You are Here: Home » Sweet Recipes : All » The Creamiest Rice Pudding

Published: Feb 23, 2016 · By Jennifer

The Creamiest Rice Pudding

Name: The Creamiest Rice Pudding
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 60 min
Total time: 65 min
Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients: 4 cups whole milk ((3.5% b.f.)); 1/2 cup Arborio rice; 2/3 cup heavy whipping cream ((35% b.f.)); 1/2 cup white sugar; 2 egg yolks; 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla or vanilla bean paste; 1/8 tsp salt; Optional : 1/2 cup raisins

Jump to Recipe - Print Recipe

Looking for a Creamy Rice Pudding recipe? This is my absolutely favourite rice pudding, that is, in my opinion, the creamiest and most delicious rice pudding you can make!

I have been making this rice pudding forever. I love rice pudding. I know some people tend to think of it as quite humble food, but when done right, it’s about as far from humble food as you can get. This rice pudding is classic, it’s creamy and it’s definitely done right – with Arborio rice, whole milk, egg yolks, sugar, vanilla and heavy cream. It’s a treat!

Over the years, I have made this pudding with all kinds of rice and with different combinations of milk and cream, depending on what’s on hand. The recipe below is the perfect combination of ingredients, in my opinion, but do refer to the Cook’s Notes below the recipe for more information on substitutions and how they work. And since I’ve made this pudding so many times and discovered every possible place this recipe can go wrong, I’ve included lots of detail in the actual recipe instructions, as well as outlined them in the Cook’s Notes.

Cook’s Notes for Creamy Rice Pudding

You can use long-grain rice in place of the Arborio rice. I love Arborio, a medium-grain rice, because it is plump, doesn’t get mushy and introduces just the right amount of starch to the pudding. Note that long-grain rice will take longer to cook. I wouldn’t recommend a short-grain or short-cooking type of rice for this pudding.

Yes, you can use 2% milk in place of the whole milk and/or you can use half & half cream instead of the heavy cream. While you can make these substitutions, it will come at a cost to the creaminess of the finished pudding, so if you do, just don’t come back and tell me it wasn’t the creamiest, ok :)

There is no need to plump your raisins ahead (soak in hot water to plump them up). The hot pudding mixture will take care of that for you.

There are a few places where this recipe can go wrong, so I thought I’d point them out, since I’ve done all of them at one point or another …

1) Not watching the pot as your milk comes to a boil at the start of cooking and having it boil up and all over your stove. Use a large pot and watch very closely as it nears the boil (starts steaming), to avoid that mess.

2) Simmering the milk/rice mixture too vigorously and/or not stirring it down regularly. Either can result in rice scorching on the bottom of the pan or the mixture drying out before the rice has a chance to cook. Keep mixture at a gentle, just-barely simmer and stir it down regularly. I like to set the timer on my stove in 10/5-minute increments, to remind me.

3) Adding too much hot liquid to your egg mixture too quickly. You need to bring the temperature of the egg mixture up very slowly (called “tempering”), so that the eggs don’t cook/curdle. Add a drop at a time (really!) at first and whisk continuously while adding. You can increase to a slow stream as you go along, but keep whisking and don’t rush it.

4) Not cooking the pudding long enough after you add the egg mixture, resulting in a soupy finished pudding. It can be hard to tell the first time you make it, when your custard has cooked long enough. It helps to know what you’re aiming for. It won’t look like the finished pudding in the photos. It will get there once it’s refrigerated and set, but off the stove, it should look much more saucy. BUT, the sauce part should be creamy and noticeably thickened – not thin like milk. My method is when the pudding nears the boil (lots of steam rising from the mixture), I will stop stirring for a 10-15 seconds, to see if any bubbles rise in the middle. If not, I keep cooking, stirring for another minute or so, then I stop again, to see if any bubbles rise. Once I see a bubble rise, I keep cooking, stirring, for only about 30-60 seconds more, then remove and pour into serving bowl.

If despite it all, your pudding has been in the fridge for 6-8 hours and it didn’t set (it’s soupy), you can pour it back into the saucepan and cook it up to boiling again, to thicken it. Then refrigerate again. The rice may get a bit softer from cooking twice, but it will still be tasty.