Authentic Jamaican Rice and Peas Recipe

This Delicious Authentic Jamaican Rice and Peas Recipe is made with fresh coconut milk, allspice, scallions and more! This rice and peas is the best hands down and will make you feel like you are in the Caribbean! 

Which ingredients are needed for these Jamaican Rice and Beans?

How Do You Make Jamaican Rice and Peas?

Step One: Soak the peas in a bowl with the water for 24 hours, if you don’t have that kind of time soak for at least 2 hours.

Step Two: Chop the Scallion, Garlic, & Onion.

Step Three: Once the peas are properly soaked (they will likely plump and absorb a lot of the water) place the peas and the water in a saucepan.

Step Four: Fill the pot with additional water if needed–the water should be about 2 inches over the peas. Bring to a boil. Add the onions, garlic, scallions, & thyme. Add the salt & allspice. Add a full scotch bonnet pepper. (do NOT slice, put it in WHOLE).

Step Five: Cook on high for 20 minutes. (Peas may cook quicker depending on how long you soaked them) Continually add cool water as needed to make sure that the peas don’t burn. Watch closely! You know that the peas are cooked when you can break the peas in half easily with a fork. Remove and discard the scotch bonnet pepper.

Step Six: Add the coconut milk and the uncooked rice. Stir throughly. Important: There should only be about a half an inch of liquid above the peas and rice.

Step Seven: Turn stove down to medium/low and stir (I use a wooden spoon to make sure no rice sticks to the bottom) every 5-7 minutes until cooked.

Step Eight: In about 30 minutes you will have fluffy and yummy rice and peas!

Rice and Peas is a STAPLE in my home and it has been for since I could chew food. Growing up in a Jamaican home rice and peas was made every single day. My mom, my aunts, and my grandmother would make it for me and I enjoyed every bite.

Last year when I attended my cousin’s wedding in Poughkeepsie, I realized that my generation of kids have been spoiled tremendously by our big family and army of talented cooks that came before us.

My cousins and I (all 5200 of us) got together and realized that we will NEED to continue this amazing authentic Jamaican family cooking for our own children, or the culture will die with us.

Being the first generation to be American born, we are so used to being spoiled by our parents and aunts and uncles that were taught to cook by their parents in the islands.

It is so interesting having to marry the two cultures together, but cooking authentic caribbean recipes is a fantastic way to keep the culture alive in our own families going forward. We all made a vow to learn our culture’s recipes and learn them WELL so that we can pass them on to our own children.

One of the great things about Rice and Peas is that it can be cooked a million different ways. You can cook it with different beans, different peas, different rice sizes and so much more. I’ve even heard of someone doing a quinoa version of rice and peas.

Living in the most caribbean area of Brooklyn I am lucky enough to have access to many Caribbean restaurants, there is one on almost every block of my neighborhood. I’ve tried them all and I tend to go back to the ones with the BEST rice and peas recipe.

There are a few things I look for before I try the rice. Does it have a gorgeous pink color? Do they use short grain or long grain rice? Does it look seasoned? Is there thyme?

For a while now I’ve been trying different recipes from all over the internet. I’ve even tried Youtube! I love Pinterest but there are SO MANY “authentic” Jamaican and caribbean rice recipes out there that it’s hard to decipher which ones are awesome and which ones…are not so good. But don’t worry this one has become my absolute favorite go to recipe that I make AT LEAST once a week.

(I even got approval from my Jamaican born mother, and THAT makes it a worth recipe all by itself — because she makes THE BEST rice and peas ever!)

You will notice that a lot of Jamaican food recipes require the baseline of scotch bonnet pepper, fresh thyme, onion, garlic cloves and scallions (green onions). There could be more or less but those spices are a really great place to start when it comes to main dishes. Don’t forget the salt and pepper!

Why is my rice and peas soggy?

There are a few reasons why your rice and peas might be soggy. First, make sure you are using the correct ratio of rice to water. Second, cook the rice on low heat so that it has a chance to absorb all of the water. Finally, let the dish sit for a few minutes before serving so that the flavors can meld together.

What if I can’t find Scotch Bonnet peppers?

Some people may not be able to locate hot peppers so they have been using habanero pepper instead. I don’t use any black pepper in this recipe, but you can add a little if you want your rice to have a little heat. The scotch bonnet whole pepper is added for flavor only.

Some people use brown rice or basmati rice but I am a big fan of using jasmine rice in my red beans and rice recipes. I’ve also seen some recipes use chicken stock instead of cups of water for more flavor. For this recipe you need to make sure that you use enough water, because it won’t cook properly without the right amount.

The thyme sprigs are super important for flavor as well. The first time you make this rice and beans recipe it will become one of your favorite dishes! Most people serve with Jamaican Brown Stew Chicken or Jamaican Jerk Chicken.

Authentic Jamaican Rice and Peas Recipe

I’ve done all the leg work for you and have finally perfected one of the foundational pieces of any Jamaican dish.

If you ask me, Authentic Jamaican Rice and Peas is an awesome and flavorful side dish that goes with pretty much any main dish such as curry goat, curry chicken, Jamaican Jerk Chicken, oxtail–you name it! It’s the perfect side dish. You could even serve with additional side dishes like this Easy Jamaican Steamed Cabbage, Easy Jamaican Rasta Pasta or these Air Fryer Sweet Fried Plantains.

It’s even good on it’s own. With so many different ways to cook rice and peas, I am happy that I finally hit the jackpot with the right ingredients and the right type of rice.

Caribbean food is not easy but once you nail it, it’s so worth it! You will never stop making this recipe, since I posted this in 2015 I have received so many comments and DMs about how this is a GO TO recipe!

Types of Rice Used In Jamaican Rice and Peas

Before I found this money recipe I tried a bunch and they were epic fails. This recipe is my new go to, but it took me a smooth 5-6 recipes before I finally found a winner with this one.

My favorite type of rice in general is Carolina long-grain white rice. My mom and most of my family are fans of using basmati rice for their rice and peas which has a richer flavor. It can be debated though what people think the “traditional rice” is for Jamaican rice and peas.

I absolutely love to use Jasmine rice though because it has a fantastic flavor and although it is a bit sticky it’s not annoyingly so.

How Long Should The Peas Be Soaked?

A lot of you have asked whether or not you can used canned peas for this recipe. I DO NOT recommend it unless you like your rice really wet. Take the time to soak the peas.

I highly recommend dry peas. I usually soak it in the same pot that I plan on cooking the rice in. If not available you can easily soak the peas in a bowl at room temperature.

I usually soak my peas for 5-6 hours with a MAX of 20 hours. Overnight is a great sweet spot. The more you soak the less longer you have to wait to make the peas cook down to where it’s soft enough.

Generally soak the peas for a minimum of 2 hours and a maximum of 20 hours. Anything over a day will mess with the integrity of the peas.

Keep in mind the longer you soak the peas the less time it takes to cook, and the more “red” color gets added to your rice and peas. I don’t know about anyone else but I generally judge the authenticity of Jamaican rice and peas by the color of the rice!

The color of the peas colors the water and you use the same water to cook the peas in and eventually, the rice.

Do you cook the rice covered or uncovered?

This is a really good question! The answer is both. While you are cooking your peas, adding spices, and coconut milk, I leave it uncovered. When I add the rice and mix everything in, I cover the pot so it can cook like regular rice.

I generally like to leave my rice covered and cooking but this particular recipe calls for constant stirring to make sure nothing burns on the bottom of the pot.

How To Store Jamaican Rice and Peas

Once I got the hang of this rice and peas recipe it was super easy to make it for my family. The rice stores in the refrigerator for 3-4 days and it freezes perfectly.

If you do freeze, I recommend to let the rice thaw out naturally and slowly in the refrigerator, but if you don’t have the time, you can thaw in the microwave too, it might be a bit soggy though.

What are some other amazing authentic Jamaican Recipes to Try?

Enjoy! Be sure to let me know in the comments how it turned out!

Stay tuned, I’ve got some more authentic Jamaican recipes that I’m going to be sharing with you guys over the next few weeks!

Have you ever had Jamaican rice and peas? What classic recipes have you learned from your parents?