Saffron Rice

5 from 3 votes

Saffron Rice

This delightfully fragrant and flavorful rice combines the tastes of saffron, celery and chives to create a versatile side dish that can accompany your favorite meat or fish or can easily be transformed into a healthy meal by adding in some chopped up plain chicken breast.

Prep Time10 mins

Total Time30 mins

Servings: servings

Calories: 201kcal

Ingredients

180 g uncooked basmati rice (1 cup)
1+3/4 cup vegetable broth (I use my homemade IBS/GERD safe broth, recipe here)
1 pinch saffron threads (I go with a fairly large pinch because I love the yellow color and the taste from the saffron)
2 Tbsp. boiling water
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. fresh chives (chopped)
40 g celery (diced) - this is ~1/2-1 stalk of celery depending on the size of the stalk. It's important to weigh out as celery is a restricted food for Low FODMAP eating
1/2 tsp. salt (I use pink rose himalayan salt, which seems to be less potent than regular salt. So if you're using regular, you may want to use less at first, taste test at the end and add more if needed)
1+1/2 tsp. dried parsley flakes

Instructions

Place the 2 Tbsp. of boiling water in a small dish, then place the pinch of saffron threads in the water, stir in with your finger and let soak for 10 minutes. (I chop my chives and celery and start the cooking while the saffron soaks).
Heat the oil in a medium-sized saucepan over medium-high heat and once heated, add the celery and chives and cook, stirring frequently, until celery has softened and turned slightly brown.
Add in the rice, broth, salt, parsley flakes and the saffron threads/hot water combination (make sure to get all the saffron in there) and heat until the mixture just starts to boil.
Once it starts to boil, immediately cover the pan and reduce heat to low.
Cook covered over low heat for 15 minutes (do not take the lid off at all while cooking). When done, stir the rice to incorporate the saffron more (the more it incorporates, the more yellow the rice becomes), then fluff with a fork and garnish with some additional dried (or fresh) parsley, if desired.
Serve as a side dish to accompany your favorite meat or fish, or throw some chopped up cooked chicken in to turn it into a meal!

Notes

For IBS/GERD:

1 full serving of this rice has 3g of fat. Just be careful in what you choose to pair it with. A lower fat meat or fish would be best.

[nutrition-label]*Information above is based on the specific brands/types of ingredients I used (as one example, pink himalayan sea salt is lower sodium than regular salt). Values vary if using any other brands/types of ingredients.*
*The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet, so your values may change depending on your calorie needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated nor have they been evaluated by the U.S. FDA.*
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Nutrition