Glycemic Index of Rice: The Variety Matters More Than the Color
White rice averages a GI around 73, but basmati sits near 52 — a bigger gap than white vs brown. The published numbers by variety, what cooling does, and the load of a real bowl.
Ask “what’s the GI of rice” and you’ll get one number. Rice deserves at least four.
Short answer: boiled white rice averages a published GI around 73, but the honest range is wide: basmati ~57, long-grain ~60, brown ~65, jasmine and glutinous varieties into the 80s and 90s. The variety on the bag moves the number more than the white-vs-brown question everyone asks. And because a bowl of rice is carb-dense, the load is where rice earns its reputation.
The numbers, by variety
| Rice (boiled) | Published GI |
|---|---|
| Basmati, white | ~57 (mean of six studies) |
| Long-grain white, average | ~60–73 |
| Brown, average | ~65 |
| Jasmine / fragrant | ~80–90 |
| Sticky / glutinous | ~85–98 |
| Short-grain / japonica white | ~72–76 |
Figures from the University of Sydney GI database and the international GI tables (Atkinson 2008/2021). Values are means across studies; individual tests vary widely by batch, variety and cooking time.
Two things worth noticing. First, basmati beats brown in most published tests — amylose content (the starch type) matters more than bran. Note the split people usually get wrong: sticky rice is high, but short-grain japonica (sushi rice, Koshihikari) sits in the low-to-mid 70s, not the high 80s. Second, “rice” spans thirty-plus GI points; a table that prints one number is rounding away the decision.
The load of an actual bowl
Rice is where the GI-vs-GL distinction stops being academic. A 150 g serving of boiled white rice carries about 40 g of available carbohydrate (38–43 g depending on grain type):
| Bowl (150 g cooked) | GI | GL |
|---|---|---|
| White, average | ~73 | ~29 |
| Basmati | ~57 | ~22 |
| Brown | ~65 | ~26 |
| Half portion, 75 g | ~73 | ~15 |
Even the “good” varieties land in the high-teens per full bowl — rice’s load comes from density as much as from index. The half-portion row is the practical lever nobody prints on the bag.
The cooling trick is real
Cook rice, cool it overnight, and part of its starch retrogrades into resistant starch — a form your small intestine doesn’t digest. Measured glycemic responses drop, and some of the effect survives reheating. Yesterday’s rice, glycemically, is a slightly different food than tonight’s. (The same chemistry works for potatoes.)
As always, the honest caveat: these are published food values, not predictions of your glucose. In 3sense Food a rice bowl shows its GI as published — per variety when the data exists — and its load calculated from the grams you actually logged, so a half portion of basmati and a heap of jasmine stop looking like the same decision.
Quick answers.
What is the glycemic index of white rice?+
The published average for boiled white rice is 73, but tested values span an enormous range — basmati averages 57, long-grain around 60, and jasmine and glutinous varieties reach into the 80s and 90s.
Is brown rice low GI?+
Lower than average white rice but not low: the published average is 65. The variety effect is bigger, and basmati (white) often tests lower than generic brown rice.
Does cooling rice lower its glycemic impact?+
Cooling roughly doubles or triples the resistant starch in cooked rice, and small crossover trials report glucose responses around 15-25% lower with some effect surviving reheating. The trials are small and at least one found no difference, so treat it as a modest, uncertain effect rather than a trick.
What is the glycemic load of a bowl of rice?+
A 150 g serving of boiled white rice holds roughly 40 g of available carbohydrate; at GI 73 that is a glycemic load around 29, which is high. The same bowl of basmati computes to around 22.