Making and Using Rice Flour

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Are you looking for an inexpensive corn and gluten-free flour alternative? Learn How to Make Rice Flour, an easy and frugal allergen-friendly flour substitute and find some delicious recipes to use it in!

Are you looking for an inexpensive corn and gluten-free flour alternative? Learn How to Make Rice Flour, an easy and frugal allergen-friendly flour substitute and find some delicious recipes to use it in! #riceflour #homemadericeflour #makeyourownriceflour #allergenfriendly #glutenfree #cornfree #makeyourown

Making and Using Rice Flour

I recently started to look into buying rice flour. Rice flour can be a good alternative to wheat or corn flour. After doing some digging I discovered that rice flour isn’t really that expensive but I have also learned that it’s much cheaper to make your own. It’s very easy to make too, no special equipment is needed!

Going gluten or corn-free is hard enough without having to deal with the expense of buying new grains and new foods that you will have to change over. Grinding your own rice flour is easy and can be much more cost-effective than buying the pre-ground rice flour at the store.

Rice contains a large number of vitamins and minerals, especially if you take the time to soak and sprout the rice first before grinding. Any rice flour is nutritious but sprouted rice flour has the highest nutrition.

Even if you don’t use rice flour for baking, you can still use it for thickening sauces and gravies. Let’s learn how to make it!

–Learn more about How to Deal With Food Allergies On a Budget.

How to Make Flour From Rice

Making your own rice flour is simple, just grind about 1 – 2 cups of uncooked rice at a time in your blender! Your blender should be able to grind the rice into a fine enough powder to use for baking. This is very important. You want to make sure that the end result is a very fine powder or your gluten-free goods will be gritty. If the texture still has large chunks or any remaining rice grains instead of a fine powder consistency, it will be rather inedible.

Another great tool to use (if you have one) is a Magic Bullet. (I also use my Magic Bullet to grind turbinado sugar when a recipe needs a finer grade sugar.)

The only downside to grinding your homemade rice flour in a blender is that grinding harder food products (such as rice) will wear down the motor faster than if you just use it for smoothies. If you plan on grinding a lot of rice flour you will either want to consider a high-quality blender with a good motor or a grain grinder (or grain grinder attachment).

If you want something that is more sustainable for making rice flour in the long run, I would recommend using a Grain Mill that is made for grinding larger gluten free grains. I have the Wonder Junior Deluze Grain Mill from Pleasant Hill Grain that I use to grind our gluten free flour.

–Learn how to make your own How to Make Almond Flour and Homemade Almond Milk.

Is It Cheaper to Make Your Own Rice Flour?

So how does the cost of homemade rice flour stack up against store-bought rice flour?

Cost for 1 cup purchased, pre-ground rice flour = About  $0.58

White Jasmine Rice 25lb – $26.75
Cost for 1 cup =   About $0.27

In general, making your own rice flour will save you about 50% off the cost of the store-bought rice flour. Not a bad deal if you plan on using it often!

Bean flour is another easy and inexpensive homemade flour! Catch up on all of the Rice N Beans articles that we’ve posted.

Types of Rice Flour

Rice flour is very similar to wheat flour and can be easily used in recipes to make them gluten-free. It can also be used as a thickening agent in soups and as a coating if you’re looking for an allergen-friendly way to fry something as it browns up nicely.

Rice flour can be made by using several different types of rice. Each has its own unique characteristics that make it better suited, depending on what you are using it for. If you want basic white rice flour, use regular, long-grain rice. It is the most versatile and can be used for any of the recipes that call for rice flour.

Brown rice flour is made using brown rice and is overall a slightly healthier flour choice. You can compare the amounts when you purchase your rice, but overall, brown rice typically has higher protein and fiber than white rice and fewer calories. Brown rice can offer a slightly sweet and nutty taste compared to white rice (which is tasteless) so it’s great for cookies and other baked goods but may make them a little heavier, similar to the effect of using whole wheat flour.

Sticky rice or sweet rice is short-grained rice that can be used to make a more glutinous rice flour alternative. It does not contain gluten, but it is starchier and therefore mimics the gluten in regular flour. This type of rice is especially good as a thickening agent. I use sweet rice flours in my gluten free flour blend.

How do you store your homemade rice flour?

Rice flour doesn’t have a long shelf life, especially brown rice flour. For maximum freshness and to extend the shelf life, you should store your rice flour in the refrigerator for 4-6 months or freezer for up to a year.

More Questions on Making Rice Flour

How do you make rice flour without a grinder?

You can use a high-powered blender to make rice flour without a grinder. It will wear out faster than a grain mill in the long run, but if you only use small amounts, a blender will work fine.

Is it worth it to mill your own flour?

Whole grains cost less to purchase than already processed grains. Also, when you grind your own grains, you will retain more of the nutrition than the already-made flours that are on store shelves. That being said, only you can decide what your time is worth and if it’s a worthy endeavor for your family.

What is blended rice flour?

Blended rice flour is just another name for a mixture of multiple flours used for gluten free baking that includes rice. You can make your own blended rice flour using my all purpose gluten free flour recipe.

Brown Rice Crackers

Recipes to Make with Rice Flour

Find more Gluten Free Recipes using Rice Flour here!

Frugal Gluten Free

Looking for more simple gluten-free baking recipes that won’t break the bank? My ebook Frugal Gluten Free features 25 delicious tried & true recipes that are gluten free, egg free, dairy free, and nut free. No exotic ingredients here, just simple baking recipes using regular frugal ingredients.

Did you make your own rice flour and enjoy this article? Share it with your friends on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, or through email using the sharing buttons!


Me and KadyMerissa has been blogging about and living the simple life since 2009 and has internationally published 2 books on the topic. You can read about Merissa’s journey from penniless to the 100-acre farm and ministry on the About Page. You can send her a message any time from the Contact Page.


This post on How to Make Rice Flour was originally published on Little House Living in January 2012. It has been updated as of January 2023.

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38 Comments

  1. I love all your ideas on saving money. I have a mill I use for wheat and for the rice I use my vitamix, that way they don’t contaminate each other. I have a wheat allergy and a son with an allergy to rice. I have been trying to do more with bean flour so your article on that was great. My husband is diabetic so the bean flour gets more protein for him as well as a cheaper source of protein for our whole family.
    Thank you for all your help.
    Lisa

  2. I have been on a GF diet for like 6 years and this is the first i have heard of making rice chips or home made rice flour. thank you so much! I find that the alternative flours are expensive considering you have to buy multiple types for any one GF recipe. I’m definitely going to try this woo hoo!

  3. I read in the article that it is difficult to grind rice in a blender as it will wear out the motor. What about using Minute Rice? Can you grind that down like flour instead? I think I might try that.

    1. Just blend small amounts at a time. Then it won’t hurt your blender (except wear the blades down). You can buy good used blenders at the goodwill so you don’t have to ruin your regular one.

  4. Pingback: Gluten Free Recipe- Rice Cakes | Coupon Jaime
  5. I just found your recipe for Rice Chips and they were yummy. Thanks for sharing such a simple, healthy recipe. And for all the photos. I used my VitaMix to make my flours. I made a couple of additions – I added a bit of ground flax meal, 1/8 tsp of xanthum gum (just cuz I got nervous about them holding together), and 1/8 cup of cooked rice (gave the chips a great texture). Thanks again. You made my lunch extra special today.

  6. I am doing some GF research as I am suspecting we may need to do a trial elimination of wheat and/or gluten. I have a NutriMill grain grinder and will use that to make my rice flour. My question is: does it make a different if I use white or brown rice?
    I love your site and use it often!

  7. I am new to GF baking, and I have a mill that I have ben using to grind my various grains. I have been trying to find the right combination of bean, tapioca, rice, corn, etc. for bread flour. There are many types of rice [wild, brown, long grain, short grain, coverted, parboiled, white, jasmine, etc.] There are also differences in texture of cooked rice ranging from fluffy to the sticky asian rice.
    Which type of rice is best to mill for bread?

      1. I have started using a soda bread recipe. It is one I converted from wheat/rye. It works wonderfully! I basically took the Total amount of flour called for in the regular recipe and came up with a ratio of GF flours as follows: 2 parts starch (i.e. tapioca, arrowroot, corn); 1 part protein from nuts & seeds, ground; 4 parts GF flours (i.e. sorghum, chickpea, potato FLOUR {not startch}, rice, coconut, etc.; plus 1 tsp of Xanthan gum. Otherwise I followed the regular recipe I had for soda bread. It is yummy warm, toasted, the second day, and after it has been frozen.

        1. Joyce I’ve just started the gluten free diet just over a month ago and I’m wanting some bread! Can you share your entire soda bread recipe or a link for it.
          Thanks you so much!

        2. Thanks for the “recipe” for gluten free flour, Joyce! Can that recipe be used basically as an all-purpose flour?

  8. Thanks for the info, and to other commenters for the additions! I am glad it was so easy to make. I want to experiment with rice flour, but buying a whole bag seems like too much of a commitment when I’ve never tried it. Made cookies that are in the oven now… 🙂

  9. Hi,
    Just found your site looking into some wheat free options, and I love it! For rice flour, I’ve seen some sites that suggest a longer process of soaking, draining, blending and toasting the rice. I saw that you said you mostly use brown rice. Have you heard of that, and is it just not necessary for brown rice? Just curious. Thanks again for all the great info!

    1. You can definitely sprout either brown or white rice before making it into flour for added nutrition. You will just want to make sure the sprouted rice is very dry before grinding. I hope that helps!

  10. Thank you so much for this information! I’m on the blood type diet and it’s working great! This will really help me save $!

  11. when i use my homemade rice flour in baking, the product comes out crumbly and dry; when i use Bob’s, it’s fine – what gives?

    1. Homemade flour is always going to have a slightly more course consistency than store bought flour. It may be a little better when using a flour mill but otherwise the flour won’t be perfect for every recipe.

  12. Do you soak or rinse the rice before you blend it? Or just put it in there dry and right out of the bag?

  13. In China we have a kind of traditional steamed rice bread (or cake) which makes me think that Baking could also be an alternative to steaming. If you worry about wearing down your blender motor try soaking the rice in water for minimum 12hrs, it’s much easier for the blades to break the softened rice kernels. Just make sure you sieve out excessive water before putting rice into the blender, what you get is a slurry of rice mixture. Add yeast (baking powder if required) and let it ferment the same way as for wheat flour, only the dough will seem more watery and can not achieve that much rise and formation like wheat dough. The steamed rice cake has even and smaller hollows, not sure about baking perhaps you can experiment. Also worth trying is to blend normal rice with sticky rice (1:1) so you can give the dough a bit of “gluten” effect. Success!

  14. Hello!
    I’m wondering if it is possible to soak and sprout jasmine rice before making it into flour. I assume I would just need it to dry completely. Thank you for the post! I would have thought the grains would be too small to completely blend, but I look forward to trying this method:)
    Natalie-

    1. Although I haven’t tried it, I’m pretty sure it’s possible from what I’ve read. Yes, you would just need to dry the rice completely before grinding, maybe even putting it in the dehydrator if you have one.

  15. As rice has been scarce here, I inadvertently picked up short grain brown rice at Costco, can I use this to make brown rice flour?

  16. How do you sprout the rice to get more nutrients? If you sprout it in water do you dehydrate it before grinding or let it dry out …just curious on the process. Thank you!