Abstract: A cooked rice improver, which allows fat and oil to be easily emulsified immediately after being added, is excellent in the effect of releasing cooked rice, reduces breakage of rice grains and makes the graininess of rice excellent, suppresses aging of cooked rice, and allows cooked rice with improved richness and excellent flavor to be obtained. The cooked rice improver contains fat and oil, an ionic surfactant, and a polyhydric alcohol, wherein a content of the fat and oil is 8% by mass or more and 65% by mass or less with respect to a total amount of the cooked rice improver, and a difference of L2 value?L1 value calculated at 20° C. according to the following definition is positive: L1 value: lightness value of cooked rice improver; L2 value: lightness value of emulsion obtained by adding 100 times by mass of fresh water to the cooked rice improver.