Recipe
🍳 BREAKFAST
Jok
A silky Thai rice congee topped with ginger, scallion, and a soft egg, the classic Bangkok breakfast.
Thai · easy · serves 4
prep 10 min · cook 45 min
~325 cal · 24g protein · 34g carbs · 9g fat · 1g fiber · 0g sugars · 3g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
↓ Jump to Recipe
AI-generated illustration
Jok is Thailand's beloved rice congee breakfast, rice simmered until it breaks down into a silky, savory porridge, topped with minced pork, ginger, scallion, and often a soft egg. Warming and gentle, it is the classic way to start the day or to soothe when unwell.
A legacy of Chinese influence on Thai cooking, jok is customized at the table with white pepper, fried garlic oil, cilantro, and crispy dough sticks. The rice is cooked down far more than in a plain soup, creating its signature smooth, comforting texture.
Sold from morning street stalls across Bangkok and beyond, jok is cheap and eaten from dawn.
Saved recipes and passport stamps are kept on this device. Sign in to keep them across your devices and leave reviews.
Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, dairy-, egg- and nut-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
3/4 cup jasmine rice
8 oz pork meatballs (or omit)
2 in piece ginger
3 scallion
a handful cilantro
to taste white pepper
1 tbsp (or soy or tamari)
2 tbsp fried garlic in its oil, to finish
8 cups or water
Instructions
1
Rinse the rice, then simmer it in the stock with the lid ajar, stirring often, until the grains break down completely into a smooth congee. Give it an hour, and up to an hour and a half.
✎ Chef’s note
Forty minutes gets you rice soup. Jok is not soup with rice in it; the grain has to disintegrate entirely, and that takes an hour or more of low heat and regular stirring so it does not catch. Make a big pot: it thickens as it cools and you loosen it with more stock when you reheat.
2
Poach the pork (or mushroom) meatballs in the congee until cooked.
3
Season with fish sauce (or soy) and plenty of white pepper.
4
Ladle the hot congee into bowls.
5
Top with slivered ginger, scallion, cilantro and a spoonful of fried garlic with its oil.
✎ Chef’s note
A raw egg cracked into the bowl and left to set in the heat of the congee is the usual finish, and the fried garlic is what most people would miss if it were gone. Jok is breakfast food in Thailand to the point that McDonalds sells a version of it there.
Bangkok tradition.
Ratings & reviews
Cooked it? Rate this dish:
No account needed. Sign in to leave a full review with a comment.
Cooked it?
Kept on this device, no account needed. Sign in to leave a review and keep your passport across your devices.
No reviews yet, be the first to cook it.
🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Bangkok (Central). Boat noodles are named for where they were sold, from small craft working the canals, and the bowls are small because a vendor rocking on the water could not fill a large one without spilling it. The broth is dark and thick with pork or beef blood, and eating four or five bowls in a sitting is normal rather than greedy.
🗺️
Thailand. Several things the world files under Thai came from next door. Som tam and larb belong to the Lao side of the Mekong and to Isan in the northeast; chillies arrived with Portuguese traders in the sixteenth century, so nothing built on them is ancient; and pad thai was pushed as a national dish by the Phibun government in the mid twentieth century.
🌍
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 Thailand
Pad Krapow Gai (Holy Basil Chicken)Bangkok's favorite one-plate meal: fiery minced chicken and holy basil over rice with a crispy fried egg.
Khao SoiChiang Mai’s coconut-curry noodles: soft egg noodles in golden broth, crowned with a crispy noodle nest.
Massaman CurryA mild, aromatic curry of beef, potatoes, and peanuts scented with cardamom, cinnamon, and star anise, Thailand’s gentlest, most fragrant curry.
Browse all Thailand 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 Thailand meal
Thai Iced TeaDrink
Mango Sticky RiceDessert
Similar dishes from around the world
Bai Sach ChroukCambodia
Gallo PintoNicaragua
KimbapSouth Korea
Arroz con GandulesPuerto Rico
Lu Rou FanTaiwan
Cơm Tấm Sườn NướngVietnam
Cuisine
Diet
Gluten-Free Recipes from Around the World
Dairy-Free Recipes from Around the World
Nut-Free Recipes from Around the World
Egg-Free Recipes from Around the World
Gluten-Free Breakfasts from Around the World
Dairy-Free Breakfasts from Around the World
Nut-Free Breakfasts from Around the World
Egg-Free Breakfasts from Around the World
Frequently asked questions
What is Jok?
A silky Thai rice congee topped with ginger, scallion, and a soft egg, the classic Bangkok breakfast.
Where does Jok come from?
Jok is a Thai dish from Bangkok (Central), Thailand.
Can Jok be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Jok 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 Jok 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 Jok take to make?
About 55 minutes total (10 minutes prep, 45 minutes cooking), serving 4.
Get the Sunday Spin
One dish from somewhere in the world, in your inbox every Sunday. No spam, just dinner inspiration you can cook that day.