What is the Best Brown Rice Brand, Top 5 Brands

Hearing the word rice typically brings to mind the image of white table rice (well, for majority of the world). However, rice comes in a range of colors – from white, yellow, red, brown, purple, and black. In this post, we will talk about brown rice, specifically I will answer the question what is the best brown rice brand.

Brown rice is a whole grain rice packed with more nutrients than white rice. White rice actually starts off as brown before it is refined, polished, and then enriched with vitamins.

Refining and polishing rice removes a lot of valuable vitamins and nutrients in the process, that’s why it is enriched with vitamins in the end so that it can be marketed as nutritious food. This process is performed to increase the shelf life of white rice.

The color of brown rice is due to the fact that when rice is milled, only the outermost layer of the rice kernel – the hull or husk – is removed. With white rice, the hull and the bran are removed.

This strips off vitamins and nutrients, then it is polished to make it whiter even further removing its nutritious goodness. Although white rice is fortified with vitamins, it is still less nutritious than the more natural brown rice.

Health Benefits of Brown Rice

We’ve been talking about how brown rice is the healthier option. So what is in brown rice that makes it better? To name a few, brown rice is:

• An excellent source of Manganese – helps produce energy, helps the body synthesize fatty acids
• High on Fiber – reduces high cholesterol levels, reduces risk of breast cancer
• A good source of Selenium – reduces risk of illnesses including colon cancer and heart disease, decreases symptoms of asthma and rheumatoid arthritis

Compared to white rice, brown rice is also naturally richer in phosphorus, copper, magnesium, iron, niacin (Vitamin B3), and vitamins B1 and B6.

Now that you know why brown rice is good for you, we will now tell you the best brown rice brands out there in the market. With so many options, you can easily get overwhelmed and might even end up not trying it out. That is why we’ve gathered a list below of the best ones we’ve found.

What is the Best Brown Rice Brand

Below I will show you in my opinion the best brands of brown rice. The choice was not easy but I tried to write a few words about each rice brand and why I think it deserves to be in the top five.

5. Pride of India Extra Long Brown Basmati Rice

Just what the name implies, this brand offers extra long and thin grains of rice. This brand is on our fifth spot because of its rich, nutty flavor and sweet, fragrant aroma as expected of quality Basmati rice.

This brand is a legitimate brown, Basmati rice that offers all of its nutrition and health benefits. The grains stay separate once cooked, and is delicious to the last bite.

This rice is GMO-free, gluten-free, vegan, and BPA free. It is sold in a hard, plastic jar that can be recycled (let’s save the Earth!).

This rice works well cooked traditionally or in a rice cooker.

4. Nishiki Premium Brown Rice

Nishiki is quite a popular brand for making homemade sushi, but its brown rice is also flavorful and delicious! This product is a medium-grain all-natural rice that was grown in California.

This brand deserves the fourth spot because of its “in-betweenness” with regards to texture and its delicious taste.

If you’re used to white rice and you want to try out brown rice, this brand is a very good brand to try out first. Like all brown rice, it has a nutty flavor, but what separates this from the others is its milder taste with just a hint of crunchiness and sweetness.

It doesn’t have an overwhelming taste so it can go with almost anything.

Because it is medium-grain, its texture is soft and fluffy and not too sticky or dry and hard – but still more pronounced than white rice. With water adjustments, you can easily change the texture of this rice to your preference. It is also quite easy to cook and can be prepared on a stove or with a rice cooker.

3. Tamanishiki Super Premium Brown Rice

Tamanishiki rice is a short-grain, all-natural brown rice that was also grown in California like Nishiki. Rarely do people think of brown rice when sticky rice is mentioned.

However, this brand not only gives you the benefits of brown rice, but also the deliciousness of sticky rice. This brand deserves the third spot because of its texture and uniqueness.

As it’s a short-grain rice, it is naturally sticky and can be used for Japanese dishes, even for sushi (although this isn’t sushi rice). Its stickiness makes it softer than most brown rice, and it is firm and moldable, not slimy like white sticky rice.

Uncooked, its grains look fresh and well-preserved. Once cooked, it gives a fruity, nutty flavor that is delicious and tasty.

This cooks well both on a rice cooker and on a stove.

2. Bob’s Red Mill Long Grain Brown Rice

Bob’s Red Mill Long Grain Brown Rice deserves the second spot because it must be the epitome of brown rice. It was a very close race with our top spot, so I suggest to try them both.

This brand is delicious and can accompany almost any meal. Like Nishiki, it has a subtle nutty flavor to it that doesn’t overwhelm the tongue. Not to mention, it’s also very delicious and not bland like white rice.

This is a long grain rice so the texture of this brand is not too soft, but not too chewy – just right. Cooked right, it comes out al dente but fluffy.

This comes best when paired with soup. You must definitely try it.

1. Lundberg Organic Golden Rose Medium Grain Brown Rice

Lundberg deserves the top spot for its consistency and variety. Although we’re giving the top stop to its Organic Golden Rose Medium Grain Brown Rice, Lundberg also sells two other high quality brown rice (which all deserve the top spot too): Lundberg Family Farms Organic Long Grain Brown Rice and Lundberg Family Farms Organic Short Grain Brown Rice.

Lundberg Organic Golden Rose Medium Grain Brown Rice has a very subtle nutty flavor that just pops in your mouth. It has a crunchy taste to it that makes it stand out.

It is just delicious and it is also more pronounced than the other brands. This medium-grain rice isn’t as sticky as Nishilki’s but it is still soft and comes out fluffy once cooked. It’s not too chewy and not too hard.

The grains look uniformed and clean even when uncooked. It is organically grown and gluten-free. It is easily proven when you open its package and the grains smell fresh and new as if they were harvested yesterday. You can never go wrong with Lundberg.

How to Cook Brown Rice to Enjoy Its Full Flavor

Choosing the right brown rice is only half the battle. If you want to enjoy the full flavor of this rice, you must cook it in the right way.

Of course, you can cook rice on the stove. But to cook rice in a way that will bring out its depth of taste is a bit more difficult. In my opinion, the best solution in this situation is to buy the right rice cooker.

Brown rice is one of the basic types of rice that people eat on a daily basis. Therefore, almost every rice cooker has the option of cooking this type of rice.

However, which device should you choose? If I had to choose rice cooker for cooking brown rice, it would be Tiger Corporation JBV-A Rice Cooker.

Why This Rice Cooker

Because of a few reasons. First of all, Tiger Corporation is a great Japanese company that produces high quality appliances including rice cookers. The model that I present here is quite inconspicuous, there are not many options for cooking rice, but it cooks great white and brown rice.

In addition, this rice cooker has a cooking plate that is used for steaming. If you decide to eat brown rice because of a healthy lifestyle, this type of tray will be a great addition. You can cook rice and steamed vegetables at the same time.

Another reason is the price-quality ratio of this rice cooker. Tiger Corporation JBV-A10U-W costs about 70 dollars. It is very cheap when it comes to high-quality rice cookers. At this price it is really hard to find something better.

As you can see there are several reasons why you should consider buying this rice cooker. Of course, I did not take into account other characteristics of this type of devices such as time saving. Today’s rice cookers are fully computerized devices that control the entire cooking process from beginning to end.

So after pouring rice and adding the right amount of water you do not have to worry about anything more. When the rice is ready, your rice cooker will finish the cooking process and notify you with the appropriate sound signal.

I believe that you will be as pleased as many other users of this rice cooker. I highly recommend this device.