Lebanese Turmeric Rice with Chickpeas: The Golden Bowl That Goes with Everything

Name: Lebanese Turmeric Rice with Chickpeas
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 35 min
Cuisine: Lebanese
Ingredients: 1½ cups basmati rice, rinsed and soaked; 1 can (400g) chickpeas, drained and rinsed; 2 tablespoons olive oil; 1 tablespoon butter; 1 medium onion, finely diced; 3 cloves garlic, minced; 1½ teaspoons ground turmeric; 1 teaspoon seven spice (baharat); ½ teaspoon ground cumin; ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon; Salt and black pepper to taste; 2¾ cups vegetable or chicken broth; ¼ cup pine nuts, toasted; Fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped; Lemon wedges, for serving

Posted on July 19, 2026

Lebanese turmeric rice with chickpeas served with fluffy golden rice, tender chickpeas, and fresh herbs.

Mediterranean & Middle East Recipes

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⏱ Prep: 10 min 🔥Cook: 25 min 👤Serves: 4–6 🌿Diet: Vegan-friendly, gluten-free

Lebanese turmeric rice with chickpeas is the kind of dish that starts as a side and ends up being what people ask about. Basmati rice cooked in broth with turmeric and seven spice until golden and fragrant throughout, folded together with chickpeas that have softened just enough to absorb the spiced oil, finished with toasted pine nuts and fresh parsley scattered over the top.

Thirty minutes, one pot, and something that pairs with almost everything on a Lebanese table, or stands alone as a bowl with a spoonful of toum and a wedge of lemon.

Ingredients

1½ cups basmati rice, rinsed under cold water until it runs clear, then soaked in cold water for 20 minutes and drained. Rinsing removes excess starch; soaking helps the grains cook evenly and stay separate.
1 can (400g) chickpeas, drained and rinsed, or 1½ cups cooked from dry
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus 1 tablespoon butter for depth; or all olive oil to keep it vegan
1 medium onion, finely diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1½ teaspoons ground turmeric, the defining color and a subtle earthy warmth; don’t reduce it
1 teaspoon seven spice (baharat), the Lebanese spice blend that adds warm, layered depth behind the turmeric. Available at Middle Eastern grocery stores or make your own with allspice, cinnamon, cumin, coriander, black pepper, cloves and nutmeg.
½ teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Salt and black pepper to taste
2¾ cups vegetable or chicken broth, broth instead of water makes a noticeable difference to the flavor of the finished rice
¼ cup pine nuts, toasted in butter until golden; or use slivered almonds, or both
1 tablespoon butter, for toasting the nuts
Fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped, generous amount for garnish
Lemon wedges, for serving

Step by step

Toast the nuts first. Melt the tablespoon of butter in a small pan over medium heat. Add the pine nuts and stir constantly for 2–3 minutes until golden brown. Watch closely, pine nuts go from golden to burnt in under a minute. Remove immediately and set aside on a plate. Toast the nuts before anything else so they’re ready when the rice finishes cooking. They should be golden and fragrant, not dark, overtoasted pine nuts taste bitter rather than nutty.
Sauté the onion. In a wide, heavy pot, heat the olive oil and butter over medium heat. Add the diced onion and cook for 8–10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until deeply golden and beginning to caramelise at the edges.The onion needs to be genuinely golden, not just soft and translucent. Deeply caramelised onion gives the rice a sweet, complex base that pale onion can’t replicate. Take the time, it makes the dish.
Add garlic and bloom the spices. Add the minced garlic and cook 1 minute until fragrant. Add the turmeric, seven spice, cumin and cinnamon. Stir constantly for 30–45 seconds until the spices smell fragrant and coat the onion in a deep golden paste.
Add the chickpeas. Stir in the drained chickpeas and toss to coat thoroughly in the spiced onion mixture. Cook for 2 minutes so they absorb the flavoured oil before the rice goes in.
Add the rice and broth. Add the drained soaked rice and stir gently to coat with the spices. Pour in the broth and season well with salt and pepper. Taste the broth, it should taste slightly saltier than you want the finished rice to be, as the rice will absorb the seasoning as it cooks.
Cook the rice. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce immediately to the lowest heat. Cover tightly and cook for 15 minutes without lifting the lid. Remove from heat and leave covered for a further 5 minutes, the steam finishes cooking the rice without the risk of it drying out or catching on the bottom.Don’t lift the lid during cooking or the 5-minute rest. The trapped steam is doing essential work. Lifting it lets the steam escape and the rice will finish unevenly.
Fluff and serve. Remove the lid and gently fluff the rice with a fork, use a light, lifting motion rather than stirring, to keep the grains separate and intact. Transfer to a serving bowl or platter. Scatter the toasted pine nuts and fresh parsley generously over the top. Serve with lemon wedges alongside.

Lebanese Turmeric Rice with Chickpeas recipe

Why broth over water and why it matters

Basmati rice cooked in water tastes of rice. Basmati rice cooked in vegetable or chicken broth tastes of the dish it belongs to, the broth carries the spice flavors through every grain rather than just coating the outside.

The difference is most obvious in the first bite, when the warmth of the turmeric and seven spice comes from within the grain rather than from the surface. It adds almost no effort and changes the result noticeably.

The crispy onion upgrade

For a more elevated version, set aside half the onion before dicing and slice it very thin instead. Fry the thin slices in a separate pan with a little more oil over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until deep golden brown and starting to crisp, about 12–15 minutes. Drain on paper towels and scatter these crispy onions over the finished rice alongside the pine nuts.

This is the restaurant-table version and takes the dish from everyday to something worth making for guests.

Make it your own

Claire’s note
Slivered almonds alongside or instead of pine nuts add a different crunch, toasted in the same butter the same way. A small handful of raisins stirred in with the chickpeas before the rice adds a gentle sweetness that is traditional in many Lebanese households and works surprisingly well against the warmth of the spices. For the vegan version, use all olive oil and vegetable broth, the dish loses very little. Leftovers reheat well with a splash of water or broth in a covered pan over low heat; don’t microwave basmati rice if you can avoid it, which makes it clump and turn gummy.

Serve with

Lebanese turmeric rice with chickpeas works as a side alongside the Lebanese chicken and rice or the white bean stew. As a main, a spoonful of toum on the side, a wedge of lemon and a simple salad is all it needs. For more from the Lebanese collection the complete Lebanese recipes guide has it all.

Add Lebanese turmeric rice with chickpeas to your weekly meal planner, make a double batch and it reheats perfectly for lunch the next two days. And for more recipes, follow us on Pinterest.