Top 10 Jasmine Rice Brands [Avoid Arsenic Rice]

Go to any Thai restaurant worth its salt, and the smell of jasmine rice will hit you almost immediately. Jasmine rice is one of the most popular side dishes in Asia, especially when you’re pairing it with a decadent curry. The fragrant smell of this rice can be downright hypnotic, but only if it’s produced well. Did you ever wonder what the top brands are? You might be surprised.

Many top brands of jasmine rice can be found on store shelves across the nation. Some of the more popular choices you can rely on include:

Asian Best
Dynasty
Four Elements
Mahatma
Three Ladies
GoldStar
Lundberg Family Farms
Uncle Ben’s
Kirkland Signature
Minute Rice

While buying a specific rice brand might seem like it’s overkill, it’s absolutely worth doing if you’re a perfectionist with food. (Trust me, I get it. I love my rice and am a foodie.) So, let’s talk about the best brands for jasmine rice.

Does Brand Matter For Jasmine Rice?

Before we begin, I want to point out that jasmine rice is one of those foods that tends to be considered fairly basic. I mean, when it comes to food staples, rice is rice, right? Not quite.

Though all jasmine rice producers make roughly the same product, how good it tastes and how safe it is for consumption. Just like the The Top 10 Gluten-Free Cheese Dip Brands, flavor is just as important as safety and quality.

Low quality brands will often have levels of arsenic or adulterants that make jasmine rice less than safe to eat. This is partly due to the way that it’s grown and partly due to the measures that people take to keep it as fresh as possible. In some rare cases, there have been moments where boxes have gotten Proposition 65 warning labels in California.

What Are The Best Brands For Jasmine Rice?

Jasmine rice is a little unusual when it comes to its quality. If you get a good brand and have fresh rice, it’ll be super fragrant. Almost perfumed! If you get the wrong one it’ll smell kinda weird and taste like regret. Here’s my selection of the best picks for jasmine rice that’s fresh off the shelf.

Best Jasmine Rice Brands

1.Asian Best

If you go into any Asian grocery store, you’re going to see a lot of Asian Best products. Honestly, this is a brand that lives up to its name. The rice from this company is pretty fragrant and works well with most rice cookers. If you are new to the world of cooking jasmine rice (no, it’s not the same as most others!) then you’ll be happy to know that this brand comes with cooking instructions on the back.

One thing that we want to make a point of is the affordability of this rice brand. Though it’s a great rice brand, it’s also remarkably affordable. A single 2-pound bag will run around $9 or so, which is affordable but still above the norm. You pay for quality, and the fact that this rice stays soft after a day says it all. This is a long-grain jasmine rice.

2.Dynasty

If you are a college student in America, then you are going to need to get a rice cooker since you won’t have a brand-name oven. You are going to need a rice cooker because rice is one of the cheapest ways to stay fed. In many homes, it’s still a major thing. People who are looking for a delicious brand of jasmine rice that’s very budget-friendly should check out Dynasty.

Dynasty rice is made directly in Thailand, which means you get an authentic flavor. It’s also available in 20-lb bags, so you can definitely buy it in bulk. You won’t be able to get a much better bang for your buck in terms of jasmine rice. Did we mention it’s organic? Yep. It’s organic.

3.Four Elephants

So, one of the bigger issues that people tend to have with large bags of rice is the fact that most of us don’t eat that much rice. We need to be able to store it long-term, otherwise making that rice could make us sick. Unfortunately, the rice industry doesn’t always have good handle on bags that are reliable like that.

One of the reasons why Four Elephants is considered to one of the top brands for jasmine rice is the fact that they have reliable packaging that’s sturdy and meant to preserve the rice. Moreover, we really can’t hate on the rich fragrance that it offers. It’s a true blue Thai treat that we all can enjoy.

4.Mahatma

Mahatma is a brand that is pretty famous for delivering good rice around the world, and their jasmine rice is no exception to that rule. This gluten-free enriched rice brand is absolutely great for people who are health-conscious and want to make sure they get some good value for the money they’re spending.

Like other brands on this list, Mahatma delivers lightly fragrant rice that has a delicate texture you’ll love. I personally enjoy this rice brand a lot when I mix it in with yellow curry or butter chicken. It just has that gentle touch of flavor that doesn’t overpower, you know what I mean? This is why it’s one of the most popular brands in the country.

The one thing I want to point out is that certain bags that Mahatma uses are NOT insect-proof. Some folks have also mentioned a Prop 65 label on their organic rice bags, and we are not entirely sure if this issue has been addressed by the company. This can pose a risk for your health if you’re not careful.

5.Three Ladies

Three Ladies is a company that makes a ton of delicious foods including tapioca flour and oyster sauce. All of their goods have been fairly well received for the past 20-ish years, but it seems to be their jasmine rice that remains the queen here. The company’s jasmine rice offerings are a pretty wide range.

You can choose long grain, broken rice grains, organic jasmine, as well as brown jasmine rice. In terms of variety, it’s hard to beat this Thai favorite. Like others on this list, you can get the rice in a wide range of different bag sizes. So, whether you need 5 pounds or 25, Three Ladies will have you covered.

6.GoldenStar

Because I know how rough life can be when you have to find a quick meal to eat, I wanted to add at least one or two brands that gained recognition for rice on the go. GoldenStar is one of the better brands for people who want to make some rice while they’re at work. They are one of the few companies that offers quality jasmine rice in a microwaveable cup.

Most people agree that GoldenStar offers a light, fluffy rice that can be made with minimal kitchen supplies. It’s portable, and pairs well with a cup of curry. It’s also GMO-free, which is extremely rare in terms of rice. No matter how you look at it, it’s a great pick.

7.Lundberg Family Farms

While most of the best rice brands come from Asia, not all of them do. Lundberg Family Farms is a California-based company that’s dedicated to making delicious grains farmed to a highest standard. A member of the Non-GMO Project, this is USDA-certified organic rice that is meant to be as healthful as possible through natural means.

The rice in this bug-proof bag is organic, gluten-free, sustainably grown, and verified as non-modified. With that said, this does taste a bit different than most of the rice you’ll find in Asia. While it’s still fragrant, it’s a little bit more buttery than what you might be used to. It’s definitely tasty though, so you’ll probably want seconds.

8.Uncle Ben’s

Uncle Ben’s is one of those brands that has become synonymous with the product it peddles: rice. The issue that many people have with the brand is that they tend to go for non-organic rice that isn’t quite the best for you on a health level. However, we can’t deny how incredibly convenient this brand is.

Along with being found in almost every store in the nation, Uncle Ben’s also has a number of products that allow you to have freshly cooked rice in 90 seconds. The steamable pouch makes for super-rapid dinner prep, and you still get the same fragrance that you would expect from jasmine. If you want to have rice that is made lightning-fast, then you will need to give this stuff a shot. It’s absolutely awesome like that.

9.Kirkland Signature

If you go to Costco, then you are already pretty well-acquainted with Kirkland Signature. This is the wholesome and healthy, good-for-you brand that brings you a slew of grain-oriented products. This, of course, means that you will be able to get small serving boxes in a pinch by just driving to your local store. People who live in studio apartments can appreciate not having to store large quantities of rice.

Now, as far as the rice quality goes, we have to say that we’re impressed. The fragrance is real and comes naturally as part of the way that the rice is grown. Unlike the other US-based brands on this list, Kirkland’s rice is imported from Thai farms. So, it’s definitely more authentic than others on this list.

10.Minute

Now, most people tend to give me the ol’ side-eye when they find out that this is my other go-to for rice brands, but hear me out. Minute rice is way easier to prepare than regular rice tends to be and I’m usually on a serious time constraint. It’s also super convenient when it comes to locating the stuff, so you can also expect it to be at your local store shelves even if you are in the middle of nowhere.

If you cook rice traditionally, it can take up to 20 minutes to make. When you have a hungry spouse and a business call in 15 minutes, that’s not always easy to do. So, here we are. Minute Rice is a little bit more expensive than other brands on here and many people find the fragrance to be pretty faint. Even so, it’s still perfumed enough to smell good and will work in a pinch.

You might not have heard about Minute Jasmine quite yet, and that’s totally understandable. This is literally one of the newest offerings from their line, which suggests that it might take a while to get some grounding.