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Rice - Parboiled vs. regular

  • s

In college, I once bought minute/uncle ben's (I can't remember) rice. Made it according to directions and it was unedible (I grew up on kokuho brand rice). Yesterday, I bought a bag of parboiled rice out of curiousity.

What is the difference between parboiled rice and regular rice (flavor, texture, fiber, nutrition)?
Is uncle ben's coverted rice same as parboiled or is that a whole nother beast?


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  1. Google!


    (Over on the Site Talk board, they're ranting about people posting on Chowhound when Google would answer a fact-specific question such as yours



    2 Replies
    1. Not all parboiling is the same. Parboiled rice (especially Basmati) as done in India and some parts of Southeast Asia, where the nutrients from the husk are preserved in the hulled and later polished rice has become an essential part of maintaining nutrition in those countries where it's done. American know-how has made a much more convenient product. Minute Maid and Uncle Ben's "converted" cooks the rice longer so that it can be "instantly cooked" out of the box. The purpose is not to improve the nutrition, but to make it easier to cook for Americans who think of rice as otherwise being complex to make. This actually leaches whatever nutrients and flavors there may be left after polishing, out, leaving a virtually nutritionless and tasteless final product that is pretty much pure simple carbohydrate. Go eat a teaspoonful of sugar instead - it's about the same thing, but much more flavor.

      1. I find that I can cook a large quantity of parboiled (converted, golden) rice (in an electric rice-cooker) and freeze individual portions in plastic sandwich bags without the grains gumming together. I haven't found that this method works with any other rice. Freezing 16-20 portions that I can zap later is so convenient that I use parboiled for that reason alone. Note that parboiled is NOT the same thing as Minute Rice. If you want something Minute, get some Near Eastern brand cous-cous, which is just as Minute as Minute Rice and tastes more interesting. Personal opinion, the only thing Minute Rice is fit for is use in a filling like the meat that goes into stuffed peppers. BTW for detailed information on nutritional content go to the USDA Nutritional Database. It lists everything.

        1. Parboiling is an age old practice in Bangladesh and parts of India. Unhusked rice is dried to about 14% moisture and then parboiled and dried again. Rice is then husked and milled. The result is that nutrients from the bran are driven into the grain and the rice is more nutritious than regular milled white rice. Such rice is now readily available here in Colombia. It is a healthy option where micro-nutrient deficencies are problematic.

          I've never had Uncle Ben's and had always assumed it was just parboiled rice. applehome just set me straight on that.

          1 Reply
          1. re: Sam Fujisaka

            Don't know about the nutritional content, Sam, but taste and texture of Uncle Ben's sucks big time. This is the rice my mother cooked when I was a young'un, and why I hated rice as a child.

          2. Parboiled rice has more nutrition than regular white rice, but it changes the texture and flavor. It was a process invented in south india, where rice was steamed in its husk, dried, and then husked again. Its used frequently in kerala and the rest of southern india, but I personally prefer white rice. Its used sometimes to make dosais and idlis. Uncle Ben's is nearly the same as converted