Old-Fashioned Rice Pudding is so creamy with the perfect texture and sweetness. Only a handful of ingredients and a little patience are needed to make this old time favorite dessert.
This Old-Fashioned Rice Pudding tastes just like the KozyShack Rice Pudding I like to buy at the grocery store, only better since it is made from all natural ingredients. This is a stove-top version with just the right amount of sweetness. Only 1/2 cup of sugar is added and most of the sweetness comes from the milk cooking down.
It takes a minimum of 50 minutes to get the thickness and texture right. You’ll know it’s done when it’s about the consistency of yogurt. It will thicken up more as it cools, but you stir in a little more milk just before serving to loosen it up some.
No need to go out and buy a bag of short grain or medium grain rice. This Old-Fashioned Rice Pudding cooks prefectly with long grain rice.
Only 5 ingredients needed to make this amazing dessert: milk, sugar, salt, long grain rice, and vanilla extract.
The key to this rice pudding is a very high ratio of milk (a full 6 cups) to rice (just 1/2 cup). You may think when you start that there’s no way it will thicken up enough but it magically does.
This Old-Fashioned Rice Pudding has just the right amount of vanilla fllavor and you can sprinkle some cinnamon on top for extra flavor if you wish or add raisins if that’s your jam.
More Old-Fashioned Desserts
- Old-Fashioned Potato Candy
- Old-Fashioned Oatmeal Cake
- Old-Fashioned Buttermilk Doughnuts
- Old-Fashioned Chocolate Meringue Pie
Watch the short video below to see how easy this recipe is to make.
Old-Fashioned Rice Pudding
Ingredients
- 6 cups whole milk,, divided
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup long grain white rice,, I use a heaping half cup
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ground cinnamon,, optional
Instructions
- In a large saucepan, combine 5 1/2 cups milk, sugar, and salt. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
- Stir in rice and reduce heat to low. Be sure to adjust the heat so that it is at a gentle simmer.
- Stirring occasionally, cook for 50 to 60 minutes. Mixture should thicken up to consistency of yogurt.
- Once thickened, remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
- Let cool and then refrigerate. The last 1/2 cup milk is stirred in just before serving. Sprinkle with cinnamon if desired.
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Recipe Source: Cook’s Country Magazine
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
Tuned out perfect but a little too sweet. Next time I’ll lessen the sugar by half.
Marvellous, cheap dessert to make mid week or anytime. I just cook it in microwave on low for about 40 mins and intermittent stir. I agree that you can halve the amount of sugar and use cinnamon or nutmeg or any spices.
This recipe is almost identical to one I found on a different website years ago, only with double the ingredients. A few tricks I’ve learned over the years of making this…#1, use no less than 2% milk for the best creaminess – the higher the fat content the creamier it will turn out. Actually my favorite way is to make this with a couple cans of full fat coconut milk with 2% added to make the full amount..its delicious! #2 – Don’t add the sugar at the start of the cooking, I don’t know what the science is behind it but apparantly that is what is causing the rice to get hard. Add it at the end when you take it off the heat, it will still melt in. Add a teaspoon of butter at the end as well for a bit of an indulgent flavor. #3 – Use a lid that is partially off (I use one that has a vent hole in the top) – if you cover it completely you stand a chance of it boiling over and no lid will cause the liquid to evaporate too much. Let it cook on low heat, mine is usually done in an hour and I make sure to stir it every 10 – 15 minutes. If I’m making this with coconut milk instead of cows milk, I’ll add a bit of coconut extract to highten the flavor. My favorite rice to make this with? Arborio. This rice pudding is delicious and rarely lasts long around here lol
Thank you for all the helpful hints. I used Arborio rice, too, and it was perfect. I followed your suggestions of whole milk, of not adding the sugar until the end, leaving the lid offset a bit to prevent boil overs, using coconut milk for part of the milk amount, and adding a bit of coconut extract. I wasn’t sure what “a bit” is, so only used 1/4 of a tsp. I also cut the sugar almost in half, as well as the vanilla, and grated nutmeg on it before serving. Thanks again.
I replied, but accidentally put it under the wrong comment. Please see my response under Margaret P’s comment.
Hi Christin,
I made this recipe tonight and it turned out good. I had already cooked three kinds of rice together earlier in the evening. The rices I used were Jasmine rice, brown rice and glutinous red Korean rice. I did make the whole recipe. I used just two cups of whole milk and added the already cooked rice combo And I had some cardamom seeds so I added them to the milk at first and I liked the added flavor. I also used just one teaspoon of monk fruit sweetener instead of the sugar and no salt. I also added some cabernayzyn dried Cabernet wine grapes instead of raisins as I had a package on hand. The flavors were delicious and I added some vanilla flavor too. I shared some with my neighbor and she liked it too!
I am surprised to find this recipe under southern spicy kitchen. It is a dish I came across 50 odd years ago as a young girl in the U.K. … but there it was also supposed to be done in the oven. As this seemed awkward to me (having to open the oven every now and again to stir and as a rule burning my arm in doing so), I changed the procedure on the spot to cooking on the stove. Since then I’ve done it regularly once in a while. For sweetening, I add 2 to 3 table spoons of maple syrup, and usually serve it with preserved black elderberries* or some other stewed fruit. Occasionally I add a handful or two of pine nuts, cedar nutlets or almond slivers. And sometimes a little cinnamon (but not with the elderberries).
* Give the earwigs and other beasties a chance to escape before taking the berries into the kitchen. Then wash, drip and let soak several hours with brown sugar (for 1 kg berries, 500 gr sugar – squeeze the berries a little, but not much), no need to add any water. When there is enough juice, boil for a good 5 min. Finally there will be rather too much liquid, some of which I keep for drinking in place of syrup.
Margaret, your recommendations made this go from an easy home made dish to a cozy and wonderful sounding treat. I’ve never heard of cedar nutlets, but now I want to go find some along with elderberry preserves. Thank you!
Thank you for all the helpful hints. I used Arborio rice, too, and it was perfect. I followed your suggestions of whole milk, of not adding the sugar until the end, leaving the lid offset a bit to prevent boil overs, using coconut milk for part of the milk amount, and adding a bit of coconut extract. I wasn’t sure what “a bit” is, so only used 1/4 of a tsp. I also cut the sugar almost in half, as well as the vanilla, and grated nutmeg on it before serving. Thanks again.
SORRY. I entered my comment in the wrong place.
The recipe was perfect for my evening rice pudding recipe! I had never made it before and it worked great, the only difference for me was that I used extra long grain rice and it still turned out perfect and delicious!
Cooked for 60 minutes, looked amazing and was a great consistency. Let it cool, added the half cup of milk, and took a bite only to have slightly crunchy rice. What a bust.
Then you didn’t do the simmer part right and your rice didn’t fully cook
Sometimes when the rice cools down it has a tendency to seem harder. I simmer and stir for at least one and a half hours.
Oh my, I have a mess 🙁
The milk boiled over on my stove and a layer stuck to the bottom of the pot. I stirred and skimmed it off the top. We’ll see what the end result is. I may need to try the oven next time!
How many oz total/in each serving? I was thinking of making this for a small party and didn’t know if doubling the recipe would be enough.
This was the best and easiest rice pudding I ever made!! Mine came out perfection!! I’ve made rice pudding in the oven before. This is way easier and so much creamier and super easy and a great way to use up milk that is about the expire so it doesn’t go to waste! Just pay attention to the gentle simmer part, which is key. Every stove temperature is different.
Followed your recipe to a T and it came out perfect! Wanted to send a pic but didn’t know how to do that
Not sure what I did wrong. I followed the recipe exactly as written and it was still just as liquidy as when I started. It was simmering for 60 minutes already so I turned up the heat to low-medium heat and it thickened up nicely after an additional 20 minutes.
I had the same issue!
Delicious recipe! I added in 1/2 cup of heavy cream & a little almond extract along with the vanilla, which put this over the top! 😋 Also, instructions should say ‘stirring frequently’ as opposed to ‘occasionally’ lol. Stove top rice pudding always requires lots of stirring! It’s worth it tho!
Did you cover it. The original
Recipe doesn’t say anything about covering it