Saffron Beetroot Rice Recipe combines basmati with cooked chicken, spinach, golden onion and ruby beetroot. It is a colourful autumn-and-winter beet rice in which the beets and rice are layered carefully, then mixed with a light hand so the pieces keep their shape.
Persian-Style Beetroot Rice
The beets are already cooked before they enter the pot, and the chicken is cooked too. The final steaming stage is therefore about bringing the flavours together and finishing the rice—not trying to soften everything at once.
Preparation: 25 minutes
Cooking: about 50 minutes, excluding the beetroot and chicken
Serves: 4
Ingredients
- 3 cups basmati rice, rinsed and soaked
- 1/2 cooked chicken, meat removed and finely shredded or chopped
- 4 cooked beetroot, peeled and cut into small wedges or cubes
- 100 g spinach, washed and roughly chopped
- 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon finely ground saffron, brewed in hot water
- Salt and black pepper, to taste
- Cooking oil, as needed
A strong, clear infusion colours part of the rice without covering the beetroot’s deep red. See our guide to brewing saffron for a method that works from whole threads.
Prepare the Fillings
Heat a little oil in a frying pan and cook the onion until golden. Add the cooked chicken, season with salt and pepper, and toss for 3–4 minutes until it is hot and lightly coated with the onion.
Put the spinach in a separate pan with only the water clinging to its leaves. Cook briefly, just until wilted. Drain well and press out excess moisture once it is cool enough to handle. Long cooking is unnecessary and makes the spinach dull.
Cut the cooked beetroot into pieces that are easy to serve but large enough to stay intact. Keep them separate from the chicken and spinach for now.
Parboil the Rice
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Drain the soaked rice and add it to the pot. Cook until each grain is flexible at the edges but still has a firm centre, then drain at once and rinse briefly with lukewarm water.
Layer and Steam the Beet Rice
- Coat the bottom of a heavy pot with oil and add your preferred bread or potato tahdig, if using.
- Add a layer of rice, then scatter over some chicken, onion and spinach.
- Repeat the layers, keeping most of the beetroot aside until the rice layers are in place.
- Nestle the beetroot pieces gently into the upper layers. This protects them from being crushed during assembly.
- Mix a small bowl of the remaining rice with the brewed saffron and spoon it over the top.
- Cover with a clean tea towel under the lid. Steam over medium heat until steam rises, then reduce the heat to low and cook for 35–45 minutes.
Serve Without Losing the Colour
Rest the pot off the heat for 5 minutes. Lift the rice onto a platter in broad spoonfuls, turning it only enough to distribute the spinach and chicken. Add any reserved beetroot between the spoonfuls rather than stirring hard.
This gentle finish leaves patches of white, saffron-gold and beet-red rice instead of making every grain the same pink. Whether someone calls it beetroot rice, beet rice, beets rice or simply beets and rice, the useful detail is the same: keep the beet pieces intact until serving.
