Maqluba — Upside-Down Chicken and Rice Inspired by a journey through the ancient world

This maqluba recipe started with a journey through the ancient world. Working through six civilisations of historical recipes — Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, Viking, Medieval England — left a natural curiosity about what was being cooked elsewhere at the same time. The answer, from 13th-century Baghdad, is the Kitab al-Tabikh — the Book of Dishes — one of the earliest surviving Arabic cookbooks, and the earliest known written record of layered, inverted rice dishes. Maqluba is its direct descendant.

The word means upside-down in Arabic. The dish is Palestinian and Jordanian in its modern form — a national staple, a family ritual, something people argue about in the way people argue about paella. Layers of spiced rice, fried vegetables, and chicken, built carefully in a pot and then inverted onto a plate in one decisive move. The drama is the point.

This is my first cook. One chicken quarter, a 20cm Le Creuset, and a large dinner plate held with both hands.

What You Need to Know About This Maqluba Recipe

Maqluba is a layered dish, which means the order of assembly matters. The tomato goes in first — it prevents sticking and becomes the top of the dish after the flip. The chicken goes in next, bone-in for flavour, browned first. Then the fried vegetables in order — aubergine, cauliflower, potato. The spiced rice goes in last, before the stock is poured over.

The vegetables are fried before layering — not deeply, just enough to colour and hold their shape through the cooking. Skip this and they'll collapse into the rice.

The spices go into the rice: turmeric for colour, cinnamon and allspice for warmth. Not heavily spiced — the flavour should be fragrant, not dominant.

The flip is the moment. Plate flat over the open pot, both hands holding firmly, one invert. Leave it for a minute before lifting the pot away. Hesitation is the enemy.

Maqluba Recipe — The Method

Serves 1 | 20cm Le Creuset

Ingredients

Chicken:

• 1 chicken quarter, bone-in
• ½ tsp turmeric
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp allspice
• Olive oil, salt and black pepper

Vegetables:

• ½ small aubergine, sliced into rounds
• A few cauliflower florets, broken small
• 1 small potato, peeled and sliced
• 1 medium tomato, sliced into rounds
• Olive oil for frying, salt

Rice:

• 150g basmati rice, rinsed and soaked 30 minutes, then drained
• 300ml chicken stock
• ½ tsp turmeric
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp allspice
• Salt and black pepper

To finish:

• Handful of pine nuts, toasted in a dry pan
• Fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped

Method

1. Season and brown the chicken. Rub the chicken quarter with turmeric, cinnamon, allspice, salt and black pepper. Heat a little olive oil in the 20cm Le Creuset over medium-high heat and brown the chicken on all sides until golden. Remove and set aside.
2. Fry the vegetables. In a separate frying pan, heat a good glug of olive oil over medium-high heat. Fry the aubergine slices until golden on both sides — set aside on kitchen paper. Fry the cauliflower florets until lightly coloured — set aside. Fry the potato slices until just golden — set aside.
3. Build the layers. In the same 20cm Le Creuset (wiped clean if needed), layer as follows: tomato slices across the base; chicken quarter on top; fried aubergine; fried cauliflower; fried potato. Season each layer lightly.
4. Add the rice. Mix the drained rice with the turmeric, cinnamon, allspice, salt and black pepper. Spread evenly over the vegetable layer, pressing down gently.
5. Add the stock. Pour the chicken stock carefully over the rice — it should just cover. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat, then reduce to the lowest setting, cover tightly, and cook for 25–30 minutes until the rice has absorbed the stock completely.
6. Rest. Remove from the heat and leave, still covered, for 10 minutes. This helps the layers firm up before the flip.
7. The flip. Remove the lid. Place a large flat dinner plate firmly over the open top of the pot. Hold both together with both hands — pot in one, plate in the other. One decisive invert. Set down on the table, pot upside down on the plate. Leave for one minute, then carefully lift the pot away.
8. Finish and serve. Scatter with toasted pine nuts and fresh flat-leaf parsley. Serve immediately.

The rice should be at the bottom, the tomato on top, the chicken and vegetables in between. If it holds together, that's maqluba. If it doesn't, it still tastes exactly the same — it just looks like a different dish.

Footnote:

This maqluba recipe was inspired by my Cooking Through History hub, where I cook my way through the ancient world — from Mesopotamian flatbreads to Medieval English pottage. You'll also find it in my Chicken Recipes hub.
It also features in my Rice Recipes collection — a global collection of rice dishes from paella to pilau.
Find more recipes and food adventures here.

Wonky photos, proper food, genuine adventures — The Flexible Chef