Bijol substitutes

The most accurate swap, because it rebuilds bijol from its two active parts. Annatto alone gives a redder, more orange colour with a faint peppery earthiness, and the cumin supplies the savoury note that makes Cuban yellow rice taste seasoned rather than just tinted.

Best for

arroz amarillo, arroz con pollo, Cuban stews, sofrito, fricase

Annatto powder is much more concentrated than bijol, which is mostly corn flour, so start with less than you expect and build up. Too much annatto turns chalky and slightly bitter.

Warm a tablespoon of annatto seeds in a quarter cup of neutral oil over low heat for three or four minutes until the oil goes deep orange, then strain out the seeds. This gives the most even, most vivid colour of any option and adds zero grittiness or powdery texture.

Best for

yellow rice, arroz con pollo, any dish that starts with oil, Puerto Rican and Filipino cooking

Keep the heat low. If the seeds smoke or go dark the oil turns bitter and slightly metallic. Strained annatto oil keeps in a jar in the fridge for a month.

Cheap and in most cupboards, and it produces a strong, convincing yellow. Turmeric brings a musty, faintly bitter, distinctly Indian aroma that annatto does not have, so the rice smells subtly wrong to anyone who grew up on the real thing. The paprika warms the colour toward orange.

Best for

yellow rice, colour only, budget cooking, stews

Use less turmeric than the amount of bijol called for, not more. Turmeric's colouring power is roughly three times that of bijol by volume and its bitterness climbs fast.

These are annatto-based like bijol, so the colour and the base aroma are right. The difference is that sazon is a complete seasoning containing a lot of salt, garlic powder and usually MSG, so it seasons the dish as well as colouring it.

Best for

arroz con pollo, beans, stews, weeknight cooking

Colour is nearly identical, which is why this is such a common swap, but sazon is mostly salt and garlic powder, so the dish comes out saltier and more savoury unless you compensate. Cut the salt in your recipe substantially, roughly by half a teaspoon per packet used, then taste before adding more. Most brands contain MSG, so check the label if you avoid it.

Same colouring seed in a wetter, far more assertive form. Achiote paste contains vinegar, garlic, oregano and often citrus, so the rice will taste properly seasoned and a bit tangy rather than neutral-and-yellow. Excellent, just clearly not the same dish.

Best for

stews, marinades, braises, roast pork

Dissolve it in a little warm broth or oil before adding, or it will sit in stubborn red lumps in the rice. The colour lands redder and more brick-toned than bijol's yellow-orange, and because the paste carries vinegar, garlic and oregano the dish picks up a tangy Yucatecan edge that plain bijol does not have, so pull back on the vinegar and oregano elsewhere.

Gives a genuinely beautiful yellow-gold and real flavour, but it is many times the price and it makes the dish taste unmistakably of saffron: floral, honeyed and slightly medicinal. That is a lovely thing, it is just not what Cuban arroz amarillo tastes like.

Best for

special occasion rice, paella-style dishes

Crush the threads and steep in a few tablespoons of hot broth for ten minutes first, then add liquid and all. Adding threads dry wastes most of the colour and most of the money.