Rice bran is a nutrient-rich and resource-dense byproduct of rice milling. The primary cause of rice bran utilization limitation is oxidative deterioration and inadequate storage facilities. Improving stability to extend the shelf-life of rice bran has thus become an utmost necessity. This study aimed to stabilize raw fresh rice bran (RB) by using dry heat methods at 120 °C (233, 143, and 88 min) and 130 °C (86, 66, and 50 min). The results indicated that after dry heat pretreatment, peroxidase levels were at 90%, and the storage stability of dry-heat-stabilized RB was better. However, with an increase in treatment temperature and time, the peroxidase activity improved while the lipase activity decreased to a certain extent without significant changes. The total saturated and unsaturated fatty acids were significantly unchanged during storage, while oleic/linoleic acid increased substantially by 1% at 120 °C for 88 min. The increase in treatment time and temperature was beneficial in controlling the fatty acid values. However, extended treatment time caused an increase in the peroxide value and MDA. The essential and non-essential amino acid ratios, which evaluate a protein’s nutritional value, remained relatively stable. The essential subunit of rice bran protein was not affected by the temperature and time of dry heat treatment and storage time.

Over the years, extrusion has been a multi-step thermal technique that has proven to be the most effective process to stabilize rice bran (RB). This study aimed to investigate the effects of extrusion treatment and temperature (15, 25, and 40 °C) on the storage stability, lipid oxidation, peroxidase, and peroxide values, free fatty acids, fatty acid composition, and protein variations of RB over 60 days. The study offers novel insights into the changes in RB’s protein and amino acid compositions during extrusion and storage, which has not been extensively explored in prior research. After extrusion processing, peroxidase activity (POD) and lipase activity (LPS) were significantly reduced. However, peroxide value (PV), free fatty acids (FFA), and malondialdehyde content (MDA) observed a significantly increased by 0.64 mEqO2/kg, 8.3 mg/100 g, and 0.0005 μmol/L respectively. The storage stability of RB after extrusion shows that the POD, LPS, FFA, PV, and MDA were positively correlated with storage duration and temperature. The oleic acid/linoleic acid ratio in processed RB by extrusion had no significant changes during storage. The total and essential/non-essential amino acid ratios showed a downward trend of 5.26% and 8.76%, respectively. The first-order kinetics was the best-fitting model to describe the enzymatic inactivation and degradation of extruded RB during storage. The extrusion treatment did not affect the crude protein and the essential subunits of protein. Overall, the optimized extrusion procedure exhibited promising results in stabilizing the RB.