Parboiled rice is widely consumed across Asia for its enhanced nutritional retention and distinct texture, and cooking duration strongly affects its final eating quality. Cooking-time effects have mostly been studied for established varieties, however, and remain unexamined for the recently released Malaysian cultivar MR297. This study evaluated the effects of cooking time on the physical, cooking, and textural properties of parboiled MR297, benchmarked against unparboiled MR297 and commercially parboiled Malaysian rice. Samples were cooked for 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, and 24 minutes and analysed for physical dimensions, colour (L*, a*, b*), cooking properties (elongation ratio, moisture sorption, l/b ratio), and textural attributes (hardness, cohesiveness, chewiness, adhesiveness, springiness). Data were analysed by one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s test (p<0.05), followed by principal component analysis (PCA). Cooking duration significantly affected textural, physical, colour, and cooking properties of all samples (p<0.05). Hardness in parboiled MR297 decreased markedly from 13.26 to 2.55 N, with parallel reductions in cohesiveness and chewiness, while springiness remained unchanged (p>0.05). L* rose from 55.43-57.80 to 64.47-65.02, elongation ratio rose to 1.34-1.46, and moisture sorption increased three- to four-fold (p<0.05); l/b ratio was unaffected (p>0.05). Textural properties largely plateaued by 16 min, whereas moisture sorption kept rising beyond this point, indicating ~16 min offers the best balance between softness and over-hydration for MR297. PCA showed PC1 distinguished samples by cooking duration, and PC2 separated unparboiled from parboiled rice. Overall, cooking time critically determines parboiled MR297 quality, with prolonged cooking yielding softer, more elongated, offering processors evidence-based cooking guidance for this cultivar.