Beef Biryani Recipe - Fragrant and Dum-Cooked

27 July 2026 · The Cut House

Beef biryani — fragrant basmati layered with tender, spiced beef and dum-cooked until every grain is perfumed. It looks impressive but it’s all about a few simple stages done well. This beef biryani recipe uses curry cut for the deepest flavour. Here’s how we make it at The Cut House, Bangalore.

The right cut

Use bone-in curry cut for a richer, more flavourful biryani (the bones add depth to the masala), or boneless curry cut for easy eating. Either way, cook the beef until truly tender before layering — biryani rice cooks fast, beef does not.

Ingredients (serves 4–5)

1 kg bone-in beef curry cut (or boneless curry cut)
3 cups basmati rice, soaked 30 minutes
1 cup thick yogurt
4 onions, sliced & fried to golden (birista)
2 tbsp ginger–garlic paste
2–3 tbsp biryani masala + 1 tsp each chilli, turmeric, garam masala
Handful of mint & coriander
Saffron soaked in ¼ cup warm milk; 3 tbsp ghee
Whole spices: bay leaf, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon; salt

Method

Marinate. Mix beef with yogurt, ginger–garlic, biryani masala, chilli, turmeric, half the fried onions, mint and salt. Rest 1 hour.
Cook the beef. Pressure-cook the marinated beef until tender (15–20 min), then reduce any excess liquid to a thick masala.
Par-boil rice. Boil the soaked rice with whole spices and salt until 70% done, then drain.
Layer. In a heavy pot, layer beef masala, then rice; scatter fried onions, mint, coriander, saffron milk and ghee. Repeat.
Dum. Seal the lid (foil or dough), cook on the lowest heat 20–25 minutes. Rest 10 minutes, then fluff gently and serve with raita.