Can I Use Home-Made Chicken Broth For The Saffron Scented Chicken Pilaf?

Asked by Hollis0000. Answered on 7th September 2026

Full question

WOW! The Saffron Scented Chicken Pilaf is a magnificent celebration on a plate! Of all the recipes I read and have read, this pilaf rises to the top of my GET ALL THE INGREDIENTS AND MAKE THIS IMMEDIATELY list.

However, I have several questions: I plan to whip up a homemade chicken stock for the broth. Since it’s being used to cook rice, what veggies and herbs /spices would you recommend for the stock? What level of collagen and schmaltz, thin or thick, would work best when steaming rice? Also, should the chicken broth be at a specific temperature before adding the saffron? I’m cooking with and for someone like me — slightly elderly, with teeth problems making chewing hard ingredients like nuts (much as we love them) painful. Can the nuts be chopped after toasting? Why peanut oil? Could I use avocado oil or a first-cold-pressed flavored lemon EVOO? How do I know if a lemon is unwaxed? Could I remove wax by scrubbing in warm or hot water with some kind of mild soap? I don’t have a heat diffuser. Could I MacGyver it by heating a large cast-iron skillet to a specific higher temperature, then place the cooking pot in the hot skillet? Would that serve the same purpose?

Thank you.

Saffron Scented Chicken Pilaf

By Nigella

Our answer

Nigella's Saffron Scented Chicken Pilaf (from NIGELLA SUMMER) has rice that is perfumed with a heady combination of saffron and cardamon and topped with grilled marinated chicken. The chicken stock (or broth) can be store bought or home made but if you are making your own chicken stock then we would not add too many herbs or spices to the stock while it is cooking, as they may start to overwhelm the saffron and cardamom in the finished dish. A classic chicken stock would usually include onion, a carrot, parsley stalks and whole peppercorns. To this you could also add a few sprigs of thyme and maybe a few slices of fennel from a fennel bulb but we would not add extra spices. As the stock is being used to cook rice, you don't need to add schmaltz or extra collagen (some will come from the chicken bones themselves) but you can reduce the stock slightly by boiling (after straining) to boost the flavour. The stock can be cold or at room temperature as you add all the stock at once to the rice and then bring it to the boil. The rice needs to cook on a low heat, so if you haven't got a diffuser just reduce the heat under the pot to the lowest possible level, so that the rice is barely simmering, and check the rice after 10 minutes to see if it is done.

Flaked or sliced almonds probably don't need chopping and the pistachios should be chopped or slivered, as mentioned in the method. For the cashews, you can certainly chop them a little before you toast them, though try not to to chop them too finely. If you don't have peanut or groundnut oil then another flavourless vegetable oil such as sunflower, or corn oil is fine or you could use avocado oil if that is what you have in your pantry. We would avoid using EVOO as it has a low smoke point and if you use a lemon-flavoured oil then it is likely that the volatile lemon compounds will evaporate during cooking, so we would tend to reserve this type of oil as a finishing oil or for salads. If a lemon is unwaxed then this will usually be stated on the packaging or sales information and it is fine to remove the edible wax on a regular lemon by scrubbing it with warm water and a mild soap or even dish soap, but just make sure that you thoroughly rinse the lemon before you use it.