Bobby Flay Crispy Rice is an easy side dish made with coconut milk, long grain rice and green onions, ready in about 40 minutes. The skillet serves four, and the whole thing happens in one cast iron pan. Cooling time is extra, and it is not optional.
Flay cooks the rice in a cup of full-fat coconut milk instead of plain water, which is the part most people skip. It comes from his cookbook Bobby at Home, and it is what wins him throwdowns on Beat Bobby Flay. The coconut fat is what lets the grains crisp rather than dry out.
The rice has to be completely cold before it touches the skillet, spread thin on a sheet pan to get there. Warm grains steam instead of crisping, because the moisture still trapped inside has nowhere to go. Press the layer flat and leave it alone for four or five minutes.
Bobby Flay Crispy Rice
Course: SideCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy4
servings30
minutes40
minutes300
kcalThe cooked rice holds twenty-four hours in the fridge, which makes this a side you start the day before. A heavy metal spatula is the one tool that matters, since the layer has to be pressed hard against the pan twice.
Ingredients
- For the Coconut Rice:
1 cup unsweetened full-fat canned coconut milk
1 cup water
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cups long-grain rice
- To Crisp and Serve:
1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions, plus more for garnish
1/4 cup canola oil
Directions
- Cook the rice: Combine the coconut milk, water, salt and pepper in a medium saucepan over high heat and bring to a boil. Stir in the rice and bring back to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low, cover and cook 18 minutes, or until the liquid has been absorbed and the rice is tender.
- Rest and fluff: Remove the pan from the heat and let it sit, covered, for 5 minutes. Remove the lid and fluff the rice with a fork.
- Cool completely: Spread the rice in an even layer over a large sheet pan and cool completely. The rice can be made up to 24 hours in advance: cover the sheet pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
- Press into the skillet: Combine the cold rice and green onions in a large bowl. Heat the oil in a large cast-iron skillet over high heat until it begins to shimmer, add the rice and, using a heavy-duty metal spatula, immediately press it down until the top is flat.
- Crisp both sides: Cook without stirring 4 to 5 minutes, until the bottom is golden brown and crispy. Turn the rice over, press down firmly again and cook 4 to 5 minutes more. Transfer to a platter and serve sprinkled with more green onions.
Parade lists the recipe at 15 minutes, which does not account for the 18 minute simmer, the 5 minute rest or the cooling stage. The card uses realistic timings. No nutrition is published, so the calorie figure is estimated from the ingredients.
Everything here hinges on temperature, and the listed timing will mislead you.
FAQs
Why does the listed time not match the method?
Parade lists fifteen minutes, though the rice alone simmers eighteen and rests five before any cooling happens. Add eight to ten minutes of crisping and the real active time is closer to forty. Budget an hour if you are cooling the rice the same day.
Can I use leftover takeout rice?
Yes, and Flay says so himself, which saves you the entire first stage. You lose the coconut flavor since that goes in during cooking, so toss the cold rice with two tablespoons of coconut milk first. Day-old refrigerated rice is actually drier and crisps better than fresh.
Can I use jasmine or basmati instead of long grain?
Jasmine works and brings its own perfume alongside the coconut, though it is softer and breaks up more under the spatula. Basmati holds its shape best of the three, so it gives the cleanest separate grains. Avoid short grain and arborio entirely, since the starch turns the layer gluey.
How do I flip it without it falling apart?
Slide the whole cake onto a plate, invert a second plate over it, then turn and slide it back crisp side up. A cast-iron skillet is heavy enough that flipping it in the pan rarely goes well. Expect it to break into a few pieces anyway, which changes nothing about the taste.
Two teaspoons of salt sounds like a lot.
Kosher salt brands differ by nearly half, so Morton gives you roughly double the sodium of Diamond Crystal at the same volume. Two teaspoons is calibrated for the lighter kind, which is what most restaurant recipes assume. Serve it under something saucy like this sticky Asian glazed chicken and the balance works.
What do I serve it with?
Treat it as the starch under anything with a glaze or a pan sauce, not as a plain rice swap. Its crisp edges hold up against liquid in a way steamed rice cannot, which is the whole point. It sits particularly well beside soy and ginger marinated short ribs.
