Does glutinous rice contain gluten?

Glutinous rice is entirely gluten free. This can confuse people, because the word ‘gluten’ is literally in the name. ‘Glutinous’ refers to the rice’s sticky, glue-y texture, which can somewhat resemble gluten.

Sweet rice, sticky rice, and mochi rice are other names for glutinous rice. Sometimes shortgrain rice refers to glutinous rice as well, but not all shortgrain rice is glutinous rice, and not all glutinous rice is shortgrain. All types of rice are gluten free and safe for celiacs to consume.

Glutinous rice is used in many traditional desserts like Filipino kakanin, Hakka steamed rice snacks, and Thai mango sticky rice. Sticky rice is especially popular in Laos, where it’s the main variety of rice served. Laotians consider sticky rice to be the glue that holds worldwide Lao communities together, because it’s such a fundamental part of Lao culture.

In gluten free baked goods glutinous rice flour will add a chewy, sticky texture, and might make the finished result more dense. Most gluten free blends will use regular rice flour instead, because it’s much more similar to wheat flour, but using a small amount of glutinous rice flour in blends can help mimic a glutinous texture in baked goods. Our rice flour article outlines more of the differences between the various types of rice flours.

Gluten free recipes that use glutinous rice:

• Tang yuan from Red House Spice

• Chinese pearl meatballs from The Woks of Life

• Dodol from Loka Taste

• Mochi from Just One Cookbook

• Lember sticky rice snack from Pisang Susu

• Eight treasure rice from Omnivore’s Cookbook

• Japanese sticky rice okowa from Just One Cookbook

• Mango sticky rice from Hot Thai Kitchen

• Pandan sticky rice from Hungry Huy