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
Hungry for more? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.
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:
Hungry for more? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.
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.
Coco B says
I tried this recipe and YOU ARE RIGHT!!! It was fluffy and delicious. Sadly I could not find either Kaffir Lime leaves or pandam leaves.
Casey says
This rice is amazing and really easy. I followed the recipe exactly and it was perfect!! Thank you 🙂
Paul M LeBlanc says
I’m glad I read these comments. I thought I was losing my mind. I’d bookmarked this recipe page. I could only find the oven recipe and couldn’t remember using the oven last time. I’d also love to see the previous recipe that didn’t require the oven but still used coconut milk not powder.
Terry. says
The best coconut rice ever. Really easy to make, can’t go wrong and better than any I have tasted anywhere.
Thankyou.
Ann T Smith says
I tried the coconut rice recipe, and it was delicious. Who’d have thought that baking the rice would make such difference, but it sure does. Thanks!
Kim Isaacs says
Please please please re-post the previous recipe – it was my kids favourite and I just can’t use the oven everytime I make this for them. Even just post it as a third variation – oven, powder, back by popular demand. Please?!
Brittany Curtain says
This turned out really lovely not as sweet as from the Thai restaurant so better for more frequent consumption. Leave my restaurant sweet coconut rice as a treat!
I do think there needs to be some alterations to the recipe as it’s written most especially the time run down as it doesn’t factor in the 1hr soak time so prep takes a lot longer than it says and the total time currently says 17minutes which is clearly wrong. Finally instruction step one should probably be swapped with two as that’s a REALLY long time to preheat an oven. Just a few quick updates to make it a better summary for people like me who don’t necessarily read a whole recipe before attempting it.
Cheryl Clark says
I’m so disappointed with this updated version of this coconut rice. The baking of the rice had me very confused. Please give us back the older version
Nate says
Gross came out mushy and clumpy just like every other coconut rice recipe except this was a lot more work.
Sarah says
I was hoping for the prior stove top recipe as well. It’s perfect and much faster.
Thank you!
Cassandra says
I came back to this page specifically for the stovetop version of Coconut Rice. Can you please repost it?
Lily N. says
The best coconut recipe to date. I’ve tried Chrissy T. And Gaby’s. Both are great, but yours beat them in flavor and easy clean up. I had a can of coconut milk that was a little less than 14oz. Made up w extra TBSP of water give or take and worked out well. Anywho, thanks for the share!
Ellie says
Nagi, there are so many comments about the updated recipe. I just spent over an hour searching the internet trying to find your stovetop recipe and gaslighting myself that I imagined it. I’ve made your stovetop recipe at least 5 times in the last year and it is perfect. Not that I don’t want to try this one, but I seriously cannot spend this amount of time cooking due to chronic illness. Can you please please please re-add the stovetop version as an alternate recipe, as you did with the powder version? … or if anyone reading this saved the stovetop version somewhere, can you share it? Lol. *sobs over loss of accessibility*
Lisa says
Hi Nagi, could we please have a copy of the previous stove-top recipe? From memory it was so much faster and easier because I don’t have to use the stove and the oven. Plus, I don’t have an 8″ pan :O thank you!
Bronwyn Asaris says
If you look up the recipe for Hawaiian Chicken it is included there. Hope this is the right one. Cheers, Bron
Josh says
here is a link to the archived recipe!
https://web.archive.org/web/20221202033452/https://www.recipetineats.com/fluffy-coconut-rice/#wprm-recipe-container-21536
Carla says
Yes totally agree- I just went looking for the recipe for dinner tonight and it was GONE! Stove top version always worked perfectly for me… please bring it back ❤️
Katie says
Would love to see the stovetop version added back as well – I’m in a small apartment with no oven 🙁
Vanessa says
I’d like the old recipe too. 🙁
Marianne says
Ditto for the stovetop version!! Went to start cooking this tonight and got derailed by the different recipe.
Dajana says
I would also like the previous recipe. It was a keeper! Wish I had printed it out. 😭
Sheila says
I like to use the way back machine website to find old versions of sites and, for those still wanting the stove top method… I found Nagi’s wonderful stove top recipe here: https://web.archive.org/web/20200505050410/https://www.recipetineats.com/fluffy-coconut-rice/#wprm-recipe-container-21536
Amanda says
I would also love the original version!
Sophie says
I also came back to the bookmarked page and found the recipe had changed. From my memory and making this often, the ingredients are the same, just soak the rice for 20mins then add the rice to the rest of the ingredients in a pot and cook until it’s simmering all over. Then stir once, put the lid on and cook on low for 14 minutes. Then turn off and leave for 10 minutes covered and then fluff the rice and you’re done.
Kim Isaacs says
Me too! I’ve spent ages looking for the previous recipe, and only just realised it has been updated
Stephanie says
Why did this recipe change? I loved the old stove top version with coconut milk.. can you please post again?
Vanda says
I would also love the previous instruction, please! I don’t want to use the oven either and the previous recipe was perfect 😊
Michelle says
We loved your recipe prior to it being updated, would you possibly have a link to the former method with out the step in the oven?
Brit says
I’m so confused?! Where is the recipe for the stove top with the coconut milk, only stir once…. I’m having a brain fart on how much water and the timing 😭😭
Amanda Makiela says
Every single recipe I’ve tried of Nagi’s had been 5*. This is no different. I thought she finally failed this time bc it was too simple. Nope. Huge hit. I hate gluey rice and this was the total opposite. I didn’t have enough time to soak the rice either and I forgot to add the salt (though I added a bit in once it was done cooking). This will be a part of our regular rotation here. Better than any of the coconut rice I’ve had at any restaurant.
Jeanette says
Excellent results even with forgetting to add salt, and choosing to omit the sugar.
No pot to scrub, the oven method using a glazed pot worked perfectly.
Kate says
Rice was absolutely delicious! So fluffy. So yum. Will make this again for sure.
Faye Moretti says
Magi have you changed this recipe recently? I don’t remember having to put it in the oven….
Caroline says
I need the stove top recipe. Went to make it today and didn’t have enough time to do this new baking one.
Laura Hill says
Yes! I think it’s changed. I used to cook this a lot and then I went to refer back to it and now it says to bake it. I will bake it next time as I do end up with burnt bits in my pot! Still an amazing recipe
Faye Moretti says
Nagi! (Autocorrect!)
Julia says
Yes I loved the old recipe. So sad it’s gone missing. Is there some way to get it back please please!