Saffron Chicken

  • Prep Time: 10 mins
  • Total Time: 55 mins
  • Servings: 4
  • About This Recipe

    “This yummy curry is one of my husbands specialities. “

    Ingredients

  • 1/2 teaspoonsaffron
  • 3lbschicken pieces
  • 3tablespoons ghee or 3tablespoons butter or 3tablespoonsoil
  • 1largeonion, julienned
  • 2teaspoonsfinely grated gingerroot
  • 1 -3fresh chili pepper, or to taste, red or green
  • 2 -3clovesgarlic, crushed
  • 1/2 teaspoonground cardamom
  • 1 1/2 teaspoonssalt
  • Directions

  • Toast the saffron strands in a dry pan over a medium heat for about 1 minute taking care not to burn them.
  • Cool, and then crush them with the back of a spoon.
  • Dissolve them in 1 tablespoon of very hot water.
  • Heat the ghee (or whatever you use), and gently fry the onion, garlic, ginger and chillis until the onion is soft and golden.
  • Add garlic.
  • Add the dissolved saffron to the pan with the cardomon, then add the chicken.
  • Turn the chicken pieces in the mix, coating well.
  • Add the salt, cover and cook for 25 minutes until the chicken is tender.
  • Uncover the pan and continue cooking, turning often until the liquid is almost gone.
  • Reviews

  • “THIS…IS……OUT OF THIS WORLD!!!!!Have only two people here, but I knew we’d love it so i made the whole amount so we’d have leftovers.This dish filled my apartment with heavenly scents.. we couldnt wait to dig in!!! The chicken takes on a beautiful color and magnificent flavor!! The times were very accurate… and the ingredients were just perfect.Thanks for this wonderful recipe Jan. This is a keeper!!! I will make it OVER and Over and over again! :-)”

  • “I made a healthier version of this using sliced boneless skinless chicken breasts, less butter, and half the salt, and it was fantastic! My husband ranks it as one of his favorite dishes, and it freezes very well too.I serve it over basmati rice with a side of okra and tomatoes.”

  • “I do not like meat. I threatened the family if they ate the last piece of chicken. Thanks so much for this recipe…It’s nice to enjoy eating the same thing everyone else eats sometimes!”

  • “Did not like this at all; there is some spice in here that no one in my family liked. Someone mentioned that they didn’t like cardamon as a spice and I am wondering if that is it. It’s a spice I have had before (used) and didn’t like. I have and like saffron rice so I don’t think it’s that. Either way, it was gross; tasted almost metallic with a blend of melted plastic. Not good!”

  • “Great recipie. I’ve made this twice and both times the people I made it for raved about it. I use skinned chicken legs. Comes out very good.”

  • “What a wonderful recipe !!Made recipe as is, with no adjustments.I agree, that the aroma/scent is fantastic, and we couldn’t wait to dig in.Made with a combo of chicken breasts, and drumsticks.One of the best here.Made for AUZ/NZ swap#30.”

  • “oh so good ! The whole family LOVED it. The spice combo was perfect. So smooth, mellow, aromatic. Even though saffron is SO expensive, it’s SO worth it .I made it with skinnedchicken thighsotherwise followed the recipe as writen. It needed a little more liquid for the sauce but still…it was great ! It’s a new favorite.”

  • “This was a great recipe! I found it really easy to make and everyone liked it. I did not add the chili peppers because the kids would have turned up their nose and I added the salt after cooking, personal taste. Like another reviewer said, I think this would be operfect with maybe a coconut milk and yogurt addition to the liquids while cooking with some cornstarch to thicken it up a bit more into a gravy. It was not dry and I didn’t add water and it wasn’t needed. I also must say that 3 lbs of chicken equalled four large chicken breasts, so this makes quite a bit. I would say this makes more like 6 to 8 servings. Thanks for a great recipe!”

  • “nice.i wound up putting the onion mixture in the blender so that it would have a bit of gravy and not be too dry.i also added a heaping spoonful of chili paste to spice it up.i’ll probably add a little yoghurt next time for creaminess.it goes really well with KITTENCAL’s Golden Couscous.”

  • “So gentle and subtle but so flavourful – this a fabulous chicken dish! I used some 550 g boneless chicken breasts but the full amount of spices (did cut down on the salt some!). I, too, worried that the dish looked a bit dry for simmering, but really, it will work out as written: I added about 50 ml of water and I certainly would not have needed it! Served with basmati rice and did miss some sort of sauce with this; I might give the coconut milk approach a try the next time. But even as-is, this a wonderful dish. Thank you so mucn for sharing!”

  • “5 stars easy!!!! This is simple, delicious, and rich with the flavor of saffron. Everyone loved this!!! Thanks for sharing. ~Lorie”

  • “Excellent.Only change I made was that I used whole bone-in with skin chicken breast.Also added about a 1/4 cup of chicken broth.”

  • “This was SOOOO GOOD!The flavor was a little mild so I think I might double up on the spices next time but it was still great as is.I used chicken thighs with the skin still on and that of course made it a little greasy so next time I will definitely remove the skin before cooking.Thank you for posting this delicious recipe!”

  • “Wonderful recipe thanks, Jan.I went with Annya127’s suggestion of coconut milk & it was fabulous.”

  • “This was amazing!It was quick as a snap to make and the sauce was delicious on top of rice.I used about 1/2 tsp of chili flakes and boneless, skinless chicken thighs for this recipe.This one is added to our permanent cookbook!Thanks for posting your recipe!”

  • “Wow, I didn’t quite believe all the excited comments about this dish …. until I made it. It is simply DIVINE! The flavors are so aromatic and delicate. I did not have cardamon and put in 1/2 cup coconut milk at the end, and it was chicken euphoria!!! Everyone should taste this. Try it, try it NOW, no other reipe is necessary :)”

  • “This is fabulous, and I’ve made it many times.We never use the cardamom, though, because we don’t like the flavor.It’s still amazing without it! :-)”

  • “After looking at alot of recipes with saffron in them, I chose this one to try saffron for the first time. It may be that my dh and I don’t like saffron…This dish went together easily and looked and smelled wonderful. But there was some spice in it that we just didn’t like. Sorry.”

  • “Yummy!The spicing in this is fairly mild, IMO, but it needs to be for that amazing saffron flavor to glow through!Beautiful colors.I used 1 small thai chili pepper, which provided lovely red bits (just like in the picture!)I served with rice and Indian-Style Potatoes – Khatta Aloo (#61826) and garnished with cilantro, as shown in your picture.Now I did have one issue- but I think this may be chef error, and it still tasted delicious, but I will mention it nonetheless.I added the chicken/saffron/cardamom to the pot as directed in step 6… now I was supposed to simmer- but there simply wasn’t enough liquid for me to feel comfortable simmering!I added like 1/2 cup of a water/yogurt mix and then simmered.So, the final product turned out a bit too liquidy, but I guess maybe I should have stayed true to the recipe.Regardless, this was delicious!Thank you for a terrific supper.”

  • “As soon as I saw your photo I just had to try this and boy am I glad I did. A wonderful aromatic dish, we savoured every single mouthful. Really easy too.Thanks so much, will definatelybe making again.”

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