Don’t let your side dish be an afterthought! We love making this coconut rice recipe to serve with Grilled Thai Pork Tenderloin with Coconut Lime Peanut Sauce and Grilled Cilantro Lime Chicken Thighs. I grew up in a potato-loving family (my mom is from Idaho after all), but my husband and kids are obsessed with rice, so that’s what we eat more than any other side dish. Our youngest, who is now in 2nd grade, even tells everyone that rice is her favorite food. I have amassed quite a collection of rice dishes on here for some of our favorites like Homemade Mexican Rice (aka Spanish Rice), Easy Cilantro Lime Rice, Instant Pot Brown Rice, and Easy Rice Pilaf with Orzo Pasta. Then there are the main dishes that are rice-centric like Instant Pot Red Beans & Rice or Garlic Rice with Fried Egg! If you love rice like we do, you can always use the search feature of the blog to find even more rice recipes since I can’t name them all here! But this coconut jasmine rice has been a go-to side dish for us for years and years. It’s got a hint of sweetness to it, but is more savory with an almost nutty, buttery flavor to it that goes so well with so many meals. Coconut rice takes hardly any time at all to prepare and is a great way to get kids helping with meals since they can throws this together lickety-split. Get it going on the stovetop, in your rice cooker, or instant pot and you can work on the rest of dinner while it cooks.
Recipe Ingredients
Rice: Jasmine rice, preferably, although we have made this recipe with long-grain white rice and it still turns out delicious.Coconut milk: Go for full fat coconut milk for the best flavor and texture. Water: The rest of the liquid used to cook the rice is just plain old water.Sugar & salt: These two season and balance out the rice while letting the coconut and jasmine rice be the real stars.Cilantro: This is really just for garnish and you can skip it if you don’t have any on hand.
How to Make Coconut Rice
Recipe Tips
If you want to elevate your coconut rice even more, try sprinkling some toasted coconut and lime juice over the top for even more of a tropical flavor.Use a tight-fitting lid. This helps keep the steam in the pot to cook the rice all the way through. Don’t stir the rice after it starts cooking. After the initial stir to combine all of the ingredients, leave the rice alone to let it do it’s thing. Stirring can lead to gummy rice.
What goes well with coconut rice?
Anything grilled, tropical, Caribbean, or Thai will go well with coconut rice. Here are some of our favorites.
Macadamia Nut Crusted Mahi-MahiEasy Honey Walnut ShrimpPan Seared ScallopsEasy Grilled Shrimp SkewersBacon-Wrapped Pork TenderloinGrilled Whole FishThe BEST Orange Chicken15 Minute Pan Seared SalmonMongolian Beef
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