What Is the Best White Rice?

What Makes One White Rice Better Than Another?

For starters, good white rice should cook consistently. If you’re making a pot of long grain rice, you want tender, fluffy grains that hold their shape instead of turning into one sticky clump. The flavor should be mild enough to complement the rest of the meal without disappearing completely.

But taste and texture are only part of it. Two bags can both say “long grain white rice” on the front without necessarily containing the exact same variety of rice. Different varieties can have their own characteristics, including differences in nutrition.

That’s something most of us probably weren’t taught to look for. For a long time, buying rice mostly came down to the type you needed, the brand you recognized, and the price on the shelf.

If rice is something your family eats regularly, it’s worth looking a little closer.

Long Grain, Jasmine, or Basmati: Which White Rice Is Best?

This really depends on what you’re cooking.

Traditional long grain white rice is the everyday workhorse. When cooked properly, the grains stay light and separate, and the mild flavor works with just about anything. It’s a natural fit for gumbo, red beans, rice and gravy, casseroles, rice bowls, and simple sides.

Jasmine rice is technically a long grain rice too, but you’ll notice the difference pretty quickly. It has a distinct aroma and cooks softer with a little more cling. That’s part of what makes it work so well with Thai and Southeast Asian dishes.

Then there’s basmati, with its extra-long, slender grains and recognizable aroma. It tends to stay dry and separate and is a staple in Indian, Middle Eastern, and Persian cooking.

There’s no reason to crown one of the three the winner. If you’re making a dish where jasmine or basmati is traditionally used, that may be exactly what you want. But for an everyday rice that can move from one kind of meal to another without much thought, long grain white rice is hard to beat.

What Is the Best White Rice for Everyday Cooking?

Around here, an everyday rice needs to be able to do a lot.

You might put it under gumbo one night and serve it with smothered pork chops the next. Monday means red beans for plenty of Louisiana families. Later in the week, that same bag of rice might end up alongside grilled chicken or seafood.

Long grain white rice works across all of it.

It’s especially good underneath foods with broth, sauce, or gravy because the grains can pick up all of that flavor without losing their texture. Nobody wants their rice competing with a gumbo you’ve been working on all afternoon. You want it to become part of the bowl.

There’s also something to be said for consistency. Once you know your rice and how it cooks, you should be able to put a pot on without turning dinner into a science experiment.

That’s a big part of what makes an everyday ingredient an everyday ingredient.

Is White Rice Actually Unhealthy?

White rice has taken its share of criticism over the years, especially with the popularity of low-carb diets. A lot of the conversation gets reduced to white rice versus brown rice, with one treated as the “bad” option and the other as the “healthy” one.

Nutrition is rarely that simple.

White rice is primarily a source of carbohydrates, which your body uses for energy. It’s naturally low in fat and gluten-free, and a typical cooked cup of standard white rice contains around 4 grams of protein.

White rice does have less fiber than brown rice because the bran and germ are removed during milling.

Standard white rice can also have a higher glycemic response, meaning it may raise blood sugar more quickly.

Then there’s the rest of the plate. A cup of rice served alongside beans, vegetables, seafood, or chicken is part of a very different meal than a large bowl of plain white rice.

There’s another piece that gets overlooked even more often: not every white rice variety has the same nutritional characteristics.

Can You Get More Nutrition From White Rice Without Switching to Brown Rice?

This is where things get more interesting.

Brown rice is a great option for whole grain nutrition and more fiber. We grow it ourselves. But we also know plenty of people simply prefer the lighter texture of white rice, and there are some meals where white rice is what you want.

You don’t necessarily have to choose between the two based on nutrition alone.

Parish Rice is grown from a variety called Frontier, developed at the LSU AgCenter. Our white rice cooks and tastes like the long grain white rice people are accustomed to eating, but its nutritional profile is different from standard white rice. It provides 53% more protein than standard white rice and has a tested glycemic index of 41.

That means you can still put white rice under your gumbo. Make your red beans the way you always have. Serve rice with whatever is coming off the grill.

You don’t have to rebuild dinner around it.

For us, that’s one of the most appealing things about starting with a different variety of rice. If a food is already a regular part of your family’s meals, getting a little more out of that ingredient is a pretty simple change.

Does Where Your Rice Comes From Matter?

We think food means a little more when you know where it came from.

Louisiana has been growing rice for generations. Our climate, soil, and abundance of water made rice an important crop here, but over time it became much more than an agricultural product. It became part of the food culture too.

Parish Rice is grown on our family farm in Eunice, Louisiana. Michael Frugé is a second-generation rice farmer, and the rice that goes into a Parish bag comes from the same land our family works and knows.

For some shoppers, origin may not be the first thing they look at on a bag of rice. We understand that. But when something makes its way onto your family's table week after week, we think there's value in knowing who grew it and where it was grown.

We’re also proud that the answer happens to be right here in Louisiana.

What Should You Look for When Buying White Rice?

Start with what you actually cook.

If you make dishes where the aroma and texture of jasmine or basmati are important, buy the rice that fits the dish. If you want one bag that can handle everything from gumbo and red beans to a rice bowl or a quick side with dinner, long grain white rice is probably going to give you the most versatility.

After that, turn the bag around.

Look at the nutrition. Look at where it was grown. If the producer tells you the rice variety, that can tell you even more. Think about how often your family eats it and whether paying a little more for a rice with characteristics you value makes sense.

Price will always matter, especially with a pantry staple. But the cheapest bag and the best value aren't automatically the same thing.

And don't overcomplicate it. At the end of the day, it still needs to make a good pot of rice.

So, What Is the Best White Rice?

The best white rice is going to depend somewhat on the person standing at the stove.

Maybe you love jasmine rice. Maybe basmati is what belongs with the meal you're making. If you're looking for something versatile enough to become your everyday rice, we think a quality long grain is hard to beat.

From there, we’d look for a rice that gives you more than good texture alone.

That’s what led us to Frontier. Parish Rice gives you the familiar taste and versatility of long grain white rice, along with more protein and a lower glycemic index than standard white rice. It’s grown here in Louisiana by our family for yours.

Are we a little biased about which bag we reach for? Of course.

We grow the stuff.