Turmeric coconut rice is a simple, one pot side dish recipe that's full of flavor. With a slightly creamy and never-mushy texture, coconut milk, turmeric, fresh ginger, garlic, and more combine with basmati rice for a satisfying side that pairs well with many main dishes.
Preparing a side dish doesn't come naturally to me when I make dinner. A big green side salad with rotating produce, nuts, etc. was ever-present on our dinner table growing up and often acted as our side, and I seem to have adopted the same philosophy as an adult. Main dish, big green salad, maybe some bread? We're set.
My husband comes from a big side dish family, and over the years I've been training myself to intentionally think about making a non-salad side when the opportunity presents itself. Garlic sautéed green beans, air fryer baked potatoes, and creamy polenta from a tube have become some of my trusty options.
This turmeric coconut rice is based on the coconut rice my mother-in-law makes. I've added a few ingredients to zhush up the flavor even more for a satisfying side dish that jazzes up a main protein wonderfully -- though a side salad is always welcome, too.
Reasons to Make This Dish
- The coconut flavor shines and complements the earthy turmeric and ginger flavors.
- Turmeric coconut rice makes a great base for salmon and other fish, grilled chicken, air fryer tofu, and more.
- It can be made with ingredients you often can already have on hand (see my tip on freezing ginger root below).
- The cooked rice can be frozen for convenience.
Recipe Ingredients
- Basmati Rice: This is a long-grain white rice variety that fluffs up when cooked and doesn't turn too sticky. It's a great choice for absorbing the coconut milk and turmeric flavors here, but jasmine rice would also work.
- Coconut Milk: Use the canned variety (not a refrigerated carton, which is very watery and thin). Full-fat, lite, or unsweetened are all fine. The flavor will naturally be more "luxe" and flavorful with full fat, but using lite will have a considerable reduction in calories and saturated fat.
- Coconut Oil: Unrefined or refined work. Unrefined will provide even more coconutty flavor to this turmeric coconut rice, while refined is basically flavorless. You could also use a different cooking oil - I will sometimes use olive oil.
- Ground Turmeric: Bright in both coloring and flavor, this adds a pleasant "sharpness" and earthy flavor. In its fresh form it resembles a smaller ginger root, but ground turmeric is more accessible and used here.
- Ginger: Grated fresh ginger provides another flavor pop here. Do not use ground ginger as it's much milder and won't have the same effect.
- Broth: Vegetable or chicken (if not vegetarian) broth has an edge over plain water when cooking rice when it comes to flavor. I recommend going for a reduced-sodium variety if available.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Tip - Before beginning, place your rice in a large metal sieve and rinse it well under cool water. You can also add it to a bowl, cover with water, and swish it around with your hands before draining. Repeat until the water is clear.
This step rinses away excess starch and leads to fluffier cooked rice. This is applicable to both basmati and jasmine varieties.
- Sauté - Cook the onion in the coconut oil for 6-7 minutes, adding the minced garlic and grated ginger during the last minute of the cook time.
- Toast Rice - Stir in the ground turmeric, then add the rinsed rice (dry). Cook while stirring for 2-3 minutes.
- Add Liquid - Pour a bit of the broth to deglaze the pan (if needed), then add the remainder along with the coconut milk and give everything a big stir. If using regular full-fat coconut milk you may notice larger solidified chunks of coconut cream. That's normal, they'll melt very quickly.
- Cook - Bring everything up to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cover and cook for 10-15 minutes, or until the rice has absorbed all of the liquid. Fluff the turmeric coconut rice with a fork before serving.
Recipe Tips and Tricks
- Staining - Turmeric is so pigmented that it will easily stain utensils, dish towels, clothing etc. I recommend setting away any nice wooden spoons, sentimental linens, etc. before cooking this recipe.
- Serving Suggestions - Fresh chopped cilantro has a nice flavor for garnishing turmeric coconut rice. We also enjoy roasted cashews or peanuts as a topping.
- Freezing Ginger Root - Rinse ginger root with cool water and pat fully dry before freezing whole. When you need fresh grated ginger for a recipe, simply grate it along a microplane zester from frozen. There's no peeling necessary!
- Freezing Rice - Once fully cooled, transfer cooked rice into a zip-top bag. Press out as much excess air as you can before sealing, then freeze for 1-2 months.
Related Recipes
If you’ve enjoyed this recipe, I’d love for you to leave a star rating in the recipe card and/or a comment review below!
Turmeric Coconut Rice
Ingredients
- 2 cups basmati rice or jasmine
- 1 ½ Tablespoons coconut oil or olive oil
- 1 medium onion diced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 Tablespoon fresh grated ginger
- Big pinch kosher salt or to your liking
- Pinch freshly-cracked black pepper or to your liking
- 1 ¼ teaspoons ground turmeric
- 2 cups reduced-sodium broth vegetable or chicken, or water
- 1 13.5-ounce can coconut milk regular or lite
- Chopped fresh cilantro for serving
Instructions
- Add dry rice to a large metal sieve and rinse it thoroughly under cool water. Set aside for now.
- Heat coconut oil in a large saucepan over medium heat, then add the diced onion. Sauté for 5-6 minutes until starting to soften and turn golden, then add the minced garlic, grated ginger, salt, and pepper. Cook for 1 minute more.
- Stir in the ground turmeric, then add the rinsed rice. Stir until evenly combined, then let the rice toast for 2-3 minutes while stirring frequently.Let rice cook for just a few minutes, stirring frequently, and then add coconut milk and water. Stir to combine, and then raise heat to let liquid come to a boil.
- If there are any brown bits stuck to the bottom of the pan, pour in a little bit of the broth to deglaze and scrape them up. Then stir in the remainder of the broth and the coconut milk. Stir to combine.
- Raise the heat to bring everything to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to a simmer and cover the pan. Cook for 10-15 minutes, or until the rice has absorbed all of the liquid. Fluff the cooked rice up with a fork before garnishing with cilantro and serving.
- Store leftover portions in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is provided as an estimate. As it can vary due to many factors (brands used, quantities, etc.), we cannot guarantee its accuracy.
Food Safety and Nutrition DisclaimerNote - This recipe was updated in April 2023 from its initial publish date in 2016. It was scaled up to use one full can of coconut milk for convenience, and now reflects my preference to use broth in place of water. If you're returning from a saved link, you may recognize some of the original photos below.
Beatrice says
This looks and sounds yummy, but I was curious if you could use coconut oil instead of olive oil?
Alyssa says
Hi Beatrice, yes that would work!
Brandi says
I can only find coconut milk in a can at the Asian store. Would that be ok?
Alyssa says
Yes, that is the kind I use!
Carmen Fields says
Question. Can I substitute cauliflower rice for basmati? Should I adjust the recipe in any way. We're trying to do low carb for Thanksgiving and I am considering using this recipe, but substituting the rice.
Alyssa says
Hi Carmen, I haven't made this particular recipe with cauliflower rice, but my concern just subbing it in for the basmati without making any other changes would result in rice that's too soggy. I'd prep the cauliflower rice in your preferred manner (mine is detailed in this post, minus the pesto part: https://www.mysequinedlife.com/parmesan-pesto-cauliflower-rice/ ), adding in the turmeric and salt as it's cooking. Then when it's done cooking, I'd fold in the sauteed onion/garlic/ginger. If you'd like it creamier at that point I'd add a little bit of coconut milk (or your preferred milk) to taste. I hope that's helpful!
Carmen Fields says
Very helpful. Thanks.
Misha says
Wonderful Flavor!! Loved this rice 🙂 I used vegetable broth instead of water and it’s adding to the taste.
Alyssa says
So glad you liked it!
Marilee says
I cant believe the very first commentor said this was bland. Must be a heavy smoker. I made this rice this afternoon as part of a big cook for the week's meals. Im going to bake some tofu and pack it for lunches. The only thing i did differently was simply use all coconut water. I didnt have any coconut. I used a purple onion which was pretty. The flavors were terrific. Sweet and savory. Will be good with tofu. Thank you!
Alyssa says
Glad you like it, Marilee! 🙂 Tofu sounds like a great pairing.
D says
This looked beautiful, however lacking in any depth of flavor. Really bland.
Alyssa says
Hi there, sorry to hear you didn't like this rice. I realize everyone has different tastes, so hopefully you were able to add extra seasonings to make it work.
Alyssa says
Hi Helen, I don't yet have nutrition info on my recipes (working on it!), but I plugged in this recipe to a nutritional calculator (My Fitness Pal) and calculated the following: approximately 160 calories/5g fat/2g protein per serving. That's based on 6 servings. I hope you enjoy!
coco says
what vegan main dish would be good with this, suggestions? open to tofu or something
Alyssa says
Hi Coco, tofu would be great with this. I don't have any tofu recipes on my site (even though I like it), but I found this one that looks great: http://www.veganinsanity.com/recipes/tofu-teriyaki-bowl/ . I'm thinking you could prepare the tofu/veggies/sauce as the recipe states and serve it over or alongside this rice. In fact I may do that myself this week because it looks so good. Or maybe with something like an Asian-inspired veggie burger? This one looks hearty and features black beans: http://www.theleangreenbean.com/asian-black-bean-burgers/ . I hope that helps!
Lea says
Hi I was wondering if this could be adapted in some way to use cauliflower rice? Have you tried it? Any ideas would be very helpful, hubby is recently diagnosed with diabetes so I have to find ways to lower his carb intake.
Alyssa says
Hi Lea, I've never tried this recipe with cauliflower rice, but my concern would be that subbing in cauliflower rice and keeping everything else the same would make it too soggy with the liquid. I just checked out this epicurious article that compared different cauliflower rice cooking methods, and they suggest their microwave method: http://www.epicurious.com/expert-advice/the-best-way-to-make-cauliflower-rice-article - I'm thinking you could prepare the cauliflower rice in your preferred method and then add in the sauteed onion/garlic/ginger/salt, as well as the turmeric/fresh herbs and maybe a tiny bit of coconut milk to make it creamy (if it doesn't make it soggy). That way you'd get a similar flavor. Please let me know if you give it a shot, and best of luck with adapting recipes to be lower carb! 🙂
Mindy says
Can I use dry ground ginger instead of fresh? We don't have it in many stores in Minnesota.
Alyssa says
Hi Mindy, yes you can. I'd use 3/4 or 1 teaspoon of dry ground ginger in place of the freshly grated.
Tricia says
Try looking by the garlic! I get mine from Trader Joe's and they always have fresh ginger root.
Latte says
5 stars! Great recipe, and you can expand on it with any ingredients you like. I added thinly sliced mushrooms and finely chopped broccoli while the rice sauteed, and added 1 tsp hot curry, as these are all items my family likes. I would HIGHLY recommend this as an alternative to the high sodium, pre-packaged rice dishes from Knorr or Lipton. Curiously, I think it tastes better after a night in the fridge, similar to any dish (like jambalaya), where flavors meld even better over time. Try this, you won't be disappointed!
Alyssa says
So glad you liked it! Those sound like awesome additions. Thank you for writing in! 🙂
FE Knight says
Try a hand full of Sultana raisins at the end of cooking.
Alyssa says
That sounds delicious - thank you for the suggestion!
Christine says
Has anyone tried this with shredded cauliflower for a low car meal?
dEBBIE says
I have not heard of basmati rice. Is it available in grocery stores? And I do know turmeric is very healthy for you.
Alyssa says
Hi Debbie, yes basmati rice should be available alongside the other rice varieties in the grocery store. And I love sneaking in turmeric to switch up recipes! 🙂
Mae says
I'm making this for dinner tonight but I'll use cilantro instead of basil.
Bonnie says
I was looking through the messages to see if anyone thought about using cilantro, that was exactly what I was thinking.
Jeff says
Silly question, but are you using dried rice or precooked rice when you add it to the onions?
Alyssa says
Hi Jeff, not a silly question! I use dry rice at that step to toast it at little bit before adding the liquid and allowing it to cook completely. Just for a few minutes, and stirring it up frequently so that it doesn't burn. Hope that helps!
Beth Andrews says
I was wondering the same thing. So the rice will cook completely ? No precooking needed ?
Alyssa says
Hi Beth, yes the rice will cook completely. I add the dry, uncooked rice to the saucepan to toast it just for a minute or two - very briefly. Then all the liquid is added (7 oz coconut milk and 1 1/4 cup water) so the rice absorbs it all as it comes to a boil then simmers for the next 15-20 minutes. The rice cooks in liquid, it's just added to the saucepan just before the liquid. I hope that helps!
Beth Andrews says
thanks, I'm about to start it now. sounds delish
Beth Andrews says
thanks, I'm about to start it now. sounds delish.
all done . So glad I doubled the recipe. It was amazing !! I went all the way to costco to get the rice and it was well worth a saturday trip to Costco.
Alyssa says
I'm so happy you loved it, Beth! I know how crazy Costco can be on the weekends...that's high praise! 🙂
Kat says
Fantastic! Like a party in my mouth!!!! I actually stuck to the recipe exactly which is pretty much a first for me. I'd like to figure out a way to get a little more spice /heat without changing the taste, cause it is sublime!!
Alyssa says
Awesome! So glad to hear you liked it, Kat. 🙂 Hmmm maybe a little bit of ground cayenne or a few drops of hot sauce stirred in could do it without altering the flavor?