This recipe for Sweet and Savory Coconut Rice is an old-school Our Best Bites classic that is pretty much my go-to side dish with any summery, tropical meal.
It’s one of those recipes I just know by heart and always have the ingredients for in my pantry (if you love tropical rice, another delicious standby is our Lime-Cilantro Pineapple Rice!)
I originally posted this recipe over 10 years ago when my 12-year-old looked like this:
and my 14-year-old had little feet like this:
And my 7 year old wasn’t even a twinkle in my eye, as my dad would say.
So now that we all feel really old, let’s eat carbs!
Combine rice, water,
coconut milk,
salt, sugar,
and vinegar, in a saucepan and bring to a boil Turn heat to low and cover for 20 minutes or until most of the liquid is absorbed. Allow to stand 5 minutes. Add green onions, black pepper (if desired), and additional salt if necessary.
Sweet and Savory Coconut Rice
Ingredients
- 2 cups Jasmine or Basmati rice
- 1 can coconut milk
- 2 cups water
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- Splash of white or rice wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon white sugar
- Handful of chopped green onions plus chopped green onion tops for garnish
- Black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Combine rice, coconut milk, water, salt, vinegar, and sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil Turn heat to low and cover for 20 minutes or until most of the liquid is absorbed. Allow to stand 5 minutes. Add green onions, black pepper (if desired), and additional salt if necessary.
- Serve with any Asian or tropical-inspired food.
Serve with any Asian or tropical-inspired food, like…
- Teriyaki Chicken or Beef
- Bacon-Wrapped Teriyaki Chicken Skewers
- Sweet and Savory Flank Steak
- Asian BBQ Chicken
- Chili-Lime Mango Chicken Skewers
- Spicy Honey Chicken
- Dr. Pepper Pork Tenderloin
- Or just check out our Asian, Latin, Tropical, and Grilled sections and see if anything grabs you (metaphorically, not literally…if something from our site literally grabs you, then please alert a medical professional.)
Questions & Reviews
Awesome recipe. I made it with the spicy honey chicken and our guests went nuts. This is a new favorite. Love it so much! Will make it often. I was wondering about the light coconut milk so thanks for the tip there. I will try it….especially when we don’t have guests and I will be eating most of it! 🙂
We actually love this with the “Indian-spiced pork (except we use chicken)”! So easy and soooooo tasty 🙂
Thanks so much! It was so easy to make, used few ingredients (I had everything in my cabinet), and was super delicious!
DELICIOUS! I actually put all of the ingredients in my rice cooker and it came out perfect! Thanks for the great recipes!
I made this tonight with the chile lime chicken and mango skewers. I did a little experiment as I was wondering how the coconut rice would work with LIGHT coconut milk. There is quite a difference in fat and calories. I made one batch of rice with a 13.6 oz can of regular coconut milk (700 calories, 70g fat) and another with the same size can of LIGHT coconut milk (250 calories, 22.5g fat). There was not a huge difference in the taste or texture of the rice. I did a taste test with my family, two of my kids figured out which was the real deal ( the littlest one couldn't tell) but my husband couldn't tell them apart.
This will go PERECT with the chicken and peanut sauce I am making this week! Looks awesome.
Think it will cook just the same if I use a rice cooker instead?
Fletch- I think that sounds like an awesome combo! Sometimes mistakes lead to the yummiest things! lol
I actually got this recipe confused with your lime-cilantro rice and added pineapple at the last minute. I thought it made the rice so much more flavorful and added some contrast to the onion and coconut. I'm going to keep this new recipe around for good. We loved it.
(You all need to add the pineapple to this one. Yummy!)
this will sound like a strange question, but we are heading to Seattle in a month and I was wondering what beach you took those pictures at? I'd LOVE to hit the beach while we are there!
Oh-and we are having this recipe with our dinner tonight! 🙂
Made this tonight with Curried Peanut Shrimp (via Cooking Light) and it was SO good! It will definitely go into our regular rotation. I used jasmine rice and I wasn't watching it quite close enough so it scorched a bit on the bottom, but even with a few burned bits it was still outstanding! I loved the sticky texture and the flavor of the coconut really came through nicely!