Creamy rice pudding is a deliciously soothing dessert that the whole family will love!
This rice pudding recipe uses leftover white rice cooked in sweetened milk to make an incredibly flavorful dish that can be served anytime and is always welcome!
What is Rice Pudding?
Similar to tapioca, rice pudding is a sweet, thickened dessert with rice, milk, and eggs.
- Rice pudding is a versatile dish that can be served hot or cold and often includes nuts or dried fruit.
- While believed to have originated in Asia, most versions of rice pudding have made their way to Europe and beyond. We often enjoy chilled arroz con leche in Mexico when visit since rice pudding is my husband’s favorite dessert!
- Ready in just 20 minutes, this recipe is quick and easy, requiring fresh or leftover rice, eggs, dairy, and a sweetener.
Ingredients in Rice Pudding
Rice – Any type of rice can be used for this recipe. Fresh white or brown rice works great, or you can use leftover rice. For a speedy option, use an Instant Pot to cook the rice
Milk – Whole milk is the best choice to achieve a rich and creamy texture. However, any non-dairy milk can be used. Oat milk makes a delicious creamy rice pudding.
Spices – To add flavor to this rice pudding recipe, use vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg. For more depth, try adding cardamom, allspice, or cloves. Another option is to use apple pie spice or pumpkin pie spice.
Add-ins – Dress up this dessert with raisins, currants, dried fruit, nuts, toasted coconut, or any type of nuts or seeds.
How to Make Rice Pudding
- Heat cooked rice with milk, sugar, & salt in a saucepan until thick & creamy.
- Whisk egg & milk in a bowl (as per the recipe below).
- Stir a cup of the hot rice into the egg mixture until smooth.
- Pour the tempered egg & rice mixture back into the rice along with the raisins (or other add-ins) & cook another two minutes.
- Remove from heat & stir in butter & vanilla. Serve warm.
PRO TIP: Make a baked version by pouring prepared rice pudding into a baking dish and sprinkling on brown sugar, heat under the broiler until the brown sugar is melted and bubbly before serving.
How to Store Rice Pudding
Keep leftover creamy rice pudding in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Reheat in the microwave or on the stovetop and add a little milk to loosen it up, if needed. Freeze portions in zippered bags in the freezer and thaw them overnight in the refrigerator before reheating.
Can You Freeze Rice Pudding?
If you happen to have leftovers (this is never a thing in my house), you can definitely freeze rice pudding. It will last 3-4 days in the fridge or a couple of months in the freezer.
Defrost in the refrigerator overnight and warm on the stove or in the microwave.
Classic Desserts to Try
Did you try this Creamy Rice Pudding recipe? Leave us a rating and a comment below!
Creamy Rice Pudding
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups white rice cooked
- 2 cups milk divided
- ⅓ cup sugar
- pinch salt
- 1 egg
- ⅔ cup raisins
- 1 tablespoon butter
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- cinnamon
- nutmeg
Instructions
- In a saucepan mix the cooked rice, 1 ½ cups milk, sugar and salt. Cook uncovered over medium heat for about 15-20 minutes until thick and creamy. Stir frequently to prevent the rice from sticking to the bottom of the pan
- Whisk egg and remaining ½ cup of milk in a medium bowl. Add about 1 cup of the hot rice mixture to the egg while stirring.
- Stir the egg mixture and raisins into the rice. Cook 2 minutes more.
- Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla.
- Serve warm and garnish with a sprinkle of nutmeg and cinnamon.
Video
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Dessert
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I made the creamy rice pudding as directed, but it did not thicken. What happened?
Hi Barbara, did you add the egg mixture (this will cause it to thicken). It does thicken as it stands and cools as well. Did you simmer uncovered? That helps to reduce the moisture in the recipe and thicken it as well.
I made this creamy rice pudding this morning. It’s really delicious. An old recipe that I used to use was a baked version and it was very dry tasting. This is rich and creamy. It’s perfect, exactly what I was hoping for. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
So happy you enjoyed it! Thanks for trying our recipe :)
was absolutely the best rice putting recipe that I’ve made so far and I’ve made a lot of rice pudding recipes, it was perfect it was creamy, it was rich, it took me back to when my Grammy used to make it ! It is so good and rich and creamy ! This is a wonderful rice pudding recipe thank you for sharing it with me !!
So happy this recipe brought back such a happy memory! That is one of my favorite parts of cooking.
This has become my go to recipe for rice pudding. It’s perfect every time and easy to customize with any flavors or add ins you want. Here are some of my favorites:
•Coconut: Use coconut milk (canned, full fat) in place of milk and add shredded or shaved coconut and 1/2tsp coconut extract
•Chocolate: Add 2tbs cocoa powder to your egg mixture (an electric whisk will get all the lumps out easily) or 1/2 cup chocolate chips directly into the pudding at the end
•Peanut Butter: Add 1/4 cup peanut butter to pudding while it cooks or 1/4 cup PB2 peanut powder
•White chocolate raspberry: Add 1/2 cup white chocolate chips (reduce sugar by half) and either a handful of fresh or frozen raspberries or 1/4 cup raspberry jam (seedless if you don’t like the seeds)
•Carrot cake: Add 1/2 cup shredded carrots during the last 10 minutes, replace white sugar with brown sugar and use 1tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg and 1/8tsp of cloves
•Pumpkin spice: Add 1/2 cup pumpkin purée (reduce milk by 1/4 cup), brown sugar instead of white and same spices as above
•Gingerbread: Add 2tbs molasses and same spices as above with the addition of 1/2 tsp ground ginger or 2tsp freshly grated or finely diced & smashed
Those all sound wonderful Evangeline! Thank you for sharing!
Good recipe! I followed exactly and next time will only add 1/4 c sugar. Really nice to have a recipe for leftover cooked rice!
Added rind of 1 lemon and 2 tablespoons of juice (my mother’s old recipe from the ‘50s). Gives pudding a wonderful flavour. LL, Canada
I think you need to check the instructions for doubling the recipe because the milk measures are incorrect.. they are the same as the 4 servings. .That being said I made the recipe for four servings and it is delicious
Hi Donna, when you double the recipe using the X2 feature or increasing the number of servings in the print screen, it only doubles the ingredients list, not the instructions. I am glad you enjoyed this recipe!
I’m sorry but your reply makes no sense! She is saying that when you doubled the recipe you did not double the milk. Another words if the recipe calls for 1c of milk for 1 serving and you want to make 2 servings then you double the milk which would be 2c of milk. I don’t even know what doubling INSTRUCTIONS would even mean or why as someone on the internet cooking and giving ppl recipes wouldn’t understand what she meant! I’m not trying to be snarky/rude but I’m seeing a lot of your replies to comments that make absolutely no sense at all.
Hi Paddi, this is in reply to doubling the recipe in the print screen. When using the X2 feature of the recipe or increasing sizes, this will increase the amount of ingredients within the ingredients list only. Using this feature doesn’t increase the measurements automatically within the text portion or written instructions of the recipe, just the ingredients list.
So for example, if you double the recipe using by increasing the serving size to 8 portions in the print screen, you will see the ingredients double in the list but the written instructions do not increases, they remain the same. (So, in step 1 where you add 1 ½ cups of milk, it will still show as 1 ½ cups and you will need actually increase it to 3cups if doubling the recipe). Hope that helps!
I am hoping you can help me. Rice pudding is one of my favorite desserts! In your directions under Step #2 it says “Add about 1 cup of the hot rice mixture to the egg while stirring.”
I watched the video and I did not see that step. I saw the milk and the egg put directly into the pot. Am I missing something?
Thank you
By adding hot rice mixture to the egg while stirring you are tempering the eggs which I find makes them smoother. I hope this helps.
I know my replies are being moderated before posting…. but here’s another one of your replies that doesn’t answer what this lady is saying. So, in the instructions you say to put milk, egg and 1c of the hot rice into a separate bowl and stir (yes this is to temper the egg), BUT as she stated when watching the video you did not follow your own instructions and just poured the milk and egg mixture straight into the pot of rice. I watched the video and noticed that as well before even coming to the comments. I suppose she was asking if it’s ok to skip that whole part like you did?
This recipe has been updated for improved flavor and consistency so I recommend following the tempering step. I hope this helps Paddi!
Perfect. Exactly the recipe I’ve been looking for! This will forever be my go to for rice pudding. Love it for breakfast.. it’s great for the kiddos before school. I love it with raisins cooked in or stirred in afterwards as a garnish. love love love
I have some cans of sweetened condensed milk in my pantry that have never found their calling. Couldn’t I use them in the rice pudding if I omit the sugar? It seems like it should work. What are your thoughts?
I haven’t tried this with sweetened condensed milk. It does have a much thicker consistency so you might need to add some extra milk to get the right consistency. Let us know how it goes!
I made this today and it was excellent. My husband and I both enjoy raisin rice pudding. Next time I think I’ll add a small amount of rum.
Question: Do you start with 1 1/2 cups of cooked rice, or 1 1/2 cups of raw rice which has been cooked (Makes a lot of rice!)
This uses 1 1/2 cups of cooked rice. Enjoy Barbara!
I followed recipe except only had 1 % milk in house but had a 8 oz. container of heavy cream I had to use up so I used 1 cup milk and 1 cup heavy cream……OH MY so delicious…better than Moms (sorry Mom)….Going to surprise my hubby with this for dessert tonight.
Can I use almond milk
Hi Judy, we have never tried this recipe with almond milk but other readers have with success! You will have to let us know how it turns out for you.
I just made this (delicious!!) but I did make a summertime substitute:
Instead of winter warming spices, I followed the recipe exactly, but at the end of cooking time, I grated a bit of lemon peel.
DELICIOUS! :)
Can’t wait to try this recipe! Can you use Japanese or sticky rice for this recipe? Thanks! :)
Hi Cindy, we usually use long-grain white rice and have never tried this recipe with sticky rice. We would love to hear how it turns out for you if you attempt it!
Fantastic! Tastes exactly as i remember my mom’s and i always thought she made the best. She never followed a recipe so probably followed her mom’s recipe lol!! This is the best recipe i have tried and i need look no further! Follow the recipe and it’s perfect!
How do I keep rice pudding nice and creamy. Mine always dries up as the rice soaks up the juice?
Freshen it up with a splash of milk (or cream)! Enjoy Donna!