Brown rice flour is one of the healthiest and calorie-friendly superfoods on the market.
It’s best used for desserts, pastries, butter frying, and even as a thickening agent for different soups and stews. It doesn’t have much difference compared to using white rice flour.
When you run out of your favorite brown rice flour, don’t worry.
You can replace brown rice flour with oat flour. Not only that, there are other substitutes you can take advantage of, like almond flour, coconut flour, and tapioca flour.
We’ll show you how each is good as a substitute for brown rice flour.
Best Brown Rice Flour Substitutes
The following substitutes can successfully replace brown rice flour and save your recipe, so take a look.
1. Oat Flour
Oat flour is a gluten-free superfood, like our best friend, brown rice flour.
It’s readily available in most grocery markets and is easy to use whenever you want to make a homemade recipe. Oat flour is packed with dietary fibers, as it’s less refined than other flour products—an excellent source of healthy carbohydrates that only has 50 calories per 100 grams serving.
It’s one of the healthiest grains in the world because it offers vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that benefit the body.
These qualities resemble what brown rice flour is all about. The color is also the same, which is also brown; when you replace them, you can’t even tell what the difference is. You get more health benefits than brown flour.
A cup of oat flour can substitute for a cup of brown rice flour with any baking goods. I use Muscle Feast Whole Oat Powder for this substitution.
2. Almond Flour
Almonds are one of the healthiest nuts you can snack on to maintain a healthy lifestyle. It’s a very flexible food source; it’s not only a snack but can also be converted into milk (almond milk) and flour for baking goods.
It has grown its popularity competing with the famous wheat flour due to its low caloric content but packed with health benefits.
The only thing you should be mindful of with almond flour is when feeding people who are specifically allergic to nuts. Before this substitution, ensure you know who you’re providing or serving.
Also, note that almond flour is expensive, so it’s not bad if you’re trying to splurge for a special occasion.
There’s no strict rule when substituting almond flour over brown rice flour. It will depend on the dish that you’re making. However, as a rule of thumb, it’s always a ratio of 1:1, a cup of Bob’s Red Mill almond flour.
3. Coconut Flour
Like the rest of the two entries above, coconut flour is gluten-free. If you’re sensitive to gluten, this is a perfect choice for you instead of using regular flour or if you’re out of brown rice flour.
The good thing about this flour is that it adds that coconut smell to your baking dish and smells divine.
It also competes with how healthy this flour is. Rich in fiber, protein and MCTs help your body fight off influx in blood sugar, impaired digestion, and heart risks. If you can’t give up any form of carbs, this is a perfect substitute to keep a healthy lifestyle.
For baked dishes, you may substitute ¾ cup of Viva Naturals Vegan Coconut Flour for 1 cup of brown rice flour. Coconut flour is also highly absorbent, which could dry out your dishes if you put less moisture.
When baking with coconut flour, I advise putting more milk or eggs than usual to ensure that your baking dish will turn out moist inside.
4. Tapioca Flour
Tapioca flour is by far the cheapest you can find in the market.
It is extracted from the cassava plant, which thrives easily in warmer climates. Tapioca has grown in popularity because of its tapioca balls used for Boba tea, or milk tea originated in Asia. The rest of the world has grown fond of its chewy texture.
Tapioca flour is mainly used in the kitchen as a thickening agent instead of cornstarch.
It’s also excellent with fried dishes since it makes a perfect batter to achieve that perfect crunch. It works well with pies with baking dishes since it adds that crunchy dough texture as a finish.
Although it’s a cheap and gluten-free alternative, it’s not packed with many health benefits compared to the rest of our entries. It’s packed with carbohydrates, so you might want to slow down your usage.
Still, it’s a viable substitute, and it works whenever you run out of brown rice flour. You may substitute a ratio of 1:1 over brown rice flour. Just be mindful of adding tapioca flour as it gets thick quite quickly.
Also, consider the dish you’re making since the results may vary. I usually use Bob’s Red Mill tapioca flour.
5. White Rice Flour
White rice flour is one of the best substitutes for brown rice flour, which you can use in your recipes.
It’s made of milled white rice whose bran and germ are removed, leaving only the endosperm. Therefore, white rice flour has fewer nutrients and is less dense than brown rice flour. It also has a white color and neutral flavor, which can alter the color and flavor of your dish.
You can substitute brown rice flour with white rice flour in a 1:1 ratio.
6. Potato Starch
Potato starch is a versatile product used as a thickener in sauces, soups, stews, gravies, casseroles, pie fillings, baked goods, and as a coating for fried foods.
It’s extracted from potatoes and has a neutral flavor. You can use potato starch as a substitute for brown rice flour as a thickening agent in baking and as a coating for your fried foods.
Substitute brown rice flour with potato starch in a 1:1 ratio.
7. Sorghum Flour
Sorghum flour is another gluten-free flour you can use as a substitute for brown rice flour.
It’s made of ground cereal grain sorghum and has a smooth texture and mild, nutty, slightly sweet flavor. Sorghum flour is best for making baked goods, such as muffins, brownies, cakes, bread, and cookies.
However, it’s also a breading for fried foods and a thickener in soups, sauces, and other dishes. Sorghum flour is usually combined with additional flour and a binder to get a better texture. But remember that sorghum flour should not be used up more than 30% in a flour mixture because it can give a sour flavor to your baked goods.
In your recipes, you can substitute brown rice flour with sorghum flour in a 1:1 ratio.
8. Millet Flour
One of the oldest known cereal crops, millet and the flour made from it, is gluten-free and nutritious. Millet flour has a slightly sweet, nutty flavor and light texture.
It’s usually used with other flours in sweet and savory recipes like cakes, muffins, cookies, vegetable fritters, and pizza crusts. Millet flour is also used as a thickener and a breading for fried foods.
Substitute brown rice flour with millet flour in a 1:1 ratio.
9. All-Purpose Flour
All-purpose flour is a versatile product used in various baking recipes, cooking, breading, and as a thickening agent.
You can use it as a substitute for brown rice flour if you don’t mind that it is not gluten-free.
All-purpose flour is a good substitute for brown rice flour you can use in baked goods, as a thickener, and as a breading for fried foods.
Substitute brown rice flour with all-purpose flour in a 1:1 ratio.
10. Chickpea Flour
Chickpea flour is made of ground chickpeas and is also known as gram flour, besan, and garbanzo flour. It is a gluten-free flour with a neutral flavor used in many dishes.
Chickpea flour is usually combined with other flour and used in cookies, muffins, and bread. It’s also used as a thickener for sauces, soups, and stews and as a breading for fried foods.
You can buy chickpea flour or make it home if you have dried chickpeas. You only have to grind them, and your chickpea flour is ready to use.
Use chickpea flour as a substitute for brown rice flour in a 1:1 ratio.
11. Arrowroot Flour
Arrowroot flour is a thickening agent used in many dishes. It’s extracted from the roots of the arrowroot plant and has a white color and neutral flavor.
Arrowroot flour is a thickener in soups, sauces, gravies, puddings, pie fillings, and jellies. But it is also used in baked goods and as a breading for fried foods.
If you are using arrowroot flour as a thickener, you need to make a slurry and add it at the end of the cooking time, as arrowroot flour will break down if cooked longer at high temperatures.
Substitute ½ tablespoon of brown rice flour with one tablespoon of arrowroot flour.
12. Buckwheat Flour
Buckwheat flour is another gluten-free flour you can use as a substitute for brown rice flour.
This flour is used in many gluten-free products like noodles, pancakes, crepes, cookies, cakes, and quick bread. But it is also used as a breading for fried foods and as a thickener.
You can find buckwheat flour as dark and light. Dark buckwheat flour is made from unhulled buckwheat and has a nutty, slightly bitter flavor.
At the same time, the light buckwheat flour is made from hulled buckwheat and has a milder flavor and more delicate texture. Buckwheat flour is usually combined with other gluten-free flour to get products with the best texture and flavor.
You can substitute brown rice flour with buckwheat flour in a 1:1 ratio.
13. Cornstarch
Cornstarch is extracted from the endosperm of the corn.
It’s usually used as a thickener in sauces, marinades, soups, casseroles, pies, stews, gravies, glazes, and other recipes. Cornstarch is also used in baked goods, as a breading for fried foods, and as a coat for fruits in tarts, pies, and other desserts.
If you want cornstarch as a thickener, you need to make a slurry and add it to the hot liquid. Because if you add straight cornstarch into a hot drink, it will create lumps. Cornstarch is also gluten-free and can be used as a substitute for brown rice flour in your recipes.
It’s best to use one tablespoon of cornstarch instead of two tablespoons of brown rice flour in your dishes to get the best results.
14. Amaranth Flour
Amaranth flour is another popular gluten-free ingredient used in baking.
It has a slightly sweet, earthy, nutty flavor and delicate texture. Amaranth flour is usually used in baked goods and as a thickener in sauces, stews, and soups.
It pairs well with almond flour, but it is combined with other gluten-free flour to get baked goods with the best texture. Because if amaranth flour is used on its baked goods will have a dense and heavy texture.
Substitute brown rice flour with amaranth flour in a 1:1 ratio.
Wrap Up
Hopefully, this guide can help you find a suitable substitute for brown rice flour and save your recipe. If you have other alternatives in mind or cooking tips you would like to share with other foodies, drop a comment below, and let’s chat!
1 comment
Found these substitutions very helpful, thank- you.
In some of the information naming brown rice flour, somehow it was changed to reading “brown rice sugar”. Thought you might like to know this.
Again, thank-you for this information.