Rice Flour VS Glutinous Rice Flour: Taste the Difference

Asian cuisines have many types of flour to make various authentic goodies. Rice flour and glutinous rice flour are among the most common. Although they’re both technically made from rice and absolutely gluten-free, the taste and texture they give are quite different; and thus, have different cooking uses that are often not interchangeable.

How they’re made

Both rice flour and glutinous rice flour are made through the same process: by milling and grinding the respective rice types to fine powder. Rice flour is the ground inner kernels of long or medium-long grain rice, while glutinous rice is cooked and dehydrated before the kernels are ground to flour.

Rice Flour Taste & Uses

Rice flour is made from white rice or brown rice. The latter has a subtle nutty fragrance thanks to the whole grain kernels with the bran still intact. White rice flour is tasteless, as it is made from rice without the bran.

When cooked, rice flour gives a soft, stretchy texture. And so, it is the core ingredient of all white-coloured Asian noodles, such as Pad Thai, Pho, vermicelli and Char Kuey Teow. In everyday cooking, white rice flour is ideal to make light batters for deep fries, while brown rice flour is great to thicken soups and gravy and stews, as well as steamed pastries and traditional desserts. That said, white and brown rice flour are interchangeable in most Asian recipes, and white rice flour is more common. Come check out all the yummy wonders you can make with rice flour!

Glutinous Rice Flour Taste & Uses

All rice is gluten-free, so glutinous rice and its flour are actually named for the consistent sticky, gluey and chewy texture when cooked. The rice itself is enjoyed in many Asian delicacies and is the staple carb food for the people of Laos and northern Thailand, while the flour is a ubiquitous pastry and dessert ingredient from Japan, Korea and China, to all of Southeast Asia. Making many kinds of rice ball yummies, pancakes, mochi, and kuih. Just check out the awesome glutinous rice flour recipes for you to savour!