Rice flour (also rice powder) is a form of flour made from finely milled rice. It is distinct from rice starch, which is usually produced by steeping rice in lye. Rice flour is a common substitute for wheat flour. It is also used as a thickening agent in recipes that are refrigerated or frozen since it inhibits liquid separation.
Rice flour may be made from either white rice or brown rice. To make the flour, the husk of rice or paddy is removed and raw rice is obtained, which is then ground to flour.
Rice flour can be made from indica, japonica, and wild rice varieties. Usually, rice flour (, komeko, ssal-garu, bột gạo, paeng khao chao, pèng khao chao, msau ângkâ, hcan hmun, tepung beras, pirinç) refers to flour made from non-glutinous white rice.
When made with glutinous rice (or sweet rice), it is called glutinous rice flour or sweet rice flour (, Japanese: 白玉粉; romanized: shiratamako, chapssal-garu). In Japan, the glutinous rice flour produced from ground cooked glutinous rice, used to make mochi, is called mochigomeko (もち米粉, or mochiko for short). In comparison to the glutinous rice flour, non-glutinous rice flour (, Japanese: 上新粉; romanized: jōshinko, mepssal-garu) can be specified as so.
When made with brown rice with only the inedible outer hull removed, it is called brown rice flour (, hyeonmi-garu). Flour made from black, red, and green rice are each called as black rice flour (heungmi-garu), red rice flour (hongmi-garu), green rice flour (nongmi-garu). In comparison to brown rice flour, white rice flour (, baengmi-garu) can be specified as so.
Different milling methods also produce different types of rice flour. Rice flour can be dry-milled from dry rice grains, or wet-milled from rice grains that were soaked in water prior to milling. Usually, "rice flour" refers to dry-milled rice flour (geonsik ssal-garu), which can be stored on a shelf. In Korea, wet-milled rice flour (seupsik ssal-garu) is made from rice that was soaked in water, drained, ground using a stone-mill, and then optionally sifted.