Recipe
🍳 BREAKFAST
Kiribati Coconut Rice
Rice simmered in fresh coconut milk and sweetened with coconut toddy, a soft, fragrant breakfast from the atolls of Kiribati.
I-Kiribati · easy · serves 4
prep 5 min · cook 25 min
~513 cal · 6g protein · 50g carbs · 34g fat · 5g fiber · 5g sugars · 30g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Coconut rice is a soft, fragrant breakfast from the atolls of Kiribati, where the coconut palm is the tree of life and touches nearly every meal. On islands with little fresh soil, coconut provides food, drink, and sweetness alike.
Rice is simmered gently in fresh and sweetened with karewe, the sap tapped from coconut flower stalks, which lends a delicate, floral sweetness. The result is creamy, tender, and mildly fragrant.
Warm and comforting, it is easy, nourishing morning food that leans entirely on the coconut palm. On the atoll, so much good eating is coaxed from a single generous tree.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and gluten-, dairy-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
1 cup short-grain rice
2 cups
1 cup water
1/4 cup coconut toddy syrup (kamaimai) or sugar
1 pinch pinch of salt
Instructions
1
Rinse the rice, then combine with the water and a pinch of salt and bring to a gentle simmer.
2
When the water is nearly absorbed, pour in the coconut milk and cook low, stirring, until creamy.
3
Stir in the coconut toddy syrup (or sugar) and cook a couple more minutes to sweeten.
4
Serve warm, loosening with a little coconut milk if the rice tightens as it sits.
I-Kiribati atoll cooking, Tarawa.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Tarawa. Tarawa is a low atoll capital sustained by swamp taro grown in dug pits, coconut in every form, and reef fish eaten raw or grilled. Kiribati cooking is spare and resourceful, built on what an atoll can actually grow and catch.
🗺️
Kiribati. Karewe, the toddy tapped from the cut coconut spathe, is drunk fresh and sweet or left to ferment, and it is boiled down into a syrup that keeps. The pits that grow babai are threatened by saltwater intrusion as sea level rises, which is a plain fact about these atolls rather than a metaphor.
🌍
Oceania. Oceania spans Australia, New Zealand, and thousands of Pacific islands, where the ocean and the coconut palm define the pantry. Traditional Polynesian and Melanesian cooking centers on root crops, taro, yam, cassava, and sweet potato, slow-cooked in earth ovens (the umu or mumu) alongside fresh reef fish and rich coconut cream. Modern Australian and Māori kitchens blend these deep roots with waves of Asian and European influence.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Kiribati
Babai with Coconut FishGrated giant swamp taro (babai) steamed with coconut cream, served with reef fish poached in coconut.
Kiribati Palu (Marinated Reef Fish)Raw reef fish cured in lime and salt, then folded through fresh coconut cream with onion and chili, a bright, no-cook lunch of the atolls.
Buatoro (Pumpkin Coconut Cake)A moist Kiribati cake of grated pumpkin or swamp taro baked with coconut milk and kamaimai, the islands' dark coconut toddy syrup.
Browse all Kiribati recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Cool leftover rice quickly and refrigerate within an hour. Keep up to 2 days and reheat until piping hot all the way through.
Make it a Kiribati meal
Te KareweDrink
Buatoro (Pumpkin Coconut Cake)Dessert
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Frequently asked questions
What is Kiribati Coconut Rice?
Rice simmered in fresh coconut milk and sweetened with coconut toddy, a soft, fragrant breakfast from the atolls of Kiribati.
Where does Kiribati Coconut Rice come from?
Kiribati Coconut Rice is a I-Kiribati dish from Tarawa, Kiribati.
Can Kiribati Coconut Rice be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Kiribati Coconut Rice recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Kiribati Coconut Rice safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Kiribati Coconut Rice take to make?
About 30 minutes total (5 minutes prep, 25 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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