Easy And Aromatic Fluffy Indian Turmeric Rice

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Cooking With Anadi

12K subscribers · yellow rice fragrant with whole spices, turmeric and citrus

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Want a pop of color and flavor to your typical Steamed White Rice? I have to say that this easy Indian turmeric rice recipe that’s Indian-style is totally the best rice I’ve ever made.

If you’ve been following the blog lately, you know that I’ve been loving exploring new rice recipes. Before the new year, I had tested out a variation of this rice with turmeric just to experiment with some color to my simple rice. This rice honestly disappeared in a flash, and I couldn’t wait to make it again! Do you love picking up yellow rice from your favorite Asian or Middle Eastern restaurant? Then this is the recipe for you! Our golden yellow rice recipe comes together in a matter of minutes thanks to being a one-pot recipe! Check off making your own yellow rice off of your bucket list as part of your Live to Cook one-month challenge! Explore your potential in your kitchen journey like you never have before by signing up to my newsletter - it’s completely free and I guarantee you’re going to crush your new year’s goal of cooking at home more!

Don’t forget to watch the video to get all the details on how to make this aromatic and fragrant rice! I’d appreciate it if you subscribe to my YouTube channel if you haven’t already and be sure to press the bell button so you’re notified when all of my video recipes go live! I love creating the videos so you’ve got all the tools you need for success when making your creations! Let’s get cooking!

Why You’ll Love Turmeric Rice

• Simple: Minimal ingredients allow for the turmeric to really shine, and it’s likely that you already have everything on hand to make this rice!
• Nutritious: Don’t let people tell you that white rice isn’t good! White rice pretty much has the same nutritional profile as brown rice, and with the turmeric, it’s jam-packed with antioxidants that’s also tasty!
• One-pot: The rice will cook along with the sautéed whole spices, so no need to add steps or dishes to your delicious side dish!
• Aromatic and flavorful: The turmeric not only gives color and has health benefits, but a little bit goes a long way with flavor! This rice is absolutely fresh and aromatic.
• Fast: As with a lot of rice recipes, the longest part of the recipe is making the rice itself. If you already have cooked rice on hand, then this will be even quicker to make!
• Budget-friendly: We all hear the saying that if you want to save money on your groceries you should get beans and rice. When you get a big bag of rice, that should last you a very long time! The bags are about 4 to 4 and a half kilograms, and cost under $20 CAD. That means you pay about 40 cents per 100 grams of uncooked rice, which is about a bit over half a cup of raw rice. That will yield around 1 1/2 cups of cooked rice, which is plenty for two people! This entire side dish will most definitely cost under a dollar, and at restaurants they charge about $5 for some rice on the side. Crazy right?

What Goes into Indian Turmeric Rice?

Get all measurements and the complete recipe instructions by scrolling down to the bottom of this post for the FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE CARD! You can adjust the recipe based on whether you want to make this rice for only one meal or to cook a large batch for the week - all individual ingredient quantities are automatically adjusted for you!

• Rice: Any white rice here.
• Water: To cook the rice.
• Turmeric: Pretty important as that’s in the name of the recipe! Use ground turmeric here.
• Ginger: One piece, sliced.
• Green chilies: You can add more or less chopped green chilies based on your spice tolerance.
• Butter: We’ll sauté our whole spices and rice with butter. You can substitute with ghee if you’d like.
• Whole spices: This turmeric rice recipe will have cumin seeds, cinnamon stick, green cardamom pods, bay leaf, star anise, and cloves for whole spices. They truly enhance the flavor of the rice making it so aromatic and fresh.
• Salt. To taste of course!
• Lemon or lime juice: Add some fresh juice for garnish when serving. You can use either lemon or lime juice, just use whatever you already have and what you prefer!

Tools Needed

• Mixing bowl
• Strainer
• Pot
• Wooden spoon
• Measuring cups
• Measuring spoons
• Saucepan
• Chef’s knife
• Salt crock
• Spatula
• Cutting board
• Serving spoon

How to Make Easy Indian Yellow Rice

Rinse the rice well and then soak in cold water.

Heat a pot on medium heat and once warm, add the butter, along with the whole spices. Saute and roast until the spices are fragrant and then add the ginger and green chilies.

In the meanwhile, drain the rice well and add to the pot, along with the turmeric and salt to taste and mix well, cook for about 2-3 minutes. Then add the water or stock and bring to a boil on medium-high heat. Then turn heat down to low, cover, leaving a small slit open for steam to escape and cook for 15-20 minutes or until the water has been absorbed.

Fluff up the rice once cooked and garnish with lime juice.

Serve hot and enjoy!

What to Pair with Turmeric Rice

This turmeric rice recipe is extremely versatile! Because I’ve made this rice recipe Indian-style, you can pair it with your favorite Indian mains to make a wholesome meal. Here are just a couple of ideas:

• Chicken Nargisi Kofta Curry
• Shrimp Orzo Curry
• Paneer Butter Masala
• Juicy Chicken Keema Masala
• Crispy Aloo Bhujia
• Rajma Masala
• Punjabi Lobia Masala
• Baingan Bharta

However, many cuisines have their own “yellow rice” variation. You can certainly serve this rice simply with your favorite protein! Try it with a Roast Chicken, Souvlaki Chicken Skewers, Oven Baked Salmon with Lemon and Herbs, or even served with One-Pot Moroccan Chicken, Chickpea & Lentil Stew!

Storing Turmeric Rice

I really recommend you make a big batch of this rice for the week so you can enjoy it with all of your meals! As I’ve listed above, this rice dish can really be served with anything! All you need to do is store the rice in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.

How to Get Fluffy, Separate Grains

Indian yellow rice lives or dies on the texture, and everything that decides it happens before the lid goes on. Start with basmati. The long grains stay distinct as they cook where a shorter rice turns soft and clumps, and basmati is what gives this the loose, forkable pile you see in the photos. Rinse it until the water running off is close to clear, then soak it in cold water while you get everything else ready, and drain it properly before it goes anywhere near the pot. Wet rice going into hot butter will steam instead of toast, and you lose the whole point of that step.

Once the whole spices have gone fragrant in the butter and the ginger and green chilies are in, the drained rice gets two to three minutes in the pot with the half teaspoon of turmeric and a little salt. This is where the vibrant color comes from. Turmeric coats each grain in the fat rather than dissolving into the cooking liquid, so the color goes on evenly and the aroma of the toasted spices gets locked in with it. Then pour in your liquid, keeping the ratio the recipe gives you: one cup of rice to two cups of water or stock. Bring it up to a boil on medium-high, then drop the heat right down to low and put the lid on, leaving a small slit open so a little steam can escape. Fifteen to twenty minutes later the moisture will have been absorbed. Take it off the heat, fluff it with a fork, and finish with the lemon or lime juice.

Variations to Try With Turmeric Rice

The base here is deliberately simple so the turmeric and whole spices can be heard, but there is plenty of room to move:

• Swap the butter for ghee. It is the more traditional fat for this in India and gives the finished rice a nuttier edge.
• Cook the rice in stock instead of water. The recipe allows for either, and a light vegetable or chicken stock adds savoriness without touching the spice balance.
• Dial the green chilies up or down. One is gentle enough for most tables; add a second or third if you want real heat, or leave them whole rather than chopped so they perfume the rice without releasing much.
• Use lemon or lime, whichever is in the fruit bowl. Both work, and the squeeze at the end is what lifts the whole dish.
• Not in the recipe as written, but easy additions if you want them: a small onion sliced thin and softened in the butter before the whole spices go in, a clove of garlic minced alongside the ginger, a crack of black pepper at the end, or a handful of green peas stirred in with the rice.

Can You Make This in an Instant Pot or Rice Cooker?

This one is written for the stovetop, and the sequence is what makes it work: whole spices bloomed in butter, rice toasted in that fat, then the absorption cook under a lid with a slit for steam. The first two steps transfer to an Instant Pot on saute perfectly well, and a rice cooker with a saute function is no different. What does not transfer is the liquid. The two cups of water here account for what evaporates through that slit over fifteen to twenty minutes on the stove, and a sealed pressure cooker or rice cooker loses almost none, so following this ratio in one will leave you with wet rice. Use whatever ratio your appliance recommends for basmati and keep the spice steps exactly as they are. If you would rather nail the plain version first, my guide to cooking perfect white rice walks through both the boiled and steamed methods.

Serving Turmeric Rice to a Crowd

This is a genuinely good dish to cook for guests, because it scales cleanly and it does not mind sitting for a few minutes while everything else comes together. The recipe card serves four, and doubling it is a matter of doubling the rice and the liquid together and giving it a slightly larger pot so the grains have room. Serve it in a wide bowl rather than a deep one so the steam can escape and the bottom layer does not compact. A cooling cucumber raita on the side is the classic partner and takes about five minutes, and a fragrant jeera rice is a good second rice if you are laying out a spread. Any leftovers keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to four days, and cold rice is exactly what you want for crispy rice fritters the next day.