My Cookbook: Souk to Table 
Braised Saffron Chicken Legs (One Pot)
If you’re looking for a flavorful one-pot chicken dinner that uses some of your saffron stash, this saffron chicken recipe is the one! Made with bone-in chicken legs, this stovetop dish gently braises the chicken with caramelized onions, saffron and warm Middle Eastern spices. It’s the perfect weeknight dinner that feels special but comes together in one pot with minimal cleanup – yes please!
Want to Save This Recipe?
Enter your email & I’ll send it to your inbox. Plus, get great new recipes from me every week!
By submitting this form, you consent to receive emails from Hungry Paprikas.
An Easy Chicken Dish For Your Stash of Saffron!
If you’re like me, sometimes you have a stash of saffron sitting in your cupboard with grand plans for it. I mean – it’s expensive, you can’t just throw it around in any dish. My plans usually involve my saffron milk cake, 30 minute saffron rice, or my delicious joojeh kabab. Both of these are great, but sometimes I need a quick, one pot stove top recipe that satisfies my saffron craving but also does my saffron justice.
Enter this chicken dish. It’s quick, easy, all in one pot and the flavours are perfectly balanced. I find that if you’re going to use saffron in savoury dishes, you better make sure the flavour is there and not masked but other stronger spices.
That’s why this dish is carefully made with spices that compliment saffron but don’t overpower it. My favourite part is the thick braising juices that I spoon over fluffy basmati rice. Just delicious!
How to Make It!
The full list of ingredients and detailed directions are in the recipe card below. But here are a few noteworthy remarks on the ingredients and process.
Chicken: When braising chicken, using bone-in will yield extra flavour and it means you don’t really need to use chicken stock (instead of water). Bone-in thighs, drumsticks, or full legs work great!
Saffron: Make sure you use good quality saffron. I’ve bought cheap saffron before only to realize it smelled and tasted like nothing.
To make it, start by blooming the saffron. Crush it into a fine powder using a mortar and pestle then add a few ice cubes. You can also bloom it with 3-4 tablespoons of hot water.
In a large skillet with a lid (at least 2 inches deep), brown the seasoned chicken legs on both sides until golden. This will start building the flavour.
Then, in the same skillet, cook the onions until soft and golden, followed by the garlic and all the spices.
Add the water, the saffron water, and the chicken back in. Cover and braise for 30 to 45 minutes until the chicken is tender.
You can uncover and simmer a bit if you’d like the pan juices slightly thicker. Make sure there’s enough to spoon over rice, it’s the best part! Garnish with finely chopped parsley and serve.
My favourite way to enjoy this dish is over basmati rice, or with some crusty bread to mop up the juices.
If you tried these recipes, please consider leaving a star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating in the recipe card below and/or a review in the comments section further down the page – I’d love to hear from you! You can also hop on over to Instagram and say hello!
Braised Saffron Chicken Legs (One Pot)
Ingredients
- ¼ teaspoon saffron strands
- 2 ice cubes
For the Chicken:
- 4 bone-in skin-on chicken legs , 1.5 kg
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
For the Sauce:
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 large yellow onion, thinly sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
- ¼ teaspoon ground coriander
- 4 cups water
Instructions
- Start by blooming the saffron. Grind the saffron into a fine powder using a mortal and pestle. Add in 2 cubes of ice and allow the ice to melt while preparing the rest of the dish.
- Sprinkle the chicken legs with the salt and pepper, rubbing into the chicken to season them well.
- In a large braising pot or sauté pan with high sides and a lid, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Sear the chicken for 3-4 minutes on each side until golden brown, remove and set aside. Lower the heat to medium.
- Add the 1 tablespoon of olive oil and the onions and sauté. Stir and cook for 6-8 minutes until deeply golden brown. Add in the chopped garlic and cook for 1 minutes until fragrant. Season with the ground ginger, cinnamon, ground cardamom and ground coriander. Allow the spices to cook for 30 seconds before pouring in the water, then the bloomed saffron water. Nestle the seared chicken legs into the pot. Allow the pot to come to a simmer before lowering the heat to low and cooking for 30 to 45 minutes, until the chicken is fall off the bone tender.
- Uncover and raise the heat to high to reduce and thicken the sauce if desired. Serve the chicken with the pan juices over fluffy basmati rice.
Notes
- Bone-in chicken thighs or drumsticks work just as well for this dish.
- If you don’t have saffron but want to use this technique for cooking chicken, then simply skip the saffron and add 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric with the rest of the spices to get a golden colour.
- Best to use a heavy bottomed pan to allow the chicken to braise until tender, efficiently.
Skipped the ginger because I didn’t have and it was still really good
Made this tonight and it was a big hit with my husband and 10 year old. Thank you! One thing I couldn’t figure out though was the lemon in the photograph of the ingredients. I couldn’t see a mention of lemon in the recipe. I’m looking forward to trying more of your recipes in the future.
Hi Rasha! I am so glad you loved it! I should have included this note in my post but I love this dish with a final squeeze of lemon on top when I serve it, and the slices are there as garnish too. Thanks so much for leaving a review!
My 3 & 5 year olds raved about this chicken! I poured the sauce over couscous and mixed so it was absorbed. I may lower the amount of water next time as I had sauce left over although I don’t want to alter the overall flavor.