Couscous, rice, and quinoa are all popular grains that are used in similar recipes for the most part.
You can swap them out for each other without having too much of an impact on most recipes, which you might want to do based on your health goals.
Let’s take a look at how these 3 grains stack up (note that I’ve included both white and brown rice).
Table of Contents
Calories and Macronutrients
The data on this page is collected from the USDA’s nutritional database. In real life, nutrition will vary a bit by brand, but not by too much.
In the table below, data is per 100 gram cooked serving, as is all the other data on this page.
For reference, a typical serving size is about 200 grams (cooked) of each grain, although larger people typically eat more than that.
| Couscous | Quinoa | White Rice | Brown Rice | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calories (kcal) | 112 | 120 | 130 | 111 |
| Fat (g) | 0.2 | 1.9 | 0.3 | 0.9 |
| Carbohydrates (g) | 23.2 | 21.3 | 28.2 | 23.0 |
| Fiber (g) | 1.4 | 2.8 | 0.4 | 1.8 |
| Protein (g) | 3.8 | 4.4 | 2.7 | 2.6 |
Grains are known for not having much fat or protein, and being mostly carbohydrates.
These 4 grains are quite similar in their macronutrient profile. However, there are still some differences:
- Quinoa is significantly higher in fat, fiber, and protein than the rest.
- White rice has more calories and carbohydrates than brown rice, but less fat, fiber and protein.
If you had to rank them in terms of overall healthiness based on these numbers, it would likely look something like:
- Quinoa
- Brown rice
- Couscous
- White rice
All of these grains have similar nutritional profiles, but quinoa does have significantly more protein and fiber, which most people can benefit from.
Nutrition Comparison
Calories and macronutrients aren’t everything when it comes to how healthy foods are.
So let’s look at a few other aspects.
First, how processed is each grain?
- Couscous – Made from steamed balles of crushed durum wheat semolina (one of the “healthier” flours, but still processed a bit).
- Quinoa – Not processed at all. Quinoa is a whole grain that is actually a seed.
- Brown rice – Not processed as brown rice is the entire grain.
- White rice – Fairly processed, as white rice is made by removing the bran and germ from brown rice.
Next, let’s look at the vitamins and minerals in a 100 gram cooked serving of each. All values are the % of recommended daily value.
| Couscous | Quinoa | White Rice | Brown Rice | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thiamin | 4 | 7 | 11 | 6 |
| Riboflavin | 2 | 6 | 1 | 1 |
| Niacin | 5 | 2 | 7 | 8 |
| Vitamin B6 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 7 |
| Folate | 4 | 10 | 14 | 1 |
| Calcium | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Copper | 2 | 10 | 3 | 5 |
| Iron | 2 | 8 | 7 | 2 |
| Magnesium | 2 | 16 | 3 | 11 |
| Manganese | 4 | 32 | 24 | 45 |
| Phosphorus | 2 | 15 | 4 | 8 |
| Potassium | 2 | 5 | 1 | 1 |
| Selenium | 39 | 4 | 11 | 14 |
| Zinc | 2 | 7 | 3 | 4 |
Overall, they’re all pretty disappointing in terms of vitamin and mineral content.
My main observations would be:
- Quinoa has the highest overall mineral content
- Couscous has the worst overall vitamin and mineral profile
- White rice and brown rice have different strengths and weaknesses here
Grains like rice, couscous, and quinoa taste great and can provide some healthy carbohydrates. However, none of them are going to provide a large amount of your vitamin or mineral requirements, those will mostly have to come through other foods like vegetables, legumes, and nuts.
Glycemic Load Comparison
One final aspect that can be considered when looking at how healthy a food is, is the glycemic load.
The glycemic load is a number that tells you approximately how much the amount of food (100 g in this case) raises a person’s blood glucose levels.
It’s typically recommended to stay below 100 for the day (adding all your foods together), for reference.
While it can vary based on variety, I’ve found some “typical” numbers for the glycemic load of each of these grains below:
| Couscous | Quinoa | White Rice | Brown Rice | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glycemic Load (of 100 g) | 12 | 10 | 15 | 11 |
Quinoa is a bit higher in fiber and protein than the rest, so it’s not surprising that it has less of a glycemic load.
Still, they’re all relatively similar, so it’s only a big factor if you plan on eating a ton.
All of these grains have a relatively low glycemic load (compared to foods like white bread), which is good for blood sugar control. However, white rice is the worst of the bunch, as the rest are all whole grains that digest more slowly.
Taste Differences
Taste is a hard thing to summarize, but I’ll try my best.
This will obviously vary across the type of each food, as well as brand, especially for rice (i.e. jasmine rice tastes different than basmati).
| Couscous | Quinoa | Rice |
|---|---|---|
| Mild and neutral taste. Sometimes it has a slightly nutty flavor. | Mild, nutty flavor. Fairly similar to couscous. | White rice is soft and has very little flavor. Brown rice has a nutty flavor and firmer texture. |
These grains are typically paired with herbs, lemon, nuts, and fruit. And while they are interchangeable to a degree, there are distinct differences.
Despite that they all have a somewhat similar taste and texture, you’ll find that each one goes slightly better with different foods.
The classic example would be putting soy sauce on white rice, which is great. I’m not a big fan of putting soy sauce on any of the others.
Which is Best: Couscous, Quinoa, or Rice?
Let’s try to put all that together and some up which of the 3 types of grains is the best for:
- Weight loss – Brown rice and couscous are lowest in calories, which is preferable for weight loss.
- Healthiest (nutritional value) – Quinoa and brown rice are the most nutritious of the 4 types of grains. They have the most overall vitamins, minerals, fiber, and protein.
- Taste – They’re all tasty in different types of recipes, this is a very personal factor.
None of these are particularly super healthy or unhealthy, which makes it important to pair them with other nutritious foods like nuts, beans, and vegetables.
