Upland rice is selected by health-conscious consumers, preferably for its unique taste and fragrance. However, the yield was lower compared to the white rice. Still, limited study on its chemical property as compared to commercialized rice has been done. Investigation of its chemical properties including antioxidants and polyphenols were carried out on the selected upland rice variants from selected regions in Malaysia. Two upland rice varieties labelled as Bukit Pulut and Bario Bukit were used together with two varieties of wetland rice; Mahsuri and Sri Malaysia 1 as a comparison. The results showed that upland rice variants showed higher antioxidant properties through the DPPH and ABTS assays as compared to the wetland rice variants. The total phenolic content of Bario Bukit was the highest followed by Bukit Pulut and the other two wetland rice. Nevertheless, for the total flavonoids content, the results were varied among the rice variants. Based on the study, two upland rice varieties were found to have better chemical properties (antioxidant and polyphenols) therefore this increased their nutritional value than the wetland rice varieties
