🍗 Chicken kabsa
Kabsa is a one-pot dish of long-grain rice cooked in a spiced tomato broth with chicken, often called the national dish of Saudi Arabia. Every family has its own spice mix, but cardamom, cloves, black lime and saffron are typical. It is served on a large shared platter, the chicken on top of the rice, often with raisins and a spicy tomato salsa called daqqus.
Diets
Allergens
None of the 14 major allergens in a typical recipe.
What it is made of
Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 kg chicken pieces, skin on
- 400 g basmati rice
- 2 onions, chopped
- 3 tomatoes, grated, and 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 3 garlic cloves
- 2 tsp baharat (kabsa spice mix)
- 4 cardamom pods, 4 cloves, 1 cinnamon stick, 1 dried black lime
- A pinch of saffron in 2 tbsp warm water
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil, salt
- Raisins and chopped parsley to serve
Method
- Rinse the rice until the water runs clear and soak it for 30 minutes.
- Fry the onion in oil until golden, add the garlic, chicken and whole spices and brown for 5 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, baharat, black lime, salt and 1.2 litres of water. Cover and simmer for 35–40 minutes until the chicken is tender.
- Lift out the chicken. Keep about 750 ml of the broth in the pot, add the drained rice, bring to the boil, then cover and cook on low heat for 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile brush the chicken with a little broth and roast it at 220 °C for 10 minutes until browned.
- Drizzle the saffron water over the rice, rest for 5 minutes, fluff, pile onto a platter, set the chicken on top and scatter raisins and parsley.
How to make it lighter
- Rice carries most of the calories: half the rice and a big salad or daqqus make a much lighter plate.
- Take skinless chicken and fry the onion in one tablespoon of oil instead of three.
- Go easy on extra oil poured over the rice — each tablespoon is about 120 kcal.
History
Kabsa comes from the Arabian Peninsula, where rice — brought by Indian Ocean trade — became a staple of both Bedouin and town cooking. The name is often linked to the Arabic verb kabasa, “to press” or “to pack”, after the way rice and meat are cooked together in one pot. Close relatives are machboos in Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar. Today kabsa is the centrepiece of Friday family lunches and festive gatherings across the Gulf.
Count it in one photo
Point your camera at the table — Me Nutrition recognises Chicken kabsa and every other dish, with calories and macros for each. Ate only half? Slide it.
Download on the App StoreSimilar dishes
Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →