Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Emirati Machboos
Emirati spiced chicken and rice cooked in one pot with dried lime, bzar spices, saffron and a finishing touch of rosewater.
Emirati · medium · serves 6
prep 25 min · cook 70 min
~634 cal · 44g protein · 74g carbs · 17g fat · 3g fiber · 11g sugars · 7g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Machboos is a signature rice dish of the United Arab Emirates, its spice-scented grains reflecting centuries of maritime trade and the Emirati custom of sharing generous platters. Chicken is browned and with onion, tomato, dried black lime and the household bzar blend, then the rice steams in the finished broth.
bloomed in a little is drizzled over the rice at the end, marbling it gold, and plump raisins and herbs finish the platter. Coastal cooks sometimes swap the chicken for kingfish, but the loomi and bzar stay constant.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
2 lb chicken, in bone-in pieces
2 cups basmati rice
3 tbsp
2 onions, sliced
2 tomatoes, chopped
5 cloves garlic
1 inch ginger, grated
1 tbsp bzar spice blend
1 tsp ground turmeric
2 dried black lime, pierced
1/2 tsp threads
1 tbsp rose water
1/3 cup golden raisins
to taste salt
Instructions
1
Bloom the saffron in the rose water with a spoon of warm water and set aside. Brown the chicken in the ghee and set aside.
2
Soften the onions in the same pot until golden, then add the garlic, ginger, bzar and turmeric and cook until fragrant.
3
Stir in the tomatoes and pierced black limes, return the chicken, add water to cover, and simmer covered 30 minutes until tender.
4
Lift out the chicken and measure the broth for the rice. Stir in the soaked rice and set the chicken back on top.
✎ Chef’s note
Add the saffron rose water over the rice without stirring so it stays marbled gold and white.
5
Drizzle the saffron rose water over the surface, cover, and steam on low 20 minutes. Soak the raisins in a little hot broth.
6
Fluff the rice, mound with the chicken, and scatter the plumped raisins over the top.
Emirati family recipe.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Dubai. Balaleet is shared across eastern Arabia rather than owned by any one city; Oman, Bahrain and Qatar all make it, and it is the traditional first food of Eid al-Fitr. The trick is that it really is both things at once, sweet vermicelli with cardamom, saffron and rose water under a plain savoury omelette.
🗺️
United Arab Emirates. Balaleet is the traditional first meal after Ramadan across the Gulf: sweet vermicelli with cardamom, saffron and rosewater, served under a thin savoury omelette, the sweet and the savoury on one plate. The pearl-diving economy that preceded oil is what put dried limes, rice and Indian spice into an otherwise sparse desert pantry.
🌍
Asia. A grain line runs across the continent. Rice dominates the wet south and east, wheat the drier north and west, and the tools follow it: the wok and the steamer where rice is milled, the tandoor and the griddle where wheat is ground. Tea travels the other way, drunk green, black, salted, buttered or with milk depending how far it got from China.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from United Arab Emirates
BalaleetSweet saffron-and-cardamom vermicelli topped with a thin savory omelette, the Gulf’s sweet-and-savory breakfast.
Emirati SalonaA tangy Emirati stew of meat or fish and vegetables in a spiced tomato-and-dried-lime broth.
Emirati ThareedA spiced meat-and-vegetable stew ladled over thin crisp regag bread, a comforting Emirati dish, especially in Ramadan.
Browse all United Arab Emirates recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Pot or saucepan, Steamer.
Storing it: Cool leftover rice quickly and refrigerate within an hour. Keep up to 2 days and reheat until piping hot all the way through.
Make it a United Arab Emirates meal
Karak ChaiDrink
LuqaimatDessert
Emirati HareesLunch
Similar dishes from around the world
Bahraini MachboosBahrain
Qatari MachboosQatar
Maqluba (Upside-Down Rice)Jordan
Palestinian MaqlubaPalestine
Kittitian PelauSaint Kitts and Nevis
PelauTrinidad & Tobago
Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Emirati Machboos?
Emirati spiced chicken and rice cooked in one pot with dried lime, bzar spices, saffron and a finishing touch of rosewater.
Where does Emirati Machboos come from?
Emirati Machboos is a Emirati dish from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Can Emirati Machboos be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Emirati Machboos recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Emirati Machboos safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Emirati Machboos take to make?
About 95 minutes total (25 minutes prep, 70 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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