Chicken biryani calories
A home plate of chicken biryani, 50 g of raw rice and 50 g of chicken, about 304 g cooked, has about 385 calories. A 500 g portion is about 635. Ghee or oil matters most: each tablespoon in the pot adds about 60 to each plate. Restaurant plates, with more ghee, often bigger, run about 425 to 815.
Chicken biryani is rice parboiled with whole spices and layered with chicken marinated in curd and spices, fried onion and saffron milk, then sealed and cooked on dum. Hyderabadi, Lucknowi, Kolkata and Malabar biryanis each have their own style, and it's the most ordered dish on Indian delivery apps.
Rice is close to half the calories in a home plate. Restaurant biryani usually has much more ghee or oil, which is why it comes out higher.
Typical values for a home kitchen, for the portion named next to each number. Other sites often show bigger numbers because they count a bigger serving or a restaurant recipe. Your own katori, roti and oil change the number; Slate adjusts for them.
How many calories are in chicken biryani?
| Portion | Cals | Protein | Carbs | Fat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 katori (200 ml) about 166 g | 210 | 9 g | 25 g | 8 g |
| 1 plate (half the recipe) about 304 g | 385 | 17 g | 46 g | 15 g |
| 100 g about 100 g | 125 | 5 g | 15 g | 5 g |
| 250 g about 250 g | 315 | 14 g | 38 g | 12 g |
| 500 g about 500 g | 635 | 27 g | 75 g | 24 g |
How does home chicken biryani compare with outside?
Restaurant and delivery biryani is usually made with a lot more ghee or oil than a home or textbook version, and portions are often bigger.
No lab has measured an Indian restaurant biryani, so the range below allows 1.5 to 3 times this recipe's fat, in a plate up to 1.5 times as big.
| Version | Cals | Fat |
|---|---|---|
| Home | 385 | 15 g |
| Restaurant or delivery | 425 to 815 | 19 to 49 g |
Calories in chicken biryani as a meal
| Portion | Cals | Protein | Carbs | Fat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Half a plate of chicken biryani about 152 g | 190 | 8 g | 23 g | 7 g |
What changes the calories in chicken biryani?
- Ghee or oil is the biggest variable. Each tablespoon across the pot adds about 120 calories, about 60 to each plate.
- More chicken adds protein and some fat. Leg pieces and chicken with skin have more fat than breast.
- Fried onions take up oil, and a boiled egg adds about 65 calories.
- Raita and mirchi ka salan are separate dishes.
How were these numbers worked out?
No standard textbook in the Indian Nutrient Databank has a chicken biryani, so Slate follows The Art & Science of Cooking's mutton biryani with 100 g of boneless chicken in place of the mutton: 100 g of rice, 100 g of onion, 50 g of tomato, ginger, garlic, curd, saffron milk and spices, for 2 plates, with the 4 teaspoons of oil the databank records, all counted, at IFCT 2017 values. The rice is taken at 2.98 times its raw weight once cooked, about 608 g, so a plate is half the recipe, 385 calories, the pot 125 per 100 g, and a 200 ml katori at USDA's 196 g per cup for chicken biryani 210. USDA's two survey biryanis bracket it, with chicken 18% below and with meat 15% above per 100 g, so the page shows a range. The restaurant range uses 1.5 to 3 times this recipe's fat in a plate up to 1.5 times as big. Every dish on Slate is worked out the same way: how Slate counts calories.
| Ingredient | Raw | Values from |
|---|---|---|
| Rice, parboiled, milled | 100 g | IFCT 2017 A014 |
| Water Taken up by the rice: cooked rice is 2.98 times raw | 198 g | no calories |
| Chicken, breast, skinless Boneless, in place of the textbook's mutton | 100 g | IFCT 2017 N003 |
| Onion, big | 100 g | IFCT 2017 G017 |
| Tomato, ripe, hybrid | 50 g | IFCT 2017 D075 |
| Ginger, fresh | 6.3 g | IFCT 2017 G014 |
| Garlic | 2.2 g | IFCT 2017 G011 |
| Milk, whole, cow 1 tablespoon, for the saffron | 15 g | IFCT 2017 L002 |
| Curd (dahi), whole milk 1 tablespoon | 15 g | USDA FDC 171284 |
| Cumin seeds | 1 g | IFCT 2017 G025 |
| Red chilli powder | 1.35 g | USDA FDC 171319 |
| Groundnut oil 4 teaspoons, as the databank records | 18 g | IFCT 2017 T005 |
USDA's survey values for biryani run from about 104 calories per 100 g for chicken biryani to 145 for biryani with meat, either side of this page's 125. Home chicken biryani usually falls in that span.
Sources
- ICMR-NIN, Indian Food Composition Tables 2017. Rice parboiled (A014), chicken breast (N003), onion, tomato, ginger, garlic, cow milk, cumin, oil; values read from github.com/nodef/ifct2017
- Vijayakumar et al., Indian Nutrient Databank (INDB), Current Developments in Nutrition, 2024. The Art & Science of Cooking recipe ASC122, mutton biryani
- USDA FoodData Central, FNDDS Biryani with chicken (2706538). 104 kcal per 100 g; 196 g per cup
- USDA FoodData Central, FNDDS Biryani with meat (2706490). 145 kcal and 6.8 g fat per 100 g
- Bognár, Tables on weight yield of food and retention factors of food constituents, BFE 2002. Rice yield 2.98
Questions people ask
How many calories are in 1 plate of chicken biryani?
About 385 for a home plate with 50 g of raw rice and 50 g of chicken. A restaurant plate is often 425 to 815.
How many calories are in 500 g of chicken biryani?
About 635 for this home biryani, and about 315 for 250 g. Restaurant biryani with more ghee is higher.
How much protein is in chicken biryani?
About 17 g in a home plate, and about 27 g in 500 g.
How many calories are in 100 g of chicken biryani?
About 125 for this home version. USDA's survey values run from 104 to 145.
How many calories are in half a plate of chicken biryani?
About 190 calories, with about 8 g of protein. A full plate is about 385.