Saffron Uses: Rice Dishes, Fish Soup, Breads, Sweets and Drinks

Saffron brings three things to a dish: a golden color, a strong aroma and a bitter taste. It goes into rice from paella to biryani, into bouillabaisse, Swedish Lucia buns and Persian saffron ice cream. Gernot Katzer says it matters more in Central Asia and northern India than in modern Europe, where it plays a minor role.¹ And a little goes a long way: by Katzer’s count, about a fifth of a gram is enough for a liter of custard.

For steeping, grinding and timing, see cooking with saffron. Below is what to use it in.

Where saffron goes

Rice dishes

Saffron is used extensively in rice dishes in Central Asia and northern India.

• Paella. Paella is saffron-flavored rice cooked with meats, seafood and vegetables. Paella Valenciana, Spain’s national dish, is dry short-grain rice with seafood or chicken. For the full spice list, see paella spices.
• Risotto alla milanese. Katzer’s Italian example: moist short-grain rice with bone marrow.
• Biryani. In biryani, the rice is fried until half-cooked, the other ingredients get a brief precook, and everything is layered in a pot so the juices steam the rice. Katzer lists saffron alongside Indian bay leaves, cinnamon, cloves, green cardamom, star anise and nutmeg or mace, and likes it with peppermint in Persian-style biryanis.¹ Hyderabad’s biryani is made with goat meat and seasoned with coconut and saffron.³
• Persian jeweled rice. A University of Vermont recipe uses 1 teaspoon of threads, about half a gram, in hot water.⁴
• Gulf rice pots. Similar rice dishes, with saffron and a hint of heat, turn up around the Gulf.

Pilaf or pulao often gets described as biryani’s one-pot cousin. We didn’t find a source on how it uses saffron, so we’ll leave it there.

Bouillabaisse and other fish dishes

Bouillabaisse is a complex fish soup from the Mediterranean coast of France. Along with fish and shellfish, it takes olive oil, onions, tomatoes, garlic, parsley, saffron, fennel, thyme, bay leaf and orange peel.⁵ Saffron’s Mediterranean uses are often tied to fish and seafood.

Breads, buns and cakes

Saffron goes into English, Scandinavian and Balkan breads. Swedish Lucia buns (lussekatter) are one example, eaten on 13 December.⁶ The Local’s recipe uses 0.4 to 0.5 grams (about 1 teaspoon) of threads to 500 grams of flour for 12 buns. You warm the threads in the milk and let it cool before mixing.⁶ Saffron also turns up in a few European cake recipes, for flavor as well as color.

A Vermont shortbread uses a smaller dose, 1/4 teaspoon of threads.⁴

Sweets and desserts

• Indian sweets. Kheer and ras malai are sometimes made with saffron, and Indian Muslims make zarda, a sweet saffron rice, at the end of the fasting month and on other festive days.
• Custard. Katzer says half a teaspoon of saffron, which he puts at about a fifth of a gram, is enough for a liter of saffron custard.¹
• Bastani. Persian saffron ice cream pairs saffron with rose water. Joanna Nissim calls rose and saffron the two most popular Persian flavors. Her quick version grinds a pinch of saffron to powder, melts two ice cubes over it, and stirs the saffron water and 2 tablespoons of rose water into condensed milk, for six servings. No egg yolks.⁸

Drinks

Saffron goes into the Indian yogurt drink lassi, and Katzer singles out the saffron butter lassi (makhaniya lassi) of Jodhpur.

Saffron also gets steeped in hot water as a tea. You’ll find plenty of claims online that saffron tea treats depression, lowers blood pressure or protects the heart. The mood research tested saffron supplements, not tea. A 2019 meta-analysis found benefit over placebo but also evidence of publication bias.⁹ See saffron for what that research does and doesn’t show. We found no source for blood pressure or heart benefits, or for a standard steeping time.

Sauces, marinades and savory baking

The University of Vermont’s saffron recipes include a mayonnaise made with 1/2 teaspoon of ground saffron soaked in lemon juice, and a rub for Moroccan chicken that mixes 1/4 teaspoon of pulverized threads with garlic, ginger, paprika, cumin and turmeric.⁴ Saffron can hold its own next to big flavors.

How much, by dish

These are amounts from named recipes (Attributed), not rules.

Too much turns a dish bitter. See too much saffron. At these amounts saffron isn’t a safety concern. The Drugs.com monograph says it isn’t generally linked to toxicity in culinary amounts, and that doses above 5 grams are far beyond food use.¹⁰

Related

• Saffron and cooking with saffron
• How to store saffron and why saffron is so expensive
• Saffron substitutes, saffron vs. turmeric and safflower vs. saffron
• Safflower uses, for the cheaper flower used mainly for color