What can I use instead of brown rice flour? White rice flour is the best alternative to brown rice flour. Use Oat, Sorghum, Almond, Coconut, and Amaranth flour for baked goods. Then, use Tapioca, Cornstarch, and Arrowroot as thickening agents. Lastly, the best substitute for frying is potato starch.
Brown rice flour is a healthy, calorie-friendly flour with a slightly coarse, gritty texture and a mild, nutty flavor. This superfood is used for gluten-free baked goods, fried food coatings, and as a thickening agent for soups, stews, and gravies. If you don’t have brown rice flour on hand, consider the following suitable alternatives for similar results.
The Best Brown Rice Flour Substitutes
White Rice Flour
White rice flour is the best substitute for brown rice flour. White rice flour’s outer bran and germ layers are removed, resulting in a lighter color and more neutral flavor to brown rice flour.
White rice flour is perfect for gluten-free bread, cookies, cakes, dumplings, and more. You can also use the four to thicken soups, sauces, and gravies or as a coating for fried foods.
White and brown rice flour are virtually interchangeable. However, white rice flour is less dense than its brown counterpart and may absorb less liquid.
Therefore, use equal amounts of white rice flour when substituting brown rice flour and add more accordingly.
Oat Flour
Oat flour is another excellent gluten-free alternative to brown rice flour. Oat flour resembles the light brown color and nutty flavor of brown rice four and even features a higher nutritious value.
Oat flour has a lighter texture compared to the dense consistency of brown rice flour. Use oat flour to add a delicate, fluffy texture to baked goods like pancakes, brownies, biscuits, and bread.
Substitute every cup of brown rice flour with a cup of oat flour. Although oats are naturally gluten-free, check the package for details if you’re on a gluten-free diet.
The flour can be ground in a factory containing gluten traces.
Sorghum Flour
Sorghum flour boasts a similar nutty, earthy taste to brown rice flour. It’s also considered a superfood thanks to its incredible nutritional value.
Use sorghum flour to replace brown rice flour in baked recipes, including bread, rolls, cakes, cookies, brownies, and muffins.
You can also use sorghum flour as a thickener for soups and sauces or as a breading agent for fried foods.
Use a 1:1 ratio when substituting brown rice flour with sorghum flour.
You can use sorghum flour solely, but it’s best used as part of a flour blend to prevent a too-crumbly texture.
So, we recommend adding a binder like xanthan gum or eggs. Additionally, combine sorghum flour with additional flour to avoid a sour and bitter flavor.
Tapioca Flour
Tapioca flour is a cheap, gluten-free alternative to brown rice flour. Tapioca flour is derived from drying and grounding the cassava plant’s root, hence its starchy consistency.
You can use tapioca flour to add a thick, chewy texture to baked goods or as a batter for deep frying. However, it’s best utilized as a thickening agent for stews, soups, sauces, and gravies.
You can use a 1:1 ratio when substituting brown rice flour for tapioca flour. However, we recommend adding the tapioca flour gradually to prevent your recipe from thickening too fast.
Arrowroot Flour
Arrowroot is a flavorless vegetable-based flour that you can use to replace brown rice flour in baking, frying, and thickening. Arrowroot is flavorless and adds a glossy finish to food.
Arrowroot is best suited for thickening purposes in baking, frying, and thickening. However, you can also use it for desserts, fruit pies, or pan-fry proteins.
You can simply use a 1:1 ratio when swapping brown rice flour with arrowroot flour.
Amaranth Flour
Almond flour is probably no stranger if you are familiar with gluten-free living. It is one of the most popular nut flour varieties.
Almond flour is low-carb and protein-rich, and it comes at little surprise that it tastes like almonds.
Amaranth flour is rich in protein and fiber. It has a fine texture and mildly sweet, nutty taste, making it perfect for baking flatbread, flapjacks, and other goods.
However, you can also use amaranth flour to thicken soups and sauces.
Use a 1:1 ratio when substituting brown rice flour for amaranth flour. Amaranth flour is dense, so you may want to blend amaranth flour with a leavening agent to create a lighter, fluffier result.
Potato Starch
As the name implies, potato starch is the starch extracted from potatoes. It is a versatile product used as a thickener in many foods.
Potato starch is transparent and has a neutral flavor. So it won’t change the color or taste of your dish.
Use potato starch as a thickening agent in pies, casseroles, soups, gravies, and sauces.
Additionally, use it to coat fried foods. Potato starch will ensure crispy, perfectly golden fried foods without becoming overly greasy.
Use a 1:1 ratio when substituting brown rice flour for potato starch.
Cornstarch
Cornstarch is another fantastic alternative to brown rice flour, like potato starch, especially when frying foods.
Cornstarch is a gluten-free carbohydrate extracted from corn’s endosperm. It is used for many culinary, industrial, and household purposes.
In the kitchen, cornstarch is an excellent thickening agent for pies, casseroles, soups, sauces, gravies, marinades, and desserts. Cornstarch and brown rice flour can also be used interchangeably for batters.
You will need to replace 3 tablespoons of brown rice flour with 1 tablespoon of cornstarch.
Additionally, make a slurry before adding cornstarch to the sauce to prevent clumping. However, you can use equal amounts of cornstarch to brown rice flour when making a batter for fried food.
Almond Flour
Almond flour is probably no stranger if you are familiar with gluten-free living. It is one of the most popular types of nut flour.
Almond flour is low-carb and protein-rich, and it comes at little surprise that it tastes like almonds.
Use almond flour instead of brown rice flour in baking bread and sweet treats or coat fried foods.
Use a 1:1 ratio when substituting brown rice flour for almond flour. Ensure your guests do not have nut allergies before serving baked goods made with almond flour.
Coconut Flour
Coconut flour is another gluten-free substitute made from dried coconut ground into a fine powder. It has a soft texture, sweet, nutty coconut flavor, and aroma.
Only use coconut flour in recipes that allow sweet coconut flavors to seep through, like pancakes, muffins, and cookies.
Coconut flour absorbs more liquid than brown rice flour.
Therefore, you can use ¾ cup of coconut flour to replace each cup of brown rice flour, and remember to add extra eggs or milk to prevent your baked goods from becoming too dense and dry.
All-Purpose Flour
All-purpose flour is an all-rounder that you can use to replace brown rice flour if you don’t mind gluten in your recipes.
As the name implies, all-purpose flour can be freely used in baked goods or recipes that require frying and thickening. However, all-purpose flour will be heavier and denser than brown rice flour.
You can use a 1:1 ratio when substituting brown rice flour with all-purpose flour.