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.
What would happen if I 10 times the recipe? Will it still thicken?
Easy Pesy! You ought to remind folks to wash and drain rice.
Reminds me of my childhood 85 years ago!
This site is driving me insane 😅 I’m sure this recipe is delicious but the page won’t stay in one spot long enough for me to read the directions.
Click on the print recipe tab & save as a pdf file. You can keep it on your phone or computer.
This recipe is delicious ONLY iF YOU SKIP THE SALT. I made rhis recipe with Salt and I thought that I probably put too much.
I did it again with a pinch of Salt and still it was Disgusting.
I finally decided to give a try with ZERO salt and it finally Came Perfect, and Delicious.
So, iF you add Salt is under your own risK. Simply F Salt. That made it diSguStinG
I did it with a pinch of Himalayan salt and loved it
Easy, tasty, delicious, creamy and best of all my husband loved it!!!!
My great Aunt used to make this in a wood stove. It was the best rice pudding. As I remember she added just a little bit of lemnon flavor. My sister and I loved the way she bakes.
Source: https://asmallworldcup.com/penalty-shooters-2
Am I supposed to cover this at anytime while it is still cooking on the stove?
Great recipe! This turned out to be so delicious, I had some milk to use up and a craving for something sweet so this was perfect! I would probably leave out the vanilla extract all together when I make it again, it was a little too sweet for my taste. Still really good though, would recommend!
Outstanding recipe. This is a keeper. Thank you.
Incoming long review, also addressing FAQ’s I’ve seen in these comments, as I made this last night with tips I found in here.
I decided to make a double batch, and I used: 10 cups of whole milk, a heaping cup (around 1¼ cups) of jasmine rice (UNCOOKED and UNRINSED, as you need it raw and still full of starch to fully thicken!!), a heaping cup of sugar (about the same amount as the rice), about ⅓ cup of brown sugar, about 1tbs of cinnamon sugar, and at the end, I added quality vanilla extract and some vanilla bean paste, and about 3tbs of butter to help it thicken. Yes, this comes out sweet, but my partner and I enjoyed it sweet. It cooked for an hour and the rice was perfectly done, but didn’t fully thicken until it had set at room temperature for about an hour.
Now for the FAQ section: can you boil milk? Yes, but not a rolling boil like you would with water. It needs to simmer/maintain a light boil so that it’ll thicken and cook the rice, but you need to stir it more often than “occasionally” (at least 1×/minute, thoroughly, scraping if you’re feeling anything stick on the bottom).
Do you rinse/soak your rice? No! You NEED that starch.
Can you use precooked rice? You would have to drastically change the recipe to do so, but I’m assuming it’s possible. I have not tried this, so I can only guess, but there was at least one commenter that did this.
Ultimately, this recipe requires patience and a LOT of stirring, but it is absolutely worth it. And, it’s honestly NOT as difficult as some comments would have you believe. My mom has never liked rice pudding until she tried the one I made last night, and I think it’s my partner’s favorite (he couldn’t stop raving about it!)
For the FAQ, I forgot to add:
Do I cover it? No, do not cover it, just stir relatively frequently at a heat level on the high end of LOW or the low end of MEDIUM (about a 2-3 on a standard electric stove.
What is the texture of the rice? If properly cooked, it should be a soft grain. I could tell mine was just about done when the rice was visible while stirring (it had fluffed up).
My passion has become cooking, so I’m happy to try to help.