Mango Sticky Rice

Here’s an easy recipe to make mango sticky rice at home! Bring the sweet coconut milk soaked dessert of Chiang Mai right to your kitchen table. Everywhere you go in northern Thailand, from restaurants to small stalls at the night markets, you’ll find this sweet coconut milk soaked dessert. It is such a simple dish with only three ingredients: fresh sliced mango, rice, and coconut milk. But the trick is in choosing the right type of rice.

Back home in Florida, summertime is mango season and my mother-in-law always shares with us the bounty of mangoes that grow in her yard by the coast. It’s a simple and delicious summer dessert. We hope you enjoy it!

Pick The Right Kind Of Rice – Glutinous Rice

To start your mango sticky rice recipe, first make sure to purchase the right type of rice. Plain long grain white rice that you normally find at the grocery store won’t be good for a mango sticky rice recipe. Instead, look for glutinous rice at your local Asian market (they sell glutinous rice on Amazon too). It looks a bit opaque and feels lighter and a bit hallow. It’s named glutinous, not because it contains gluten, but because it is sticky when cooked. 

Sticky Rice Steamer Pot

When I was researching sticky rice, I was a little intimidated by the sticky rice steamer pot. And I have to confess, I just did a major purge in our kitchen in the name of wannabe minimalism. But I’m considering this a “necessity,” and when I flip the bamboo cone over the pot for storage, it looks like I have a little kitchen samurai hiding in the corner. Now I just need to name it.

You can also just cook sticky rice it in your rice maker or pressure cooker and follow the manufacturers instructions for short grain rice.

Making Sticky Rice

To make mango sticky rice traditionally with the bamboo steamer, you’ll need to soak the rice for 6-8 hours. So either prep it to soak overnight or set it to soak first thing in the morning to be ready around dinner time. I usually pour a cup of glutenous rice into a measuring bowl, add water until it reaches two cups, then cover it with a paper towel.

Once the rice as soaked, it takes about the same cooking time as making regular rice. Add water to the steamer pot until it’s about two inches deep (you don’t want it to touch the bamboo basket … your steaming the rice, not boiling it.) Bring the water to a boil, then add the rice to the bamboo basket, and place the cone on the pot, then cover with any small lid from one of your other pan sets. Let it steam for 30 minutes, and then you’re done!

TIP #1:  I’ve made the rice using just the bamboo steamer basket, and I’ve also wrapped it in cheesecloth and then put it in the bamboo steamer. The cheesecloth makes it a bit easier to handle and to clean up. Plus, you’ll need to flip the rice about 20 minutes into cooking, and picking up a ball of cheesecloth-wrapped rice with tongs makes it easy.

TIP #2:  Use oven mitts and tongs when handling the steamer after the rice has cooked. The steam releases pretty quickly, but this will prevent burning your fingertips and make it easier to handle the rice.

TIP #3: After making this for years, the easiest and quickest way is to use a pressure cooker or rice maker! LOL! But the traditional bamboo steamer is fun for when you have the time.

Make a whole Thai dinner night with our recipe for Chiang Mai Curry Noodles, Thai cucumber salad, or Nam Sod (Ginger Lime Pork).

Directions On Back Of Rice

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