The Best Spices for Rice: Cumin, Bay, Cardamom, Saffron and Garlic

Plain rice soaks up the flavor of whatever it cooks with. The trick is getting the spice into the pot the right way, and most classic spiced rices follow one order: whole spices into hot fat first, then the rice, then the water. Saffron works differently. You steep the threads first and add them with the liquid. And if you’d rather have garlic, the Filipino garlic fried rice called sinangag starts with a whole head of it.

At a glance

The whole-spice method

Two named recipes show the pattern:

Alexander says the spices are sautéed to release their oils, and she calls that step the base of the dish. Monica Bhide’s NPR guide to Indian tempering describes the same idea: whole or ground spices heated in hot oil or ghee.⁷ America’s Test Kitchen explains that many spice flavor compounds are fat-soluble, which is why blooming spices in fat brings out more flavor.⁸

Cumin

Cumin flavors rice all over the world, along with soups, meat dishes and stews. In jeera rice it’s the star. Kapoor uses 2 teaspoons of whole seeds for 1 1/2 cups of rice and adds the rice once the seeds crackle.¹

Whole seeds are the usual pick for rice. Ground cumin can work, but America’s Test Kitchen warns that ground spices burn fairly quickly in hot fat and leave a scorched flavor,⁸ so stir it in briefly or add it with the water. Bhide’s warning goes for both: there’s no saving a burned tadka.⁷ See cumin seeds vs. ground cumin and cumin uses.

Bay leaf

Both Indian recipes above put whole bay leaves in the fat. A bay leaf adds a quiet background note rather than a flavor you can name. Fresh bay is much stronger than dried. Milk Street cooked plain rice with fresh bay laurel, dried Turkish bay and dried Indian bay, and the fresh leaf was easily the most prominent, with a striking eucalyptus-like flavor. Milk Street says to use half as much when you swap fresh for dried.⁹ Fish the leaves out before serving. See cooking with bay leaves.

Cardamom and cinnamon

PROSEA notes that cardamom plays an important role in Asian spiced rice, vegetable and meat dishes.¹⁰ Alexander’s pilaf uses 2 whole green cardamom pods.² Kapoor’s jeera rice uses a single black cardamom,¹ which is a different spice altogether; see black cardamom vs. green. Keeping the pods whole keeps the flavor gentle and makes them easy to pull out. See cooking with cardamom, cardamom pods vs. seeds and black cardamom.

Kapoor adds a piece of cinnamon stick to the ghee, and Alexander’s pilaf uses cinnamon too.

Saffron

Saffron colors and flavors many Mediterranean and Asian dishes, especially rice and fish. It’s golden, with a strong smell and a bitter taste. Gernot Katzer notes that it matters more in Central Asia and northern India than in Europe today, and gets used a lot there for rice dishes.³

How to add it. Steep it first. Katzer says the dry spice gives up its fragrance too slowly, and that you can soak the threads overnight in water and then add the water to the dish.³ A University of Vermont recipe for Persian jeweled rice sprinkles 1 teaspoon of threads, about half a gram, into 1/4 cup of hot water and sets it aside.⁴ The infusion then goes in with the cooking liquid. Katzer warns against long cooking, which costs aroma.³ See cooking with saffron.

Where it’s used. Saffron rice dishes span several cuisines:

• Paella: saffron-flavored rice cooked with meats, seafood and vegetables. See paella spices.
• Risotto alla milanese: Katzer’s example from Italy.³
• Biryani: one Hyderabad version is seasoned with coconut and saffron.¹¹
• Persian jeweled rice: the Vermont recipe above.⁴

You’ll see saffron called the most popular spice for rice, or hear that it’s mostly used with basmati. We found no source that ranks it or ties it to one variety. See saffron uses.

Five-spice powder

Britannica describes five-spice powder as usually fennel seeds, cassia, cloves, star anise and Szechuan pepper, and says there are many variations.⁵ The Woks of Life lists additions like ginger, nutmeg, licorice, orange peel and galangal.¹² So it’s usually five spices, but not always. Britannica says it flavors the full range of Chinese dishes, from roast meats to simmered rice.⁵ Go easy in rice, since a little goes a long way. You’ll sometimes read that it suits brown rice especially well. We found no source for that. See Chinese five-spice powder, star anise and Szechuan pepper.

Garlic

In the Philippines, garlic rice is a dish in its own right. Lalaine Manalo’s sinangag cooks a minced head of garlic in 1/4 cup of oil over low heat until golden brown, so it infuses the oil before it browns. Then 4 cups of cold, cooked rice get fried in it with salt and pepper.⁶ She calls for leftover rice because it’s drier and firmer.

In sinangag, the garlic oil is made and used in one go. If you make garlic oil ahead for rice, the storage rules matter. University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources says not to store garlic in oil at room temperature, and to refrigerate homemade garlic oil and use it within 4 days, because garlic in oil can support the growth of Clostridium botulinum.¹³ Garlic powder stirred into the cooking water is the other easy route. See garlic powder and too much garlic.

Related

• Cumin uses and cooking with cardamom
• Saffron uses and paella spices
• Do spices go bad?
• The master list of herbs and spices