Black Rice substitute

Best substitute

Bhutanese Red Rice or Camargue Red Rice

Use the same amount about 1 ¾ cups water per cup, 25 to 30 minutes as the black rice you are replacing

Best for grain bowls

Close match

The nearest thing on the shelf. Both are whole-grain rices with a coloured bran, so you get the same slightly chewy, springy grain and the same nutty, faintly earthy flavour, at a very similar cooking time. The difference is entirely visual: the bowl comes out warm russet-brown rather than inky purple-black, and it bleeds a rosy tint into a dressing rather than a dramatic violet one.

Other black rice substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Wild Rice
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount about 3 cups water per cup, 45 to 50 minutes
The best choice when the dark, dramatic look is the point, since wild rice is nearly black and its grains split open to show pale interiors, which looks striking in a salad.
What changes
Flavour is where it diverges sharply: wild rice is not rice at all but an aquatic grass, and it tastes distinctly grassy, smoky and tea-like, much stronger than the mild nuttiness of black rice. Texture is chewier still, almost bouncy.
Best for
cold grain salads, stuffings, pilafs, dishes where dark colour matters most
Cook it like pasta in plenty of water and drain, since it needs far more liquid and time than black rice. Blending half wild rice with half brown rice moderates the strong flavour while keeping the dark look.
3Short-Grain Brown Rice
Different taste
Use the same amount about 2 cups water per cup, 40 to 45 minutes
The most available and cheapest option, and a solid one on texture.
What changes
The intact bran gives the same pleasant chew and a similar nutty flavour, so a grain bowl built on it works in exactly the same way. What you lose is the drama: no purple, no colour bleeding into the dressing, and a slightly milder, less roasty flavour. It also cooks noticeably longer than black rice.
Best for
grain bowls, salads, rice pudding, everyday whole-grain rice
Short-grain brown clings more than long-grain brown, which is closer to how black rice eats. Rinse it briefly and cook it in plenty of salted water, then drain, for the most even result.
4Purple or Black Barley, or Black Quinoa
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount timing per packet
Worth knowing about if you find them, because they get you some of the dark colour with a totally different grain.
What changes
Black quinoa cooks in fifteen minutes and gives a dark speckled bowl with a small popping bite rather than a chew, plus a grassy flavour. Purple barley is plumper, starchier and softer than black rice, and it bleeds a pinkish liquid that thickens noticeably.
Best for
dark-coloured grain salads, quick weeknight bowls, soups in the case of barley
Black quinoa is much smaller than rice, so a salad made with it reads as a different dish. Rinse quinoa thoroughly to remove its bitter saponin coating.
5Regular Glutinous or Sweet Rice (for black sticky rice puddings)
Different taste
Use the same amount soaked and steamed
The right substitute for the specific case of Thai black sticky rice pudding, because the essential property there is stickiness rather than colour.
What changes
White glutinous rice gives the same dense, chewy, cohesive texture and it cooks the same way, soaked then steamed. The pudding comes out ivory instead of deep purple, and it loses the roasty, slightly winey note that black sticky rice has, so it tastes cleaner and sweeter.
Best for
black sticky rice pudding, coconut rice puddings, mango sticky rice
If you have even a couple of tablespoons of black rice left, add them to the white glutinous rice and the whole pot will still turn purple, since the pigment is very strong. Do not boil glutinous rice like ordinary rice, as it turns to paste.
6Brown Rice Blended with a Spoonful of Black Rice
Close match
3 parts brown rice to 1 part black rice
The practical answer when you have a little black rice but not enough.
What changes
Anthocyanin is a powerful dye, so a quarter of the quantity will colour the whole pot a convincing purple-grey, and the brown rice supplies the bulk with a compatible chew and flavour. This gets you nearer to a real black rice dish than any single substitute in this list.
Best for
grain bowls, salads, stretching an expensive bag of black rice
Cook them together only if the timings are close: black rice takes about thirty to thirty-five minutes and brown rice forty to forty-five, so start the brown rice about ten minutes earlier and add the black rice after.

What is Black Rice?

Black Rice is Black rice, marketed as forbidden rice and also called purple rice, is a whole-grain rice with a deep blackish-purple bran layer coloured by the same anthocyanin pigments found in blackberries and red cabbage.

Cooking tips

There are two different products both called black rice, and mixing them up is the usual reason a recipe fails. Chinese and Italian black rice, sold as forbidden rice, is non-glutinous: it cooks in about thirty to thirty-five minutes into separate chewy grains and belongs in salads and bowls. Thai black sticky rice, khao niaow dam, is glutinous, needs soaking for several hours and then steaming, and is what desserts like black rice pudding are made from. Neither works as a straight swap for the other.
Expect the water to turn shockingly inky purple, and expect the finished rice to bleed into everything it touches. That is the anthocyanin pigment doing exactly what it should, not a sign of dye or spoilage. Plan around it: black rice will tint a lemon dressing lilac and turn coconut milk grey-violet, which is beautiful or unwanted depending on the dish.
Cook it like pasta rather than by absorption. Boil it in a big pot of well-salted water for thirty to thirty-five minutes and drain, which gives you far more even grains than trying to hit an exact liquid ratio, and lets you taste along the way. If you want the colour to stay concentrated in the grains rather than washing away, use the absorption method with about one and three quarter cups water per cup instead.
Black rice stays chewy no matter how long you cook it, because the bran layer is intact. If it feels firm and springy at the centre after thirty-five minutes, that is correct and finished rice, not undercooked rice. Keep going past forty-five minutes and the grains split and go pasty on the outside while still chewing firm inside.
Toasting the dry rice in a little oil for two minutes before adding liquid deepens the roasty flavour noticeably, and a splash of coconut milk stirred in at the end of a savoury dish flatters black rice better than butter does.

Frequently asked questions

What is the closest substitute for black rice?

Bhutanese red rice or Camargue red rice, because they are the only widely sold rices that share all of black rice's important qualities: an intact coloured bran, a firm chewy grain, a nutty flavour and a similar cooking time of twenty-five to thirty-five minutes. The only thing you give up is the colour, which comes out warm reddish-brown instead of purple-black. If the dark colour is the reason you wanted black rice, use wild rice instead and accept a much stronger, grassier flavour.

Can I use wild rice instead of black rice?

Yes, and it is the best visual match, but the flavour change is substantial. Wild rice is not a rice at all, it is the seed of an aquatic grass, and it tastes distinctly grassy, smoky and almost like strong tea, where black rice is mildly nutty and roasty. It also needs about three times its volume in water and forty-five to fifty minutes of cooking. Cook it like pasta and drain. If the strong flavour worries you, use half wild rice and half brown rice, which keeps the dark colour while softening the taste.

Why is my black rice turning everything purple?

Because the bran contains anthocyanins, the same water-soluble purple pigments that colour blackberries, blueberries and red cabbage. They leach into the cooking water and into any dressing or sauce the rice sits in, which is entirely normal and harmless. Two practical consequences: cook black rice separately from other ingredients if you do not want a uniformly purple dish, and remember that anthocyanins shift colour with acidity, so a squeeze of lemon can push the tint toward magenta while an alkaline ingredient pushes it toward blue-grey.

Is forbidden rice the same as black sticky rice?

No, and this is the most important distinction on this page. Forbidden rice is the marketing name for Chinese black rice, a non-glutinous whole grain that boils in about thirty-five minutes into separate chewy grains, used in salads and grain bowls. Thai black sticky rice, also called black glutinous rice or khao niaow dam, is a glutinous variety that must be soaked for several hours and then steamed, and it becomes dense and cohesive, which is what makes it right for coconut rice puddings. Using forbidden rice in a sticky rice pudding gives you loose grains in coconut milk instead of a thick pudding.

Can I just leave black rice out or use white rice instead?

You can swap in white rice and you will still have a meal, but you should know what disappears. Black rice contributes three things: the striking colour that makes the dish look like the photo, a firm chewy texture that stands up to dressing and holds its own against soft toppings, and a nutty roasty flavour. Plain white rice brings none of these, so a grain bowl built on it tastes softer and blander, and the dressing sits on top rather than being absorbed by a chewy grain. If white rice is all you have, short-grain brown rice is a much better use of an extra thirty minutes.

Related substitutes

More grains & starches substitutes

Black Rice substitute

Other black rice substitutes

2Wild Rice

3Short-Grain Brown Rice

4Purple or Black Barley, or Black Quinoa

5Regular Glutinous or Sweet Rice (for black sticky rice puddings)

6Brown Rice Blended with a Spoonful of Black Rice