How to Make Rice Flour

In this post, we’ll talk about how to make rice flour to use in various recipes. All you need is raw rice and a powerful blender!

Why Make Your Own Rice Flour?

Rice flour is an ingredient that we use often in recipes like Turnip Cake (Lo Bak Goh), Tar o Cakeand Nian Gao (Chinese Sweet Rice Cake). You may also need to use it in other Asian recipes or even gluten-free recipes.

It’s a staple in our pantry—right next to the all-purpose flour, bread flour, and cake flour!

That said, while it is readily available at our local Chinese grocery store, we know that many of you may not have access to an Asian market near you.

You may also be in a situation where you want to make a recipe using rice flour, but simply do not have it on hand. Well, as long as you have a powerful blender and some rice, you can actually make your own anytime you need it!

While white rice flour is most commonly used, you can use any type of rice you like—brown rice, black rice, or red rice.

You could even make another common ingredient we use all the time—sweet rice flour, or glutinous rice flour! (i.e. made from sticky rice, which we use in recipes like Bill’s Fried Sesame Balls or Wife Cakes.

Recipes using rice flour

Here are some of our favorite recipes that you can make with this homemade rice flour!

What Constitutes a “Powerful” Blender?

We haven’t tried too many blenders on the market, but just know that you do need a relatively powerful one to grind rice into flour.

We have tried it with Vitamix and Blendtec blenders, and both work well. These are expensive, however, and there are alternative brands out there. Generally, blenders with higher wattage are more powerful.

Our Vitamix has a 1500-watt motor, but you can also get an Oster blender with a 1200-watt motor for a fraction of the price! (Note that we haven’t tried this blender ourselves, but the reviews look promising.)

blending rice in vitamix — How to Make Rice Flour 29

homemade rice flour — How to Make Rice Flour 29

If you’re wondering if a regular food processor will work, we have tried it, and the answer is no. Food processors aren’t powerful enough, and the blade is also designed for chopping and pureeing, rather than cutting through the hard rice kernels. Attempting this in your food processor may dull or damage the blade.

Disclosure

Links to blenders above are affiliate links, which means you’ll be supporting The Woks of Life with a small commission if you decide to make a purchase.

Homemade vs. Store-bought

The texture of homemade rice flour is not quite as fine and silky as store-bought. The store-bought version has the soft texture of cornstarch.

Then again, the slightly coarser texture of the homemade version may give your Chinese treats a bit more texture! In the end, I don’t think it’s a bad thing.

In the photo below, you can see the difference in texture between store-bought rice flour on the left, and homemade on the right:

storebought vs homemade rice flour — How to Make Rice Flour 31

In order to get a super fine texture, you would need a specialty appliance—a grain mill. However, we’re not sure this is worth the expense, unless you’re regularly making your own rice flour and doing a lot of cooking and baking with rice flour.

1 cup raw rice

Powerful blender

Add about 1 cup of rice to your blender. To make regular white rice flour, we used jasmine rice.

Tip!

If you need to make a large amount, blend in smaller batches. This is better for your blender, will prevent the motor from overheating, and will yield a better result.

white rice in blender — How to Make Rice Flour 32

Blend the grains on high speed for 60-90 seconds, pausing to shake the blender and redistribute the grains if needed. Use a rubber spatula to stir the contents of the blender and blend again for another 30 seconds for a more even texture. (Let the flour settle a bit before opening the lid, as it is very powdery.)

grinding white rice in a vitamix blender — How to Make Rice Flour 33

grinding rice into flour in the blender — How to Make Rice Flour 33

Store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place for up to 6 months. You can also store it in the freezer for up to 1 year.