This Vegan Chickpea Pumpkin Biryani is easy to make, super nutritious and full of flavour. It’s healthy, and colourful enough to brighten up even the dreariest of days!
Why you’ll love this Chickpea Pumpkin Biryani:
- it’s filling and satisfying
- it’s spicy and fragrant
- it’s slightly fruity
- it’s full of nutty chickpeas
- it’s packed with veggies
- it’s easy to make
- it comes together easily in one pot
- it’s ready in 40 minutes
- it’s healthy and nutritious
- it looks impressive
- it’s easy to make in big batches!
How to make this Vegan Chickpea Pumpkin Biryani
Scroll to the bottom of the post for the full recipe.
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Fry the onion, garlic and ginger.
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Add the spices and fry for a minute until fragrant.
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Add the rice and fry for a couple of minutes, stirring frequently.
- Add the pumpkin, chickpeas, cranberries, coriander (cilantro), stock cube (dissolved in a splash of hot water) and salt + pepper, along with the water.
Tip: Make sure to use a 
Tip: If using a stock cube, make sure you’ve dissolved it completely in boiling hot water before adding it to the rice otherwise you’ll end up with clumps of stock in your rice and the flavour won’t be distributed evenly. You can alternatively use liquid stock.
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Bring to the boil and keeping a lid over it, turn down the heat and cook for 15 minutes.
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Once cooked, turn off the heat and keep the lid on for another 5 minutes.
Substitutions you can make to this recipe:
- you can use any type of oil: coconut oil, vegetable oil, rapeseed oil, olive oil
- you can substitute the dried cranberries with raisins, dried sour cherries or chopped dates
- you can substitute the pumpkin with butternut squash or sweet potato
- you can substitute the chickpeas with white beans or black beans
- you can add any vegetables you like: French (green) beans, green peas, spinach, kale, broccoli, cauliflower etc.
How long does this Vegan Biryani keep for?
This Biryani keeps covered in the fridge for up to a few days. You can reheat it until piping hot in a dry frying pan with a lid, or in the microwave.
How to serve this Vegan Biryani
This Biryani is delicious by itself, but would also be delicious served with any of the following dishes:
More vegan rice recipes:
- Portuguese Tomato Rice
- Miso Brown Rice Soup
- Pumpkin Chestnut Edamame Risotto
- Yellow Turmeric Rice
- Thai Green Curry Rice
If you try out this recipe or anything else from my blog, I’d really love to hear any feedback! Please give it a rating, leave a comment, or tag a photo @rhiansrecipes #rhiansrecipes on Instagram! Thank you.
Vegan Chickpea Pumpkin Biryani (GF)
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil (or sub vegetable or rapeseed oil)
- 1 onion , diced
- 2 cloves of garlic , minced
- 1 cm ginger , peeled and minced
- 1 heaped teaspoon curry powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- 300 g uncooked Basmati rice (or any other long-grain white rice)
- 400 g pumpkin , peeled, deseeded and cut into small cubes (or sub butternut squash or sweet potato)
- 400 g tin of chickpeas , drained and rinsed
- 3 tablespoons dried cranberries (or sub dried sour cherries)
- Handful fresh coriander (cilantro) , roughly chopped
- 1 vegetable stock cube (ensure gluten-free if necessary)
- Salt + pepper to taste
To serve:
- Flaked almonds
- Pumpkin seeds
Instructions
- Heat up the oil in a large pan
- Fry the onion, garlic and ginger for around 10 minutes until softened
- Add the curry powder, cumin, turmeric, paprika and garam masala and fry for a minute until fragrant
- Add the rice and fry for a couple of minutes, stirring frequently
- Add the pumpkin, chickpeas, cranberries, coriander, stock cube (dissolved in a splash of hot water) and salt + pepper, along with 550ml (2 1/3 cup) water
- Bring to the boil and keeping a lid over it, turn down the heat and cook for about 15 minutes (until all the water has been dissolved by the rice and the pumpkin is soft)
- Once cooked, turn off the heat and keep the lid on for another 5 minutes
- Scatter over flaked almonds and pumpkin seeds, if desired
Notes
measuring jug to measure the amount of water exactly - too much and the rice will be uncooked and hard, too much and it will be watery and soupy.
If using a stock cube, make sure you've dissolved it completely in boiling hot water before adding it to the rice otherwise you'll end up with clumps of stock in your rice and the flavour won't be distributed evenly. You can alternatively use liquid stock.Disclosure: This posts contains affiliate links to Amazon. If you click through and purchase any of the products, a small percentage will come to me, with no extra cost to you! This income will go towards the running of this blog – thank you.
Christina
Hi, I made this dish the other day and loved it so much. The only thing was that mine turned out a bit watery. Do you add the rice cooked or uncooked? Which exact rice do you use? Thank you so much!!
Rhian Williams
Hi Christina – thank you so much for your feedback, I’m so glad you liked it! I added the rice uncooked and I used white Basmati rice – what type did you use?
Christina
I used brown basmati rice, but cooked already – that was the mistake. I will use uncooked white basmati rice next time.
Rhian Williams
Ah okay, yes that would be better! 🙂 Hope it goes well!
Lauren Lore
Can you use quinoa instead of rice? And can you roast the vegetables to get more flavor from them?
Rhian Williams
Yes all those would work!
Anna
Delicious
Rhian Williams
Thank you!
DeLM
This was a huge winner in my household tonight! One pot, minimal chopping (just the pumpkin, onion and garlic), minimal measuring and made in record time. I served it with natural coconut yogurt, roasted cashews and pappadums. It is going to be a regular on our meal rotations! Thank you so much.
Rhian Williams
Aw thank you so much, so happy to hear that! The way you served it sounds amazing!