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Home Rice Recipes

Persian Saffron Rice (Tachin)

By:Nagi
Published:1 Oct '18Updated:13 Jan '23
100 Comments
Recipe v Dozer v

The humble rice transformed into an epic side! Called Tachin or Tahchin, this baked Persian Saffron Rice is crunchy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. It’s seasoned enough to eat plain but terrific paired with even heavily spiced mains. That crust is everything!!

Brought to you in partnership with Farmers Union Greek Yogurt.

Overhead photo of Tachin Persian Saffron Rice sprinkled with barberries

Have you ever seen a more spectacular looking rice dish?? Look at that insane golden crust!!!! Look at that beautiful vibrant yellow rice!!

Word of warning: Don’t take this Persian Saffron Rice to gatherings because it will steal the show and the host will get annoyed.

Instead, make this as part of your own Persian Feast. Because it’s PERSIAN WEEK here on RecipeTin Eats!

Persian Feast banner

Here’s what we’ve got on the menu for this week:

  • This Persian Saffron Rice – there are no words. JUST LOOK AT IT!!!!

  • Persian Lamb Shanks – braised until fall apart tender in a beautiful aromatic broth. Incredibly easy with every day spices you’ll find at any supermarket!

  • Persian Cucumber Tomato Salad (in the Lamb Shanks recipe)- lovely and fresh, with a little sprinkle of Sumac for a touch of Persian exoticness; and

  • Persian Love Cake – made with semolina and almond meal, you’ll love how this cake is soaked through with hot syrup!


It’s called Tachin

This Persian Saffron Rice is not something I made up. It’s a real-deal Persian dish called Tachin.

Often you’ll find recipes where it’s layered with a bit of chicken or other protein of vegetables. But for my Persian menu, I’m using it as a side dish so I opted to keep it plain.

Not that there’s anything plain about Tachin!!!

You’ll often find recipes for Tachin – also sometimes referred to as Tahchin – cooked on the stove. But having tried that several times, I can tell you definitively that oven is much easier and safer! On stove top, there’s a high risk of breakage when you flip it, you can’t see when the base is perfectly golden brown and actually, it’s harder to get lovely even golden browning on the stove, you tend to get darker and lighter patches.

Yogurt mixture for saffron rice

All those vibrant colours and textures on the table, and I swear all I can focus on is the saffron rice! Not to talk down everything else on that table, because it’s all super tasty. 🙂 But I have a big soft spot for the rice because it’s one of those recipes that looks exotic but is deceptively easy.

Love recipes like that!

The key to this recipe is a yogurt-egg-oil-saffron mixture that is mixed with par boiled rice, then layered with barberries in a pie dish and baked until crispy on the outside.

This is the yogurt I use – Farmers Union Greek Yogurt. It’s the yogurt I’ve always used for all my cooking – savoury and sweet – as well dolloping / dipping / drizzling on everything from this Lamb Shawarma Chickpea Soup to Crispy Baked Chicken Tenders to this San Fran Chicken Salad with Granch (Greek-Yogurt-Ranch-Dressing).

It’d be a rare occasion if you opened my fridge and didn’t see a big tub of it. 🙂

Dried barberries

They look like dried pomegranates (is there such a thing??!!) and taste like sour cherries. A very Persian ingredient, you won’t find these in every day supermarkets but don’t fret! Yes, having barberries makes it authentically Persian. But from a flavour and visual perspective, it can be substituted with chopped dried sour cherries or cranberries.

You’ll find dried barberries at Persian / Middle Eastern stores or at gourmet stores like The Essential Ingredient. In this Persian Saffron Rice, it’s used in the layers as well as a garnish. Beautiful pops of colour against the yellow rice and deep golden crust.

Let’s be honest – I can talk up how the rice inside is fluffy and flavoured with the yogurt mixture, and how it’s so tasty you can eat it plain, and how you’ll love the little pops of sourness from the barberries that cuts through the richness of the rice.

But you and I both know that this recipe is all about that golden crust. That crust you want to peel off and have all to yourself.

Pull yourself together!! This is a dish for sharing!! – Nagi x

A PERSIAN FEAST

Persian Lamb Shanks • This Saffron Baked Rice • Persian Chopped Salad (in Shanks recipe) • Persian L♥ve Cake (coming Friday)

OTHER THINGS TO SERVE WITH TACHIN

This Persian Saffron Rice will be right at home alongside anything Middle Eastern and Mediterranean. Make a big platter for sharing with a pile of Chicken Doner Kebab meat, Lamb Shawarma or Chicken Shawarma!

 

What how to make it

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Persian Saffron Rice (Tachin)

Author: Nagi
Prep: 15 mins
Cook: 1 hr 5 mins
Total: 1 hr 20 mins
Side
Persian
4.96 from 21 votes
Servings9 – 12 people
Tap or hover to scale
Print
  • 93
Recipe video above. This is a rice side dish that will steal the show! The rice stays fluffy and tastes quite rich, but it’s not heavily flavoured (hence suitable as a side dish), yet is flavoured enough that you’ll want to eat it plain. The barberries provide welcome pops of sour but don’t fret if you can’t find them, see Note 2 for substitutions. This rice dish will pair terrifically with any Persian / Middle Eastern / Lebanese / Gulf recipes. See in post for Persian Feast menu!

Ingredients

Parboiled Rice:

  • 2 cups / 360g basmati rice, uncooked (Note 1)
  • 1 tbsp salt
  • 3 litres / 3 quarts water

Barberries:

  • 1/2 cup dried barberries (Note 2)
  • 2 tbsp / 30g unsalted butter
  • 1 1/2 tsp rose water (optional)

Saffron Rice:

  • 1 tsp saffron threads (Note 3)
  • 2 tbsp warm water
  • 1 cup / 250 g plain yogurt (I use Farmers Union Greek Yogurt)
  • 1/2 cup / 125 ml oil , neutral (or butter!)
  • 3 egg yolks (Note 4 for using leftover whites)
  • 3/4 tsp salt

Instructions

Parboiled Rice:

  • Bring water to the boil in a large pot. Add salt and rice. Bring back up to the boil then cook for 5 minutes. Drain and leave to steam dry for 5 minutes.

Barberries:

  • Melt butter in a small pan over medium heat. Add barberries and cook for about 1 1/2 minutes until they plump up (see video!).
  • Remove from heat (they will shrivel quickly) then stir through rose water (if using).

Saffron Rice:

  • Preheat oven to 200C/390F (standard) or 180C/350F (fan).
  • Lightly grease a glass pie dish with oil.
  • Ground saffron into powder (optional step). Add water and leave to seep for 10 minutes.
  • Mix yogurt, egg, oil, saffron water and salt in a large bowl.
  • Add rice, stir well.
  • Pour half the rice in the pie dish, smooth surface. Top with 1/3 of the barberries.
  • Cover with remaining rice, smooth surface, sprinkle over another 1/3 of the barberries. Press down firmly, cover with foil.
  • Bake 60 – 80 minutes until the crust is deep golden all over.
  • Rest for 10 minutes. Remove foil. Place serving plate on pie dish then flip upside down (it won’t stick because of the oil, see video!).
  • Scatter surface with remaining barberries then serve.

Recipe Notes:

1. Can be substituted with long grain or jasmine rice.
2. A Persian ingredient found at speciality and ethnic stores. Tastes sour and provides great pops of colour. Can be substituted with 1 cup of dried sour cherries or cranberries or craisins.
3. Can be substituted with 1/16 tsp of economical saffron powder. Basically, if saffron powder is around the same price as other spices, then it’s the economical version ie not 100% saffron (saffron is the most expensive spice in the world). Grinding into powder is optional. I’ve done it without grinding and didn’t notice a difference in overall colour though you do see little saffron strands (which is pretty!).
4. Leftover egg whites – Here’s my list of what I do with them and all my egg white recipes can be found in this recipe collection.
5. Slightly adapted from this Bon Appetit Crunchy Baked Saffron Rice.
6. Nutrition per serving.  Serves 8 to 12 as a side as part of a multi-course meal.

Nutrition Information:

Calories: 360cal (18%)Carbohydrates: 42g (14%)Protein: 5g (10%)Fat: 18g (28%)Saturated Fat: 3g (19%)Cholesterol: 75mg (25%)Sodium: 991mg (43%)Potassium: 96mg (3%)Sugar: 1g (1%)Vitamin A: 190IU (4%)Vitamin C: 0.2mgCalcium: 55mg (6%)Iron: 0.5mg (3%)
Keywords: Baked Rice, Persian Rice, Saffron Rice
Did you make this recipe?I love hearing how you went with my recipes! Tag me on Instagram at @RecipeTinEats.

Life of Dozer

Big goodbye hug as I head off to Vietnam for a couple of weeks. I love this damn dog so much.

As for Dozer – he’s off to the golden retriever boarder where it’s 24/7 fun and rumbles!!!

Nagi from RecipeTin Eats hugging Dozer the golden retriever dog

Today’s recipe is brought to you courtesy of Farmers Union. I’ve used their Greek style natural yogurt for as long as I can remember. So it was a no brainer when they asked if I’d create a recipe for them!!

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Persian Lamb Shanks

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I believe you can make great food with everyday ingredients even if you’re short on time and cost conscious. You just need to cook clever and get creative!

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100 Comments

  1. Kat says

    September 21, 2022 at 4:10 pm

    Hi,

    Can this dish be prepared in advance? And if so, how would you go about doing so?

    Reply
  2. Jane says

    June 21, 2022 at 7:45 am

    Can this be made day before or prepared ahead…. As 3 hours prior to dinner I have to go and pick up my Persian friend from the airport. I live a long way from the airport
    The main meal I’m cooking in my crockpot so it ready when we get home at 6pm .

    Reply
  3. sara says

    March 15, 2022 at 2:36 pm

    5 stars
    Delicious! I made this and cooked it at 350 degrees for 80 minutes in my toaster oven on the convection setting but it didn’t get crispy. Is that because I used a toaster oven instead of a stove oven?

    Reply
  4. Kerrie Crossley says

    March 12, 2022 at 8:29 am

    Oh Nagi… you have done it again!! We have “international night” every Friday night, when we kick back after a week slogging away at work and aim to eat something new or different. Often we slack it and have a pizza 🙄, but wow, when I spotted your Persian menu.. it was on!! I cooked the lot and it was FABULOUS 🥰🥰🥰!! What a great idea of yours, to put a whole menu together! So.. guess I’m gonna go through all of your website and find more “international night” menus.
    You are amazing. Every one of your recipes works (even when I’m making it 😜),are easy to make and are totally delicious!
    Keep up the great work and thanks again! Scratch behind the ears for Dozer too!🦮xx

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      March 12, 2022 at 12:43 pm

      I am happy you enjoyed it Kerrie and Dozer says thanks!! N x

      Reply
  5. Jenn Bonshor says

    January 12, 2022 at 4:15 pm

    Can this prepared in advance, brought to room tem the. Put in the oven?

    Reply
  6. SANDRA WRIGHT says

    July 31, 2021 at 3:13 am

    I love Persian food and this is one of my favourites. Your recipe is totally authentic and looks delicious. I’m making it now but am putting a layer of shredded roast chicken in the middle. I’m so looking forward to dinner tonight!

    Reply
  7. Na says

    June 22, 2021 at 12:59 am

    Hi Nagi,
    As an iranian(persian), I should say this recipe is spot on, exactly like what we cook (unlike so many other saffron rice recipes I’ve seen!)
    Although as you mentioned, the traditional version has cooked chicken (or sometimes cooked beef or fried eggplant) in the middle of rice layers to make it a main dish.
    Try it with chicken if you get a chance (if you didn’t already!) and Oh My God! 😅
    It’s ALWAYS one of the dishes in iranian partys!

    Reply
  8. Dana says

    April 5, 2021 at 12:40 am

    How would you add chicken to this? How is it cooked? What spices would be good to add so it doesn’t overpower the rice?

    Reply
  9. Eddie says

    April 3, 2021 at 10:39 am

    5 stars
    Made this tonight with the rest of the Persian Feast suggestions and it turned out perfect! I used cranberries in place of barberries and the addition of their little pops of sweetness was perfect. Thanks for a great recipe Nagi !

    Reply
  10. Debbie says

    January 13, 2021 at 5:20 pm

    I love your website and recipes, Nagi!
    I’m planning on making this delicious-looking Tachin on Saturday. Would you recommend doing it in advance and reheating? Or is it best eaten as soon as it’s been taken out of the oven?
    Thanks!

    Reply
  11. Jade says

    November 19, 2020 at 7:47 am

    Can you substitute the saffron with curcuma for the yellow colour?

    Reply
  12. Louisa says

    August 20, 2020 at 12:42 am

    Hi, I can’t wait to make this but what size pie dish is best to use?
    Thanks

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      August 20, 2020 at 1:29 pm

      Hi Louisa, an 8/9″ will be perfect. N x

      Reply
  13. Sara says

    June 27, 2020 at 4:46 pm

    Hi Nagi,

    I love your blog (it is my go-to anytime I’m not sure what to cook), so I was so excited to see you have a recipe for tachin! It’s also wonderful to see Persian recipes on your blog as it is such a beautiful cuisine, but I find it’s hard to find good recipes online.

    My partner is half Iranian and he said this is the best tachin he’s had. I have made it so many times, sometimes with the barberries and sometimes with a layer of cooked chicken/onion in the middle so it’s more of a main meal than a side dish. Always served with some Shirazi salad and yogurt with raisins and cucumbers of course!

    Thank you for yet another beautiful recipe!

    Reply
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