Chicken biryani
Chicken biryani tested at a GI of 52, low for a rice dish. Two cups is still about 89 g of carbs, so the portion decides the hill.
- Digestible carbs
- 89 g
- GI
- 52
- Glycemic load
- 46
- In cans of cola
- 2.1
Basmati is one of the slower rices, and a chicken biryani tested whole in the United Arab Emirates came in at a GI of 52.
Two cups of biryani carry about 89 g of available carbs. One cup with dal or raita on the side cuts the load a lot.
What the hill looks like
Here's the meal next to its swap in our teaching model, drawn for a healthy adult from published averages. Your own curve will differ, but the gap between the two is the point.
- Chicken biryani peaks near 121 mg/dL (6.7 mmol/L) at 50 minutes and is 103 at two hours.
- Dal with basmati rice peaks near 115 mg/dL (6.4 mmol/L) at 50 minutes and is 100 at two hours.
A teaching model built from published averages for a healthy adult, not a prediction for you. People eating the same meal can differ a lot. How the model works
What would flatten it
- Make it smaller. Half the starch is half the load, since the load is carbs times GI.
- Walk for 10 minutes after. In 41 adults with type 2 diabetes, 10-minute walks after each meal made the rise 12% smaller than one daily walk, and 22% smaller after dinner.
- Eat the protein and vegetables first. The same meal with the carbs 10 minutes later lowered the peak by more than 40% in 15 people with prediabetes.
- Swap the drink. Any sweet drink on the side adds its whole load, and water adds none.
Run this meal in the simulator, switch on a walk or carbs last, and watch where the sugar goes.
What the numbers rest on
GI 52 from the dish tested whole.
- Basmati rice x 2: 88.8 g digestible carbs from USDA Nutritive Value of Foods, item 636, p. 50: Cooked, 1 cup (158 g).
- The whole dish tested at a GI of 52: Sydney GI database, Biryani, chicken (Basmati rice with chicken) (UAE 2017).
- Also on the plate, with little or no digestible carbs: chicken, yogurt, spices.
This is about blood sugar for people without diabetes. If you take insulin or a sulfonylurea, your targets and meal plan come from your prescriber.
The 100 meals that raise blood sugar most · The 100 that keep it steady
9 sources
- US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Nutritive Value of Foods, Home and Garden Bulletin 72, 2002ars.usda.gov
- Atkinson FS, Foster-Powell K and Brand-Miller JC, International tables of glycemic index and glycemic load values, Diabetes Care, 2008pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- University of Sydney, Glycemic Index Research and GI Database, accessed November 15, 2026glycemicindex.com
- Al Dhaheri, A.S., et al., Glycaemic index and glycaemic load values of commonly consumed foods in the United Arab Emirates. British Journal of Nutrition, 2017. 117(8): p. 1110-1117, via the University of Sydney GI databaseglycemicindex.com
- Kataoka, M., et al., Glycaemic responses to glucose and rice in people of Chinese and European ethnicity. Diabetic Medicine: a Journal of the British Diabetic Association, 2013. 30(3): p. e101-7, via the University of Sydney GI databaseglycemicindex.com
- Chew, I., et al., Application of glycemic index to mixed meals. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1988. 47(1): p. 53-6, via the University of Sydney GI databaseglycemicindex.com
- Reynolds AN and others, Advice to walk after meals is more effective for lowering postprandial glycaemia in type 2 diabetes than advice that does not specify timing, Diabetologia, 2016pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Shukla AP and others, The impact of food order on postprandial glycaemic excursions in prediabetes, Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism, 2019pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Hutchins KM and others, Continuous glucose monitor overestimates glycemia, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2025pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
