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.
I used almond milk and the consistency was perfect.
However I also used the exact amount of salt the recipe calls for and 1/3 cup of sugar and it turned out waaaaay too salty, it’s pretty much ruined. No salt next time will be perfect.
Curious if anyone turned out with a salty pudding using regular milk and less sugar? So strange.
Basically all salts have a different taste. You should taste how salty yours is before adding what a recipe calls for. A sprinkle of yours might be perfect, while a 1/2 teaspoon of hers would be correct.
Mine also tastes like pure salt; not edible!
I cooked this for my triplet rats and they all got dead. I tried the rice and it tasted absolutely scrumptious. This recipe is the most superb. BUT I do NOT condone feeding it to your rats because they will most certainly DIE. and don’t think that you will be able to revive them using a psychic book because it won’t work because trust me I’ve tried. OH and NEVER EVER NEVER dip knock off Doritos in this rice pudding because you will most definitely puke it up (i know i did). Also, i don’t suggest giving this to your neighborhood sewer cat as its meal because the next day I found it dead, under my car. (I’m not sure if it was sleeping or not but whatever). K BYE LOVE YA LOTS!!!!
Haha are you okay…
You good?…
I used 2% milk, as I had a gallon needing to be used..I put half cup heavy cream to make up the fat..turned out perfect! I put in half cup raisins half way through cook time. When I put the vanilla in, I also put a quick shake of ground cinnamon and ground nutmeg..it is very nice. This is a great recipe..thank you! Enjoyed making this!
I liked the pudding because it used long grain rice. I doubled the recipe for a party. It took 2 hours from adding the rice to get to the right consistency. It needed more vanilla. Do you think using basmati rice caused it to require 2 hours of cooking?
Found this recipe yesterday and an hour later was making it. AMAZING !! Easiest recipe in my 60ish years of cooking and baking. I made it exactly as written, but, I see so many options to add/customize this rice pudding.
I’ve been searching for a rice pudding that,would be somewhat close to my mother’s and have found it.
Thank you for adding this recipe to my file.
Yes! So many ways to customize it. 🙂
So glad it tunred out amazing!!
Any idea if this would work in a rice cooker?
The best rice pudding! So thick and creamy, not overly sweet. Patience is key to this recipe however, don’t rush it and you will never buy premise again. Xx
Do we use cooked or uncooked rice?
Uncooked. The rice cooks with the milk.
My rice pudding is cooking as we speak, followed recipe and instead of cooking on stove top i am baking in a low oven
Looking at everyones comments about the salt has me worried though. Maybe i should have skipped the salt, we shall see though ‘the proof is in the pudding ‘
OMG!!!!!! This is the best and easiest recipe for rice pudding!!! I have never made it before because I dont care for it. Well my 13yr old son is a huge fan of it. He had been begging me to try and make it for him. So I decided to give it a go. Oh am I ever glad I did!!! It is so good!! (Remember when I said I didn’t care for it.) I don’t know how i have gone this long without it!!! Thank you so so much for sharing with us!!! You made my sons night!!!!😊
You made my day! So happy your son enjoyed it. I used to think I didn’t like rice pudding too. Now it is one of my favorite things to eat when I’m feeling under the weather.
Can I triple? We have 8 kids and love leftovers.
I think it would work fine to triple it. May take a little longer to thicken up though.
I fancied making old-fashioned-style rice pudding and had dessert rice in the cupboard – then I found this recipe. I still used the dessert rice. I also used long-life milk (which gives a slight creamier taste), but the best addition was replacing the vanilla essence with a proper vanilla pod split and left in for the whole cooking period. A delicious flavour.
I kept the simmering going reasonably fast in the early stages and then, as it thickened, it called for the heat to be reduced (but still kept a slow simmer). It cooked in the 50 minutes, but I continued for an extra 10 minutes to get it extra creamy. This is not a recipe where you can turn your back (or else you’ll find it’s overflowed from the pan!) – it does need frequent stirring. But, oh my word, it’s very good ….. bon appétit…..
I made 1/2 of the recipe and used 2 percent goats milk at the end I added 1/2 beaten egg with the vanilla and a bit of milk. Really creamy, delicious!