Recipe
🍳 BREAKFAST
Nasi Lemak
Fragrant coconut rice with spicy sambal, fried anchovies, peanuts, cucumber, and egg, Malaysia's national breakfast.
Malaysian · medium · serves 4
prep 25 min · cook 30 min
~553 cal · 18g protein · 21g carbs · 49g fat · 7g fiber · 9g sugars · 29g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Nasi lemak is the national dish of Malaysia and its most beloved breakfast, rice cooked in and pandan, served with fiery sambal, fried anchovies ('ikan bilis'), roasted peanuts, cucumber, and a boiled or fried egg. Fragrant and complex, it is eaten morning to night.
The coconut rice ('nasi lemak' means 'rich rice') is the fragrant foundation, and the sweet-spicy sambal is the soul, balanced by the crunch of anchovies and peanuts and the cool of cucumber. Traditionally wrapped in banana leaf, it perfumes and holds everything together.
Sold everywhere from humble stalls to restaurants across Malaysia, nasi lemak is a national obsession and a source of pride.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, dairy- 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
2 cups rice steamed with and pandan
1 cup sambal (chili, onion, , toasted belacan)
1 cup dried anchovies (ikan bilis), fried
1/2 cup roasted peanuts
4 eggs, boiled
1 cucumber, sliced
Instructions
1
Steam the rice with coconut milk and a knotted pandan leaf until fluffy.
2
Cook the sambal down until thick, dark, and sweet-spicy.
3
Fry the anchovies (or tempeh) and peanuts (or seeds) until crisp.
4
Boil the eggs (or ready the extra tempeh) and slice the cucumber.
5
Mound the coconut rice with the sambal and garnishes around it.
Penang tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Penang. Penang is Malaysia's street-food capital, where Chinese, Malay, and Indian traditions collide in char kway teow, assam laksa, and nasi kandar. Hawker stalls make it one of Asia's great eating cities.
🗺️
Malaysia. Nasi lemak is the national breakfast and its parts are fixed: rice cooked in coconut milk with a pandan leaf, a spoonful of sambal, fried anchovies, roasted peanuts, cucumber and half a hard-boiled egg, wrapped in banana leaf for the walk to work. Several dishes here are genuinely contested with Singapore, so the honest posture is to describe rather than award.
🌍
Asia. A grain line runs across the continent. Rice dominates the wet south and east, wheat the drier north and west, and the tools follow it: the wok and the steamer where rice is milled, the tandoor and the griddle where wheat is ground. Tea travels the other way, drunk green, black, salted, buttered or with milk depending how far it got from China.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Malaysia
Char Kway TeowFlat rice noodles seared in a screaming wok with prawns, egg, chives, and dark soy, Penang’s hawker crown.
Penang Asam LaksaA tart, spicy mackerel-and-tamarind noodle soup topped with pineapple, mint, and ginger flower, Penang's iconic bowl.
Kuih Seri MukaA two-layer sweet of coconut sticky rice under a smooth pandan custard, a jewel of the Malaysian kuih table.
Browse all Malaysia recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Steamer.
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 Malaysia meal
Teh TarikDrink
Kuih Seri MukaDessert
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Frequently asked questions
What is Nasi Lemak?
Fragrant coconut rice with spicy sambal, fried anchovies, peanuts, cucumber, and egg, Malaysia's national breakfast.
Where does Nasi Lemak come from?
Nasi Lemak is a Malaysian dish from Penang, Malaysia.
Can Nasi Lemak be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Nasi Lemak 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 Nasi Lemak 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 Nasi Lemak take to make?
About 55 minutes total (25 minutes prep, 30 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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