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!
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 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)
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:
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Hi Nagi, love your recipes, just wanted to know if i need to velvet the chicken ?
Hi Shilps, this is a jasmine rice recipe that you’ve commented on – which recipe are you making? N x
If I want to make a lot more rice, like 5 cups, would the water to rice ratio be the same? Would I have to increase cooking time?
Nagi,
THANK YOU! Excellent instructions. Perfect Jasmine Rice. Never could get this to turn out right. Now I can. Kudos to recipetineats.com.
Wahoo! That’s awesome Lisa! N x
Thank you!! Rice comes out perfect every time!! How do the actual rice manufacturers get it sooo wrong!!
I’ve made this twice and both times the rice was still slightly hard. I even tried adding a bit more water the 2nd time but it didn’t change much. Any idea why this could happen? I let it steam longer hoping it would soften up but it still didn’t
Hi Honey, sorry you’re having issues, can you tell me what type of rice you’re using??? N x
Hi, I am using jasmine rice.
THANK YOU! Followed this recipe to the letter for the non-rinse method (weighing out the rice / water in grams) and it turned out perfect. Will use this technique moving forward.
What am I going wrong for? The rice sticks to the bottom of the pot.
Hi Cal, just try turning the heat down a little, this will stop the water from evaporating too quickly and the rice sticking to the bottom of the pan :). N x
In my experience that usually means you’re leaving the heat on too high during the cooking process once the lid is on and the heat is supposed to be turned down low.
A very good and detailed account. I didn’t know Jasmine rice was softer etc.
Followed this to compliment your malaysian satay – it turned out perfect…
Perfect Joyce, I’m so glad you enjoyed it! N x
What about spices? Need to add salt? Pepper? Anything else?
Wow – perfect rice – thank you sooo much!
Absolutely bang on!
This was great. Thank you! If I want to double it, would you reduce the water too? I wasn’t sure. Thank you!
Amazinggg. I looked for a recipe for perfect stovetop rice after I made the rice as per my Hello Fresh recipe card and it turned out awful. This is foolproof and I may never invest in a rice cooker now??!!
My jasmine rice cooked quicker than 12 minutes but I still let it sit for 10 minutes and it came out PERFECT!!
Works every dang time! Thank you for this, Nagi.
I followed Your step by step directions for jasmine rice and it was perfect. My rice came out perfectly. Thank you!
Oh my gosh. This resulted in the most perfect jasmin rice. This will be my jasmin rice bible from now on. I cooked mine in mostly water with a touch of leftover chicken broth, (probably 1/4 cup).
Followed this exactly, except that the water was gone after 9.5 minutes. Took it off the heat and rested 10 mins. This was the best jasmine rice I have ever had. fully cooked and not at all mushy…pure perfection! Thanks for sharing!
First person, who actually knew how to cook rice!