Is Basmati Rice Healthy? What the Numbers Say

By Shivam Verma, Founder/Published November 7, 2026/Last updated November 7, 2026

White rice, brown rice and roti, by the serving

One katori of cooked rice is the site's served katori of 120 g. Two plain rotis are the bread most often set beside it.

Rice from USDA's cooked long-grain white and brown rice records; the rotis from our stated recipe.

White against brown

Per katori, brown rice is 8 calories lighter than white, 148 against 156, and carries about 3.8 times the fibre, 1.9 g against 0.5 g. It has a little more fat, 1.2 g against 0.3 g. Protein is close: 3.3 g against 3.2 g.

By the cup the order flips. USDA weighs a cup of cooked white rice at 158 g, 205 calories, and a cup of cooked brown rice at 202 g, 248 calories: USDA weighs the brown cup heavier. Per 100 g they are 130 and 123. Basmati and other long-grain white rices share the same USDA record on this site; USDA's SR Legacy data has no separate cooked basmati record.

Raw rice, cooked rice and what goes in the pan

Dry basmati and cooked basmati are the same grains at very different weights. Raw long-grain rice is 365 calories per 100 g; cooked, it is 130, because boiling fills it with water. A katori of cooked rice holds the energy of about 43 g of dry rice, so weigh rice one way and count it on the matching line.

What goes into the pot moves the number more than the grain does. A teaspoon of ghee stirred through a katori adds 38 calories. The same rice cooked as jeera rice, tempered in ghee with cumin, is 181 a katori, and as a home veg pulao 167. A home chicken biryani plate, rice and chicken layered with ghee, is 491.

Rice against roti

A katori of rice, 156 calories, is lighter than two plain rotis at 204, and the rotis carry more protein and fibre: 7.9 g and 6.4 g against 3.2 g and 0.5 g. The choice between them is set out in full in the roti against rice guide; the short answer is that rice is lighter by the serving and roti richer in fibre.

What glycaemic index tests found for basmati

The glycaemic index ranks a carbohydrate food by how far it raises blood glucose after eating, against a reference. The University of Sydney's GI database counts 55 or less as low and 70 or more as high. Each figure below is one published test of one product, as the database lists it.

Each value is that test's result for that product. None is the glycaemic index of the rice on our rice page, which has not been tested.

Why the same grain tests so differently

Across the 8 basmati tests above, the glycaemic index runs from 50 to 84. Processing is one reason: in one UK study, white polished basmati tested at 50, the same team's easy-cook (heat-treated) basmati at 80 and its brown basmati at 75. Cooking is another: in a second UK study, a basmati boiled for 12 minutes tested at 52 and one boiled for 8 minutes at 69, though those were different products. A basmati cooked by absorption in Qatar tested at 84.

Brown basmati testing higher than white in that study is one result, not a rule. The jasmine rice tests in the table run from 68 to 91. Each of these tests is of rice eaten on its own; the Delhi study below tested whole meals of dal and vegetables with rice or with rotis.

What studies of grains found

Rice and arsenic

The US Food and Drug Administration says rice tends to absorb arsenic more readily than other crops, and that consumers can eat rice as part of a well-balanced diet. It says published studies, including its own research, show that cooking rice the way pasta is cooked, in 6 to 10 parts water to 1 part rice and then draining the excess water, can reduce 40 to 60 percent of the inorganic arsenic content, depending on the type of rice.

The FDA adds that this method also lowers the nutritional value of enriched polished and parboiled rice: it reduces the folate, iron, niacin and thiamine added in enrichment by 50 to 70 percent. Its research found that rinsing rice before cooking has a minimal effect on the arsenic content of the cooked grain and washes those nutrients off polished and parboiled rice.

So, is basmati rice healthy?

On its numbers, a katori of white basmati is a modest serving of starch: 156 calories, 33.8 g of carbohydrate, 3.2 g of protein and almost no fat, 0.3 g. Brown rice gives more fibre for slightly fewer calories per katori. Its glycaemic index depends on the product and how it is cooked, and white polished basmati has tested at the low end in more than one study. Portion is the part you control: a heaped katori or a restaurant plate moves the total more than the choice of grain. Rice is one part of the plate; how the whole cuisine measures up is in the guide to whether Indian food is healthy. If you manage your blood sugar for a medical reason, ask your doctor or a registered dietitian how rice fits your plan.

Sources

1. USDA FoodData Central
2. USDA FoodData Central. SR Legacy 168878: Rice, white, long-grain, regular, enriched, cooked
3. USDA FoodData Central. SR Legacy 169704: Rice, brown, long-grain, cooked (Includes foods for USDA's Food Distribution Program)
4. University of Sydney. Glycemic Index Research and GI News: GI database search.
5. University of Sydney. Glycemic Index Research and GI News: About glycemic index.
6. US Food and Drug Administration. What You Can Do to Limit Exposure to Arsenic. Content current as of April 27, 2022.
7. Reynolds A, Mann J, Cummings J, Winter N, Mete E, Te Morenga L. Carbohydrate quality and human health: a series of systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Lancet, 2019.
8. Nayar S, Madhu SV. Glycemic index of wheat and rice are similar when consumed as part of a North Indian mixed meal. Indian J Endocrinol Metab, 2020.
9. Shobana S, Geetha G, Bai MR, et al. Carbohydrate profiling and glycaemic indices of selected traditional Indian foods. Indian J Med Res, 2022.

Common questions

Every dish in this comparison

These figures are estimates from stated recipes, for general information. They are not medical or dietary advice. If you manage a health condition, check with a registered dietitian or your doctor.