This easy yellow rice recipe is quick and made with simple ingredients. Learn how to make yellow rice that is tasty, colorful, flavorful, and cooks in just 30 minutes on the stove top or less in the instant pot. It is versatile and can be served with chicken, lamb, vegetables, steak, or fish.
What Is Yellow Rice
Yellow rice is a bright yellow colored rice that gets its color from turmeric or saffron. It can be made with most types of rice from easy cook long grain rice, to long grain basmati rice, and jasmine rice. Rice is toasted in butter, and spices and then steamed to perfection.
Yellow rice is a traditional dish in Indian, Spanish, South African, Latin, Cuban, Indonesian, and the Caribbean.
It is low in fat, a good source of carbohydrates, and provides energy when eaten as part of a balanced meal.
Easy Yellow Rice Recipe (How To Make Yellow Rice)
This yellow rice recipe is simple and straightforward. It is easy, and with just a few ingredients, you get amazing colorful rice that tastes as good as it looks.
Rice is a versatile food that can be served with almost anything and makes a perfect side dish at all times. Weeknight dinner, brunch, celebration meal, parties, or whatever the occasion, it is sure to be a winner.
This turmeric yellow rice is so good that you will be making it over and over. It's made with a few simple ingredients that are common pantry ingredients and the spices used to make it are natural, healthy, and clean ingredients. No nonsense, no junk!
Cooking yellow rice is quick and in 30 minutes it can be on the table. It is also perfect for meal prepping as it stores and reheats well.
It can be customized to suit your taste. Want a little bit more garlic? a bit more pepper? go on and add more!
This yellow rice recipe is perfect! buttery, nutty, garlicky, inexpensive, and budget-friendly. You will love it.
It can be made vegetarian by substituting butter for oil and using vegetable bouillon, or broth.
Let me show you how to make it with this step by step instructions.
Related: Spicy rice, curry rice, one pot chicken and rice
Ingredients
Uncooked rice- I used easy cook long grain rice for this post but you can also use golden sella basmati rice or any other type like jasmine rice.
Butter - Salted or unsalted works fine.
Turmeric- This gives the rice its signature color and can be substituted for saffron.
Bouillon cube- chicken, beef, or vegetable. This can be substituted for broth.
Onion
Garlic
Salt
Parsley (To garnish) optional
How To Make Yellow Rice
Wash the rice in warm water until the water runs clear then drain in a colander. This takes about 3 washes.
Place a pot on medium heat, then add butter to the pot.
Add the washed rice, and toast the rice in butter for 1-2 minutes. Stirring it so it doesn't burn or stick to the pot.
Add Turmeric, onion granules, garlic powder, and bouillon cubes. Stir and keep toasting the rice for another minute.
Add water or broth, stir the rice, cover the pot with its lid.
Cook the rice on medium-high heat till it starts to boil then reduce the heat to low and continue to simmer the rice for 20-25 minutes or until the rice is tender.
Take off heat, and garnish with parsley.
Let it rest for 5 minutes then fluff with a fork.
Serve and enjoy.
Yellow Rice Recipe Variation
Indian flavor- Cook it with cardamon, and cinnamon, then serve with raisins.
Vegetables- Add vegetables like Peas, carrots, and bell peppers to make the dish more colorful, healthier, and bulkier.
Chicken- Pan fry chicken then add on the rice after adding the stock or water.
Herbs- Add herbs like thyme or any of your favorite to make it herby.
How Long to Cook Yellow Rice
Now, this varies depending on the type of rice used to cook it, and method. If using easy cook long grain rice as I did in this post, how long to cook yellow rice is 30 minutes.
If using golden sella basmati rice, it will be between 20 -25 minutes. Some basmati rice cook in just 15 minutes.
If cooking in pressure cooker such as instant pot, pressure cooking time is 7 minutes.
It is cooked when the grains are tender and rice has doubled in quantity.
What To Serve With Yellow Rice
It can be served with these foods:
How To Store
You can store leftover yellow rice in the fridge or freezer.
To store it in the fridge: Put in a sealable container, label, and store in the fridge where it'll store fine for up to 3 days.
To store in the freezer: Put in an airtight container that is also microwaveable (as it's best to microwave from frozen), label, then store it in the freezer where it will keep well for 3 months.
How To Reheat
To reheat it from frozen: Put the microwaveable bowl of rice in the microwave and heat on a high setting for 4 minutes, bring the bowl out, stir then reheat at 1-minute intervals till it is well heated.
To reheat it from chilled: Put the rice on a microwavable plate, put it in the microwave, and heat on a high setting for 2 minutes, bring it out, stir then continue to reheat at 1-minute intervals till it is well heated.
Tips
- Rinse the rice well to reduce the starch content.
- You can add vegetables like peas, carrots, bell pepper, and sweetcorn to the rice if you wish.
- If rice is not cooked soft to how you like it then add a bit of water and continue to cook till the water dries up and the rice is tender.
- Cover the pot tightly as you want to cook with steam and not a lot of water.
FAQS
Is Yellow rice healthy?
Yes. It is healthy when eaten in moderation as part of a balanced meal. It is low in fat, a good source of carbohydrates, and provides energy.
Is Yellow rice the same as saffron rice?
Saffron or Turmeric are ingredients that give the bright yellow color. You only need to use one of the two so If saffron is used, it can be termed saffron rice.
How do you make yellow rice not mushy?
Use good quality rice, don't cook with too much water, steam on low heat, and use the right ratio of water to rice so you don't get mushy grains.
More Rice Recipes
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Recipe
Easy Yellow Rice Recipe
Equipment
- Pot
Ingredients
- 2 cups Uncooked rice long grain white rice
- 5.5 tablespoons Butter
- 2 teaspoons Turmeric
- 1.5 teaspoon Garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons Onion granules
- 10 g Bouillon cube
- 4 cups Broth or water
- Salt to taste
- ½ teaspoon Black pepper or to taste
- Parsley for garnish Optional
Instructions
- Wash the rice in warm water until the water runs clear then drain in a colander. This takes about 3 washes.
- Place a pot on medium heat, then add butter to the pot.Add the washed rice, and toast the rice in butter for 1-2 minutes. Stirring it so it doesn't burn or stick to the pot.
- Add Turmeric, onion granules, garlic powder, and bouillon cubes. Stir and keep toasting the rice for another minute.
- Add water or broth, stir the rice, cover the pot with its lid, and cook the rice on medium-high heat till it starts to boil then reduce the heat to low and continue to simmer the rice for 20-25 minutes or until the rice is tender.
- Take off heat, and garnish with parsley.Let it rest for 5 minutes then fluff with a fork.
- Serve and enjoy.
Notes
- Rinse the rice well to reduce the starch content.
- You can add vegetables like peas, carrots, bell pepper, and sweetcorn to the rice if you wish.
- If rice is not cooked soft to how you like it then add a bit of water and continue to cook till the water dries up and the rice is tender.
- Cover the pot tightly as you want to cook with steam and not a lot of water.
- To make it vegetarian, use oil instead of butter, vegetable stock, and broth.
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