I’m not kidding when I say this Coconut Rice is one of the best things I’ve ever eaten. There’s something about it that literally just makes my body melt upon the first bite. It’s rich, savory, carby, and just insanely delicious. It’s pretty simple to make, too, which is always a plus. Whether you like to make rice on the stovetop or in a rice cooker, you can make this incredible savory coconut rice with very little effort.
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“I made this to go with teriyaki chicken! It was great with that, but I used the leftover rice to make a vegetable fried rice a few days later and it was SO good!! Will definitely make this again.”
Morgan
This incredible rice is deceptively simple. It’s just long-grain white jasmine rice cooked in a mixture of coconut milk and water, with a little minced garlic and salt for depth. THAT’S IT. It sounds so plain, but you’ll be blown away on the first bite.
Coconut Rice
Servings 6 about ¾ cup eachIngredients
- 1 1/2 cups long-grain jasmine rice ($0.73)
- 1 clove garlic (minced , $0.04)
- 3/4 tsp salt ($0.03)
- 1 13.5oz. can coconut milk ($1.64)
- 1 cup water ($0.00)
Instructions
- Rinse the jasmine rice using a wire mesh strainer or a bowl, making sure to pour off as much excess water as possible. Add the rinsed rice to a pot along with the minced garlic and salt.
- Add the coconut milk and water to the pot. Give the rice a brief stir.
- Place a lid on the pot, turn the heat up to high, and allow the liquid to come up to a full boil. Once it reaches a full boil, turn the heat down to low. Allow the rice to simmer over low for 15 minutes. Make sure the pot maintains a simmer. Do not stir or lift the lid as the rice simmers.
- After simmering for 15 minutes, remove the pot from the heat and let the rice rest an additional 5 minutes without lifting the lid. Finally, after the rice has rested, you lift the lid and fluff with a fork. Serve hot.
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Notes
- I use canned coconut milk, not the kind you’d use as a substitute for dairy milk—that’s just too watery. I’ve tried it with full fat and light, and it turns out great with both. Full-fat canned coconut rice tastes ultra-rich, while lite has a slightly milder coconut flavor with a lighter texture. Use what you prefer!
- I use jasmine rice in this recipe, specifically white, long-grain jasmine rice. It really takes the flavor over the top, so definitely get it if you can! Yes, it’s more expensive than plain white rice, but it’s totally worth the price. Plus, since it’s shelf-stable, it won’t go to waste! You can use long-grain jasmine rice in place of plain white rice in most recipes for an extra flavor boost.
- You can also make this coconut rice with a rice cooker instead of in a pot on the stovetop. Simply add all of the ingredients to the slow cooker and press go!
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!How to Make Coconut Rice — Step By Step Photos
Rinse 1 1/2 cups long grain white jasmine rice, making sure to pour off as much excess water as possible. Add the rinsed rice to a pot along with one clove of minced garlic and ¾ tsp salt.
Add one 13.5 oz. can of coconut milk to the saucepan with the rice.
Add an additional cup of water. Give the rice a brief stir. Place a lid on the pot, turn the heat up to high, and allow the liquid to come up to a full boil. Once it reaches a full boil, turn the heat down to low. Allow the rice to simmer over low for 15 minutes. Make sure the pot maintains a simmer. Do not stir or lift the lid as the rice simmers.
After simmering for 15 minutes, remove the pot from the heat and let the rice rest an additional 5 minutes without lifting the lid. Finally, after the rice has rested, you may lift the lid.
Fluff the rice with a fork and then serve.
I garnish my rice with sliced green onion and toasted coconut, but you don’t need them to make this rice taste amazing! It’s mind-blowing on its own!
How to Avoid Gluey Coconut Rice
Rice can become gluey for several reasons. To avoid this, here are a few tips I use to ensure it always turns out perfectly:
- Rinse the rice thoroughly: This removes excess starch that can cause stickiness.
- Use the right amount of liquid: I use 1 1/2 cups of jasmine rice, 1 can of coconut milk, and 1 cup of water. I find this to be the perfect ratio for a fluffy, non-gluey texture.
- Don’t stir too much: Stirring too much can release more starch and make the rice gluey! I only stir the rice once everything is added to the pan. Then, I don’t touch it until it’s simmered, with the lid on, for 15 minutes!
What to Serve with Coconut Rice
This super delish rice is a great side dish to any Asian or tropical-inspired meal. I use it as a bed for honey sriracha tofu, teriyaki chicken, baked ginger salmon, or sweet chili chicken stir fry bowls. I’ve also served it as a side with these chicken lettuce wraps before!
More Flavored Rice Recipes
Our Coconut Rice recipe was originally published 12/22/11. It was retested, reworked, and republished to be better than ever 2/24/25.
Heads up: I clicked on the Coconut Rice *Pilaf* recipe but it keeps taking me here!
I followed the directions, careful to measure the few ingredients. I set a timer so I didn’t mess up. I have a gas cooktop so I could control the heat. It came out kind of gummy. The coconut milk was the correct amount. Beats me.
Did you rinse the rice? Did you use a different type? Did you follow all of Beth’s instructions–that no peeking and not stirring the pot are both important. The photo shows a slightly less than fluffy product, which was my result. Not nearly as cohesive as short grained “sticky” rice, but less “fluffy” than basmati. I wouldn’t have described it as “gummy,” but it certainly was delicious. One of my grandsons makes a coconut rice version using a small amount of coconut oil to dress jasmine rice after it’s already cooked and that one has less cohesion as the oil helps separate the grains–a bit less flavor, too, although still delicious. Sorry, but I don’t have his recipe and have been using this one, which is perfect for me. I’ve also used full fat coconut milk, although this recipe doesn’t specify which coconut milk to use. Various brands might give different results.
This recipe was DELICIOUS, as are all of the recipes on this site! It’s my go to recipe site.
Can you post the directions for when using a rice cooker?
We don’t have a rice cooker in our test kitchen! But you should be able to use the general directions on your machine just swapping the ingredients.
Love this recipe, but I tried to substitute brown basmati rice (it’s all I had), and the texture just wasn’t quite right. And recommendations for how to adjust the liquid?
I guess it depends on what it was about the texture that you didn’t like. If the rice was too soft and mushy, I’d reduce the liquid. If the rice was too hard, I would increase the liquid and/or make sure the liquid is simmering the entire time it cooks.
The rule is 2x the amount of liquid to rice. If you don’t have a good way to measure, you can use the “finger trick”, which is just to put the dry rice in the pot, then stick your finger in to measure the depth, then double that depth. So if the rice comes to the top of your fingernail, put your fingertip on top of the rice and add liquid until it comes to the same point on your fingernail. Hope that helps!
So simple but so good. Thank you!
This is the single greatest recipe on this site in terms of return on investment. Easy to make and requires few ingredients you can always keep on hand. It tastes so good though! You can add it to almost anything. The extra fat makes vegetarian meals so much more filling.
Made this with your baked ginger salmon and sesame roasted green beans and it was delicious! Always nice to have a meal that leaves you time to clean up the kitchen before you eat while the food cooks :)
Would coconut cream work in place of milk?
Hi Mb, Coconut cream is thicker and higher in fat than coconut milk. I think you can still pull it off, though. I would add 8 ounces of coconut cream that’s been diluted with 5 ounces of water.
This was fantastic. I used your recipe but used a microwave cooking method.
I’m disabled so it’s easier for me. I then portioned it and froze it to have on hand. Have come back to make a new batch and leave a comment. If froze beautifully and was just as nice as fresh when l heated it again.
Microwave method If anyone else wants to try it. Use a lidded deep microwave safe dish
5 minutes on high
15 minutes at 50%
Rest 5 minutes
Hi Niki. Thanks for your tips. I too must cook in batches on days when I’m feeling OK. How did you freeze the rice?
-Lisa
I tried this microwave method and used a deep, covered dish (corningware, maybe 2 inches deep) but not deep enough as a lot of the liquid ended up on the bottom of the microwave. It was still good, but a bit gluey. So, use a very, very deep dish.
Huh. I use a large (1 gal?) glass mixing bowl. Cover with Sarah wrap. Do not remove the plastic till 5 minute after cooking do it rests. Cook on 100% for 5 minutes then “turn down the heat” to 50% for 15 minute.
I’ve recently fallen in love with the coconut rice I get as a side order from Thai restaurants but I can’t afford to keep paying $4 for a small container. I’ve also had this recipe on my to-make list for quite a while and yesterday I finally made it. When I tell you it was so delicious I was shocked I made it myself that is not an exaggeration. So simple but so so good. Love that there are no really unusual ingredients and it’s mostly pantry stuff.
I have to admit I did modify the amounts a little to match the rice/liquid quantities on the back of my package of jasmine rice (so ended up with 1 cup water and about half a can of coconut milk) and adhered a little more closely to the cook time on the back of the rice bag. I think this would be amazing with poached eggs as mentioned. Very glad I have some left over.
Foolproof and delicious!
Hi, I’m thinking about trying out the coconut rice, cilantro lime rice, and tomato rice recipes sometime soon and was wondering if they can be doubled because I have a group of 8 to feed.
Doubling should be no problem with any of these recipes, but the cilantro-lime rice would probably be the easiest choice of the three since it involves the least ingredients. One thing to keep in mind: it will take longer for the liquid to come up to a boil if doubling the recipe; but once it’s boiling, all the rice should cook in the same amount of time as the recipe states. ~ Marion :)
I frequently eat this for breakfast with two poached eggs, green onion, and just a pinch of black pepper on top. Delish!
Pretty interesting. I couldn’t really taste a difference but the rice (texture) was thinner and nicer than when I use water.
I made 2 cups of this in a rice cooker but used far less coconut milk. I only filled it up to the level indicated on my rice cooker pot and it worked out fine when I pressed the white rice button. Your mileage may vary though because it seems another reviewer had worse results.