Lucknowi biryani which literally means fried or bhuna refers in this dish preparation, that the rice is lightly fried before being cooked in the mutton stock. Hence the name, differentiating it from the pulao where the rice is parboiled.

Though the formal menu of Awadh did not have any place for the Biryani, it was and still is popular for the informal meals. The method of cooking the Biryani is the Dum Pukht method which imparts a typical Awadh flavour to this rice preparation.

Nowadays, this dish can be cooked in a microwave or an oven by placing the partly cooked ingredients in a casserole and cooking at a slow temperature.