
So, What Exactly is Mango Sticky Rice?
Mango Sticky Rice is a famous, well-known dessert in Thailand. The dish contains a steamed, glutinous Thai rice that is mixed with sweetened coconut milk and ripened mangoes. Surprisingly, neither glutinous rice nor mangoes have origins to Thailand, yet the dish has become unmistakably interwoven into national Thai cuisine.
The dish has become so popular that the up-and-coming pop star, Danupha “MILLI” Khanatheerakul, ate the sweet dessert during her Coachella performance in 2022 leading to a surge of interest regarding the dessert.
Steps to Cook Mango Sticky Rice
This weekend I attempted my first recipe on this blog, the Mango Sticky Rice! I found the recipe to be very straightforward and despite cooking very little Thai food previously, it was pretty simple and only required a few ingredients. Feel free to follow along with my steps below and make your own batch of sticky rice. Let me know in the comments if you have tried it before or if you decided to take the plunge and make your own!
Here's the recipe I followed for those who are interested in trying their own!
Step 1: Ingredients
This is a recipe that does not require a lot of ingredients, but they are some ingredients that might be hard to find at your local Walmart. I went to the local Asian Market in Omaha to get the glutinous rice and coconut milk. The dish is traditionally made with Ok-Rong or Nam-Dokmai mangoes, but these are native mangoes and are harder to find here. I used Carabao mangoes for my recipe which make for a good substitute!

Step 2: Prep Work
Prior to the actual cooking part of Mango Sticky Rice we first need to wash the glutinous rice until (about 3-4 times) until the water runs clear. At that point we will soak the rice anywhere from 4 - 24 hours. Longer soaking means less time spent steaming/cooking the rice.


Step 3: Cooking the Sticky Rice
I have attached the following collage detailing my steps cooking the sticky rice and cutting the mango

After the rice has been soaked it is ready to be steamed. The rice will need to be steamed using a cheese cloth, coffee filter, or bamboo mat. I used coffee filters for mine.

Rice is steaming in the rice cooker.

Coconut milk, salt, and granulated sugar

Add all of the coconut sauce ingredients into a skillet.

Stir all of the ingredients together in the skillet.

Stir and cook the coconut concoction until it reaches boiling.

Picture of the steamed rice to be added to the coconut mix.

The steamed rice is added to the coconut milk.

Stir the rice and mixture together until well blended and cook for about 4-5 more minutes.
Step 4: Serve and Enjoy!
Once the mixture is done you are ready to serve it fresh out of the skillet!

