This easy coconut rice recipe is just as easy to make as plain rice and tastes incredible! It’s fragrant and bursting with coconut flavor. It’s a family favorite, for sure!
This coconut rice recipe is one of my family’s favorite rice recipes. It’s right up there with our cilantro lime rice and Mexican rice. It’s ridiculously simple to make, too!
I love this coconut-infused rice with Indian and Thai curries like our chicken curry or this easy vegetable curry. It’s also perfect for rice bowls and burritos and is incredible topped with black beans.
Key Ingredients
- Rice: I love long-grain Jasmine rice for this recipe. It plumps up beautifully and stays fluffy, and its aromatic fragrance works nicely with the coconut. If you do not have jasmine rice, use another long-grain variety like basmati rice.
- Coconut Milk: You’ll want to use full-fat coconut milk from a can (or fresh coconut milk if you have access to it). When shopping for canned coconut milk, I shake the can. If I hear lots of liquid, I put it back and find a can that doesn’t sound like much when I shake it. This means it’s full of coconut cream, which will help make the rice taste even more delicious.
- Salt: I always cook my rice with a bit of salt and do the same for coconut rice.
How to Make Coconut Rice
Making coconut rice is no different from making regular rice. First, combine everything in a saucepan, bring to a boil, reduce the heat to a low simmer, and cover and cook for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, turn off the heat and leave the pot alone for 10 to 15 minutes so the rice has the chance to steam and absorb any excess liquid.
It might be a surprise, but we don’t rinse our rice for this recipe, especially when using long-grain rice. Of course, we usually do, but in this recipe, if you use long-grain Jasmine rice, you don’t need to. In fact, after testing the recipe for rinsed and unrinsed rice, we found that the unrinsed rice tasted more like coconut.
What to Serve with Coconut Rice
This coconut rice is perfect for almost any dish you would have served with plain rice. It’s perfect in rice bowls, with curries, Thai dishes, stir-fries, and as a side to chicken and fish. Try one of these dishes:
- Our Favorite Chicken Curry
- Quick Vegetable Stir Fry
- Chicken and Broccoli Stir Fry
- Curried Chickpea Salad Bowls
- Homemade Cabbage Kimchi
Easy Coconut Rice
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
Coconut rice is just as easy to make as plain rice and tastes fantastic! All we need to do is swap half of the water for coconut milk. This coconut rice is perfect for almost any dish served with plain rice. It’s perfect in rice bowls, with curries, Thai dishes, stir-fries, and as a side to chicken and fish.
*Long-grain rice works best in this recipe. Shorter grain rice tends to be more sticky.
You Will Need
1 cup long-grain Jasmine white rice
3/4 cup well-stirred full-fat coconut milk
3/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 scallion, thinly sliced, optional, substitute chopped chives
Directions
1Place the rice (we do not rinse the rice), coconut milk, water, and salt in a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat.
2Bring to a boil and cook for one minute. Stir once, turn the heat to low, cover the saucepan with its lid, and cook for 15 minutes.
3Do not lift the lid. Turn off the heat and let the rice steam for 10 minutes.
4Remove the lid and fluff the rice with a fork. Serve with sliced scallions.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Storing: Cooked coconut rice can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three days or frozen for up to a month.
- Rinsing the rice: We do not rinse long-grain jasmine rice for this recipe. We made it with rinsed and unrinsed rice and found similar results. If anything, the unrinsed rice tasted more like coconut. If you have medium-grain or short-grain rice, you might consider rinsing it before following our recipe.
- Sugar: While we prefer coconut rice without sugar, many authentic recipes call for adding 1 to 2 teaspoons. Feel free to add this in step one.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates.
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