They taste totally different! Jasmine rice is a lot chewier, with more of a fruity taste, and Basmati taste grassier to me.

Basmati is better!

Too many recipes call for "Either basmati or jasmine rice," which totally leads to the confusion. They are way different; Jasmine has much more flavor to begin with, whereas basmati should be cooked with a generous amount of salt and some aromatics.

Honestly? The taste, aroma, and mouthfeel are completely different from one another!

Love the Tilda-brand basmati rice. There is a huge difference in taste between brands, the more expensive the better taste.

We cook it just like friends who used to live in Singapore:
rinse in water 5-6 times, til water is clear.
let rice sit in water 20 minutes.
boil in lots of water and some salt, 8 minutes. (put rice in boiling water)
drain and fluff rice with fork or spoon, let sit with towel or papertowel a minute or two in pot.

Perfect!

I knew there were differences but didn't know what they were outside the long vs short grain classification. Thanks for the information! I like them both-depending on what I'm cooking.

I like cooking with them both too and have always appreciated the flavor difference between them, but never knew there was such a HUGE glycemic index between these two types of rice. Good to know!

Yes. I once ran out of basmati rice (you can tell I'm Indian by the fact I burned through a 10-pound bag) and tried to sub with Jasmine rice. Indian food does not go well with sticky rice. Sigh.

I love jasmine rice. It's excellent for making sushi (which I do often) if you live in an area where real short grain sushi rice can't be bought.

In a similar vein to inotherviews' comment, I would not sub in basmati rice for jasmine rice either (being Chinese, I will suddenly find myself at the bottom of a 8kg bag just when I'm feeling rice cravings).

Eating a stir-fry with chopsticks gets challenging when the rice isn't sticky. Plus the sweetish flavour balances off the (usually) salty meat and veg.

They are wildly different, and cannot be used interchangeably, any more than you could use basmati to make a risotto. Basmati - if it is real basmati and not some Cal-Tex-Basmati-Wannabe - is also aged. It's age and its long grain nature means it cooks with separate grains and doesn't stick together. Jasmine, especially new crop, is a bit stickier and is a medium grain rice.

I have about eight kinds of rice in my pantry, but I use basmati and jasmine most out of all of them. I use basmati for north Indian dishes, biriyanis/pilafs and for a side with western dishes. I use jasmine to serve with all my East and SE Asian dishes, and also for south Indian dishes.

Has anyone tried black a.k.a. forbidden rice? That stuff is delicious!

I love rice of all kind. I'm an equal opportunity rice lover.

I made a rice pudding with forbidden rice. Kind of strange, but not bad.

I love basmati rice over Jasmine rice. I'm mexican so I make a lot of rice but now this has me wondering how my Spanish rice would taste using these types of rice.

We cook with basmati rice all the time because of its lower GI. Brown basmati rice is even better and very tasty!

Originally basmati rice comes from the Himalayan foothills. If you have ever experienced eating those basmati rice which is rear and expensive in India these days... I am sure no one would have any doubts about its aroma and the texture! You can smell basmati rice cooking in a house from miles away..:-) The older the rice, aroma and texture get better. There are certain dishes that are impossible make it with any other rice!

I am sure similar thing apply for Jasmine rice too.. the jasmine rice I ate in Bangkok in a friend's house was much more aromatic than what you get here in the US!

It depends on what I am cooking as to which rice I use as well.
When I'm making curries, each rice seems to favor/stand up better than the other..To me, Indian curries are much more hearty and basmati compliments that.
For Thai curries (which are sweeter and not as "harsh") I favor the jasmine hands down.
I do not generally buy my jasmine at the grocery store. I go to my local Thai grocery and buy the one that says..
"new crop" I get a very large bag that probably lasts me 6 months or more.. I recommend the effort because its very inexpensive.
Basmati..I like this with chicken stock and peas carrots or with stock and herbs and of course, Indian curries..and some Mexican dishes too. Trader Jo's has great rice options!! Jasmine too.
My other favorite is Sticky Rice. But you'll have to soak this prior before using. It does make a really simple Mango sticky rice or I serve plain- rolled in the hand (thai style) for Larb. Yum again!

Thank you for this!!

Has anybody tried Japanese sticky rice? Thats by far the most superior rice in the world.

I love all rice but cannot eat it unless I convert the starch. I do this by dry roasting the grains in a pan until they are opaque or whiteish color. Then, I cook the rice as usual. It is the only way I can eat rice anymore. It is also good to do this for making Spanish, Mexican, Chinese Fried rice or rice pilaf. The rice fluffs up much better and the G.I. must be low because we don't have the blood sugar highs as experienced from plain boiled rice.