Chef Melissa King’s Pro Tips for the Best Congee

Chef Melissa King has a particularly soft spot for congee (or jook, the Cantonese name for the iconic rice porridge). “It’s like your Chinese chicken noodle soup — it was always cozy and comforting, and reminded me of home,” the Top Chef: All-Stars L.A. season 17 winner, Fan Favorite, and television personality says.

Her mom and grandmother would always make jook for her when she was sick. But the roles reversed as soon as she was old enough to push the buttons of a rice cooker. “It was very basic, just rice and water,” she says of the scrappy early versions she made as a kid. “It had absolutely no flavor, but I guess that was the point: It’s this comforting thing that’s easy on your stomach if you’re not feeling well.”

With continued practice, King learned to turn the humble porridge into something as flavorful as it was functional. “As I got older, I started making it on the stove and adding aromatics like garlic, ginger, and onions as the base and incorporating chicken broth or even homemade broths and layering that into congee,” notes King, who included a recipe for jook in her debut cookbook, Cook Like a King: Recipes from My California Chinese Kitchen. 

At the upcoming Food & Wine Classic in Charleston, King will host a seminar where she will demonstrate how to make an umami-packed mushroom congee (plus meat-friendly swaps). Here, she shares a few simple tips for cooking up a delicious bowl that goes beyond the basics.

Build flavor with aromatics and stock 

“I remember not liking jook because it was so bland,” recalls King, who would load up her porridge with soy sauce and garnishes to make up for the lack of flavor. “But I honestly think if you start with a good stock and include aromatics, it’s going to be pretty tasty on its own.” 

King begins by sauteeing minced garlic, ginger, and onions on medium-low heat — not long enough to develop any color but “just to sweat down the aromatics and really extract some of that flavor.” Then she adds the rice and toasts it for a minute or two before pouring in the liquid. 

Boxed chicken stock does the trick here — just be sure to grab low-sodium stock so you “can adjust and bump it to [your] own salt levels at the very end,” advises King — but homemade stock adds even greater depth. “It’s really using what you have in your house to create a flavorful broth,” she points out. “And if you don’t have that, you can resort to water like we did when I was a kid — but I always highly recommend adding as much flavor as possible through the liquids and the aromatics.”

Use short-grain white rice for extra creaminess  

“I grew up using long-grain jasmine rice, [but] over the years I started realizing I enjoy short-grain rice better,” says King. Now she’s partial to the latter (and white rice in particular) for the beautiful texture it produces in congee.

“I think short-grain lends [itself] to more creaminess and gives it a little more of a silkier texture because there is a higher starch content to it,” notes King, who nevertheless recommends rinsing the rice several times to remove some of the excess starch before cooking it. “And even a little bit of glutinous rice is a nice touch to give it a velvety feel.”

To prevent scorching, King advises cooking on low heat and stirring (especially the bottom of the pot) regularly, and more frequently as the porridge starts to come together. “In the beginning, it’s going to look like water and rice — almost like soup with chunks of rice in it — but as you keep stirring, it’s going to start to homogenize, and that’s where you need to keep a closer eye on the stirring,” she explains. 

Although the final texture you aim for is a matter of personal preference, King personally loves a “thick, cozy porridge” rather than a soupy one — “something about it just kind of reminds me of my grandma and the way she used to make it,” she says. Prepare to simmer for at least 30 minutes and up to an hour or more — your patience will pay off. Take it too far? “You can always adjust by adding more liquid and just continuing to play with the viscosity,” King says of the forgiving dish. And “you can always evaporate it out if you add too much [liquid] accidentally — so it is a very foolproof recipe in many ways.” 

Top off your bowl with a variety of garnishes   

“Just those two changes — the aromatics and the liquid — will really make a big difference, and then the short-grain rice adds another level of complexity to your standard congee,” she says. Now comes what King calls the “fun part”: your garnish game. “Once you have the base, all those toppings can really change and elevate the congee to another level,” she says. 

After seasoning her congee with a splash of fish sauce, white pepper, and salt, King caps off her bowl with three to five toppings that add a hit of flavors and textures. Chopped scallions, chili crisp, thousand-year-old duck eggs, pork floss, sliced fish or chicken, shredded iceberg lettuce, sauteed mushrooms, and julienned ginger are just a few options to play around with, though the possibilities for customizing this comfort food are endless. “There are so many fun things you can do with congee, once you know the basic technique,” says King.