Calrose Rice substitute

Best substitute

Any medium-grain white rice

Use the same amount as the calrose rice you are replacing

Best for rice bowls

Close match

Any medium-grain white rice works as a straight 1:1 swap for Calrose, and Japanese short-grain or bagged "sushi rice" is even closer (most sushi rice sold in the US is literally Calrose). Jasmine or basmati will cook fine but the grains stay separate, so anything that needs to hold its shape, like musubi, onigiri or a sushi roll, will fall apart.

Other calrose rice substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Japanese short-grain rice or bagged sushi rice
Close match
Use the same amount
Koshihikari-type short-grain rice, or any bag sold as sushi rice, which in North America is very often Calrose under a different label.
What changes
Best for
sushi rice, onigiri, donburi, Korean and Japanese meals
Slightly plumper and a touch stickier than Calrose, so pull the water back by about 2 tablespoons per cup of rice or the batch turns gummy.
3Arborio rice
Different texture
Use the same amount
Italian medium-grain rice with a chalky center, which gives it enough surface starch to clump the way Calrose does.
What changes
Best for
rice bowls, musubi, rice pudding, stuffed vegetables
Rinse it in three changes of cold water first or the released starch turns the pot creamy like risotto. The grains stay a little firmer at the center than Calrose, so the mouthfeel is chewier rather than tender.
4Jasmine rice
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount with 2 tablespoons less water per cup
Long-grain aromatic Thai rice, soft but with grains that cook up separate rather than clinging.
What changes
Best for
eating alongside stir-fries and curries, fried rice, plain steamed rice
Tastes noticeably floral and perfumed where Calrose is plain and faintly sweet, and the cooked grains will not stick to each other. Fine as a bowl of rice under grilled meat, useless for anything you need to press into a shape or pick up in a clump.
5Long-grain white rice cut with glutinous rice
Close match
3 parts long-grain to 1 part glutinous (sweet) rice, total 1:1 for the Calrose
A workaround that borrows stickiness from sweet rice when medium-grain rice is not available at all.
What changes
Best for
musubi, onigiri, anything that must hold its shape
Rinse and soak both together for 30 minutes, then cook with 1 1/4 cups water per cup of total rice. It clumps well enough to press, though it tastes slightly sweeter and goes hard faster in the fridge than real Calrose.
6Bomba or Calasparra rice
Different texture
Use the same amount
Spanish paella rices, which are technically short to medium grain but bred specifically to absorb liquid without releasing starch.
What changes
Best for
savory rice cooked in broth, arroz dishes, soups
They soak up roughly a third more liquid than Calrose and deliberately stay separate, which is the opposite of what Calrose is for. Good in a brothy rice dish, wrong for sushi or a rice bowl you eat with chopsticks.

What is Calrose Rice?

Calrose Rice is Calrose is a California-grown medium-grain white rice, mildly sweet and slightly clingy, and it is the everyday rice of most Japanese-American, Korean-American and Hawaiian home cooking.

Cooking tips

Rinse Calrose and any medium-grain stand-in until the water runs nearly clear, usually three or four changes. Skipping this is the single most common reason a pot of medium-grain rice comes out gluey.
Calrose wants less water than most packages of long-grain rice suggest: 1 cup rinsed rice to 1 1/4 cups water on the stovetop. If you swap in jasmine or basmati, that same ratio works, but the result will be fluffy and separate instead of tender and clingy.
The 10-minute covered rest off the heat is not optional. That is when the grains finish absorbing and firm up enough to scoop without smearing, whichever medium-grain rice you used.
For sushi or musubi, season the hot rice with rice vinegar, a little sugar and salt while fanning it. This step is doing so much of the work that a well-seasoned batch of arborio will pass where an unseasoned batch of real Calrose would not.
Brown Calrose is a different animal from white Calrose: it needs closer to 2 cups water per cup of rice and about 40 minutes. Do not swap them one for one without changing the water.

Frequently asked questions

Is Calrose the same thing as sushi rice?

For practical purposes in a US kitchen, usually yes. Calrose is a medium-grain japonica variety developed in California, and a large share of the bags sold as "sushi rice" in American supermarkets are Calrose. Traditional Japanese sushi rice is a short-grain variety that is a little plumper and stickier, but the two are interchangeable at home with a small water adjustment.

Can I use jasmine or basmati rice instead of Calrose?

You can, but understand what changes. Calrose has enough surface starch that the cooked grains cling together in soft clumps, which is why it works for musubi, onigiri, bibimbap and eating with chopsticks. Jasmine and basmati are long-grain and cook up separate and dry, and jasmine also brings a distinct floral perfume. As a side of rice they are fine. For anything pressed, rolled or shaped, they will crumble.

Can I just leave the rice out or use whatever is in the cupboard?

Rice is almost always the base of the dish rather than a seasoning, so leaving it out is not an option. Using whatever you have is usually fine, though: the risk is texture, not flavor. Ask yourself whether the recipe needs the rice to hold together. If it does not, any white rice works. If it does, either use a medium-grain rice or blend in a quarter part glutinous rice to add stickiness.

Is Calrose short grain or medium grain?

Medium grain, officially. It sits between long-grain rices like jasmine, whose grains stay separate, and true Japanese short-grain, which is stickier and rounder. That middle position is exactly why it is so useful, and why medium-grain rice of any brand is the closest swap.

What job is Calrose actually doing in the recipe?

Texture and structure, not flavor. Its taste is deliberately plain and slightly sweet so it does not compete with anything. What you are buying is the specific amount of clinginess that lets rice be scooped, pressed, mounded or picked up in a bite-sized clump without either falling apart or turning into paste. Judge any substitute on that, not on taste.

Related substitutes

More grains & starches substitutes

Calrose Rice substitute

Other calrose rice substitutes

2Japanese short-grain rice or bagged sushi rice

3Arborio rice

4Jasmine rice

5Long-grain white rice cut with glutinous rice

6Bomba or Calasparra rice