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 (1 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
Samantha Harish says
Great home made masala powder. I use it for vegetarian and non vegetarian curries.
swasthi says
Thank you Samantha
Phil says
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!
swasthi says
Hi,
Thank you! It is 2 whole star anise. I have the picture of the same in the post.
Harish says
Question: Is it fine to make biryani and garam masala without jaiphal(nutmeg) and is it okay to not add stone flower
swasthi says
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.
Sonia Chaudhary says
Helpful tips and easy to follow recipe
swasthi says
Thanks Sonia
Sonia says
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
swasthi says
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.
Sabitha says
Perfect blend of spices and aroma. Made paneer biriyani and was just perfect!
swasthi says
Thank you!
Sally says
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?
swasthi says
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
vidhya says
Delicious biriyani masala with perfectly balanced taste and aroma….
Nice and clear writing too…appreciation 👌 and thanks for your efforts☺
swasthi says
Welcome Vidhya
Neeti says
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
swasthi says
Hi Neeti,
You can use approximately 1 inch 3 pieces
Herb Marsh says
really good cheers
swasthi says
Thank you!
Rizwana says
Can i skip nutmeg n javitri in this recipe
swasthi says
If you skip a lot of spices, it will affect the flavor. However if you don’t have you may skip
Nidhi says
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!
swasthi says
Thank you Nidhi!
Glad to know!
Shilpi Ray says
I followed your instructions and made pav bhaji and biryani masala.. Its amazing.. Thanks for the masala recipes.. Will try making more recipes
swasthi says
Hi Shilpi
You are welcome! Glad to know. Thank you!
Subhro Dey Sarkar says
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.
swasthi says
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.
Taina says
You are awesome. I have tried your biryani recipes and they are to die for. Thank you
swasthi says
Hi Taina,
You are welcome. Thank you so much for trying! Glad you liked them!
🙂
Tasmena says
Hi Swasthi,
Thanks for all the fab recipes. I can’t wait to try this one!
I haven’t understood the storing oart and wanted to check. If I blend all the spices after roasting, can I store this in the freezer for later use?
Many thanks
X
swasthi says
Hi Tasmena,
You are welcome. Yes you can freeze upto an year.
Nila says
Haven’t tried the recipe yet but the nutrition information seems way off…? 234 kcals? 49 grams of carbs? 8 grams of protein and 8 grams of fat? 26 grams of sodium? All for a some dried spices? Don’t think any of this is right.
swasthi says
Hi Nila,
I rechecked it and my plugin gives me the same result again. Nutritional values mentioned here are estimates only. If you depend on them for your diet please use your choice of nutrition calculator.
msashraf says
Very good recipe. We just prepared it. Please let us know the quantity (in tbsp) of this masala too be used with 1 kg biryani rice (+1 kg chicken). Thank you
swasthi says
Hi,
Thanks for trying. I use about 2 tsps for dum biryani made with half kg chicken + 1 1/2 cups rice. I also use additional whole spices. You can check the recipe of hyderabadi biryani here just to understand how much will go well with your recipe. Hope this helps.
Jihad Bilal says
Dear Swasthi.
Earlier this year, I made about 1/2 kilo of Garam Masala. I have been using this powder in almost everything. The taste and smell are wonderful and great. I used your recipe to make the Garam Masala.
I have the need for chicken Biryani Masala powder to make Chicken Biryani with rice. What do I need to add to the Garam Masala to get chicken Biryani Masala.
Your guidance is greatly appreciated.
Thank you and warm regards.
swasthi says
Hi Jihad Bilal Sir,
You are welcome. I would suggest you use the same garam masala for the chicken biryani. It is hard to adjust the garam masala to make biryani masala. But I can assure it turns out very good even with the garam masala you have made. I have been using it these days in place of the biryani masala. If a recipe calls for 1.5 tsps biryani masala then replace it with 2 tsps of the garam masala. Hope this helps. I have also replied your other comment on the hyderabadi biryani. Sorry for the delay in replying.
Swati Swagatika says
Really good.
swasthi says
Thanks Swati
A. K. Taywade says
Hello Swasthi Ji
I am going to start spice packaging business within a month, but I don’t have any spices recipes, that’s why I have to buy it from others..
Could you please help me to make the best recipe for my startup? I would be grateful…