Rice Pudding
There’s something magical about rice pudding – it’s creamy, rich and sweet; it’s a dessert that’s easy to make and so indulgent. Whether savouring it fresh off the stove or chilled, this classic treat is adaptable—perfect with a sprinkle of cinnamon, or mixed with fruit. This rice pudding recipe is perfect for transforming humble pantry staples into something truly heart-warming and satisfying, it’s comfort food at its finest.
When growing up, my parents used to make big batches of rice pudding for us, it was comforting and delicious. In Greek, rice pudding is called Rizogalo and the only variation from regular rice pudding is the additions added in. Us Greeks, we love our citrus – lemons especially – so lemon or orange rind is often added with a little of the juice and cinnamon isn’t optional!
Rizogalo is kept much simpler than my recipe: some cook the rice with some water first, then add milk, some sugar and some extra flavourings like vanilla, lemon or orange zest. I like my rice pudding cooked with milk, cream and eggs; it doesn’t taste the same when the rice is cooked in water first, it’s not as creamy.
Ingredients
Arborio rice, butter, full cream milk, cream, vanilla, sugar, salt
Optional
Cinnamon, sultanas/raisins, eggs
If you’re adding the eggs, for an extra custardy, indulgent rice pudding, use just the egg yolks. The whites can be used to make meringue or egg white omelettes if that’s your thing. If you don’t want to separate the eggs because you don’t feel like bothering to make something with the egg whites, use the whole egg will still give you just as good of a result.
Other Variations
Jam – raspberry, strawberry, marmalade or plum. Beerenberg jams are my absolute favourite jam range.
Flavourings – rose water, almond extract, mastic or orange blossom.
Fruit – other dried fruit like cranberries or apricots. Fresh or frozen is good too. If you have fruit leftover, add them into to the rice pudding at the end to finish them up. Sometimes I add glacé cherries, which are cherries that have been pitted and cooked in a sugar syrup. I love those soft, sweet cherries.
Ice cream – I love melted ice cold ice cream over something pipping hot like rice pudding. I go to a local ice cream place in Brisbane called Lick Ice Cream and always get Nutella or their strawberries and cream ice cream. Scoops of their ice cream over apple crumble or a chocolate brownies is so good.
Using skim or lite milk – I haven’t tried it with lite milk or lite cream. You should get the same result, although it may not be as creamy. You could also swap to lactose free.
Alternative milks – I don’t see why it wouldn’t work out. You could switch the cream for coconut cream or another alternative dairy cream. Leave out the butter or swap to some dairy free margarine. Outcome may differ. I’d love to know how it turns out if you do use dairy free products.
Arborio rice or regular white rice?
Any white rice will do. Use what you have available at home. My preference of rice for making rice pudding, is using a shorter grain rice like arborio, medium grain or short grain rice. I feel like shorter grain rice is the perfect size for a dessert dish like this in terms of texture. Long grain rice would still be a good choice for rice pudding, it’ll just have a different texture to that of shorter grain rice.
My Best Tips
Don’t walk away from the stove. You need to stir the rice continuously to avoid lumps and to stop the rice from sticking to the bottom.
No need to wash or cook the rice beforehand, we need all that starchy goodness.
If you’re going to be adding the eggs, make sure you temper them first. If you add the eggs straight into the pot without tempering, you will end up with scrambled eggs rather than adding a custardy texture to your rice pudding.
Once you use all the dairy, try the pudding, if you think it needs longer or it’s too thick, add a little more milk.
Rice pudding can be served hot or cold. Store leftovers in the fridge.
Reheating – while rice pudding is perfect when it’s cold, if you want reheated, add a splash of milk to the bowl, this will help it loosen up a little.
Rice Pudding
Ingredients
- 140 grams arborio rice Note 1
- 30 grams butter
- 1 litre milk Note 2
- 150 ml thickened cream
- 150 grams white sugar
- 4 grams salt
- 2 extra large eggs optional – Note 3
- Splash of vanilla
- Sultanas optional – Note 4
- Cinnamon for dusting, optional – Note 5
Instructions
- Scramble the eggs in a bowl.
- Heat up a large non-stick pot on a medium heat to low heat.
- Place in the butter, let it melt and add in the arborio rice. Toast the arborio rice for a few minutes, stirring regularly so the rice doesn't catch on the bottom and burn.
- Add the milk, cream, sugar, vanilla, and salt into the pot and mix to combine. Bring it up to a gentle simmer, making sure you stir regularly – you don't want the rice to stick to the bottom of the pot – until the mixture is thick and creamy to your desired consistency.
- If you're adding the eggs: once the rice is soft and cooked through, use a soup ladle to pour some of the rice mixture into the scrambled eggs and mix everything together. Do this until the eggs are the same temperature as the rice pudding, add the egg mixture into the pot, mix until combined and allow to thicken to desired consistency. This will be a good time to add any sultanas if you want to add them.
- Remove from the heat and put the rice pudding into a large serving bowl or into smaller containers or ramekins.
- Serve with a sprinkle of cinnamon on top!
Video
Notes
Use a shorter grain rice like arborio, medium or short grain rice. You can use long grain but it will change the texture of the rice pudding. I prefer the mouthfeel of shorter grains of rice. Whatever rice you do pick, make sure you DO NOT wash it, you want the extra starch to thicken. Note 2
You can use alternative dairies or light/skim milk or cream. Note 3
Don’t put all the eggs straight into the pot, tempering the eggs has to be done so that when they’re put into the same pot as the hot rice pudding, the eggs don’t scramble. I use extra large eggs, but use what you have, Note 4
If you want to add in dried fruit like sultanas but not add the eggs, once the rice puddings starts to thicken, this would be the perfect them to add the dried fruit. The heat will make them juicy and plump enough without it being too soggy. Note 5
Cinnamon is optional, it can added on top or mixed into the rice pudding at the end. General Notes
Do not walk away from the pot. It needs to be stirred regularly. Stir until your desired consistency, not too thick because it’ll become too stodgy, just enough where it’s thick but slightly soupy if you catch my drift. Just for reference – as the rice pudding cools, it will thicken. Once the rice pudding has thickened to your liking, just before you’re ready to serve, taste your rice pudding to check that the texture of the rice is tender. If it’s still slightly crunchy, keep adding milk and stirring until the rice is tender. Make sure to have some extra milk available just in case.
By tempering the eggs do you mean making them at room temperature?
Hi Helen,
Thanks for getting in touch, tempering is the process of slowly mixing a hotter liquid into an ingredient to gradually raise its temperature. In this case, it’s eggs so gradually adding in the hot liquid will bring up the temperature of the eggs so the eggs don’t scramble and turn into an eggy flavoured rice pudding. I hope this helps. x