This Yellow Rice recipe is easy, delicious, and the perfect side dish for so many meals. Although it has a little saffron, the majority of its bright yellow color and earthy flavor comes from ground turmeric.
I’ve given you directions for making this rice on the stovetop or in a rice cooker. Feel free to experiment with different flavor combinations using some of the ideas below or your own.
Yellow Rice Recipe
For those times when you want rice, but don’t want the same old, this fluffy and flavorful bright yellow rice is a delicious option. It’s colored and flavored with a little saffron, but mostly turmeric. Not only is less expensive and easier to find than saffron, turmeric has loads of health benefits, too.
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Serve this rice with all sorts of main courses, like grilled chicken, chicken bacon pineapple kabobs, or these pork birria tacos.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- It tastes great with so many things. That’s the thing about simple recipes—they usually go with a lot! When you aren’t adding tons of flavors to a recipe, it stands to pair well with a wider variety.
- It’s an easy way to make rice more exciting. Literally throw in 2 other ingredients to plan rice and boom—a whole new world!
- You can play around with the spices. Use this recipe as a base and feel free to try experimenting with other spice and flavor combinations. You can use other spices, like cumin and ground ginger, or even fresh lime juice, fresh herbs, or sautéed veggies.
Key Ingredients You Will Need
- Saffron: saffron is expensive but a little bit goes a very long way. It is also totally fine to skip the saffron and use only turmeric to make yellow rice (which is why it’s called yellow rice and not saffron rice).
- Butter: I always like adding butter to rice for the flavor. You can also substitute olive oil or even ghee.
- Rice: long grain white rice, basmati rice, or jasmine rice are my favorites. If you want to substitute brown rice, you will need to increase the amount of stock by about ¼ cup and increase the cooking time slightly.
- Turmeric: this is where the yellow color comes from! Turmeric has an earthy and warm flavor that is slightly bitter. It’s also super good for you, and filled with antioxidants.
- Chicken Broth: this adds much more flavor to rice then if you cook it with plain water. You can feel free to substitute vegetable broth instead if you want to make this vegetarian.
- Seasoning: beyond salt and pepper, you can adjust the seasoning however you’d like. A little spiciness would taste great, as would a little cumin, cinnamon, or ground ginger.
How to Make Yellow Rice
- Bloom the saffron. Combine the saffron threads with hot water and let it sit for 10 minutes until the water turns a deep yellow-orange color.
- Saute the rice and seasoning. In a skillet, add the butter and rinsed rice and stir for about 2 minutes until lightly golden before adding in the bloomed saffron and the rest of the spices.
- Simmer. Add the chicken broth, bring to a boil, and simmer for about 20 minutes without removing the lid.
- Fluff. Once cooked, remove from the heat and let sit for 5 minutes before fluffing and serving.
Recipe Tips and Variations
- Make it in a rice cooker. If you want to use a rice cooker, just add all of the ingredients, give them a little stir, cover, and set on the white rice setting.
- Add more spices. This recipe is perfect for experimenting with other flavors and spices. I recommend starting out small because you can always add more later but you can’t take anything away!
- Keep the lid on! It can be so tempting to take a little peak, but opening the lid while your rice cooks releases super critical moisture that is being used to basically steam your rice.
Storage Instructions
- Refrigerator: store leftover rice in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
- Reheating: and a splash of water or broth and reheat in the microwave or over the stovetop in a pot over medium heat.
More You’ll Love
This bright yellow saffron and turmeric rice is the perfect side dish to serve with a huge variety of main courses. It’s flavorful, super simple to make on the stovetop or in a rice cooker, and uses just a few ingredients.
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Yellow Rice Recipe
Ingredients
- pinch saffron threads
- 2 tablespoons hot water
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 cups long grain white rice
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
- 4 cups chicken broth
Instructions
- Combine the saffron threads with hot water and and let it sit for 10 minutes until the water turns a deep yellow-orange color.
- Measure and rinse your rice in cold water until the water runs clear.
- In a large skillet, heat the butter until melted. Add the rice and stir to coat for 1-2 minutes, or until the rice turns a little golden. Add the salt. garlic powder, onion powder, turmeric, the bloomed saffron threads (with its water), and then the chicken broth.
- Bring the mixture up to a boil, then cover with a lid and reduce heat to low. Keep the rice at a low simmer for 20 minutes without removing the lid.
- Once cooked, remove the rice from the heat and let stand, covered, for 5 additional minutes.
- Fluff with a fork before serving. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
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