Easy Rice Cooker Turmeric Rice

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This fragrant turmeric rice is full of delicious spices and comes together with just a handful of ingredients so quickly with the help of a rice cooker. Serve this delicious yellow rice as a side dish with your favourite Indian style curry for an easy weeknight dinner.

Plate of turmeric rice with spoon for serving

Honestly this is one of those recipes that I consider not posting because is something as simple as combining stock, spices and rice together in a rice cooker technically a recipe? But it’s something I love to make and make quite often so I wanted to give you the inside scoop.

This recipe is inspired by Indian cuisine but in no way is it trying to be authentic. It’s taking the flavours, the goodness of beautiful spices and making them simple and approachable.

One of the cheats meals I love to make is an Indian style curry using a jar of curry paste from the supermarket (such as butter chicken or tikka masala), and cooking it up with some protein and coconut milk to make the most delicious cheats curry for dinner.

How I elevate this meal though is by making a fragrant golden rice to serve alongside it. With the help of my rice cooker, making this yellow rice is really no different than making regular rice except that it brings so much extra flavour and colour to the plate making it one of my favourite meals to enjoy at home.

Plate of turmeric rice from above with spoon for serving

For me, this recipe evolved into my life. I used to make a lot of golden saffron rice whenever I was making an Indian inspired feast. I had the recipe written on this scrap of loose paper that I constantly lost and then found again plus saffron is quite expensive so it wasn’t the sort of thing I usually just had on my spice shelf.

I decided I needed an alternative that I could quickly make without thinking about it which is where this recipe came into play.

Basically, I grabbed my rice cooker and then raided my spice rack for what I did have on hand. I always will have chicken stock, garlic and onion powder and of course turmeric as it’s one of my favourite spices, giving so much life to so many different dishes.

I go pretty heavy handed on the turmeric in this recipe. I’ve grown to absolutely love the flavour and am slowly learning to not be afraid of spices. I think in our western cooking we learn to use just a sprinkle of spice and I’m trying to train myself out of that thinking and get comfortable with these bolder flavours as quite simply, they taste so good and make food much more interesting.

I urge you to just try the recipe with the quantity written but if you do think you want a milder turmeric flavour, you can reduce down the quantity to a teaspoon.

Ingredients for this turmeric rice

This is a simple 6 ingredient side dish recipe with 4 of those being spices so hopefully you already have them on your shelf ready to go. If not, these spices are so versatile that if you do need to buy them for this recipe, you’ll use them again and again.

And if you’re not familiar with cooking with turmeric, make sure you scroll to the bottom of this post to find a list of recipes you can make using turmeric as well if you need ideas.

Rice – I use the standard long grain white rice as its versatile meaning I always have it in my pantry, but basmati would be a great option if you have it.
Garlic powder – all the garlic flavours without needing to peel, chop and cook it first
Onion powder – similar to the garlic, some recipes will call for an onion to be cooked, but I like just adding the flavour without the extra step, plus this recipe is great for kids who won’t touch the rice if they can see pieces of onion
Turmeric – I’m using a generous amount of ground turmeric powder to flavour this rice and give us that spectacular colour. This is our key ingredient.
Salt – to season, reduce though if your chicken stock is not salt-reduced
Chicken stock – I like to use salt-reduced so I can control my salt amount but the better your stock, the more flavour your rice will have. You can also substitute for vegetable stock to make this dish vegetarian.

How to make this turmeric rice

This recipe couldn’t be easier. You’re going to need a rice cooker, or something similar (ie my Philips All in One Pressure Cooker also has a rice function). I am only giving the instructions in this recipe for using a standard rice cooker, but feel free to take this to the stovetop if you feel comfortable cooking rice that way and don’t have a rice cooker.

Start by washing the rice. Do I always do this step? Honestly no, when I’m busy I sometimes skip washing until the water runs clear. However if you do this step, your rice will be fluffier and the dish will be a bit better.

From here, it’s just into the rice cooker bowl with everything, give it a bit of a mix up, place the lid on and then turn it onto cook.

My rice cooker is nothing fancy. I bought it for $12 at Kmart close to 10 years ago now with the intention that I was buying a cheap one now while I had no money and I’d save up for a better quality one by the time this one broke. Well, it hasn’t broken yet and I love how small it is making it easy for storage considering how many times a week it comes out to help me cook dinner!

Recipe FAQs

Can I freeze this rice?

Yes! After it is cooked, freeze individual portions in containers or zip lock bags no longer than three months as rice is prime to freezer burn. Let the rice defrost on the kitchen bench or in the fridge overnight before reheating. When reheating make sure to do so until it’s steaming.

What can I serve with this rice?

Coming up I’ll be publishing the easiest butter chicken and naan recipes which is my favourite thing to serve with this rice, but while Indian style curries are usually my go to, yellow rice is enjoyed around the world so it will pair well with just about anything.

Turmeric rice in a pile on a plate ready to be served

More turmeric recipes

Golden Turmeric Sweet Potato Soup
Turmeric Fried Rice
Vegan Spiced Chickpea + Veggie Bowls