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:
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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
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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)
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If you rinse AND soak for 1 hour, you must reduce the water by 3 tablespoons (ie 1 1/4 cups minus 3 tablespoons)
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Rinsing vs no rinsing – rinsing yields a barely noticeable marginal improvement in fluffiness. It would not be noticeable to most people;
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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
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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:
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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:
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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;
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COVER and turn to LOW – Turn heat down and cover, cook 12 minutes. Do not lift lid!
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Stand 10 minutes to let the rice finish cooking. If you skip this, the grains are wet and slightly hard in the middle;
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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!!
I’ve been using your jasmine rice exile for a few years m. Didn’t realize ‘till recently that it is Dozer’s recipe! 😂
Always wondered why it was watery before. Perfect rice now.
Thank you, Robyn
Over the moon..as other say never had any luck with rice..all the washing and ratios..thought right let’s try..no washing rice, followed to the latter and rice perfect 👌 over the moon! Thank you!!!
Perfect!!
I’ve never had success with stovetop rice until now. The decreased water, no rinse, no stirring, rapid heat…. it all worked! The rice was perfectly cooked and so fluffy, thank you!!
FOR THE FIRST TIME….I MADE PERFECT RICE!
Turned it into pork fried rice and i made char sui….just perfect!
TU
Perfect and fluffy rice everytime! This is my go to recipe and it’s always made beautifully cooked rice. Also, super easy to follow.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Following the instructions on the bag has lead me to have been doing this wrong for years.
Finally, fluffy, tender Jasmine rice.
This is great. It’s so simple. Tks
Having had issues with cooking rice forever, since I found your guides to stovetop rice, all of my rice types have cooked perfectly every time. GENIUS!!!
I thought I needed to buy a rice cooker but I’m saving my money! This comes out perfect every time! Thanks Nagi for helping me pinch my pennies.
I’ve always had a difficult time doing rice on the stove. Thank you for your tips on basic stovetop preparation of Jasmine rice. It worked perfectly.
Can I use chicken broth instead of water?
Yes! I’ve used many different types of broths and stocks in place of water, and it comes out fine.
Life changing instructions! I’ve been so unhappy with gummy, gluey rice I started buying the boil in bag (I know!). Then I found this “recipe” and I am making fluffy, delicious rice now! I make the fried rice recipe from this site all the time, I toss in all types of veggies and usually shrimp, and add grated ginger. It’s fantastic! Thank you so much!
Great recipe! The only rice I have been successful making is Alton Brown’s baked brown rice. Now I have another rice technique up my sleeve – thank you!
My rice turned out perfect following your directions- I have never had rice turn out. I thank you.
I never quite get jasmine rice right so I hopped online tonight and looked for a different set of directions. I tried yours and I have to thank you. Your method gave me fluffy, perfect rice for the first time in years. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Very informational content about Jasmine Rice. Thank you so much.
Hi Nagi,
I bought a pricy rice cooker thinking I would get the best
Jasmine rice from it but no.
My rice was always soft and to wet and moist Read your post about the wrong way of cooking rice.
I adjusted the water levels as recommended, did not rinse the rice as I would normally do and this made all the difference
A last, perfect rice!
Thanks for sharing.
Rene
Finally explained after many years. THANK YOU!
re: pic:
Dozer really proud of his tail, n’est pas?
This recipe DOES NOT WORK! I just ruined a pot full of rice following these instructions!! 1 and 1/4 cup of water per 1 cup of rice WAS correct. But NOT the time suggested!! It takes 15-20 minutes to cook Jasmine rice. Not 12 minutes with an additional 10 minutes to soak up all that steam! Cook your rice 15 minutes and let it sit on a cool burner or another 5+ minutes. Rice costs money so thanks for the waste!!
And yet all the other comments on here, and my own experience, say that the recipe works perfectly! I’ve made this dozens of times, exactly as per the recipe. Maybe it’s your timer that’s the problem. Your attitude could do with some work too.
Quite right! It seems to me it is excellent idea. I agree with you.
Perfectly cooked! Thank you so much!