Pineapple Rice
Tropical, sweet, savory, spicy, and absolutely delicious. That’s what this pineapple rice is all about. It’s the best combo of sweet and spicy!
Try pairing this delicious combo of flavors with Spicy Honey Chicken and Sweet Potato Kebabs for the ultimate summer meal!
Pineapple Rice
If you’re not a fan of rice wait till you try this Hawaiian rice. It’s packed with simple fresh ingredients of the summer that give old boring rice so much flavor with a nice spicy kick!
The combination of crushed pineapple combined with spicy red chili flakes and refreshing lime juice make this rice truly the best. Crushed pineapple adds sweetness and texture, while the red pepper flakes balance out the sweetness, and lime juice adds freshness.
Just like our shrimp pineapple fried rice, it’s very easy to make too! You literally add everything into a small saucepan and let it do its thing.
You can’t go wrong with this side dish.
Pineapple Rice Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make this recipe:
- Water: Cold tap water is fine here for cooking the rice.
- Crushed pineapple: It normally comes in 8-ounce and 20-ounce cans. You will need one 8-ounce can or 1 cup of crushed pineapple for this recipe.
- Sugar: Granulated sugar and cane sugar both work for this recipe. I personally love cane sugar since it’s minimally processed than granulated sugar.
- Butter: Butter adds richness and prevents the rice from clumping together. Go with unsalted butter.
- Kosher salt: You’ll need 1/2 teaspoon of salt for this recipe. Since salt varies, I recommend you taste the rice before serving and add more if desired.
- Red chili flakes: Chili flakes add the heat to the rice. You only need a little to taste it too. But if you like it spicier, add a little more.
- Rice: Basmati rice or jasmine rice both work. Just make sure it’s not quick-cooking rice.
- Lime: You’ll need the juice of half a lime, which is about 1 tablespoon.
- Cilantro: Chopped cilantro adds a burst of fresh flavor. It’s not complete without it. Use as much as you like!
How to Make Pineapple Rice Recipe
This Hawaiian rice recipe comes together pretty simple. I used basmati rice (jasmine works well too!) Both are aromatic varieties that make a great alternative to plain long-grain white rice.
Sometimes I rinse the basmati to wash off any dust and excess starch and sometimes I do not. Either way is fine. I do not notice a big difference.
- Step 1: To a small saucepan, add water, pineapple, sugar, butter, salt, and chili flakes. Cover and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Stir in rice and reduce heat to low.
- Simmer for 15 minutes, partially covered, until all of the water is absorbed. The rice will have a slight bite to it after 15 minutes and that’s what you want.
- Step 2: Remove the saucepan from heat and let the rice steam another 5 minutes, completely covered.
- Step 3: Fluff rice with a fork. Stir in lime juice and chopped cilantro, to taste.
Serve as a Side Dish
Pineapple rice is the perfect side dish. Here are some entrées that would go well:
- Cilantro Lime Chicken
- Balsamic Grilled Chicken
- Coconut Chicken with Cilantro Lime
- Easy Spicy Shrimp Tacos
- Yogurt Marinated Chicken Kebabs
- Cilantro Lime Chicken Sliders
Video: How to Make Pineapple Rice
Love rice side dishes? Try our Mexican Beans and Rice, Cilantro Rice, Cauliflower Rice Pilaf, or Mexican White Rice.
PrintPineapple Rice
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins
- Total Time: 25 mins
- Yield: 4-6 1x
- Category: Side
- Method: Simmer
- Cuisine: American
Description
Tropical, sweet, savory, spicy, and absolutely delicious. That’s what this pineapple rice is all about. It’s the best combo of sweet and spicy!
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1 (8 oz.) can crushed pineapple in pineapple juice (1 cup)
- 2 tsp. sugar
- 1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
- 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
- 1/4 – 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
- 1 cup basmati or jasmine rice, not quick-cooking
- Juice 1/2 lime (about 1 Tbsp.)
- Fresh cilantro, chopped
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, combine water, pineapple, sugar, butter, salt, and red pepper flakes. Cover and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Stir in rice and bring back to a simmer. Reduce heat to low, and simmer, partially covered for about 12-15 minutes or until all of the water is absorbed. The rice will be almost done with a slight bite to it.
- Remove the saucepan from heat and let the rice steam for another 5 minutes, covered. Fluff rice with a fork. Stir in lime juice and chopped cilantro. (I love cilantro so I usually go heavy but you can add as much as you like). Taste for salt and if needed add more.
Notes
- Pineapple: For best results, use canned crushed pineapple in pineapple juice. I do not recommend fresh pineapple.
- Sugar: Both granulated sugar and cane sugar work for this recipe. Cane sugar is minimally processed so I personally like to use that more.
- Leftovers: Leftover rice will keep refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 4 days. It reheats very well too. To reheat the rice, add the rice to a non-stick skillet with little fat, such as butter or swirl of oil and heat, stirring occasionally, over medium heat.
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 115
- Sugar: 6.2 g
- Sodium: 4.4 mg
- Fat: 3 g
- Carbohydrates: 20.8 g
- Protein: 1.4 g
- Cholesterol: 7.6 mg
Recipe published in June 2015. Updated in June 2020.
I kinda cheated when I made this. I buy frozen jasmine rice from “Trader Joes” (It’s really good), and I wasn’t quite sure how that would work. I fixed the rice as directed, and then I heated the rest of the ingredients (minus the water), in a saucepan. I brought it to a boil for about 3 or 4 minutes. Then I just mixed the rice with the saucepan, and it turned out fantastic! It might have a little too much liquid in it from the Pineapple juice, so next time, I might scale back on the juice just a tad, but man was this good! I also left out the lime juice. The flavor of pineapple was so good, I did’t want it to change. My 8 year old and my husband scarfed it up!
That’s great Holly! So happy you made it work with what you had. Thank so much for your review.
Thank you for this recipe! I made a maple glazed ham and wanted a pineapple rice to go with it… unfortunately, I was out of pineapple AND red pepper flakes! I made some substitutions with what I had on hand. I chopped some canned peaches and used the light syrup juice and chopped some pickled jalapeños. Since I only had salted butter on hand, I used that, and did as another person suggested and swapped out half of the water with canned coconut milk. I doubled the recipe since there are 6 of us.
I know that mine didn’t turn out anything like yours, but thank you so much for the template!
This quarantine has us thinking outside the box for some meals!
I’m glad you made it work with what you had on hand! I think it makes cooking so much fun that way.
I’ve been coming back to this recipe for years! It’s a favorite of mine and comes out perfect every time. I love to drizzle some teriyaki sauce on it!
Teriyaki sauce sounds delicious! Thank you for your feedback.
The flavor combination was spot on. Made such an interesting flavored rice, instead of boring plain rice. I must confess (and some people may not like this) but…I used frozen, steamable brown rice from Trader Joe’s. In a saucepan, I mixed all the ingredients listed, except the water, then tossed in then cooked rice. It really worked and was sooooo simple. Next time I’ll try the recipe as is, but happened to have some frozen rice, so gave it a try. Served with the Coconut Milk Chicken with Cilantro Lime. Such a great combo.
Thanks Terri! So happy to you loved it.
i need to try this. I make rice all the time but this will be a nice alternative when it’s just me or my daughter and i.
Hi I want to make this but I have to serve 40ppl. Should I tweak it in any way?
Wowza! That’s a lot of people. So if you scale the recipe to 3X that’ll feed approximately 12-18 people. So you want to scale it twice by 3X. Then you’ll need one more recipe scaled by X1. Gosh, I don’t know if that all makes sense? But that’s the best I can do. At least you’ll have an idea of the amounts for the ingredients.
Made this for our Hawaiian themed Christmas party with ham. I subbed half the water for coconut milk which made for a stickier, but delicious dish!
Thank you!
Would this be terrible with brown rice ? That’s all I have tonight. Plus I have frozen pineapple but I think I can make that work.
I think brown rice should work! You might just have to adjust the liquid to rice ration and timing. Hope it works out for you!
Hi, what would the ration be for brown rice? That’s all I have, too.
I would use the suggested water ratio on the back of your rice package.
Love!
Love! I used 1 cup of store bought fresh pineapple salsa as this is what I had on hand. Although I didn’t add lime juice and additional cilantro (some already in salsa), it was very delicious. Also this rice cooks perfectly in a rice cooker. Thank you so much for sharing.
Thank you! So happy to hear you enjoyed the rice.
He’ll there trying this recipe for the first do you think I cam substitute lime with lemon juice?
I think it should work fine.
Made this for our family’s annual Labor Day weekend camping trip to go with our BBQ fresh tuna fillets. The family loved it! Will definitely make again.
Thank you!
We had a package of Polynesian Style Pork Chops that were part of a gift package from Omaha Steak Company and this went perfectly with them. I did need to add a little more butter and water since I was using a paella pan and the rice was sticking and I was afraid it would burn. Will definitely make this again. Would be good with jerk chicken.
Thank you for the feedback Suzanne! Your dinner sounds so lovely.
Made this for a party and it was a huge hit. I doubled the red pepper because I was cooking for a spice loving crowd. People went back for thirds!
That’s awesome! Thank you for feedback.
I want to serve this for 12 people. Do you have any cautions for tripling the recipe?
I would taste as you go. Start with less and add more if needed.
I added ham, so good
Thank you!
Absolutely loved this rice recipe! Will definitely make it again. Had it with grilled chicken!!
Thank you! So appreciate your feedback.
Delicious! Made it exactly as instructed, and it turned out great. Will definitely be making this again.
Thank you!
That’s great! Thank you you so much for feedback.
I’m making this tomorrow for a community table. I will try fresh parsley from my garden as some don’t like cilantro
What about putting everything in a rice cooker?
Hi Karen: I’ve never tried it in a rice cooker so I can’t answer with certainty. If you do try it, would love to know how it worked out for you.
If you try making it in the rice cooker, decrease the amount of water or pineapple juice. By following the ingredients as written, I wound up with something that more of a thick dessert rice. My mother and I enjoyed some of it and gave the rest to our dogs.
What a perfect summer dish. We had it with bbq chicken breasts and fiesta corn and LOVED it. So easy to make, I made just as the recipe said, no modifications needed.
Thank you JAckie! Your dinner sounds so lovely. Thank you for feedback.
I use 1c. water with 1c. rice. Too mushy with the extra water.
You also have to figure the crushed pineapple and juice from it add to the moisture content of the rice -which doesn’t appear to be factored into the recipe. That’s just a ridiculous amount of starting moisture to deal with that’s not going to get absorbed by that amount of rice.
I just know that with the brand I use, even the package instructions can be too much water sometimes, let alone if I don’t pay attention and put even a smidge too much water in the pot.
This was seriously delicious! Followed the recipe exactly. Well, we may have even overcooked the rice slightly on accident, but it was still so good–it made it even more like a sticky rice. Ate it with Ina’s Indonesian ginger chicken recipe. Will definitely make again.
Amazing rice dish! Made with Jasmine rice and it
Is superb! Daughters loved it. We will be making this as a regular dish now.
Thank u!!
Jacqui
Thank you Jacqui! So happy to hear that.
Can you do this with brown rice?
I think it will work but keep in mind that the brown rice requires a little more liquid to cook. Check the box for the amount.