Chef Naman Gulati's butter biryani divides
- Chef Naman Gulati’s “biryani butter” recipe spread across Instagram and food sites on April 24-25, turning biryani’s fried onions, saffron, mint and masala into a butter meant for parathas and wraps. - Reports describing the recipe say Gulati mixes birista, fried garlic, bloomed saffron, mint, biryani masala and rose water into softened butter, then calls the result “spicy, aromatic and addictive.” - The clip landed in a familiar lane of viral Indian food mashups, where reinterpretations of classic dishes routinely pull praise, recipe requests and authenticity debates. (ndtv.com)
Chef Naman Gulati’s latest viral recipe does not make biryani at all. It turns biryani’s core flavors into a spread he calls “biryani butter.” (ndtv.com) Food sites in India picked up the clip on April 24 and April 25, 2026, after Gulati posted it to Instagram. The recipe was framed as a butter for parathas, chicken wraps and toast, not as a rice dish. (ndtv.com) (indulgexpress.com) The method starts with onions fried into birista, the crisp browned garnish used on many biryanis. Gulati then fries garlic, blooms saffron in milk, and crushes that with mint before folding the mixture into softened butter. (ndtv.com) (indulgexpress.com) He finishes it with biryani masala and rose water, two ingredients associated with the dish’s perfume as much as its heat. NDTV’s write-up quoted Gulati describing the result as “spicy, aromatic and addictive.” (ndtv.com) That framing helps explain the split reaction. The recipe keeps biryani’s aromatics but drops the rice, layering and dum-style cooking that many cooks treat as the dish’s structure, then repackages the flavor into a condiment. (ndtv.com) (indiablooms.com) The public response captured both curiosity and correction. Comments highlighted by NDTV and Indulge Express included “That’s genius,” “My children are going to love it,” and a technical note telling Gulati to pull the onions earlier so carryover heat would not make them bitter. (ndtv.com) (indulgexpress.com) Other comments focused on storage and formulation, asking about shelf life in the refrigerator and whether the base should be salted, unsalted or flavored butter. Those questions suggest viewers were treating the clip as something they might actually make, not just react to. (indiablooms.com) (indulgexpress.com) Gulati’s online footprint helps explain how the recipe traveled. A public profile page links his Instagram, TikTok and YouTube accounts, and his YouTube bio describes him as a chef in training at George Brown College in Toronto. (solo.to) (youtube.com) The recipe also fits a broader social-media pattern: compress a familiar dish into a dip, butter, roll or topping, then let the comments fight over whether the flavor survives the format change. In this case, biryani became a jar-friendly spread before most people ever saw a plate of rice. (ndtv.com) (indulgexpress.com)
