Recipe Overview
Why you’ll love it: Why settle for anything less than perfectly cooked jasmine rice that’s never soggy or dry? Don’t just follow the instructions on the package! With a few tricks up your sleeve, you can make sure your jasmine rice turns out fluffy and perfect every time.
How long it takes: 25 minutes
Equipment you’ll need: saucepan with lid
Servings: makes about 3 cups
Jasmine rice is a type of long-grain white rice that is grown throughout southeast Asia and is best known for its use in Thai cuisine. It has a slightly sticky texture when cooked, perfect to soak up sauces from stir fries and curries.
Like basmati rice, jasmine rice has a distinct aroma, which sets it apart from so many other white rice varieties. While it is a neutral accompaniment to other dishes, jasmine rice also brings its own flavor to the table.
Improper cooking can ruin jasmine rice, leaving it soggy and sad, or dried out and stuck to the pan. (Cleaning cooked-on rice from a saucepan is the worst.) Luckily it’s easy to get it right. Keep reading to learn how to cook jasmine rice. It’s easy!
My Method Of Cooking Jasmine Rice
- It’s fail-proof. Seriously, if you follow these steps as written, your jasmine rice will turn out every time: fluffy, not too dry, not too wet!
- No special equipment needed. You don’t need a special rice cooker to make jasmine rice. If you have a saucepan with a tightly fitting lid, you can cook jasmine rice. (That being said, if you love your pressure cooker, you might want to try my Instant Pot jasmine rice. It turns out really well, too, in about the same amount of time.)
What You’ll Need
- Water: While you might use stock or broth for other varieties of rice, I recommend simply using water so the flavor of the jasmine rice really shines through.
- Kosher Salt: Adding salt at the beginning of the cooking time makes the rice much more flavorful than seasoning afterwards.
- Olive Oil or Butter: These are optional.
- Jasmine Rice: While you can find jasmine rice at any grocery store, you can usually get it cheaper (and in larger quantities!) at an Asian market. Rice has a long shelf-life, up to ten years or more, if stored properly.
- Saucepan with Lid: A medium-sized heavy-bottomed saucepan works best. A tight-fitting lid is required, too.
Cooking Tip
You can customize jasmine rice by adding aromatics like lemongrass or ginger for additional flavor.
How To Cook Jasmine Rice
Bring water to a boil. Combine water, salt, and oil or butter (if you’re using them) in a saucepan. Cover the pan and bring the water to a boil over high heat.
Stir in the rice.
Simmer for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to low and cover the pot again. Simmer for 15 minutes. Do not lift the lid during this time or stir the rice. The steam trapped inside is crucial for cooking the rice evenly!
Let the rice rest for 5 minutes.Take the rice off the heat but leave the cover on the pan. Let the rice sit in the covered pan for an additional 5 minutes. It will continue to absorb the liquid and steam until it’s ready to eat.
Serve. Remove the lid from the pot and use a fork to gently fluff the rice. Serve with your favorite dish or eat it unadorned.
To Rinse Or Not To Rinse
Rinsing jasmine rice is often recommended. We tested this recipe multiple times both ways: rinsing and not rinsing. We found that at best, rinsing didn’t make a difference. At worst, the rinsed rice was too sticky when cooked.
What Goes Well With Jasmine Rice
- Stir-fries: Jasmine rice pairs well with stir-fried dishes, such as beef stir fry with vegetables, shrimp and broccoli stir fry, and sweet and sour chicken stir fry.
- Curries: The light texture of jasmine rice makes it perfect for soaking up flavorful curries like butternut squash curry and vegetarian curry with cauliflower & chickpeas.
- Other Asian dishes: Serve jasmine rice alongside creamy coconut shrimp, teriyaki salmon, and grilled shrimp kabobs with pineapple. It goes well with crockpot teriyaki chicken and Instant Pot honey sriracha chicken.
- If you love rice, be sure to try coconut rice and cilantro lime rice, too.
If you want to save time on busy weeknights, make a big batch of jasmine rice ahead of time and store it in the fridge. Use it for curries and meal bowls over the next few days.
Refrigerate/Freeze: Leftover jasmine rice can be stored in the refrigerator for up to three days or frozen for up to three months.
Reheat: Stir in a tablespoon or two of liquid (water, broth). Reheat the rice in a saucepan on the stove over low heat, or in the microwave. If the rice is frozen, do not thaw first.
Jasmine rice is an excellent base for my easy fried rice recipe. Did you know that leftover rice works much better for fried rice than freshly made rice?
More Rice Recipes
How to Cook Jasmine Rice
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups water
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon olive oil or butter, if desired
- 1 cup jasmine rice
Instructions
- In a heavy-bottomed saucepan with a tight-fitting lid, combine the water, salt, and oil or butter if desired. Cover pan.1 ½ cups water, ½ teaspoon kosher salt, 1 tablespoon olive oil or butter, if desired
- Bring the water to a boil over high heat. When it’s boiling, add the rice and stir once.1 cup jasmine rice
- Reduce the heat to low and cover the pot with the lid. Simmer the rice for 15 minutes. Do not lift the lid during this time; the steam trapped inside is crucial for cooking the rice evenly. Take the rice off the heat, leaving covered, and steam for an additional 5 minutes.
- Remove the lid from the pot, and using a fork, gently fluff the rice. This helps separate the grains and prevents clumping.
Notes
- Yield: 1 cup of uncooked rice will yield about 3 cups of cooked rice. You can easily double the recipe. Use 3 cups water and 2 cups rice, for 6 cups of cooked rice.
- Helpful Tips:
- Always use a heavy-bottomed pot with a tight-fitting lid to prevent steam from escaping.
- Avoid stirring the rice during cooking, as it can make the grains stick together. It’s also important to leave the pan covered so as to not let steam escape.
- Flavor enhancements: Customize your jasmine rice by adding aromatics like lemongrass or ginger for additional flavor.
- Storage: Leftover jasmine rice can be stored in the refrigerator for up to three days or frozen for 3 months. Reheat it in the microwave or on the stovetop with a little water to refresh it.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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