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A white dish stacked inside a blue and white patterned dish on a saucer. The white bowl is filled with creamy, custardy rice pudding sprinkled with cinnamon and nutmeg.
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Creamy Rice Pudding Recipe

Made on the stove top with Arborio rice, plenty of milk, and finished with beaten egg yolk and spices, this creamy rice pudding checks all my boxes. If you love a custard-style rice pudding and one that is nice and creamy, put this Arborio rice pudding, which is based on a sweet milk risotto, on your list to make!
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Resting Time 10 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes
Servings 12 4 oz servings
Calories 248kcal
Author Jennifer Field

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, melt 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.
    A collage of 4 images showing how to start making risotto for rice pudding. 1)Butter melting in a wide, shallow saute pan. 2)Stirring rice into the butter so that the rice cooks some. 3)The finished rice, which is pale golden from frying in the butter. 4)Pouring hot, infused milk into the "fried" rice.
  • 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.
    A collage of four images. 1)Stirring hot milk into rice to cook. 2)A glass bowl of milk, sugar, and spices with egg yolks being added from a small bowl. 3)Whisking the egg yolks into the milk/sugar/spice mixture. 4)A large pan of creamy rice cooked in sweetened, vanilla-infused whole milk.

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.
    A collage of 4 images. 1)Whisking hot, cooked rice into a bowl of egg yolks, milk, sugar, and spices. 2)Pouring the now-warm mixture of rice, yolks, milk, sugar, and spices into the rest of the rice. 3)The finished rice pudding poured into a baking dish. 4)The rice pudding in the dish with plastic wrap pressed onto the surface.

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
For the Egg Mixture
  • 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)
Follow the directions in the main recipe.

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

Serving: 4oz | Calories: 248kcal | Carbohydrates: 31g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 123mg | Sodium: 85mg | Potassium: 224mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 17g | Vitamin A: 463IU | Vitamin C: 0.01mg | Calcium: 178mg | Iron: 1mg