Turmeric Coconut Rice
This Turmeric Coconut Rice is by far the most popular rice recipe on my website, I decided to do some new photos. Published on: Jan 11, 2017
The flavor blends are just right, the combination of turmeric, coconut milk, and Jamaican seasonings thyme, green onions, garlic, onion are amazing! The best comfort side dish ever.
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Brown rice vs White Rice:
- Eating brown rice is healthier for you than white rice, it contains more minerals, vitamins, and fiber.
- Brown rice is a gluten-free whole grain, it has all the grain- the bran, the germ, and the endosperm.
- On the other hand, white rice has the germ and bran removed which are the most nutritious parts of the rice.
- White rice has very little nutrients and is believed to be an ’empty calorie food’.

How To Make Turmeric Coconut Rice?
For this coconut rice recipe, onion and garlic are sauteed in coconut oil until fragrant, turmeric, thyme, spring onion and carrots added.
Brown rice is stirred in to soak up the flavors and color of the pretty yellow turmeric. My favorite rice to use is basmati or jasmine rice.
Rice is then slow-cooked in coconut milk and vegetable broth for a rich and tasty flavor. Or you can 1 vegetable bouillon with 2 cups water.

Turmeric Coconut Rice dish will certainly become a favorite, it is so tasty that you really could just eat it on its own or add some beans or oven-baked tofu cubes at the end of cooking for a delicious one-pot meal!
What To Serve With My Turmeric Coconut Rice?
I enjoyed serving it with my Vegan Southern Black-Eyed Peas, Thai Coconut Curry Tofu, Potatoes, and Peas Samosa Muffins, and a large salad.
Preparing brown rice this way is one of the best ways to introduce it to someone who has never tried it or one who would love to transition to eating brown rice but is not sure of how to prepare it to be tasty.

Other Delicious Rice Recipes To Try:
This recipe is different from the others you will find out there because it is cooked with a Caribbean flavor.
Note, I recently found out from a reader that they make a similar dish called Nasi Kuning in Indonesia that has pandan leaves, galangal, lemongrass added to it. I would love to try it someday.

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Turmeric Coconut Rice
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 cups brown rice (Jasmine or Basmati) washed and drained
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- 1 small onion finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 2 green onions chopped
- 2 sprigs of thyme
- 1 carrot diced
- 1-15 oz can of coconut milk
- 2 cups vegetable broth or 1 vegetable bouillon plus 2 cups water
- 1/4 teaspoon Cayenne pepper (optional)
- sea salt to taste, (I used 1 1/2 teaspoons)
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro and lime juice, for garnish
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large pot on medium high, cook onion and garlic until soft about 3 minutes.
- Stir in turmeric, green onions, thyme, carrots and cook for a minute stirring constantly.
- Add rice and stir until rice is fully coated yellow. Add coconut milk, vegetable broth, cayenne pepper, and salt. (Make sure you add enough salt until it is flavorful).
- Bring to boil, cover and reduce to simmer on low for 50 minutes or until rice is tender. Remove from heat and keep covered for about 10 minutes.
- Fluff with a fork, stir in cilantro leaves and a squeeze of lime juice.

This was SO delicious that I was eating it cold from the frig! This is the first brown rice recipe I’ve made that I really liked. Thank you!
Melanie, I’m so happy you enjoyed it. Thank you very much for your feedback.
This has been my go-to recipe for the last 6 months! I add two stalks of celery with the carrots. Absolutely delicious! Thank you 🙏
Claire, I’m very happy you are enjoying this, I love how you added celery, thank you for sharing.
My store only had the already made microwave rice packets, will it still work with that???!
My recipe uses uncooked rice.
This recipe was excellent! I added more thyme and it turned out great.
YL, I’m so happy you enjoyed it. Thank you for sharing your adjustment.
This is delicious. Thank you for the recipe, my whole family enjoyed it.
Thank you Emma for your feedback, I’m so happy you and your wife enjoyed it.
Wow! Always looking for interesting rice recipes, didn’t know turmeric would be such a game changer. New favorite, thank you!
Justin, that’s awesome. I’m so happy you enjoyed it. Thank you.
So delious I used carton coconut milk instead of can
I’m happy you enjoyed it Joann, glad the carton of coconut milk worked fine.
Hi! This looks great. Can it be done in the Instant Pot?Adding the coconut milk at the end? I’ve never cooked anything in the IP with coconut milk. Also, because there’s such a variety of “milks” nowadays, do you mean full-fat or will it be just as good as “lite”? Thank you.
Janet, I haven’t done it in the Instant Pot as yet but I plan to. You can use whatever coconut milk you prefer, it will still taste great.
I came to ask the same question! It looks amazing.
Hi, I have made this rice fps a few times and I love it, if I use white rice how much time should I cook it for?
Dario, it will take less time, also make sure the liquid is about a finger joint about 1 inch above the rice. I haven’t tried it with white rice.
This is seriously so good and my 3 year old liked it too :)
Thank you for your feedback Jocelyn, I’m happy your little one liked it.
THIS IS SO GOOD!!! The whole family begged me to please make it again! I added cubes of tofu in for an easy complete meal and even my picky four year old was ALL ABOUT IT! Thank you!! Will be making this again (or my family will be mad if I don’t)!!!
Carla, this is so cool, I’m happy you and your family enjoyed it. I love how you added tofu cubes, so yummy! Thank you for sharing your feedback.
Have you tried it with cauliflower rice?
Yes, please go to the home page and type in the search Cauliflower Rice Curry and it is a similar recipe.