Barley vs Rice nutrition

Cooked barley has more fiber, sugar and iron. Cooked white rice has more protein and calories.

First food Second food

Third food

Compare Per 100 gPer servingSame calories

Cooked barley100 g
Cooked white rice100 g

Calories1.06× more123 kcal130 kcal

Protein1.2× more2.3 g2.7 g

Carbsabout the same28.2 g28.2 g

Sugar5.6× more0.28 g0.05 g

Fat1.6× more0.44 g0.28 g

Fiber9.5× more3.8 g0.4 g

Each row is scaled on its own: the larger amount fills the bar. The numbers on the right are the real amounts.

Each food is weighed the same: 100 grams of each. The longer bar has more.

Show all 15 nutrients

Saturated fat1.1× more0.09 g0.08 g

Cholesterolnone in either0 mg0 mg

Salt (sodium)3.0× more3 mg1 mg

Potassium2.7× more93 mg35 mg

Calcium1.1× more11 mg10 mg

Iron1.1× more1.3 mg1.2 mg

Magnesium1.8× more22 mg12 mg

Vitamin Anone in either0 µg0 µg

Vitamin Cnone in either0 mg0 mg

Exact amounts and % Daily Value

Exact amounts per 100 g, with each one's share of the FDA Daily Value — bold marks the larger amount
Nutrient	Cooked barley	Cooked white rice	Daily Value
Calories	123 kcal (6%)	130 kcal (7%)	2,000 kcal
Protein	2.3 g (5%)	2.7 g (5%)	50 g
Fat	0.44 g (<1%)	0.28 g (<1%)	78 g
Saturated fat	0.09 g (<1%)	0.08 g (<1%)	20 g
Carbs	28.2 g (10%)	28.2 g (10%)	275 g
Fiber	3.8 g (14%)	0.4 g (1%)	28 g
Sugar	0.28 g	0.05 g	none set
Cholesterol	0 mg (0%)	0 mg (0%)	300 mg
Salt (sodium)	3 mg (<1%)	1 mg (<1%)	2,300 mg
Potassium	93 mg (2%)	35 mg (<1%)	4,700 mg
Calcium	11 mg (<1%)	10 mg (<1%)	1,300 mg
Iron	1.3 mg (7%)	1.2 mg (7%)	18 mg
Magnesium	22 mg (5%)	12 mg (3%)	420 mg
Vitamin A	0 µg (0%)	0 µg (0%)	900 µg
Vitamin C	0 mg (0%)	0 mg (0%)	90 mg

Browse all 486 foods

How the numbers are taken. Amounts are per 100 g of the edible part, from USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy, public domain), in the state named — raw, boiled, roasted and so on. Percentages use the FDA Daily Values for adults and children aged 4 and over, set around a 2,000-calorie diet; your own needs can be different. This site compares amounts — it does not give diet or medical advice. Sources and limits.

What is being compared

This page compares cooked barley and cooked white rice as USDA FoodData Central lists them: “Barley, pearled, cooked” (FDC 170285) and “Rice, white, long-grain, regular, enriched, cooked” (FDC 168878). All figures start from 100 grams of the edible part. A search for “barley” is taken here as cooked barley. A search for “rice” is taken here as cooked white rice; cooked brown rice, dry white rice, dry brown rice and cooked wild rice are in the comparer above.

Per 100 grams

Per 100 grams, cooked barley has more fat (0.44 vs 0.28 g, 1.6 times as much), saturated fat (0.09 vs 0.08 g), fiber (3.8 vs 0.4 g, 9.5 times as much), sugars (0.28 vs 0.05 g, 5.6 times as much), sodium (3 vs 1 mg, 3.0 times as much), potassium (93 vs 35 mg, 2.7 times as much), calcium (11 vs 10 mg), iron (1.3 vs 1.2 mg) and magnesium (22 vs 12 mg, 1.8 times as much). Cooked white rice has more calories (130 vs 123 kcal) and protein (2.7 vs 2.3 g). They are within 3% of each other for carbohydrate, cholesterol, vitamin A and vitamin C.

Read the rest — 4 more sections

Per serving

A serving as USDA measures it is 1 cup of cooked barley (157 g) and 1 cup of cooked white rice (158 g). The two servings weigh about the same, so the per-serving picture follows the per-100 g one closely. No nutrient changes leader when you switch from 100 g to servings. One serving is 193 kcal of cooked barley against 205 kcal of cooked white rice.

For the same calories

To get 100 kcal you would eat 81.3 g of cooked barley or 76.9 g of cooked white rice. At that equal energy, cooked barley carries 1.8 g of protein and cooked white rice 2.1 g. Fiber per 100 kcal is 3.1 g against 0.31 g. Measured per 100 kcal, every nutrient keeps the same leader as per 100 g.

Where the calories come from

Roughly, 7% of the energy in cooked barley comes from protein, 3% from fat and 90% from carbohydrate; for cooked white rice it is 9%, 2% and 89%. These shares use the general 4, 9 and 4 kcal per gram and can differ slightly from USDA's own energy factors.

Against the Daily Value

1 cup of cooked barley reaches its largest shares of the Daily Value in fiber (21%), carbohydrate (16%) and iron (12%); 1 cup of cooked white rice reaches its largest shares of the Daily Value in carbohydrate (16%), iron (11%) and protein (9%). Daily Values are the FDA label reference amounts for adults and children aged 4 and over, set around a 2,000-calorie diet; they are a yardstick for reading labels, not a target for any one person.

Other comparisons with cooked barley or cooked white rice

Compare any other foods · All foods