There is so much flavor packed into this dish from the salty preserved lemon, the olives, the saffron, and the fresh herbs. Don’t skip the yogurt sauce!! It really ties everything together.
One-Pot Lemon Chicken & Saffron Rice with Herby Yogurt Sauce
Ingredients
- 4 Chicken thighs bone-in skin-on
- 1 ½ cups Jasmine rice rinsed
- 2 ¼ cups Chicken stock warmed
- ¼ tsp Saffron threads +¼ cup hot water
- 2 Shallots thinly sliced
- 4 cloves Garlic thinly sliced
- 1 Preserved lemon minced, discarding seeds
- ½ cup Castelvetrano olives pitted and halved
- 1 tsp Ground cumin
- ½ tsp Ground coriander
- Kosher salt to taste
- handful Parsley chopped, for garnish
- handful Dill chopped, for garnish
- handful Mint chopped, for garnish
Herby Yogurt Sauce
- 1 cup Full fat Greek yogurt
- 1 Garlic clove finely grated
- 2 tbsp Fresh dill chopped
- 1 tbsp Fresh mint chopped
- 1 tsp Aleppo pepper flakes
- ½ Lemon juiced
- 1 tbsp Olive oil
- Kosher salt to taste
Instructions
- Bloom the saffron by adding the saffron to a small bowl with 1/4 of hot water. Set aside.
- Start chicken thighs skin-side down in a large dutch oven off the heat. Then turn the heat to medium and cook until the skin is golden and crispy and releases easily from the pot, about 10 minutes. Remove and set aside on a plate skin side up. (Chicken does not need to be fully cooked at this step)
- Add sliced shallots to the chicken fat in the pot and cook until softened and lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add sliced garlic, 1 tsp cumin, and 1/2 tsp coriander and stir for about a minute until fragrant. Add the chopped preserved lemon and stir to combine.
- Add the rinsed jasmine rice and stir to coat in the shallot mixture. Pour in the saffron and the saffron water, then the 2 ¼ cups of chicken stock. Stir gently, scraping up any golden bits from the bottom. Add the halved Castelvetrano olives and stir gently. Place the chicken thighs skin-side up on top, ensuring the skin stays dry.
- Bring to a gentle simmer, then reduce to the lowest heat, cover tightly, and cook for 18-20 minutes until the rice has absorbed the stock and the chicken is cooked through.
- While the rice and chicken are cooking, make the yogurt sauce. In a small bowl, combine 1 cup full fat yogurt with 1 grated garlic clove, 2 tbsp chopped dill, 1 tbsp chopped mint, 1 tsp Aleppo pepper, the juice of half a lemon, and 1 tbsp olive oil. Stir until fully combined. Taste and add salt as needed.
- When the chicken and rice are done cooking, remove the lid and turn off the heat. Garnish with a generous amount of roughly chopped dill, parsley, and mint. Serve a chicken thigh with a scoop of rice and a scoop of the yogurt sauce on the side. Garnish with extra herbs and flaky salt.
