Plain cooked rice is safe for cats — it won't hurt them. But cats are obligate carnivores, meaning their bodies are built around processing animal protein, and they don't actually need carbohydrates the way dogs and humans do. Rice isn't harmful; it's just nutritionally pretty neutral for a cat.
If your cat ate some plain rice, no need to worry. If you're thinking about regularly giving rice as part of their diet, it's worth knowing it's not doing anything useful for them.
The one situation where rice is actually helpful
Mild GI upset — the same reason rice helps dogs with upset stomachs. Plain white rice is easy to digest and gentle. If your cat has loose stools or a mildly upset stomach and you want to offer a bland option, small amounts of plain boiled rice mixed with plain cooked chicken can be soothing. The chicken does the nutritional heavy lifting; the rice just helps keep things easy to process.
For cats specifically, lean heavily on the chicken component rather than the rice in that mix — cats need protein, and the rice is more about digestive gentleness than nutrition.
What to avoid
Rice cooked with salt, seasoning, butter, or as part of a rice dish made for humans — not for cats. Plain boiled rice only. And don't give large amounts — a tablespoon mixed into something is plenty.
The bigger thing to be aware of is displacement: if a cat fills up on rice, they're not eating the protein-rich food they actually need. Rice can be a small part of something you're offering; it shouldn't crowd out the cat's actual nutrition.