You’ve been cooking Jasmine Rice wrong your whole life! Most recipes get it wrong because it’s not widely known that jasmine rice is softer than most, so you need LESS water than normal white rice to be fluffy rather than gummy. Use just 1 1/4 cups water for every 1 cup of rice.
Use for all things Thai – and anything really. It’s just a really great rice!
Also see How to Cook: White rice | Basmati Rice | Brown Rice
How to cook Jasmine Rice
Jasmine rice is a lovely, subtly perfumed rice used across South East Asia. It’s strongly associated with Thai food, and used for serving with everything from Thai marinated chicken to Chilli Basil Stir Fry, Satay Skewers and Thai Red Curry.
It’s also used to make Thai fried rice and Pineapple Fried Rice which is the other recipe I’m sharing today!
The secret for how to cook jasmine rice perfectly
What most people do not know is that jasmine rice is softer than most white rice, which means you need less water in order for the rice to cook so it’s soft and fluffy, rather than gummy on the outside.
So while most rice is cooked with 1.5 cups of water for each cup of rice, for jasmine rice, it’s reduced to 1 1/4 cups of water.
Yes, 1/4 cup really makes a difference! I made a lot of overly soft jasmine rice in my life that I was never really happy with until I finally figured this out.
There is NO NEED to rinse rice!!
Busting an age old myth here – that rinsing the rice is mandatory for fluffy rice. NO it is not! I have made so much rice in my time verifying this exact fact.
Here’s what I know:
- No rinsing – if you use 1 1/4 cups of water for every 1 cup of jasmine rice, your rice will be fluffy even without rinsing
- If you rinse, you must reduce the water by 2 tablespoons to factor in the extra water than remains in the rice (ie 1 1/4 cups water minus 2 tablespoons)
- If you rinse AND soak for 1 hour, you must reduce the water by 3 tablespoons (ie 1 1/4 cups minus 3 tablespoons)
- Rinsing vs no rinsing – rinsing yields a barely noticeable marginal improvement in fluffiness. It would not be noticeable to most people;
- Only rinse IF you buy your rice direct from a rice farm, or similar, to remove debris and anything that night remain from the processing; and
- No need to clean if you buy retail – If you buy rice at the store in shiny plastic packets, your rice should already be clean – and that includes less starch too.
Let’s face it. Rinsing rice is a pain. For an extra 2% fluffiness, it’s just not worth it (in my humble opinion).
If you need to rinse the rice to clean it, if you just can’t break the habit, or if your Asian mother would have your head if you didn’t, here’s how:
- Place rice in bowl, fill with water. Swish with hand then drain. Repeat 3 to 4 times – water will never be completely clear. Drain in colander, cook per recipe.
How to cook Jasmine Rice
Once you get the rice and water ratio right, then the steps are exactly the same as cooking normal white rice and basmati rice:
- RAPID SIMMER – Put water and rice in saucepan, bring to simmer on high heat as fast as you can. You want the whole surface to be rippling, the edges bubbling and white foam;
- COVER and turn to LOW – Turn heat down and cover, cook 12 minutes. Do not lift lid!
- Stand 10 minutes to let the rice finish cooking. If you skip this, the grains are wet and slightly hard in the middle;
- Fluff! Use a rubber spatula or rice paddle – this stops the grains breaking (Jasmine rice is softer than most white rices).
And voila! Fluffy Jasmine rice. 🙂
Use for all things Thai, Vietnamese dishes, stir fries, and use for fried rice like Nasi Goreng. Though traditionally associated with South East Asian foods, it will goes perfectly with any Asian foods, and even Indian food if you don’t have basmati rice.
And just generally for anything you want to serve with rice, whether Asian or not! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
Hungry for more? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.
How to cook Jasmine Rice (stove)
Ingredients
No rinsing method:
- 1 cup jasmine rice
- 1 1/4 cups water (cold tap water)
Rinsed rice:
- 1 cup jasmine rice
- 1 1/4 cups MINUS 2 tbsp water
Instructions
No rinsing (my everyday method):
- Place rice and water in a medium saucepan (one with a tight fitting lid). Bring to rapid simmer with NO LID on medium high.
- Turn down to low or medium low so it's simmering gently, then place lid on. Do not lift lid during cook.
- Cook 12 minutes or until water is absorbed by rice - tilt pot to check (if lid not glass, then QUICKLY lift lid to check).
- Keep the lid on then remove from heat. Stand 10 minutes, fluff with rubber spatula or rice paddle, then serve.
RINSED RICE (Note 3):
- Place rice in a bowl, fill with water and swish. Once cloudy, drain. Repeat 2 - 3 more times until water is pretty clear - it will never be completely clear.
- Drain rice in a colander, transfer to saucepan.
- Add water - 1 1/4 cups of water MINUS 2 tablespoons per 1 cup of rice. Follow cook steps above in No Rinsing.
Recipe Notes:
- Use a medium to large saucepan for up to 2 cups. For 3 cups rice+, use a pot.
- If lid is not tight fitting or heavy, then you may get bubble overflow - reduce heat if this happens, it will subside as water gets absorbed by rice.
- Glass lid is easiest - you can see what's going on inside without lifting the lid, especially useful at end to check if all water is absorbed.
- Reason we bring to simmer without lid is to reduce risk of overflow once lid goes on. If you bring to simmer with lid on, you need to be more careful about exactly when you turn the heat down so it doesn't get foamy overflow. Much easier to to lid off first, then lid on when you turn it down.
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
A common sighting – Dozer trotting off ahead of me to join his friends on the beach. I get there eventually!!
I have been following your blog for a few months and needed a new method for cooking jasmine rice after my last four times failed on my new stove. I searched on google and saw your recipe at the top of the list and decided to try it out since I love your other recipes. This worked PERFECTLY! I doubled the recipe, set timers, and the rice turned out fantastic. I am so glad I discovered this blog. (I’m also going to use one of your turkey breast recipes on Thanksgiving and am excited to try it).
Thank you for such clean, clear notes with a lot of information for us (me) novices! I was curious if you had any direction on how to store cooked rice/reheat (aside from making delicious fried rice)? Not even sure if that’s a thing-again, novice. Thanks so much for a great recipe!!
Best rice recipe ever! 1st time my Jasmine rice came out great. I made 1 1/2 cups rice to 1 7/8 cups water – followed your instructions and voila! My “Queen of Rice” neighbor will be so proud – she never measures, her mom taught her !
Sooooo I usually use my instant pot to make my rice and today I was at my Mother in Law’s house. I was terrified to make rice on the stove and then I came upon this site. My rice was cooked perfectly and I haven’t been kicked out of the family yet. Thanks!
PERFECT. Nagi, your recipes are the best, both for the flavours and directions. OMG this turned out perfectly. I served it with turkey fricassee and the rice was soft but still had some ‘chew’, not mushy. Thank you!
Wow the best rice I have made so simple just that little bit less water, makes such a difference thanks
You’re so welcome Karen!! N x
I’m in the UK and the packaging says to rinse before AND after cooking, which has always seemed like far too much effort to me, plus the rice comes out mushy. Your method gave PERFECT rice without the drama! Thank you so much for sharing, I’m going to do this every time ☺️
Thank you so much Nagi!! I’ve been struggling to make good Jasmine rice on the stove top for ages and your recipe finally provided the reason – I was always washing my rice beforehand, which threw off the rice/water ratio and made it too sticky. I tried your recipe last night without washing the rice and it came out absolutely perfect! Thank you thank you thank you!!!
Perfect every time for the first time in my life. And tonight I have thrown a piece of chicken on top and Hainese sauce ( Ayam) and it is so yummy
Hey Nagi, I recently just discovered your website and absolutely love it! I was browsing thru rhe recipes and found this and was curious so I read thru it. Im filipino, as you know we eat rice 24/7, from breakfast to our desserts, even our in-betweens. Lol. Rice is life as we may say. But in regards to this way of rice cooking, Its great that you experimented on it. I grew up cooking it from a rice cooker, so its nice to know a different technique on preparing it. Thank you for sharing!
You’d be surprised that this tastes just as good as rice that you rinse except you actually get to keep the starch goodness
Nagi, I always learn so much from you! A question: how do I stop my rice water foaming over the edges of the saucepan. Happens EVERY TIME, and makes cooking rice VERY messy for my stovetop! Thanks!
Hi Meredith! It’s a few things: making sure the lid is heavy enough (economical pot lids are really light, the glass lid you see in my saucepan is heavier than those, it’s a scanpan), using a large saucepan (smaller = less space for foam) and lastly, bring to a boil / rapid simmer first THEN turn down the heat THEN put the lid on. This order makes a big difference to overflow – if you put the lid on to speed up bringing to a boil, it traps the heat build up and you’re guaranteed foam overflow 🙂 If you bring to boil first, then lower, THEN put lid on, less heat is trapped! N x
Well, I cooked it according to your recipe after posting my comment, and there was no overflow! Thank you!! I broke my rice cooker and now don’t need to replace it! You’re the best Nagi – my friend and I always say you’re our favourite person because your recipes are always perfection!
Omg Nagi, this is amazing! I never thought to do this before on the stove. I used to just boil the rice in heaps of water and the end result was always so gluey and watery 😂 the rice tonight turned out perfect!
OMG…where has this recipe been all my life. I grew up with an Asian mom and I was taught to rinse the rice. We recently moved to a different state and I don’t have my rice cooker yet so I was scrambling to find a stove top version (I’m not good at cooking rice). I followed the instructions and BAM!!! It came out perfect!!!! Going to make it again tonight!!!
My rice was perfect! My rice cooker recently died, and I was looking at replacing it with a (very expensive) Cuckoo rice cooker.
So glad I found this because I can now delay buying a new rice cooker (maybe forever?)! Thank you!
This is the BEST Pia!!! N x
Okay, this is wonderful! I’ve always gotten flawless results with a rice cooker, but the problem there is that there was always a layer of scorched rice stuck to the bottom—almost enough to amount to a full serving.
I tried your stovetop method in one of those Blue Diamond saucepans (a cup of rice and 1.25 cups of water, plus three good slices of butter). The result is almost perfect; I should maybe simmer a little faster because even after the ten-minute post-simmer wait, there was still a bit of extra firmness in the middle of the grains, but there was no rice stuck to the bottom of the pan. This is definitely the right track. I wonder if maybe an extra tablespoon of water would help, in addition to an extra couple of minutes of letting it sit after cooking.
Thank you for the recipe!
I’m definitely sold on this method.
I’ve been struggling to cook rice over a stove since moving out of home. I’ve used a rice cooker all my life. By following your recipe I’ve bloody perfected it! Thank you!
You are amazing! It looks great and I’m going to try it because I’ve tried a dozen ways and I’m still not happy with my Jasmine rice. BTW, I’ve noticed that different brands cook differently . Thank you Nagi, I love your site <3
Nagi, you just smash it out of the park every time. Thank you for demystifying the absorption method which I have never had success with until now. We have a gas cooktop so I used a simmer mat to keep the temperature under the pan very low for 12 minutes. My curry (well, technically your red curry) wasn’t ready after the 10 minute resting time so I just left the lid on the rice pan for another 10 minutes until the curry was done and the rice turned out perfectly.
This is truly the best steam Rice I have ever made! Right on point! Thanks so much for sharing the recipe, I highly recommend for those looking to finally cook Jazmin rice right.