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:
Life of Dozer
A common sighting – Dozer trotting off ahead of me to join his friends on the beach. I get there eventually!!
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.
Nagi, where have you been my whole life??? I’ve been cooking Jasmine rice, following all sorts of advised methods, including rice cookers, for 25 years and the result, invariably gluey, gummy rice. 😐
How easy and perfect. Always thought not rinsing it at least 5 washes, contributed to the stodgy rice, but nope! Nagi comes through again! Brilliant. 💕
Followed instructions and it turned out perfect! My new way to make rice.
Hi Nagi.
I discovered your site a few months ago and have downloaded your cookbooks.
My daughter and I love your thai/vietnamese dishes just did your vietnamese caramelised pork last week and could not believe the magic that happens in the last 10 mins. TOTALLY ADDICTIVE.
Quick question, want to do your Huli Huli chicken next week with the pineapple fried rice. Can I use Tilda brand of ready cooked rice straight from the pack or should I hear it up and leave it 24 hrs before use. Or should I bite the bullet and make it from dried rice?
Hi Christine, I find the texture better to leave rice overnight to dry out – but if you don’t have the time just skip this step. N x
Love to try but please help out with regard to European measurements. I recall an article that cups differ from region to region (US, UK, AU)? How many grams of rice) and ml of water are you referring to?
Thx
Hi Ini, click “metric” just under the ingredients heading – this will help you here. N x
👍🏻 Thx
Do you have a method for cooking jasmine rice in an Instant Pot or do you not recommend that?
I HAD been cooking Jasmine rice wrong all this time! Thank you for posting this, Nagi!
Thank you for this info Nagi, I always wondered why my jasmine rice turned out mushy!
LOVE Dozer,…he makes me smile!!
Hi Nagi. I’m not sure if you’re familiar with this news. Scientists have found high levels of arsenic and other heavy metals in rice and rice products, especially brown rice. They found that heavy rinsing (5-6 times until the water runs clear) lowers the amount present. So I’m in the rice washing camp!!
Here’s an easy to understand article: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/arsenic-in-rice
And here’s one by the US FDA if you are able to read scientific jargon: https://www.fda.gov/files/food/published/Arsenic-in-Rice-and-Rice-Products-Risk-Assessment-Report-PDF.pdf
I’m so glad you posted this, I’ve NEVER been able to get Any rice just right, I can’t wait to try this and not be stuck with a mushy mess.
Wahoo, you’ve got this Anneline – love to know how you go when you try it! N x
Thank you Nagi! I have been cooking Jasmine Rice wrong all these years! I am half Filipino so there’s an expectation I would know how to do it properly but each time it would be soggy and too soft – not anymore! Tried this last night and it was perfect! Thanks so much!
I need help .. I have a rice cooker but I can not get the rice right .. rice ratio with water
Hi Maria, are you using an electric or microwave rice cooker? N x
Hi I’m using a electric rice cooker