This Coconut Cilantro Rice is ready in about 20 minutes and makes the most delicious side dish! This rice is full of flavor and the perfect accompaniment to almost any main dish!
It is our go to side dish and I'm sure it will become yours too!
Do you have a favorite cuisine?
It would be hard for me to choose one over the other. I love Greek - give me all the Kalamata olives please. I love Italian - I never say no to pasta.
But if I absolutely had to pick a favorite, it would be Southeast Asian. Southeast Asian cuisine covers a range of cuisines: Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Burma, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia.
From those regions, my favorites are Vietnamese cuisine and Thai food! We eat a lot of it. So, I am always looking for side dishes to go with spicy, sticky main dishes.
I wanted something cool and a bit rich to go with my Thai Sticky Chicken, so I turned to my go to rice side dish.
Click here to pin this Coconut Cilantro Rice Recipe now!
Ingredients
- Cilantro - try to buy organic cilantro if you can, if not be sure and wash it good.
- Water - you can make this recipe with all coconut milk, but I find adding some water helps keep the rice a little lighter and fluffier.
- Coconut Milk - I usually buy organic, but I don't think it's completely necessary. This article, What is Coconut Milk and Are You Using the Right Kind might be a helpful read for everything you want to know about coconut milk.
- Rice - this recipe works with either white rice or jasmine rice, if you use brown rice, you will need to increase the cooking time. I usually buy organic.
- Salt and Pepper - what would we do without them?
Directions
Over medium heat in a medium saucepan, bring the coconut water and milk to a boil.
Stir in the rice.
Turn the heat to low and cover the pot.
Simmer, covered for 17 minutes.
Turn off the heat and let it stand for 5 minutes.
Stir in the cilantro and season with salt and pepper.
As you can see, this was the perfect side dish to go with our Honey Sriracha Salmon! The coconut and cilantro paired perfectly with the spicy salmon.
Make weeknight dinners easy again with this super easy and super flavorful side dish!
More Rice Side Dishes
Creamy Butter Parmesan Rice - chicken broth, garlic, shallots, rice, parmesan cheese, and butter!
Curried Mango Rice - mangoes, rice, cilantro, ginger, curry powder, oil and coconut milk.
Instant Pot Sesame Ginger Rice - rice, ginger, toasted sesame oil and salt!
Recipe
Coconut Cilantro Rice
Ingredients
- 1 cup coconut milk
- ½ cup water
- 1 cup rice
- ¼ cup cilantro chopped
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Place a medium saucepan on the stove over medium heat.
- Add the water and coconut milk and bring to a boil.
- Stir in the rice.
- Cover and simmer for 17 minutes. Turn off the heat and let it sit, covered, for 5 minutes.
- Remove the lid, stir in the cilantro. Season with salt and pepper.
Betty Davies says
I made this to go with a green curry I made, it was the perfect accompaniment! Easy to make and really yummy!
Cyndy says
You had me at Cilantro! I loved the added flavor of the coconut milk also! Delicious
Jere Cassidy says
I am so making this recipe, I love cilantro rice but never thought about adding coconut milk.
Sally says
I love how simple and tasty this rice dish is - goes great with your sriracha salmon (which is amazingly delicious!) Looking forward to trying more of your recipes!
Anita says
This is so simple and so delicious. I ran out of cilantro, and the rice still tastes really good even without it.
David Marshall says
what would you serve wth this ? Wine ?
Pam Greer says
I served it with Honey Sriracha Salmon and Thai Sticky Chicken. It's also good with roasted chicken.
Veena Azmanov says
Simple and yet so flavorful and easy to make comfort meal.