This creamy rice pudding is made with a risotto made with sweetened milk and then enriched with egg yolks and spices to make a sweetly, gently spiced rice pudding that is super creamy and delicious.
If you’re a fan of a custard-type rice pudding, I think you’ll be very happy with this version. Such a comforting and tasty old-fashioned dessert.
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At a Glance
✅Skill Level: Beginner/Intermediate
✅Skills: Making risotto, tempering eggs
✅Type: Stirred Stove Top Pudding
✅Number of Ingredients: 9, including spices
✅Prep Time: 15 minutes
✅Cook Time: 45 minutes
✅Yield: 12 4 oz servings or 8 6 oz servings
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Tasting Notes
This pudding is creamy and cool. Since it is made with a modified risotto method, lots of the rice starch gets incorporated into the custard making it incredibly creamy.
It’s lightly flavored with both cinnamon and nutmeg, and of course you can adjust the amounts of either/both to your taste.
If you are a fan of Kozy Shack rice pudding, which only contains rice, sugar, milk, egg, and salt, you’ll appreciate this version that includes warm spices. Or leave out the spices entirely and you’ll end up with an almost-dead-ringer for Kozy Shack.
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How to Make Creamy Rice Pudding
My risotto-style rice pudding is made in 3 stages:
- Frying the rice in butter
- Cooking the rice in sweetened milk
- Tempering in egg yolks and spices
It’s not hard to make, and most of the time is hands-off as the rice simmers on the stove. Rather than stirring constantly, just give it a quick stir every 10 minutes or so as it cooks. Easy!
If you know how to make risotto and don’t have any questions, feel free to jump straight to the recipe.
Otherwise, I’ll go over the ingredients, some likely substitutions, and give you a step-by-step guide to making this pudding successfully.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- butter: Unsalted butter is your best choice here. The butter helps carry flavor, and the rice sizzles in it to gain some color also
- kosher salt: The pudding would be very bland without the salt. It calls for a full teaspoon of Morton’s kosher salt. If using any other type of salt, weigh out 5-6 grams. For best flavor, don’t use less than 4 grams.
- Arborio rice: Arborio is a medium-grained rice that is nice and starchy. When stirred while cooking, it releases a lot of starch for a creamy mouthfeel. Other excellent though harder-to-find choices include Carnaroli and Vialone Nano (thanks to my wonderful Italian friend, Viviane, for this info)
- whole milk: Substitute 2% for a slightly less rich version, but I really do love whole milk for this custard. I don’t recommend using half and half or heavy cream because those don’t contain enough water to properly cook the rice. To enrich the pudding further, you can always whip some cream and fold it in once the pudding it chilled
- vanilla bean: I use 1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped, heating it with the milk and then allowing it to cook right along with the risotto so it is well-infused. If you don’t have a vanilla bean, stir in 2 teaspoons good quality vanilla at the end of cooking
- granulated sugar: This is, to my palate, a just-sweet-enough rice pudding. Not too sweet. Not savory. It’s the Goldilocks of sweetness. You can substitute brown sugar if you’d like, although the color may be a bit muddied due to the molasses.
- egg yolks: Yolks enrich the custard and provide some lecithin to keep it from weeping as it hangs out in the fridge. I call for 6 yolks, but you can use 4 if 6 seems like a bridge too far
- cinnamon & nutmeg: Both the cinnamon and the nutmeg are optional, although I love the flavor both bring to the pudding. Leaving them out yields a purely sweet rice and vanilla pudding that is oh-so-approachable
Mexican vanilla beans are my favorite, and when I have them, I use them in custards and jams. This link is for 10 beans, but you can purchase fewer or more once you click through.
Procedure
The procedure for making stove top rice pudding is pretty easy. If you’re familiar with making risotto and tempering eggs, you can jump straight to the recipe.
Here’s the general outline for making this recipe:
- Infuse vanilla bean into milk
- Make a sweet risotto with the infused milk
- Temper into egg yolk/milk mixture
- Make sure the temperature is 165F/74C
- Pour into a container/containers and chill
Infusing the Milk
- Add milk, half a split and scraped vanilla bean (which you really can’t see in photo 1), and sugar to a heavy-bottomed saucepan.
- Whisk and whisk to dissolve the sugar and get the vanilla all dispersed throughout the milk.
- Heat until steaming but not boiling.
- Then you’ll pour this milk into the “fried” rice (see the next photo).
Making the Risotto
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- In a Dutch oven, melt the butter.
- Add the rice (do not rinse it first) to the melted butter.
- Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until at least some of the rice begins to take on a golden color.
- Pour in the infused hot milk into the rice.
Cooking the Risotto and Making the Custard
- Stir the infused milk into the pan of rice, bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, and cover. Cook covered, stirring occasionally
- While the rice cooks combine milk, sugar, and spices together
- Whisk in egg yolks
- The rice after it has finished cooking.
Tempering the Egg Mixture
- One the rice has cooked, whisk some into the bowl of egg yolks/milk to slowly raise the temperature
- Pour the contents of the bowl back into the pan of cooked rice and stir well to combine
- Pour the finished custard into a dish/dishes, and
- press plastic wrap directly onto the surface. Pudding will thicken as it cools.
Jenni Says: Once you pour the tempered egg mixture back into the pan and stir, make sure the temperature is between 165F-170F (74C- 77C) and then remove from the heat. If you get the mixture too hot at this point, the egg mixture can still curdle. You may not even have to heat the mixture at all, so use your instant read to make sure.
Now that you know the ins and outs, feel free to jump down to the recipe.
Recipe Variations (Make It Fancy)
Most desserts feel a bit more special when served in individual serving bowls rather than scooped from a container.
My favorite way to fancy up rice pudding is to brulee the tops. This provides not only textural contrast but temperature contrast as the pudding is warm on top and cold at the bottom.
Brulee exactly the way you would for creme brulee. Just sprinkle some sugar on top of each ramekin, tilt it around to spread the sugar evenly, wipe off the rims, and brulee with a kitchen torch.
Jenni Says: Smooth the tops of the puddings as well as you can before adding sugar on top, but know that since rice pudding has some texture, it’s harder to get an even brulee, and it may take a bit longer. Just keep your torch moving and be patient.
Another way to make your rice pudding a little more special is to swirl in some of your favorite jam.
I’ve added spoonfuls of blueberry jam and strawberry preserves to my tasting bowls, and I highly recommend it.
Also consider scattering some berries on top, whipping some cream and folding it in (or serving it on top) to amp up the creamy factor, and/or sprinkling a bit more cinnamon and/or nutmeg on top.
A Little Rice Pudding Q & A
For a custard rice pudding, eggs are required, but that doesn’t mean you can’t leave out the yolks. If you’d like to keep it egg-free, rather than whisking egg yolks with milk and spices, whisk in 2 Tablespoons of cornstarch. In that case, you won’t have to temper. You can just pour the milk/cornstarch/spice mixture straight into the pan of finished risotto, bring it to a boil, stirring constantly, for about 2 minutes. Voila: creamy rice pudding sans eggs!
Enjoy your pudding within 5 days. If the batch makes more than you can get through in a few days, make a half batch. I’ll put those measurements in the Notes section of the recipe.
Questions?
If you have any questions about this post or recipe, I am happy to help.
Simply leave a comment here and I will get back to you soon. I also invite you to ask question in my Facebook group, Fearless Kitchen Fun.
If your question is more pressing, please feel free to email me. I should be back in touch ASAP, as long as I’m not asleep.
A Note About Measurements
My recipes are almost all written by weight, including liquids, unless otherwise specified.
For accuracy and consistency of results, I encourage you to buy–and use–a kitchen scale.
I promise that baking and cleanup will be so much quicker and easier.
This is the scale that I recommend for home use. I have owned and used one for years.
Don't let its small price and small size fool you. The Escali Primo is an accurate and easy-to-use food scale that I have used for years. It's easy to store, easy to use, has a tare function, and easily switches between grams and ounces/pounds for accurate measurements.
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Creamy Rice Pudding Recipe
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Ingredients
The Risotto
- 2 oz butter unsalted, 57 grams or 4 Tablespoons
- 7.5 oz Arborio rice 213 grams or 1 cup
- 3 oz sugar 85 grams or a scant 1/2 cup (see Notes)
- 48 oz whole milk 1361 grams or 6 cups
- ½ vanilla bean split and scraped (sub 2 teaspoons of vanilla added at the end of cooking)
- 1 teaspoon Morton's kosher salt If using a different type of salt, weigh out 4-5 grams
The Egg Mixture
- 8 oz whole milk 227 grams or 1 cup
- 6 egg yolks
- 1.5 oz sugar 43 grams or about 3 Tablespoons (See Notes)
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- several gratings of whole nutmeg about 1/8 teaspoon
Instructions
To Make the Risotto
- Add a split and scraped vanilla bean, milk, and sugar to a large saucepan and heat until steaming but not boiling.
- In a Dutch oven, m
elt the butter over medium heat. - Add the rice and salt, and cook, stirring frequently, until some of the rice begins to take on a golden color.
- Slowly stream in the hot milk mixture, vanilla bean included, while stirring. Continue to heat and stir until the mixture comes to a high simmer.
- Reduce heat to low, and put a lid on the pot. Set a timer for 45 minutes.
- Remove the lid and give the mixture a good stir every 10 minutes or so, moderating the heat as necessary to make sure it doesn't boil up and over. Turn off the heat after 45 minutes.
- In the meantime, mix up the egg mixture.
For the Egg Mixture
- In a large bowl with plenty of room in it, whisk together the egg yolks, milk, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg until well combined.
- Once the risotto has finished cooking, ladle in 2-3 cups of the hot mixture into the egg mixture, whisking well the whole time. This tempers the eggs and allows them to heat slowly to lower the risk of curdling.
- Whisk the custard mixture back into the pan, and stir well so all is evenly combined. Use an instant-read thermometer to check the temperature. It should be right around 170F. If it's not, turn the heat to medium and stir constantly, checking the temperature until it reads 170F.
- Remove from the heat and spoon your rice pudding into individual serving dishes or ramekins, or in a casserole dish. For reference, the dish you see in my photos is 11" square.
- Press plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the pudding, and chill. The custard will thicken as it chills, so if it seems a little thin straight out of the pan, worry not. Once chilled, stir the pudding (or not) and enjoy sprinkled with cinnamon and/or nutmeg or with a spoonful of jam swirled in.
Did You Make Any Changes?
Notes
A Note About the Sugar
As written, this pudding is just sweet and lovely. However, if you like a sweeter pudding, add up to 2 additional ounces/57 grams. In practice, that would be 1/2-1 ounce of additional sugar in both the risotto portion and the egg yolk portion.Serving Size
A full recipe makes 12 4 oz servings or 8 6 oz servings. Feel free to cut the recipe in the half if you’re not feeding a crowd.Half-Batch Ingredients
(6 4 oz servings or 4 6 oz servings)For the Risotto
- 1 oz unsalted butter
- 3.25 oz Arborio rice (or other medium-grained rice used for risotto)
- 1.5 oz sugar
- 24 oz whole milk
- 1/2 teaspoon Morton’s kosher salt
- 1/4 vanilla bean, split and scraped
- 4 oz whole milk
- 3 egg yolks
- 1.5 oz sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (or more to taste)
- several grinds of nutmeg (more or less, to taste)
Fancy Variation
Ladle hot custard directly into ramekins, press plastic wrap directly on the surface, and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled or for up to 3 days. Remove the plastic wrap, sprinkle with granulated sugar, and brulee with a torch. This is a wonderful variation if you like a dessert that has textural and temperature contrasts. NOTE: It takes longer to brulee rice pudding than it does creme brulee, mainly because the surface is wetter, so it takes a while to dissolve and then caramelize the sugar on top.To Make it without Eggs
Rather than whisking yolks into the milk/sugar/spice mixture, whisk in 2 Tablespoons of cornstarch. No need to temper, just add this mixture to the rice once it has finished cooking. Bring to a boil, stirring, and reduce heat to maintain a slow boil for 2 minutes. Don’t forget to keep stirring!Storing
Enjoy the refrigerated pudding for up to 5 days.Nutrition
I really hope you love this creamy rice pudding you guys. It’s pretty perfect!
Thanks for spending some time with me today.
Take care.
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