What can I make with turmeric?
Wondering what to make with turmeric? Below are recipes from our library that use it, followed by practical cooking, storage, and substitution notes for turmeric.
12 recipes with turmeric
Golden Milk
Warm turmeric-spiced milk for wind-down.
Indian8m2
Shawarma
Spice-marinated chicken shaved off a vertical spit into flatbread.
Middle Eastern50m6Chicken Tagine
Slow-braised chicken with preserved lemon and olives.
Moroccan75m4
Kelem dolmasi
First boil the rice for eight minutes.
4
Seafood rice
step 1 Heat the oil in a deep frying pan, then soften the leek for 5 mins without browning.
Spanish4
Smoked Haddock Kedgeree
Melt 50g butter in a large saucepan (about 20cm across), add 1 finely chopped medium onion and cook gently over a medium heat for 5 minutes, until softened but not browned.
India4
Shawarma chuck roast wrap
1 In a dutch oven or slow cooker, add all the spices, beef broth and lemon juice.
Saudi Arabian4
Mutabbaq
1 Heat the frying pan and add in some oil.
Saudi Arabian4
kabse
1 Caramelize the chicken with olive oil then add a maggi cube and boil it for around 30 minutes.
Saudi Arabian4
Venezuelan Coconut Chicken
Cut the chicken up into bite size pieces.
Venezuela4
Matar Paneer
Heat the oil in a frying pan over high heat until it’s shimmering hot.
India4
Tandoori chicken
Mix the lemon juice with the paprika and red onions in a large shallow dish.
India4
How to cook with turmeric
- 1Start with aromatics - onion, garlic, or ginger softened in fat - then add the turmeric.
- 2Season early and taste as you go rather than salting only at the end.
- 3Give it enough heat and enough space; a crowded pan steams instead of browning.
- 4Finish with acid and fresh herbs, the two things that make a simple dish taste deliberate.
What goes well with turmeric
Turmeric is at its best with onion, garlic, olive oil, lemon, herbs and black pepper. Any two or three of those, plus turmeric, is already a dinner rather than an ingredient list.
Storing turmeric
Store turmeric sealed and cool, and use the oldest stock first. If it is close to turning, cook it rather than throwing it out - roasting, soup, and a quick sauce all forgive slightly past-peak ingredients.
Substituting turmeric
If you are out of turmeric, look for something that behaves the same way in the pan rather than something that tastes the same. Match the moisture level, the cooking time, and the richness, and adjust the liquid slightly if your substitute releases more water. When in doubt, describe what you actually have in the chat and Mr. Chef will rewrite the recipe around it.
Turmeric recipes: common questions
- What can I make with turmeric and not much else?
- Plenty. With turmeric plus an onion, garlic, oil, and salt you already have the base of a skillet dinner, a soup, or a simple sauce. Add a starch - rice, pasta, bread, or potatoes - and it becomes a full meal. The recipes above are ordered so the ones needing the fewest extra items come first.
- What is the quickest turmeric recipe?
- Look for the entries above marked 20 minutes or less. As a rule, anything cut small and cooked in a hot pan beats anything roasted whole, and one-pan recipes save more time in cleanup than in cooking.
- Can I substitute turmeric?
- In most recipes yes, as long as the replacement plays a similar role - similar moisture, similar cooking time, similar richness. Swapping across roles (a watery vegetable for a starchy one, for instance) usually needs a change in liquid or cooking time too.
- How do I use up leftover turmeric?
- Fried rice, a frittata, a grain bowl, a soup, or a quesadilla will absorb almost any leftover turmeric without a recipe. If you want something specific, tell Mr. Chef exactly what is in the fridge and it will build a recipe around it.