15 Easy Rice Pudding Recipes
Make your own rice pudding today
For me rice pudding is the ultimate comfort food. It's a recipe that crosses cultures too, featuring in the cuisines of every continent. Thankfully in recent years this old-fashioned desert that your grandma used to make has had a bit of a resurrection and in some cases reinvention.
Rice Pudding is perfect to warm you up on a cold winter's night but equally great as a chilled summer dessert. It's easy to make and can be prepared ahead. Really what more could you want?
While it was probably being made years earlier, the first written recipe is attributed to the English writer Gervase Markham who recorded a recipe in 1615.
Below are a few of my favourite rice puds and links to a lot more that I hope to try soon. There is something for all tastes and diets here from low fat rice pudding, to dairy and gluten free puddings. I hope you find one you love.
Ingredients
- 1 cup Arborio rice
- 1 litre milk / 2.1 pints
- 1/2 cup caster sugar
- 1 vanilla bean or vanilla bean paste
- pinch of salt
- fruit or nuts to serve - I love using pistachios
Instructions
- 1. Rinse and drain the rice
- 2. Place milk, rice, sugar, and a pinch of salt into a saucepan and bring to a boil, stir occasionally to keep the rice from sticking to the bottom. Continue until sugar has dissolved.
- 3. Turn stove to lowest setting and continue to cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, until rice is tender and the consistency has thickened
- 4. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla
- 5. Allow to cool slightly then top with nuts or fruit. If you prefer to serve it cold refrigerate for a couple of hours or overnight.
Too much milk in the fridge?
Rice pudding is the answer to your problem!
Baked Chocolate Rice Pudding
Very simple, slightly decadent baked chocolate rice pudding will please family and friends and is an easy dinner party dessert. I recently served it with Vanilla poached pears - highly recommended!
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup Arborio rice
- 2 tbs caster sugar
- 150 gm dark chocolate
- 3 cups milk
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
- cocoa powder for dusting
Instructions
- 1. Spray a 5 cup capacity baking dish with olive oil spray.
- 2. Put rice in the baking dish and sprinkle with sugar
- 3. Gently heat milk in a small saucepan and add chocolate and vanilla paste and stir until chocolate has melted.
- 4. Pour milk mixture over the rice
- 5. Bake in oven (160 degrees Celsius) for 1.5 hrs until there is a skin
- 6. Remove from the oven and stand for 10 minutes before serving
- 7. Dust with chocolate or (coconut if you prefer)
Rice pudding around the world
Rice pudding features strongly in Middle Eastern and European cuisine. While the English version is rather plain in the Middle East and Mediterranean it usually features spices such as cardamom and syrups, particularly rosewater.
European versions almost always include cinnamon and are often creamier in texture.
Asian versions often use coconut milk and black or sticky rice and are often known as rice porridge rather than pudding.
Rice pudding can be known by various names including:
Riz bi haleeb - Lebanon and Egypt
Riz au lait - Frence
Firni - Pakistan
Kheer - India
Arroz doce - Portugal - often with citrus
Tsamporado - Philippines - with chocolate
Budino di Riso - Italy - with raisins
Image by By Slastic (Own work) via Wikimedia Commons
Traditional Greek Rice Pudding
This pudding is a little fiddly but worth it. It's creamy and delicious but definitely not one for every day!
Ingredients
- 1 cups short grain rice washed
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 850 ml milk
- 3/4 cup of caster sugar
- 1 vanilla bean - halved lengthwise and seeds scraped
- 1/4 cup cornflour
- 3 egg yolks
- 2 tspn ground cinnamon
Instructions
- 1. Cook rice in 400ml of water and salt over medium heat. When boiling reduce the heat and cover. Cook until rice is tender - usually around 15 minutes. Rice should be just tender.
- 2. In another saucepan pour milk, 1/2 a cup of sugar, the vanilla bean and seeds and bring to the boil slowly.
- 3. Add the milk to the rice mixture. Cook for 20 minutes until the rice is soft. Stir the mixture every so often.
- 4. Make a paste with the cornflour and just enough water. Stir into the pudding mixture cook for 3-5 minutes.
- 5. Remove the vanilla bean and cool the mixture.
- 6. Wish the egg yolks with the remaining sugar until thick and creamy. Add the eggs to the rice. Cook gently for 3 minutes until well combined. Sprinkle with cinnamon.
How to cook rice pudding
Low Fat Rice Pudding
Skim or no fat milk takes rice pudding from decadent to slightly naughty (and fat free)
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup Arborio rice
- 3 1/4 cups of skim milk
- 1/4 cup castor sugar
- 1/3 cup raisins or sultanas
- Vanilla essence or citrus zest
Instructions
- 1. Put all the ingredients into a saucepan and bring to a boil, stir regularly.
- 2. Reduce heat to low and simmer or until the rice is tender and the mixture looks creamy - about 20 minutes, stir for the last 5 minutes so the rice does not stick.
- 3. Remove from heat and stir in some vanilla essence or citrus zest and a pinch of salt.
- 4. The pudding can be eaten warm or chilled and served cold. Great as a breakfast food.
All measurements in my recipes are in metric. If you prefer to use imperial measurements you can convert them using this free converter
More of my favourite rice pudding recipes
- How to make the perfect rice pudding
This article discusses various types of rice, cooking methods and which spices work best. - Slow cooker rice pudding with coconut and almonds
This is a gluten free and dairy free rice pudding - it uses coconut milk and almond milk to produce a rich flavour. - Caramel rice pudding with spice apples
one word - YUM! - Coconut Sticky Rice Pudding
Chai tea and raisins make this the perfect desert for an Asian themed dinner party. - Sticky Black Rice Pudding
Star anise, cardamom and kaffir lime leaves make this one special recipe - Middle Eastern Rice Pudding
add some middle eastern spices for a new take - Caramelised Indian Rice Pudding
You can even make this one in a microwave or the slow cooker - Yogurt Rice Pudding
Greek yogurt replaces the milk in the version - Soy Rice Pudding with Banana and Kiwi
Another dairy free version - White chocolate rice pudding
Doubly dangerous! If you are counting calories stay away :-) - Vegan rice pudding
Featuring almond milk
Rice pudding tips and tricks
Once you get the hang of basic rice pudding you can play with the recipe to give it your own twist or adapt it to your dietary needs.
- Substitute low fat milk for full cream for a less rich pudding
- Reduce the sugar and serve with a fruit coulis or warm jam
- Experiment with brown, jasmine or Basmati rice for different textures
- Soak rice in milk either for a couple of hours or overnight for quicker cooking time
- Use vanilla extract if you cannot afford a vanilla bean or vanilla paste
