Jasmine Rice

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 so it’s fluffy rather than gummy.  Use just 1 1/4 cups water for every 1 cup of jasmine rice (the standard for typical white rice is 1 1/2 cups water to 1 cup rice).

Use for all things Thai – and anything really. It’s just a really great 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 the many Thai curries out there.

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

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How to cook Jasmine Rice (stove)

Author: Nagi

Prep: 1 min

Cook: 12 mins

Rest: 10 mins

Sides

Asian, Modern Vietnamese, Thai

4.99 from 96 votes

Servings3 - 4

Tap or hover to scale

Print

• 1960

Recipe video above. The key to fluffy jasmine rice is to use less water than usual because it's a softer rice - only 1 1/4 cups for each 1 cup of rice. Most recipes get this wrong and the rice is way too soft/gummy.

Rinsing is optional - it barely makes a difference to fluffiness (see comments in post). And it's a pain! Also, if you rinse, you need to reduce water by 2 tablespoons to factor in that the rice becomes waterlogged!

1 cup rice = 3 cups cooked = 3 to 4 servings as a side.

Ingredients

CupsMetric

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:

1. Saucepan:

• 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.

2. You need simmer, if it sits there doing nothing then the rice bloats and goes gummy.

3. Rinsing - only rinse if a) force of habit you can't break; b) you bought direct from a rice farm or similar and the rice might need cleaning (Retail rice sold in packets is clean); or c) your Asian mum would have your head if you didn't rinse. 😂

Reduce water - If you rinse the rice, you must reduce the water by 2 tablespoons to account for the water that's waterlogged in the rice. That is - use 1 1/4 cups MINUS 2 tablespoons of water per 1 cup of rice (per ingredients list).

4. Nutrition per serving, assuming 4 servings.

Nutrition Information:

Calories: 169cal (8%)Carbohydrates: 37g (12%)Protein: 3g (6%)Fat: 1g (2%)Saturated Fat: 1g (6%)Sodium: 6mgPotassium: 53mg (2%)Fiber: 1g (4%)Sugar: 1g (1%)Calcium: 13mg (1%)Iron: 1mg (6%)

Keywords: how to cook jasmine rice, Jasmine rice

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