Best Saffron Jasmine Rice: Quick and Easy Stovetop Rice Recipe (2024)

This saffron Jasmine rice is a fragrant, beautiful, and flavorful side dish when made at home from scratch. The crimson threads of the saffron and onion are highlighted throughout this fluffy golden rice. It adds an extra special touch to your dinner, even though it's about as easy to make as plain, steamed rice.

For more simple rice recipes, try my Pilau rice, curry rice, turmeric rice, tomatoes and rice, or vermicelli rice.

As long as I have saffron on hand, this rice is one of my go-to side dishes. It compliments just about any main dish and is especially wonderful when paired with poultry, lamb, goat, or seafood!

My family has enjoyed this with smoked lamb, chicken leg quarters, and so much more. It's a hit every single time I make it.

🥘 Ingredients

• Olive Oil - Extra virgin olive oil is used to sautee your onions.
• Onion - Yellow or white onion will both work well. I like my onion extra fine and small cut as both my daughter and I are picky about big chunks of onion.
• Saffron - If you can't find saffron threads at your grocery store, then you can purchase them online.
• Water - You'll need some hot water to soak the saffron threads.
• Jasmine Rice - If you don't have any Jasmine rice, then basmati rice will work.
• Chicken Broth - Cooking your rice in chicken broth is an easy way to upgrade the flavor.
• Salt - Just a small amount of salt.

*Be sure to see the free printable recipe card below for ingredients, exact amounts & instructions with tips!*

🔪 How To Make Saffron Jasmine Rice

This elegant rice is just as easy to make as plain white rice. You will need a cutting board, knife, saucepan, and a mortar and pestle for grinding the saffron.

This recipe makes about 4 servings of rice.

Sauté and Caramelize the Onion

Step 1: Cook the onion. Heat ½ tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil over medium heat and then add ½ cup (80 grams) of minced onion. Cook the onion for about ten minutes or until translucent and beginning to caramelize.

Grind the Saffron

Step 2: Grind. In the meantime, while the onion is cooking, take the first pinch of saffron threads and grind them in a mortar and pestle (one pinch of about 3 - 4 threads; and if you don't have a spice mortar and pestle, a larger version works just as well for this ) until powdery. Add the second pinch of saffron threads, but do not grind them.

Step 3: Add water. Then add ¼ cup (59 milliliters) of hot water to let the saffron soak in for about 5 minutes while you finish up with the onion and rice.

Combine and Cook the Saffron Rice

Step 4: Add rice. Once the onion is nice and caramelized, add 1 cup (185 grams) of jasmine rice and saute with the onion for about 1 minute.

Step 5: Add saffron. Pour the saffron-infused hot water over the onion and rice mixture, making sure to get all of the saffron out of the mortar.

Step 6: Add broth. Then add 2 cups (473 milliliters) of chicken broth to the large pot and ingredients, stir occasionally and bring the contents to a boil, cover, and reduce the heat to low. Allow the saffron jasmine rice to cook on low for 20 minutes or until all of the broth has been absorbed.

Step 7: Serve. Serve immediately while hot.

💭 Tips & Notes

• Brown the onion. You can also cook your onion with the browning in mind for serving. Sauté the thinly sliced onion in a small amount of olive oil or coconut oil, seasoned with a sprinkling of turmeric and paprika for a deeper browned color in your rice!
• Invest in saffron. Saffron is an expensive spice, but you only use a small amount. The higher the quality of the saffron, the more flavorful your rice will be.
• Make it vegan. To make this a vegan dish, you can swap the chicken stock for water.

🙂 😀 Testimonials

I received some saffron as a gift and have been waiting for the perfect opportunity to use it. This recipe turned out so well, I don't even care about the main course I made to go with it. I just want to eat this rice forever. Fortunately, I have plenty of saffron to make more batches in the future. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!

Breanne

🥡 Storing & Reheating

Let your rice cool, and then store it in the fridge. I've eaten it up to four days later, and it still tastes great.

I've made double or triple batches and frozen the leftovers, too! Portion the cooled rice into individual storage bags and freeze.

Reheating

Reheat your rice at 300°F (150°C/Gas Mark 2) in a baking dish, with a splash of water, that has been covered with foil.

Read my guide to freezing and reheating rice to learn more.

📖 Recipe Card