Elevate your weeknight roast chicken with this golden and fragrant Saffron Chicken baked in a saffron butter glaze.
Have you ever cooked with saffron? Most of us would answer, no. I remember when I was single, working in Miami and wanting to make some basmati rice with saffron. I didn’t have any saffron in my pitiful bachelorette kitchen, so I went to the Whole Foods Market next to my place to buy some.
My eyeballs popped out of my head when I saw a small jar with like 10 threads of saffron selling for $20! Luckily, my mother ended up giving me some saffron the next time I saw her, but I will never forget that day in the market.
Did I buy the saffron? No, I did not. I wasn’t making enough money at the time to splurge $20 just for a spice. That was my weekly grocery budget!
Today, I am lucky to have a cupboard filled with saffron. My main source of saffron is from family and friends who visit us from Iran, bringing small gifts of this glorious spice. I learned early on how to cook with saffron.
But for those of you who are rightfully intimidated with this expensive spice, I have these pointers for you.
How to Cook with Saffron:
- If you can, use only saffron threads and grind it yourself using a mortar and pestle. Already ground saffron typically has additives mixed in and uses cheaper quality saffron.
- Keep your saffron in a sealed container and store in a cool dark place.
- A little bit of good quality saffron goes a long way!
- Add your ground saffron to a hot liquid and steep to develop it’s rich orange color. You can add it to hot water, hot oil, melted butter or any other warm liquid.
Take an ordinary roast chicken and make it extraordinary. Grind a little saffron, add it to melted butter, brush it over your chicken and you end up with a very special golden bird.
Saffron isn’t just for paella. Add it to your ice cream, your cookies, your cake, your potatoes, your fish, and even your rice. You can learn more about saffron here.
If you are looking for more classic comfort food with a twist, try my Braised Chuck Roast with Herb Dumplings and Pulled Pork Ragu with Polenta. So delish!
I still have saffron my family has brought for me from Iran, but I still ordered this saffron to try it out. The saffron threads are crimson red, its smells amazing and it produces a bright yellow color to your foods.
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Roast Chicken with Saffron Butter
Elevate your weeknight roast chicken with this golden and fragrant Saffron Chicken baked in a saffron butter glaze.
Ingredients
- 2 TBS unsalted melted butter
- ½ teaspoon ground saffron
- 4 lb whole roasting chicken
- ½ onion, quartered
- 1 sprig of rosemary, fresh
- ½ lemon, quartered
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ⅜ teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine butter and ground saffron. Let it steep and reserve.
- Preheat oven to 425ºF.
- Remove giblets and neck inside chicken cavity and place on a roasting pan with rack.
- Season cavity of chicken with ¼ teaspoon salt and ⅛ teaspoon pepper..
- Stuff onion, rosemary, and lemon inside the cavity of the chicken.
- Using kitchen twine, tie the legs of the chicken together (optional).
- Brush the entire chicken with the golden saffron butter, brushing under the skin of the chicken breast, as well.
- Season the entire chicken with ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper.
- Roast chicken for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 350ºF.
- Roast chicken until meat thermometer inserted into thickest part of thigh registers 170ºF, approximately 1 hour 20 minutes.
- If chicken starts to brown too quickly, loosely cover with aluminum foil.
- Tilt chicken to allow juices from cavity to run into roasting pan.
- Transfer chicken to platter, cover with foil and let stand for 10 minutes, allowing internal temperature to rise.
- Spoon and discard fat from surface of pan juices. You can also use a fat separator.
- Serve chicken with pan juices on the side.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
6Serving Size:
4 oz meatAmount Per Serving: Calories: 763Total Fat: 45gSaturated Fat: 14gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 26gCholesterol: 276mgSodium: 570mgCarbohydrates: 2gFiber: 0gSugar: 1gProtein: 83g
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I love adding saffron to rice cooked with chicken stock.
I LOVE saffron chicken, and would probably make that first, but I would also love to try my hand at making saffron bread! I have a lot of dietary restrictions, and food has become very boring for me. I have been looking for a way to bring a little flavor back into my life, and I think this would be a wonderful start!
I tweeted about the saffron giveaway on Twitter!
I liked the Saffshop on Facebook!
I’d make a huge gorgeous paella over an open fire in a real paella pan and invite all the neighbors for a taste!
I would make an ice cream that my best friend’s father grew up eating and making in Iran — vanilla ice cream, softened, with chunks of frozen cream, saffron water, and a hint of rose water mixed into it, before it is all frozen again into one cohesive treat. Delicious!
Oh wow! I am inspired by your suggestion of ice cream. I think I would like to try it that way somehow. Maybe with vanilla?
I have been wanting to try a savory version of shortbread cookies flavored with saffron. The color would be stunning!
I was oh so fortunate to win this giveaway some six months ago: have used the beautiful quality spice very carefully on so many occasions and there is just enough to make my favourite saffron rice for Christmas. I wish you all lots of luck and happy Yule preparations!
I tweeted about your giveaway @liasim
I Follow Saffshop on twitter @liasim
I like Saffshop on Facebook
Roasted veggie soup
I tweeted: https://twitter.com/WhatMickyEats/status/281166334849585152
I would try to make paella with the saffron.
saffron cookies
Really good chicken picture. Chicken can be surprisingly unphotogenic, but you did a good job. I’ve never tried saffron butter on chicken before – it sounds like a terrific idea. I wonder what the butter would taste like with lobster? I’ll bet it would be a wonderful match. Although one of my favorite ways to use saffron is in paella. Although with 5 grams of saffron? That’s a lot of saffron! I’d have to feed the entire street. 😉
I’ll make the famous paella I’ve heard so much about.
I have long wanted to cook with Saffron. I would make the chicken you described in your blog.
Thank you for the giveaway offer!
LIke Jen, I would make paella. I have tried a few different recipes but none have come to the level of the wonderful paellas I ate in Spain. I have to keep experimenting.