usually has onions, garlic, ginger,herbs and spices. I have a recipe of chicken biryani that uses homemade biryani masala paste. You may check it here – muslim biryani
Delicious biriyani masala with perfectly balanced taste and aroma….
Nice and clear writing too…appreciation ? and thanks for your efforts☺
Welcome Vidhya
Hi,
I’m really interested in making this biryani masala. I also happen to have all the ingredients, including dagad phool. But, I have a query — what exactly does 3 medium dagad phool mean? Kalpaasi is not available in individual pieces, so could you please explain this and help?
Thanks in advance
Neeti
Hi Neeti,
You can use approximately 1 inch 3 pieces
really good cheers
Thank you!
Can i skip nutmeg n javitri in this recipe
If you skip a lot of spices, it will affect the flavor. However if you don’t have you may skip
I used this masala for your Prawn Biryani recipe – which was a smashing hit, another day for chicken curry (with dried fenugreek) which came out fabulous and also as a marinade (with lime & kachri powder) for roast chicken legs which turned out super flavourful without overpowering spices. Recommend to everyone to add to their pantry!
Thank you Nidhi!
Glad to know!
I followed your instructions and made pav bhaji and biryani masala.. Its amazing.. Thanks for the masala recipes.. Will try making more recipes
Hi Shilpi
You are welcome! Glad to know. Thank you!
Plz mention quantity of masala for 1 kg of Chicken & 750 gm rice. Also mention whether I shall add separate ingredients like coriander powder, cumin powder, chili powder etc while marinating the chicken.
Hi Subhro Dey
For every 1 kg chicken you can use about 1.5 tbsps biryani masala. Please check this hyderabadi biryani link for other details.