Fluffy coconut rice eluded me for years. And finally, I’ve cracked it! The trick is to use the oven rather than the stove. The coconut rice comes out super fluffy, not gluey and mushy. It’s just like you get at restaurants.
Coconut Rice
Truly fluffy coconut rice eluded me for years. I felt like I tried every variation possible, but when I lifted the lid, I’d stare at dismay at into a pot of mushy rice, thick with coconut milk scum. Usually with unevenly cooked rice grains – some hard, some overly soft – and almost always with a scorched base.
The making of my cookbook gave me the excuse I needed to commit to cracking coconut rice, once and for all. 30+ tests later, I’m so happy to say my team and I have cracked the secret code.
And every since then, I’ve never looked back. Fluffy coconut rice every. single. time WITHOUT FAIL!
The secret to fluffy coconut rice – BAKE IT
The trick to fuss-free fluffy coconut rice is to bake it rather than cook it on the stove. The coconut rice comes out perfectly fluffy every time, and no scorched pot!
How to make perfect coconut rice
Rinse the rice – this is a must to remove excess starch. I don’t do this when cooking normal white rice. It’s essential for coconut rice because coconut milk is thicker than water so it can make the rice a gluey mess. Just rinse the rice until the water is pretty clear. It will never be 100% clear.
Soak rice for 1 hour – this essentially gives the rice grains a bit of a head start in the water absorption phase. This is critical to ensure the rice cooks through evenly because coconut milk is thicker than water which makes it harder for the rice grains to absorb the liquid.
Can’t just use coconut milk – it’s just too thick, the rice can’t absorb it properly. It needs to be diluted with some water. I find the perfect flavour / rice texture is achieved by using 1 can (400ml/14oz) coconut milk with 1 cup of water (just over 2 1/2 cups) for 2 cups of rice.
Bring coconut milk and water to boil first – This is quite key as well! We need to heat the liquid before adding into the rice in a baking pan to get the cooking process started as soon as the rice is in the oven.
If you just pour cold water and room temperature coconut milk over the rice, it takes a good 10 to 15 minutes for the liquid to heat up in the oven during which time the rice is just wallowing in lukewarm liquids which causes it to bloat and cook unevenly.
Bake, covered with foil, for 40 minutes at 200°C/400°F (180°C fan). By covering the rice, we are essentially making steam rice just like you do on the stove. Except, we don’t to worry about scorching the base of the pot and the heat distributes much more evenly through the rice so it cooks through evenly!
Rest 15 minutes – Take the pan out of the oven and rest, covered in foil, for 15 minutes. This step is essential so do not skip it or shortcut the resting time. During the resting time, the rice will finish cooking through evenly and the wetness on the surface of the rice grains will be absorbed, leaving the rice fluffy.
And that, my friends, is the secret to fluffy coconut rice.
It’s a lot of words. But don’t worry, actually cooking it is super duper simple. Just pop it in the oven and leave it to do its thing!
How to rinse rice
I find it easiest to rinse rice in a bowl. Just pour the rice in a bowl and fill with water, then swish it around. Drain (just pour the water out best you can, no need to use a colander), then fill with water again and repeat 4 to 5 times until the water is pretty clear.
The water will never be completely clear! My rule of thumb is 4 to 5 refills of the bowl.
BONUS coconut milk powder option: There’s another way to make fluffy coconut rice on the stove using coconut milk powder. The result is not quite as fluffy as using the oven and the coconut flavour is not quite as intense. But it’s still very good, much better than stove-top using coconut milk, and a good option for those times when you don’t have an oven.
I’ve popped that extra recipe below the coconut milk recipe (ie scroll to bottom of post). It’s an extra because coconut milk powder isn’t as common as coconut milk. While I always have coconut milk on hand, I don’t usually have powder!
How to make Thai / Asian Coconut Rice
To get a true Asian restaurant coconut rice, the secret is to add pandan leaves. If you can’t find pandan leaves, kaffir limes leaves also add a similar fragrance.
This is what pandan leaves looks like. It’s sold at some Harris Farms in Australia, as well as Asian stores.
To prepare them for use, just knot them – this breaks the leaves, releasing the flavour so it infuses into the rice.
What to serve with coconut rice
Coconut rice is a rice dish that is used in cuisines such as Caribbean, Tropical (Hawaiian!) as well as South East Asian foods such as Thai and Malaysian foods.
But don’t let “rules” restrict you. Use it as you wish – and I promise you, it’s so delish, you can even eat it plain, straight out of the pot!
Hope you enjoy! – Nagi x
Coconut Rice will go great with…
Everything Thai and Vietnamese
Jamaican Jerk Chicken and Jerk Fish
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Restaurant Style Coconut Rice (Coconut Milk)
Ingredients
Coconut Rice
- 2 cups jasmin rice (Note 1)
- 400 ml / 14 oz coconut milk , full fat or light (Note 2)
- 1 cup water
- 5 tsp white sugar (Note 3)
- 1/2 tsp cooking / kosher salt
Asian Restaurant Style flavour – use ONE:
- 1 pandan leaves , knotted
- 2 kaffir lime leaves , crushed in hand
Optional Garnish:
- 1 tbsp desiccated coconut , toasted, to garnish
Instructions
- Rinse rice in water until the water runs pretty clear. (Note 1)
- Soak & drain – Drain rice then soak in water for 1 hour. Then drain in a colander and leave to drain well for 5 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 200°C / 400°F (180°C fan).
- Rice in pan – Place the rice in a 20cm / 8" square pan (metal or ceramic). Add pandam or kaffir, if using.
- Heat coconut milk – Heat coconut milk, water, sugar and salt in a saucepan over high heat. Bring to a boil and stir to dissolve the sugar.
- Bake 40 minutes – Working quickly (to minimise heat loss), pour hot liquid over rice, stir quickly to spread rice evenly. Cover with foil then bake in the oven for 40 minutes.
- Rest 15 minutes – Remove the pan from the oven. Take a quick peek to ensure the liquid has been absorbed (tilt pan to check). There will be coconut cream on the surface – that's normal. Rest rice, covered, for 15 minutes. Do not shortcut this!
- Fluff with rubber spatula. Garnish with toasted coconut, if using, then serve. Marvel at fluffy rice!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
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Fluffy Coconut Rice – Coconut POWDER
Ingredients
- 1 cup jasmine rice (or long grain) (see notes)
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1 packet coconut milk powder (1.75 oz / 50 g) (see notes)
- 2 kaffir lime leaves , crumpled in your hand OR 3 pandam leaves, knotted – OPTIONAL, for Asian restaurant style
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3/4 tsp sugar
- 1 tbsp desiccated coconut , toasted, to garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a saucepan over high heat. Place lid on.
- When it comes to the boil (watch it, you don’t want it to boil over), turn down the heat to low / medium low so it is simmering gently.
- Leave it to simmer for 12 to 15 minutes until all the liquid has been absorbed.
- Remove from heat and rest for 5 to 10 minutes.
- Fluff with fork. Garnish with toasted coconut, if using, then serve.
Andrew Davey says
Done for dinner tonight with stir fry vedge and chicken. Beat ever coconut rice and so simple.
Thanks heaps
KYLIE says
Tastes so good so easy and works every time!
Gorgeous with Nagi’s Thai chicken curry!!!
karen Ramshaw says
My Husband loved this with a thai prawn curry that I nade up myself.
Nel says
I’ve made the coconut milk version of this coconut rice a dozen times. Tonight I tried the coconut powder version and it was a fail for me.
Based on this I highly recommend the coconut milk version (5 stars +++++), but won’t do the coconut milk powder version again (I did follow the recipe to a tee)!
Ryan says
I was sceptical about this recipe right until it passed my lips – then I became a true believer. I used basmati rice and it came out perfect.
Shane Hilden says
Anyone every make a large batch of this? I’m being asked to make this for 84 people. In My rice cooker I can double it (4 cups dry rice to start) and it comes out great. For 84 people I will have to do 7x this much. I could do the pot method as Nagi describes, but I worry about doing that much at one time (14 cans of coconut milk!!)
Anyway if anyone has tips on this I’d appreciate it. I need to buy the ingredients tomorrow as I will be cooking this for a camping trip so if you can answer by tomorrow morning I’d appreciate it!
Heather Hancock says
Hi Shane…I work with Nagi and we do rice at volume for RecipeTin Meals and for camping trips all the time! The safest way to get a good result with this is recipe to cook it 7 times in the rice cooker. The pot method is less reliable at large volumes plus we haven’t tested large volumes of the coconut one so couldn’t tell you the correct ratio to adjust. The quickest option would be to make plain basmati rice which is the easiest to do and to do it like pasta and boil in lots of water then drain and cool. Be careful transporting that quantity as well as rice spoils easily and needs to stay cold. Good luck!
Phil C says
I followed this recipe 100% and it turned out absolutely perfect. Tx Nagi
Nagi says
Thanks! N x
Margaret Vincent says
Prior to finding your coconut rice recipe I tried 3 other recipes that dismally failed.
I now, thanks to you, have perfect coconut rice each and every time.
Nagi says
Thanks! N x
Kathy says
I’m usually pretty good at getting Recipetin recipes right, but this one didn’t work out for me. I ended up with a layer of coconut cream at the top and undercooked dry rice underneath. I managed to kind of fix it by adding more boiling water and simmering for longer. Will try to remember to weigh my rice next time – I guess my rice to liquid ratio was a bit out. The flavour was good, though, so worth another try.
Nagi says
Weighing is the most accurate…good luck! N x
Melanie says
Hello. I live in a small town. I can get dried pandas leaves easier than fresh. Can I use dried?
Nagi says
Hi Melanie! Dried isn’t quite the same but it’s better than not using anything! I would use it for sure 🙂 N x
Ruth Mortis says
This was delicious! I’m 34 years old and this is the first time in my life my rice has turned out soooo well – thank you!
Patti Kiernan says
I loved this recipe but I needed more water and more time for the rice to cook. I used Thai brand and it was pretty thick. It was fluffy.
Ali says
This coconut rice is delicious. It almost tastes buttery – I don’t know how but love it.
Bernard Levy says
I only have coconut cream Do you
have any suggestions
Also loved Caramel Tart
Deb says
I never leave reviews, but I followed this recipe exactly and it was PERFECT! Thank you.
Brooke says
The fat content in the nutritional details you provide seem very low compared to the fat content listed on the can of the coconut milk. Does the fat cook off? How did you get these values?
Nagi says
Hi Brooke, because you’re looking at the fat content in relation to the can, not in relation to the recipe itself. N x
Michaelyn says
Woops, look like my previous comment mixed up two recipes. . (Just delete the lines in my previous comment referencing chicken and pineapple.) .
Michaelyn says
This is a delicious recipe. The 1st time I made it, I rinsed the rice and used the ingredients as instructed, but the rice seemed too dry and it needed more salt. I added another can of coconut milk (Goya brand) and it was delicious — but sticky — which we loved. The 2nd time I made it, I forgot to rinse the rice, used 2 cans of Conchita brand coconut milk and added a little salt, It did not have enough coconut flavor – plus the rice was NOT sticky. Which was fine.
Next time I’ll try Thai brand… Plus I’ll use half the amount of pineapple, and double the amount of chicken for 2 people. . Was quick and easy.
Dianne Hulbert says
Hi Nagi, I made your easy coconut rice using the rice cooker, it was a hit but the family asked if I could increase the coconut 🥥 flavour, what would you suggest the water to coconut ratio will be for 2 cups?
Thank you
Dianne
Elaine K says
Perfect fluffy rice. I made half and kept timing the same.