Savory Coconut Rice
Okay, I’ll admit, this recipe is a re-post. Savory coconut rice is one of the first recipes I made for the blog and it has been a staple in my house ever since. I wanted to repost the recipe for three reasons: 1) because it was part of this week’s complete meal plan (will be posted tomorrow), 2) the first version was posted before I started doing step-by-step photo instructions, and 3) it’s just so so so good that I don’t want any new followers to miss it.
Seriously, when your coworkers all “oooh” and “ahhh” over the smell coming out of the microwave, you know you’ve got something seriously good. Not only is it seriously good, but it’s seriously easy. If you have trouble getting rice to come out right on the stove top, invest in a rice cooker. They’re fool proof, you’ll use it a lot, and they’re very inexpensive.
I usually use light coconut milk to make my coconut rice, but the store only had regular this time around. I have to admit, I prefer the light coconut milk. The light coconut milk gives all of the flavor without the oily residue.
Oh, and if you’re wondering, this rice is not sweet. I know it’s hard to disconnect coconut with sweetness, but coconut milk by itself is not at all sweet. It’s just really creamy and good!
See this recipe used in my weekly meal prep.
Savory Coconut Rice (reboot)
Coconut Rice (take 2)
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups dry jasmine rice ($0.66)
- 1 15 oz. can coconut milk ($2.14)
- 1 large clove garlic ($0.08)
- 3/4 tsp salt ($0.03)
- 1 cup water ($0.00)
Instructions
- Add the dry rice to a medium pot. Add enough cool water to cover the rice by about two inches. Swish the rice around until the water is cloudy. Carefully pour off as much of the cloudy water as possible. Repeat two more times. Try to pour off as much water as possible the last time, using a lid to hold the rice in if necessary.
- Mince the clove of garlic and add it to the pot with the rice. Also add the salt, the coconut milk, and one cup of fresh water. Stir to combine the ingredients.
- Place a lid on the pot and bring it up to a rolling boil over high heat. As soon as the rice reaches a full boil, turn the heat down to the lowest setting. Allow it to simmer on the lowest setting for 30 minutes. Turn the heat off and allow it to rest, undisturbed, with the lid in place, for an additional 15 minutes.
- Remove the lid, fluff with a fork, and serve.
Step By Step Photos
Start by placing the dry rice in a medium sized pot. Jasmine rice can usually be found in large bags near the other Asian ingredients or in the rice aisle. It is usually hiding on the bottom shelf. Buy large 5lb. bags to get the best price. Sometimes “specialty rice” brands will sell small containers of it for outlandishly expensive prices… don’t be fooled!
Cover the rice with cool water and swish it around until the water turns cloudy. Pour off as much water as possible and repeat two more times. This will help the rice be fluffy rather than sticky when cooked. Make sure to pour off as much water as possible the last time.
All you need besides the jasmine rice is coconut milk, garlic, and salt. That’s it. Like I said, I really prefer the light coconut milk because you get tons of flavor without so much oiliness.
When cooking rice, you usually want a rice to liquid ratio of about 1:1.5 or 1:2. The can of coconut milk measured out to 1.75 cups, so I just added another cup of water. This gave me a good rice:liquid ratio of 1:1.8 – right in the middle. It doesn’t have to be exact.
Add the coconut milk, minced garlic, salt, and one cup of fresh water to the pot with the rinsed rice. Give it a quick stir to make sure the salt and garlic are well distributed.
Place a lid on top and bring it up to a rolling boil over high heat. Just as soon as it reaches a full boil, reduce the heat to the lowest setting and allow it to simmer, with the lid on, for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes turn the heat off and let it sit, undisturbed for 15 more minutes. Open it up and this is what you’ve got.
Fluff it up with a fork and serve! …and try not to shovel it straight into your mouth, because you’re gonna want to.
I can eat this stuff straight… it’s amazing. Green onions go really nicely on top, as does Sriracha. I also experimented with mixing it up with the Tahini Kale salad and it was OUTSTANDING.
This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.
Can you use jarred minced garlic instead of fresh garlic?
Yes, use about a teaspoon.
ok so I made this yesterday with your jerk chicken & pineapple black bean salsa and let me just say it was delicious. I only had basmati rice but it still turned out great. I had to physically stop myself from eating straight out of the pot.
Hahaha, I usually have to restrain myself from eating it right out of the pot, too. :)
I tried making this rice in my little inexpensive rice cooker. I dumped all the ingredients in, gave it a good stir, and pressed the cook button. When it was finished, the coconut milk was still sitting on the top which was a bit scary, but after fluffing the rice, I thankfully discovered it was cooked throughout though on the wet side. I let the rice air out for about 5 minutes inside the pot and closed the lid with it on the warm setting while waiting for the main dish to cook, and when everything was ready, the rice was perfect and ready.
I might tone down the water a bit for the next batch, but will definitely make this again with your Thai Peanut Chicken recipe.
can this be made with regular long grain white rice instead of jasmine? i have that on hand already and would like to make this this week, but dont want to buy something if i dont have to
Yes it can, but it is SO much better with jasmine rice. :) Jasmine rice is very flavorful and adds a lot to the recipe.
Made this in my instant Pot, I got small curdles throughout from the coconut milk but the flavor was still wonderful and i dont mind “ugly food” when I modify a recipe. I think next time I’ll heat the milk and water with the saute function before adding the rice and pressurizing to hopefully cut back on the curdling.
did you ever try this again? This rice recipe is our go to in my house, but I just bought an instant pot and would love to use it on this! Did you have to modify anything else?
I love rice and can’t wait to fix the coconut rice. I also want the recipe for lime cilantro rice please. I just love all the recipes.
Here you go: Cilantro Lime Rice
Used this as a bed for my grilled sesame soy chicken with a watermelon salsa. What a transformation from straight jasmine rice. Than you
The recipe calls for a 15 oz can of coconut milk. If such an animal exists, I couldn’t find it! All brands at my local grocery store are roughly 13.5 oz. I didn’t add any additional water to make up the difference and it came out just right. I really LOVE this rice! I probably tripled the garlic, decreased the salt to 1/2 tsp and used a non-stick sauce pan. I’ve made this recipe four times now and find that it does come out more fluffy when pre-rinsed as instructed. I load it up with the green onions as well. This is soooo good!
Oops. I used regular extra long grain canilla rice instead and the goya coconut milk. There was weird coconut milk curdles in it when I was done. Does anyone else’s have visible curdles? Was it because I used the wrong type of rice?
Kinda late to the party, but: Coconut milk separates out at room temperature. I didn’t know that and went to dump the can straight in the pot and it came out in a a big chunk like cranberry sauce, and about half a can of coconut water. I stirred it to break it up into small chunks, and then stirred some more while it was on the stove until it melted back together. Your “curdles” were probably little bits of coconut cream that didn’t get all the way melted into the cooking water before the rice soaked it up. Next time I make it, I’m going to heat it with the rest of the cooking water or something to get it all smooth before I add it to the rice.
Any suggestions for transitioning this to a pressure cooker? I use 1 cup of rice to like 1 and an eighth cup of water.
And it cooks for 3 minutes, with a 10 to 15-minute natural pressure release.
Hmm, not sure. I haven’t used my IP for rice much, so I’m not well versed in the differences between the IP and stove top versions.
Are the steps the same for using a rice cooker?
You should be able to just add everything to the cooker and follow the same method used to make plain rice. :)
This. Recipe. ROCKS! This was as big of a hit as the sesame seed chicken recipe and pairs so nicely with it. Thank you for posting these recipes. This was quick and easy. The coconut milk kicked up the flavor of the Jasmine rice.
Wondering if this recipe can be made with brown jasmine rice?
You probably could, but brown rice generally needs more liquid and a longer cooking time than white rice.
Does this recipe double well? I’m making it for about 20 people.
It should, although I’ve never tried it. I think having a really good quality, heavy-bottomed pot will be key to cooking a larger batch. You really need it to heat evenly. Or, you can do it in a large rice cooker.
Does not rinsing the rice beforehand make a difference?
I’ve actually done it both ways and the texture is the same, but a lot of people prefer to rinse the rice just to remove that starchy coating or any dust that may be on the rice.