Masala Jeera Rice fits almost every Indian menu. There’s no second thought to eating जीरा वाला राइस in lunch & dinner. आप तो बस आने दो जितना भी हो 🤣🤣🤣


We know how versatile this recipe is. You can eat it with dal tadka & rasawali sabji, aka vegetable curries. On top of it, even if nothing is available yet alone, jeera rice is sufficient.

My grandkids like jeera rice & they eat it as it is. They never mix dal or sabzi. Only plain masala jeera rice is what they want. I am sure your kids would be doing the same.

Today am sharing the most popular & age-old Indian recipe – masala jeera rice. Let us start with the ingredients.

What You’ll Need For Masala Jeera Rice?

The best thing about cooking jeera rice is you need fewer items. Although jeera rice requires only essential items, I have included two more masala powders. To enhance the taste. Refer to the list below.

For Boiling

Water, rice & salt. These are the three items we require. Just measure the water quantity. It must be as per the rice quantity. Salt is as per the taste.

For Tempering

Instead of cooking oil, we will use ghee, aka clarified butter. Ghee gives a distinct fragrance that butter or oil won’t. Try tadka with ghee & you will see the difference.

Cumin seeds are a necessity because we are making jeera rice. Therefore cumin is our base spice here.

Coriander powder & garam masala is the twist here. The garam masala powder gives a mild spicy taste to your rice. It is the main reason why kids like to eat jeera rice as it is.

Your masala jeera rice item list ends here. Now we will learn how to make it.

Making Masala Jeera Rice at Home

Like I said above, the entire process requires two steps – Boiling & Tempering. Therefore, we need items related to boiling & tempering only. Anything beyond the ingredient list below will convert your jeera rice into something else.

Boil the Rice

Make sure you don’t over-boil the rice. A maximum of 2 or 3 whistles will cook your rice in the pressure cooker. Here I am trying to point out a different thing.

You must be able to see each rice grain after boiling. They must not be sticky. Above all, your cooked rice must not look like a giant globe of white mush. Therefore, don’t rush. Take your time.

Make the Tadka

Add other items only when cumin seeds are nicely roasted. Allow cumin to release its flavour & aroma into the ghee. When you are done with cumin, add other masala powders. Next, roast all spices nicely in the hot ghee. Finally, add boiled rice & combine.

So, that was it with the masala jeera rice recipe today.

Variations For Masala Jeera Rice

Our rice recipe is already a little different from the regular jeera rice recipe. However, you can be as experimental as you want especially if you know your way with cooking dishes and know the ingredients. You can cook this recipe differently as well by altering a few things.

You have the option to add vegetables to this rice. It will give you a version of vegetable pulao. Or white rice pulao if you eliminate the turmeric. It will be preferable to cook that in an instant pot or pressure cooker to cut down the time.

Another variation would be to make this completely non-veg style. Adding eggs will be the go-to option. However, there is no restriction on that. Other than eggs, you can add any meat of your choice. Boiled chicken or fish will also be a great option to add to this rice. Or you can add prawns to it as well. If you cook these separately with masalas and add a smoking element to them with rice you’ll get a simpler version of biryani. Refer to our Hariyali tikka recipe for knowing how to do that in detail.

Serving Suggestions:

This jeera rice is good to eat with multiple things. You can have this with curry or dal. If not that, then you can have this with pickle, raita, etc. In summer, you can have this with yoghurt and have this as curd rice. But if you ask me, honestly I can have this just like that. This is flavorful enough with the presence of coriander powder and garam masala.