This coconut rice recipe is just as easy to make as plain white rice, and its sweet-savory coconut aroma makes it a perfect complement for Southeast Asian recipes like our 10-Minute Thai Basil Chicken or Beef Rendang. We’ll show you how to make it.
An Underutilized Technique for Our Favorite side dish
Rice. It’s my favorite carbohydrate (which is saying a lot, considering what a bread and pasta fiend I am), and it’s infinitely versatile.
While we’ve done plenty of rice dishes in the past, from classic pork fried rice to my mom’s 20-minute congee, we haven’t talked much about how you can make different types of flavored rice.
Flavoring rice often just involves changing up the liquid that you use to cook it. While we regularly use water to cook rice, you can use different types of stock to make, say, chicken-flavored rice or mushroom flavored rice.
Today, we’re doing coconut rice. I really like making coconut rice to serve with Malaysian, Thai, Lao, and other Southeast Asian dishes.
It has a very light coconutty (which spell check says isn’t a real word) fragrance and taste, and is slightly sweet. With the addition of toasted coconut flakes, you can even get kinda fancy with it! Plus, it only requires 4 ingredients (and 1 optional ingredient, the toasted coconut) .
What to Serve with Coconut Rice
I recently served coconut rice with my Pork Larb recipe, which I posted a few days ago, but here’s a list of other recipes that could use a big pile of coconut rice on the side:
- 10-Minute Thai Basil Chicken (or our Vegan Thai Basil ‘Chicken‘) – There are a select few really good meals in this world that take just 10 minutes to prepare from start to finish and this Thai Basil Chicken is one of them!
- Thai Basil Beef – My go-to order at Thai restaurants in my childhood. Still a favorite.
- Thai Basil Pork Belly – One of my favorite ways to cook pork belly when we have Thai basil in the garden!
- Red Curry Chicken – A restaurant quality recipe!
- Green Curry Chicken – One of those useful fridge cleanout recipes for those bits of various vegetables languishing in your crisper drawer.
- Beef Rendang – I remember the first time I had Beef Rendang. I was about eleven years old and it was one of the most amazing things I’d ever eaten. Coconut rice makes it even better.
- Pork Larb, Chicken Larb, or Mushroom Larb – Larb is a meat salad from Laos that has made its way into Thailand and other areas of Southeast Asia. It is simply delicious and refreshing!
- Eggplant with Chicken & Thai Basil – A recipe from my dad. It’s dee-licious.
- Gai Yang (Thai Grilled Chicken) – If you’re one of those people who loves to grill, this one’s for you!
- Thai Roasted Chicken Thighs – An easy sheet pan dinner.
- Kangkung Belacan (Water Spinach with Shrimp Paste) – An incredibly savory leafy green recipe.
- Red Curry Tofu – Quick. Easy. Vegan.
- Instant Pot Braised Curry Beef – One of the recipes I’m most proud of, because it perfectly recreates the Cantonese curry beef of my childhood.
- Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce – Who can resist chicken on a stick?!
If you’ve been feeling like you’re in a dinner rut lately, any one of these recipes will definitely pull you right out of it.
Don’t feel like cooking?
Here’s an idea: order takeout from your favorite Thai or Malaysian place, and save a few bucks on several orders of coconut rice by making your own fresh rice at home!
Types of Coconut Milk & Substitutions
There are 3 main types of canned coconut milk common in grocery stores these days:
- regular full-fat coconut milk
- coconut cream
- light coconut milk
We recommend using regular full-fat coconut milk in this recipe. But let’s talk about the other two.
Using Coconut Cream to Make Coconut Rice
Coconut cream is thicker, with less water content, so it’s not as ideal for cooking rice. However, if you happen to have a can of coconut cream in your pantry, you can use it and simply mix it with water.
Usually, coconut cream comes in smaller 5.4 ounce cans. Simply mix it with 1 cup (8 ounces) of water to replace 1 can of regular coconut milk.
If you have a 13.5 ounce can of coconut cream, use a little less than half of it. Just pour it off into an airtight container (you can label it freeze it for later), and fill the remaining space in the can with water!
MAKE SURE YOU’RE NOT BUYING ‘CREAM OF COCONUT’
While ‘coconut cream’ is simply thicker coconut milk, with less water, ‘cream of coconut’ is coconut cream that has had sugar added—it has a syrupy texture—for cocktails like piña coladas. Nothing wrong with a piña colada (or getting caught in the rain), but you don’t want this stuff near your coconut rice!
Using Light Coconut Milk to Make Coconut Rice
Light coconut milk swings in the opposite direction of coconut cream. It contains a higher ratio of water to coconut. In other words, it’s a more diluted version of coconut milk, with 50-60% less fat.
If coconut milk is like heavy cream, light coconut milk is like 1% or 2% milk. If you’re trying to cut down on saturated fat (did you know that coconut is the only plant source of saturated fat?), you could certainly substitute light coconut milk in this recipe. The coconut flavor will be more subtle.
Tip!
If you crack open your can of coconut milk and see that it has separated—it will look like a mess of white solids and gray liquid—don’t worry! It is still perfectly fine to use. Just stir it into the rice to combine the solids and liquid.
COOK YOUR COCONUT RICE ON THE STOVE
We are a rice cooker household, but it is really ideal to cook your coconut rice on the stove and not a rice cooker.
The reason? We’ve found that results in the rice cooker can be inconsistent, depending on the model. As far as we can tell, the thick coconut milk throws off whatever temperature sensor the rice cooker uses to tell the rice is done. As a result, the rice cooker turns off prematurely, before the rice is actually cooked.
It may be possible for certain rice cookers to cook coconut rice, but the results are just too inconsistent for us to recommend it.
Other FAQs
Use jasmine rice! While this technique should work with any type of long grain white rice (such as basmati or jasmati), we recommend jasmine rice for the best texture and flavor. Do not use short or medium grain white rice varieties (e.g. sushi rice, arborio, carnaroli, or paella rice), which are too starchy and sticky.
Yes, you can use all coconut milk to cook your rice for an even richer result and stronger coconut flavor. That said, you still need to soak the rice in water before cooking.
Yes, you can! Use half a can of coconut milk (you can freeze the rest for later). To scale down the ingredient quantities, click on the number of servings in the recipe card, and use the slider.
Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. To reheat, microwave the rice, or steam it in a heatproof container. See our post on how to steam food for more details.
Yes, while we don’t always recommend freezing cooked rice (it does change the texture a bit), you certainly can freeze it to avoid wasting leftovers if you’re unable to eat it all within 4 days. Freeze in an airtight container. Thaw in the refrigerator, and reheat using methods above. If microwaving, you may want to sprinkle a bit of water over the rice beforehand.
In addition to the salt, sugar, and optional toasted coconut in the recipe, you can season your rice with lime juice, cilantro or scallions, chopped nuts, finely diced pineapple or mango, or pandan leaves or lemongrass (just add 1 pandan leaf or 1 stalk—white part only—of lemon grass to the pot when you cook the rice, and discard before eating).
Coconut Rice: Recipe Instructions
Soak the jasmine rice in water for 25 minutes, and drain.
Add the drained rice to a medium pot or heavy bottom saucepan. In a 2-4 cup capacity wet measuring cup, pour in the can of coconut milk, and then add water until you hit just under 2 cups of liquid total. Add to the pot, along with the sugar and salt.
Put the pan on the stove and bring to a boil. Once boiling, immediately give the pot a stir, cover, and reduce the heat to low. Cook until all the liquid has been absorbed, about 25 minutes. Remove from heat, fluff the rice with a fork, and keep covered until ready to serve.
Just before serving, garnish with the toasted coconut flakes, if using. Enjoy!
Coconut Rice (Quick & Easy!)
Ingredients
- 2 cups jasmine rice
- 13.5 oz. coconut milk
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup toasted coconut flakes (toasted in a dry pan until lightly golden; optional)
Instructions
- Soak the rice in water for 25 minutes. Drain. Add the drained rice to a medium pot. In a 2-4 cup capacity wet measuring cup, pour in the can of coconut milk, and then add water until you hit 2 cups of liquid total. Add to the pot, along with the sugar and salt.
- Put the pan on the stove and bring to a boil. Once boiling, immediately stir, cover, and reduce the heat to low. Cook until all the liquid has been absorbed, about 25 minutes. Remove from heat, fluff the rice with a fork, and keep covered until ready to serve. Garnish with toasted coconut flakes, if using.
