Rice starch | Creamy texture and pleasant mouthfeel
Our portfolio comprises both native and modified starches from different rice varieties (waxy, regular, organic), available in cook-up or instant forms.
By nature, they are characterized by very small granules ranging between 2-8 μm, much smaller than those of other cereals, tubers and roots, such as corn and potato. Its granule size is comparable to that of fat globules. They can therefore be used as a natural fat replacer, and mimic a full, fatty or creamy mouthfeel.
The smaller the granules, the more easily they smoothen the surface of confectionery coatings. This makes it a natural choice for challenging colour coatings where otherwise artificial colour coatings could be used.
Nutritional benefits:
- Natural food ingredients:
For clean label and organic products - Free from:
Gluten- and dairy-free - Highly digestible:
Even for the youngest consumers - Hypo-allergenic
Technical benefits of rice starches
Improved product stability in infant meals
Vegetable and fruit based infant meals and jars with baby-food-grade rice starch show improved product stability in terms of viscosity, syneresis control and shelf-life. In addition, the small granule size creates a creamy texture without affecting the end product’s taste or colour.
Clean label alternatives for confectionery
As a clean label whitening agent in confectionery coatings (e.g. chewing gum, hard candy, chocolate lentils), regular rice starch provides a natural alternative to other artificial colouring agents. Thanks to its very small granule size, it smoothens rough surfaces on confectionery centres during the coating process. Our native rice starch can replace wheat starch or flour in liquorice, imparting a soft and chewy texture in gluten-free, clean label foods.
Unique and creamy textures in dairy products
Thanks to its unique pasting properties, rice starch enables gelatine replacement in dairy products. Starch from dedicated rice varieties helps attain rigid, yet smooth and mouth-watering gel structures. Native starches also offer an alternative. Native regular and waxy rice starches enable unique, clean label textures in set- and stir-style low-fat yoghurts, as well as non-fermented dairy desserts like pudding. Additional benefits are product stability, improved glossiness and clean taste.
In low-fat dairy beverages, they impart a smooth texture and a full, creamy palate. In dairy fruit preparations, our clean-label and modified rice starches generate stability and a unique smoothness whilst maintaining a rich fruity flavour. Alone or combined with waxy rice starch it allows for casein replacement in dairy-free cheese whilst maintaining firmness, shredding and melting properties.
Enhanced texture and stability of gluten-free, baked goods
BENEO rice starch helps fine-tune any kind of texture in baked goods (hardness, crunchiness, brittleness, softness). Our pre-cooked waxy rice starch improves crunchiness of thin bakery products like cookies. Additionally, production losses arising from breakage during packaging can be significantly reduced. They can, moreover, improve the initial crumb softness and freshness of soft baked goods like cakes and muffins. In water-based bakery fillings, they control moisture migration and in fat-based cream fillings our regular rice starch stabilises fat and reduces fat and sugar content.
We offer various ingredient types with different qualities and specifications (including organic and clean label options). Our experts can help you identify the ideal solution for your specific application. For detailed ingredient information, take a look at our solution finder.
Improved yield and juiciness on processed meat & vegetables
Thanks to its small granule size and low gelling temperature, BENEO’s waxy rice starch ensures good water binding performance at low process temperatures of about 70–80 °C. This makes it the perfect clean label ingredient to control yield and juiciness of meat, fish (shrimps) and vegetables (mushrooms) after vacuum impregnation or injection.
Additionally, our native precooked and cook-up rice starches easily help reduce fat in spreadable products like pâté thanks to its high level of added creaminess.
Better creaminess and stability in soups and sauces
BENEO’s portfolio (native and modified, cook-up and precooked, waxy and organic) offers high quality solutions for soups and sauces, thanks to their excellent stability at high temperatures and under neutral and acid conditions. At the same time, these starches help create a very creamy body and mouthfeel in savoury products, using just one ingredient.
Characteristics compared to other starches
- Rice starch
- Wheat starch
- Corn starch
- Tapioca starch
- Potato starch
- Size µm
- Rice starch
- 2-8
- Wheat starch
- 3-40
- Corn starch
- 15-25
- Tapioca starch
- 20-35
- Potato starch
- 15-80
- Shape
- Rice starch
- hexagonal
- Wheat starch
- oval
- Corn starch
- hexagonal
- Tapioca starch
- hexagonal
- Potato starch
- oval
- Color
- Rice starch
- very white
- Wheat starch
- greyish white
- Corn starch
- yellowish white
- Tapioca starch
- greyish white
- Potato starch
- white
- Taste
- Rice starch
- neutral
- Wheat starch
- cereal taste
- Corn starch
- protein taste
- Tapioca starch
- light off taste
- Potato starch
- potato taste
- Gel structure
- Rice starch
- soft and creamy
- Wheat starch
- soft and creamy
- Corn starch
- firm
- Tapioca starch
- sticky
- Potato starch
- sticky
- Pictures
- Rice starch
- Wheat starch
- Corn starch
- Tapioca starch
- Potato starch
Interesting webinars
In-depth information on rice starch
Instant native rice starch: a clean label innovation for ready meals
BENEO’s instant native rice starch is a precooked or pregelatinised rice starch with the same functionality as modified starches.
Clean label confectionery coatings
BENEO regular rice starch contributes to a high level of whiteness in many kind of confectionery coatings making it a natural choice for colour coatings with a cleaner label.
Increase yield on chicken breast processing
Cost calculator and insights on starch efficiency: small on granule size, big on profitability! Clean label formulations for tumbled and injected chicken filets.
Dairy alternative recipes with rice starch and rice flour as texturising agents
Recipe for fat-reduced and high-in-fibre dairy spread: bringing stability, smoothness and excellent water binding properties to the table.
Organic rice starch: a green texturising ingredient
Organic regular and waxy rice starch, an ideal green solution for fat replacement, texturising benefits and your one-stop-shop for an sample range of applications.
Organic waxy rice starch
From seed to milling and bulking, organic techniques are adopted for the protection of the environment, so BENEO’s rice starch can be relied on 100% for all organic developments.
Concepts, recipes & ingredients search
Inspiring rice starch product concepts
Inspiring ideas offer new angles of product positioning towards consumers & market insights. They are substantiated by science and come with a regulatory guideline.
Proven rice starch product recipes
Concepts are worked out by a team of dedicated food application technologists into concrete recipes that we share with you after extensive testing on lab.
Solution Finder
Find the ingredient you are looking for! Instant overview of technical and nutritional benefits per specified application.