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!!
The best reason to rinse any rice thoroughly is not to make it fluffier, but rather to remove some of the arsenic.
This has to be the best way to cook fluffy jasmine rice. Best rice I’ve ever cooled. Very impressed, obviously Dozer had some influence here. Thanks Nagi
Hi Nagi. Need some help microwave-cooking Jasmine rice. Your directions are for stovetop. Cold water/hot water, water to rice ratio, covered/ uncovered, how long?
thank you Nagi! this is a never fail recipe!!!!! simple quick and easy!!!
OMG! Me and my better half are over 50 years old. We have been cooking rice wrong our entire lives!
Nagi’s recipe on fluffy rice is now the way I cook rice
Excellent recipe. Best Jasmine rice I’ve made.
Thank you, it worked like a charm. I had almost given up on rice, and what an empty life that would’ve been!
Thank you for providing this method. I love Thai jasmine rice because it is very aromatic.
I did no rinse version and used a non-stick pan. I’m from the UK for reference and found the instructions perfect. Rice does become a little softer (but not mushy) after standing for longer than 10 minutes, my own fault for putting the rice on too soon!
I made it exactly as you instructed and it came out exactly as you said it would. Perfect! Thanks so much!
The best jasmine rice I’ve cooked in a pot.
I had made Jasmine rice once before and it was crunchy! The recipe on the bag isn’t very clear on how to cook it. I was cooking it again tonight, that’s how I found your recipe. It was perfect!! Thank you do sharing!
I was a skeptic,…but this method is fast, simple and it really works. Thanks for sharing the secret to tender, fluffy Jasmine Rice. So good!
Hi Nagi, your method always turns out perfectly but I always have rice stuck to the bottom of the saucepan. Is this par for the course or am I doing something wrong.
Same here. Did you find a solution for the sticky rice at the bottom of the pot ?
Sounds like you used the wrong pan. You want to use a non-stick pan. Surprised choice of pan lining not specified, rice always sticks to a stainless steel pan because there’s no water or oil to stop it from sticking. Hope that helps 🙂
rice needs a heavy bottomed pot and a lower heat or it tends to stick. After its cooked and especially on an electric stove move the pot off the burner for the resting time.
This turned out perfectly. Followed the directions to the letter and it was excellent. The rice was the perfect amount of sticky and fluffy without being mushy or too hard.
Great recipe! I tried the no risning method and the rice turned out amazing. I have always had problem with making rice because on the bottom, my rice became scorched. This time the rice way fluffy and nice thoroughly. I boiled on very low heat.
This came out perfect! Thank you!
I’m a pretty avid cook, but have never been a huge fan of rice, so I never make it. However, my girlfriend loves it so I had to find a method that consistently made great rice.
Out of a half dozen or so, this one takes the cake and is my go-to for long grain rice. It’s fluffy, soft (but not too soft), and great for an all purpose rice.
Thanks to this recipe even I’m coming around to enjoying rice.
Hello! 3 cups of rice is more than I eat in a very long time. Can I cut this into thirds? Will it come out correctly?
Hi if you make too much allow to cool and freeze to make fried rice..
This recipe is great. I love that it shared how to alter the water-to-rice ratio depending on whether you soak or rinse the rice. The rice was delicious!