Homemade rice pudding | Easy recipe for a perfect rice pudding

If you like rice pudding as much as I do, I recommend that you read until the end, because today we are going to explain one of the probably most popular dessert recipes in the world.

And before you make a face of astonishment thinking that the rice pudding recipe  is ours, from here in Spain all my life, I will tell you that although everything indicates that it could have been born in our land, probably introduced by the south of Spain and then popularized in Asturias, there are as many varieties of this dish in the world as there are ways of saying rice in each language.

What we do know is that the rice pudding recipe is a traditional dish that should not be missed, so it is essential that you know it to enjoy it with your family. Who has not tasted a plate of rice pudding when they were little? I still remember it as a party, and for that reason, whenever I can, my son enjoys this exquisite dessert.

Classic rice pudding recipe

We begin with the most basic rice pudding recipe, the one known in almost all Spanish homes, the one that reminds us of our childhood, and from this we see the different variations throughout the world.

Ingredients

• 1 liter of milk
• 250g of rice
• 100g sugar
• 1 lemon
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

How to make traditional rice pudding

Put in a saucepan on the fire with plenty of water and when it starts to boil add the rice. Leave it for 10 minutes and turn off the heat. In another saucepan, heat the milk and sugar over low heat, stirring to dissolve. When the milk begins to boil, add the drained rice, the sugar, the cinnamon stick and the finely chopped lemon peel. Let it boil gently for 15 minutes after which you will pour it into a flat dish, sprinkling it with ground cinnamon. Serve cold.

7 tricks for a perfect rice pudding

• The rice must be round grain, the traditional one, do not use varieties such as long grain ones that never go too far because this type of rice does not absorb water well and does not release starch, something essential for the creaminess of the rice pudding .
• Milk is another of the fundamental ingredients, and it must be whole milk, skimmed or semi-skimmed milk is not worth it because the rice will not be as creamy. As for how much milk to use, the usual is 1 liter for every 100g of rice. It is important that you do not let the milk stick to the bottom of the pot, for this it is important that you bring it to a boil very slowly and that you stir it constantly, which will help to avoid this.
• How to aromatize milk: Here you have seen that the combinations are endless depending on the rice pudding recipe you use. In Spain, cinnamon sticks, lemon and orange peel, vanilla are usually used… but we recommend that you try other options such as cardamom, for example, because they will give it an irresistible flavor.
• Lemon or orange skin: It is important that when you peel the orange or lemon to flavor the milk, you remove the white part, leaving only the yellow or orange part of the citrus. This white part is bitter and should never be used in recipes.
• How to boil the rice: The usual thing is to first put it with water and then pour the milk in a second cooking, so the rice is sweet and very creamy and soft.
• The sugar is added at the end of the process, because it is very easy to burn. Another option that you will see is to replace the sugar with condensed milk.
• How to decorate it: Here again there are many options, the simplest is to sprinkle it with cinnamon powder, but you can sprinkle the surface with sugar and burn it with a blowtorch, as in Asturian rice pudding. You can also decorate it with different nuts such as sliced ​​almonds, pistachios, etc…

Have you been wanting to know some of the different rice pudding recipes that exist both in Spain and in the rest of the world? Pay attention to these versions because they will surely conquer you:

Asturian “requemao” rice pudding

In Asturias, rice pudding is one of the most classic desserts of its gastronomy. What makes this recipe different is that the rice is “reburned” with a blowtorch, in the same way that it is done with Catalan cream .

Ingredients

1 l of whole milk; 100 g of bomba or round rice (1/2 cup approx.); 200 ml of water; 1 tablespoon of unsalted butter; 1 pinch of salt; the rind of 1/2 lemon; 1 cinnamon stick; 1/2 glass of white sugar (150g approx); sugar for toasting on top; 1 tablespoon of anise (optional)

How to make Asturian rice pudding

In a pot, bring the milk to a boil with the cinnamon stick, the lemon rind and a pinch of salt. We leave it on the fire for 15 minutes, turn off and reserve.

We wash the rice with cold water and put it in a pot on the fire that covers it with water. Let it boil until the liquid is consumed without stopping stirring. We then add half of the milk that we had set aside and gradually stir and incorporate as it evaporates. This process can take about 45 minutes.

When almost all the milk has been consumed, add the sugar, butter and anise if we like, stir for a couple more minutes and finally distribute it among the containers.

At the time of serving, we sprinkle sugar on the surface and burn it with a torch so that the sugar caramelizes.

Andalusian style rice pudding

A new variation of this recipe, of which you will also find many variants, with butter, with cream… we especially liked this one because of the originality of the rose water, which gives it a special flavor.

Ingredients

75 g of washed and dried rice; 200cc Hot water; 450cc milk; 65 g sugar; 2 tablespoons of rose water; 1 egg yolk; Ground cinnamon to decorate.

Preparation

Cook the rice in the water until most of it has been absorbed. Add the milk, mix and cook gently without covering completely and for 25 minutes. Put the sugar, rose water and cook for another five minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and cool slightly, add the beaten egg yolk a little. Mix the mixture well and put it back on the low heat for a minute. Immediately remove all the contents to bowls and sprinkle with cinnamon. It can be served hot and cold.

Rice with milk and chocolate

And in case you have any questions, we leave you a video in which we show you step by step how to make rice pudding , and also in two versions! One of them is the traditional recipe for rice pudding and the other is a version for sweet tooth: rice pudding and chocolate,  in just a minute you will learn how to make this sweet dessert.

Origin of rice pudding

As I was saying, each country deserves the honor of having invented this dessert, in Argentina they will tell you that rice pudding originates from there, in Peru it is also very typical, as in Colombia, Mexico or Cuba, but as you will see further down, there are so many varieties of rice pudding that it would be difficult to find the true origin. What we do know is that in Spain there is a debate between Asturian and Andalusian rice pudding, whose recipes we have detailed above.

Although the base of all these rice pudding recipes in the world is almost always the same,  rice, milk and sugar , then it can be flavored with cinnamon, vanilla, orange or lemon peel, cardamom, with honey, or add cream. , coconut milk, or condensed milk to substitute for the milk base.

From these basic ingredients, the preparation varies depending on the country or region: in Asturias and Portugal ( rice twelve ), the surface is usually burned so that it is caramelized , which gives it a delicious touch, in Argentina it is sometimes added dulce de leche, in some Latin American countries you can add raisins, egg yolks and even Port.

In Anglo-Saxon countries it is flavored with vanilla, in Spain and Latin America normally with cinnamon, and in countries like India, which have a variety of rice pudding called Kheer , cardamom is used. It is also typical in Turkey, where they call it Sütlaç .

As you will see, you are going to have a lot of options to choose from, would you like to know them? Although there are many, we have selected four from different parts of the world: Portugal; Mexico; India and Turkey.

Let’s see if you dare to try any of them:

“Arroz Doce”, how to make Portuguese rice pudding

Ingredients:

1 cup short-grain white rice; 1 cup of water; 1 cup of sugar; 4 cups of milk; 1 cinnamon stick; 2 teaspoons of butter; 3 beaten eggs; 1 lemon peel; 1 pinch of salt; 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Recipe:

Put the water with the rice in a pot and cook over medium high heat. Once the water begins to reduce (you should see very little water), mix with a wooden spoon. Add milk, cinnamon stick and stir. Add the sugar and lemon and stir again. Bring the mixture to a gentle boil and add the butter and salt. We mix again. Leave the mixture over medium heat to continue boiling, until it begins to thicken a little, between 10 and 15 minutes. Remove the cinnamon stick from the pot. Once the mixture thickens, spoon 3-4 tablespoons of the rice mixture over the beaten eggs and mix immediately. Next, add the egg mixture into the pot and mix well. As soon as the rice reaches a gentle boil, remove the pot from the heat. Pour the rice mixture into individual bowls or ramekins and when serving, sprinkle ground cinnamon on top. It can be served hot or cold.

Mexican Rice Pudding

Ingredients:

1 cup of White Rice (200 g); 1 liter of Whole milk; 1/2 cup of raisins (100 g); 1 cinnamon stick; 1 vanilla pod; 1 brick of Evaporated Milk (320 ml); Ground cinnamon; 1 cup of sugar (200g)

Recipe:

Wash the rice and reserve. Put a saucepan with water and bring to a boil over high heat. Add the cup of rice and cook for about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Strain and reserve.

Cut 1 vanilla pod in half, scrape the inside of the vanilla pod with a knife and place in a saucepan. We also add the vanilla pod, the liter of whole milk, a cinnamon stick and the evaporated milk. Mix well and bring to a boil. When it starts to boil, lower the heat to low and add the rice that we had reserved. Cook the rice in this mixture for about 30 minutes until soft. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking. Once the rice is cooked, we remove the cinnamon stick, the vanilla pod and add 1/2 cup of raisins and a cup of sugar. You have to add the sugar when you turn off the heat because it burns very quickly. Mix very well, distribute in bowls and serve cold sprinkled with ground cinnamon.

Kheer (Indian rice pudding)

Ingredients:

1 liter of milk; 100 g of basmati rice; 100 g of sugar; 3 teaspoons of almond powder; 3 teaspoons of grated coconut; 1 teaspoon of cardamom powder; a few strands of saffron; pistachios; Brown sugar

How to make Kheer

We put the saffron threads to soak in a little water and reserve. Wash the rice and drain. Put a saucepan with the milk and bring to a boil. Add the rice and let it boil again, stirring from time to time so that it does not stick to us. We keep it cooking for about 40 minutes, until we see that the rice is soft and creamy. Add the ground almonds, sugar, cream, saffron and cardamom, letting it boil for a few more minutes. The texture has to be creamy, but not too thick, so if necessary we can add some milk. We put it in the containers that we are going to serve and let it cool. At the time of serving, sprinkle with ground pistachios and a little brown sugar. We can also put other types of nuts instead of pistachios, such as laminated almonds for example.

Sütlaç (Turkish rice pudding)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of short grain rice; 2 cups of water; 4 1/4 cups whole milk, divided; 1/4 cup heavy liquid cream; ; 3/4 cup of sugar; 3 tablespoons cornstarch; 1 pinch of salt; 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract; Ground cinnamon

Recipe:

In a saucepan, add the rice and water and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and cook, covered, for about 25 minutes. Add 4 cups of milk, the liquid cream or milk cream and the sugar. Bring to a boil. Meanwhile, we dissolve the cornstarch in the remaining milk. Gradually add, stirring constantly, to the rice mixture. Add the salt and vanilla extract. Cook over low heat, stirring frequently, for about 15 minutes. When finished, divide into individual oven-proof containers, for example ramekins, and let cool to room temperature. Lightly sprinkle with sugar and place in the oven to gratin until the surface is lightly browned. Sprinkle with a little cinnamon and serve immediately, or let cool then chill in the fridge. In this case,

Well, with all these recipes and the tricks that we have given you, we hope that your next rice pudding recipe will be perfect for you. If you know any other version that we haven’t put here, or you can leave a trick in the comments, we’ll be happy to hear it!