The study compared different types of waxy rice starches to see how their structure affects their properties. Starches with more short amylopectin chains had higher gel firmness and retrogradation enthalpy. Starches from mutant genotypes had a higher ratio of short-to-long amylopectin chains compared to commercial varieties. The amount of long amylopectin chains positively correlated with gel firmness and retrogradation enthalpy. These findings can help improve the quality of waxy rice and guide the selection of mutants for different uses.