rice pudding

Rice pudding cooks up creamy in under 40 minutes with just milk, rice, and sugar. Comfort food that uses what’s already in your kitchen.

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Total Time 41

Servings: 6 servings

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Mediterranean

Calories: 260

Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients

Pudding base

1 cup short-grain white rice
4 cups whole milk
0.5 cup granulated sugar
1 pinch salt
1 stick cinnamon

Final flavor & topping

1 teaspoon vanilla extract
0.25 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Method

Rinse the rice quickly under cold water. Don’t overdo it — one pass is enough here.
Add milk, rice, sugar, salt, and the cinnamon stick to a medium pot. Use one with a heavy bottom if you have one — that helps prevent burning.
Bring to a gentle simmer over medium-low heat, stirring often. Once you see bubbles, reduce the heat so it stays just barely simmering.
Stir every few minutes. Don’t walk away! Scrape the bottom and sides with a wooden spoon so nothing sticks.
After about 35 minutes, the rice should be tender and the pudding thick but still creamy. If it looks dry before the rice is soft, add another splash of milk.
Turn off the heat. Remove the cinnamon stick. Stir in the vanilla extract.
Spoon into bowls and dust with ground cinnamon. It tastes great warm, but you can also chill it — it will thicken more in the fridge.

Notes

Any week I find myself with leftover rice, I make this. It cooks up from pantry staples, and the slow simmer turns everyday ingredients into something richer and softer than you’d expect.

Real-life rice pudding tips

Don’t rush the stirring — every five minutes is my magic number. If you let it sit, the rice will clump and you’ll lose that creamy texture. The cinnamon stick gives a gentle flavor; ground cinnamon at the start makes the pudding look muddy, so I save it for the end.

If you notice the pudding thickening before the rice is tender, splash in a bit of milk — not water. Water makes it taste flat, and it’s harder to fix a bland batch than a loose one.

One odd thing: try a pinch of salt, even if you’re using salted butter. The flavor gets flat without it.

Substitutions and variations

Whole milk gives the best result. I’ve used 2% — it still thickens, just isn’t quite as silky. Non-dairy milks (like oat or soy) will work, but almond milk gets weirdly thin and grainy here, so I skip it.

I sometimes swap a handful of raisins for the cinnamon stick, but add them in the last ten minutes so they plump up but don’t break apart. You could finish with orange zest or toasted almonds for a little crunch.

Meal prep and storage

This rice pudding keeps in the fridge for three days, tightly covered. If it sets up too firmly, stir in a splash of milk before reheating. I don’t recommend freezing — the texture breaks and turns watery.