An ink jet recording ink is provided which does not have a problem concerning curling of a recording medium containing cellulose, and can deal with high-definition image recording while maintaining good response at a high level during ejection at a high drive frequency and good startup properties. The ink contains water, a colorant, a compound represented by the following general formula (I) accounting for 8 to 40% by mass of the total mass of the ink, and plural types of nonionic surfactants accounting for 0.3 to 5% by mass of the total mass of the ink, wherein the mass ratio (A:B) between the mass (A) of the compound represented by the general formula (I) and the mass (B) of the plural types of nonionic surfactants is in a range of 5:1 to 90:1: ##STR00001##