Southern Baked Rice Pudding
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This rich and creamy baked Southern rice pudding recipe is a classic dessert in the South. Each bite includes tender raisins with pops of cinnamon and sweet vanilla.
This rich and comforting dessert and I can assure you that anyone who likes rice pudding will love this old-fashioned recipe too.
What is rice pudding?
Rice pudding is a dessert or dinner that includes rice cooked in sweetened milk. As the rice bakes and mingles with the other ingredients, the starch in it creates a rich and creamy dish with a custard-like texture. Those other ingredients, I hear you ask? Well, this particular Southern rice pudding recipe is made with cooked white rice, eggs, milk, sugar, salt, raisins, ground cinnamon, and vanilla extract.
It takes about five minutes to prep, as all you have to do is mix those ingredients together. Then we pour this into the prepared, set it on a pan of water, and let it bake for 90 minutes. Yes, it’s a long time, but all you have to do is give it a couple of stirs and you can go about your business while it cooks. Hands-off baking? Sign me up!
Why bake rice pudding?
Baking this dish only requires stirring once or twice (depending on if you are using cooked or uncooked rice), versus frequent stirring if made on the stovetop. But what I love most of all about baked rice pudding is that it develops a wonderful custard and transforms into a rich and comforting dessert. This pudding would be served at dinner for dessert and any leftovers could be re-served for breakfast. True comfort food. I’m sure Mama Reed would be proud to know we’re still loving it today.
Check out some of my other delicious pudding recipes like Homemade Banana Pudding, Fruit Salad With Vanilla Pudding, Easy Bread Pudding, Vanilla Wafer Pudding With Pineapple, Homemade Choc Pudding, and Frozen Pudding Cups.
Recipe Ingredients
- White rice
- Eggs
- Whole milk
- Granulated sugar
- Salt
- Raisins
- Ground cinnamon
- Vanilla extract
Helpful Kitchen Tools
How to Make Southern Baked Rice Pudding
First off… cook up your rice. It will be added later in the recipe.
Then crack eggs into a large bowl and beat well with a whisk.
Stir in sugar.
Add milk to the eggs and sugar.
Stir.
Add vanilla and ground cinnamon to the mixing bowl next.
Add raisins, then stir in the rice.
Stir it up until it looks like this.
Pour the mixture for the southern baked rice pudding into a casserole dish or 9×13 baking pan, which has been lightly sprayed with nonstick cooking spray.
Place the dish into a rimmed baking sheet or baking pan and pour an inch or so of water into the pan.
This is our water bath!
Bake at 300 degrees for 90 minutes.
After the first 30 minutes of baking, insert a spoon at the edge of the pudding and stir from the bottom to distribute rice and raisins.
Scoop and serve in fancy schmancy crystal glass wear or even better…regular cups or bowls will do!
Devour.
Storage
- Store leftover rice pudding in an airtight container in the fridge for up to four days. You can enjoy it cold or reheat it either in the oven or the microwave. You might want to mix in a touch more milk to make it more pliable and prevent it from drying out too.
- Now, you can freeze the rice pudding in a freezer-safe container for up to three months. However, please note that once thawed, the pudding won’t have the same consistency or texture. If you do freeze it, you can reheat it as mentioned above.
Southern Rice Pudding Recipe Variations
Here are some easy changes you can make to this baked rice pudding recipe:
- Use a combination of milk and half and half, cream, or evaporated milk for an even creamier dish.
- For a lighter dish, use a combination of milk and boiling water instead.
- Add 1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg and/or ground cardamom for extra flavor.
- Add 1/2 teaspoon of orange zest.
- Feel free to omit the raisins or swap them for other dried fruit, like cranberries, craisins, chopped dates, blueberries, chopped apricots, cherries, or golden raisins.
- Another option is swapping them for chopped pecans, walnuts, or almonds.
- For vegan rice pudding, use your preferred plant-based milk alternative, like coconut milk or almond milk.
- For chocolate rice pudding, add 1/4 cup of cocoa powder.
Recipe FAQs
What is a traditional rice pudding made of?
A traditional rice pudding’s two main ingredients are rice and milk. The creamy dish can be served sweet or savory. In this instance, my dessert rice pudding is sweetened with sugar and vanilla with raisins and cinnamon adding extra flavor.
What type of rice is best for rice pudding?
Rice pudding is typically made with long-grain white rice, basmati rice, jasmine rice, or arborio rice.
Do I have to cook the rice for pudding?
No, you don’t have to cook the rice for the southern baked rice pudding. I do so the dish doesn’t take as long to bake. You can add in uncooked rice but it will just take longer to make; potentially another 30 minutes to an hour or so. Make sure you stir more often too.
Is rice pudding served hot or cold?
You can actually serve rice pudding hot or cold.
How to make Paula Deen’s rice pudding?
Paula Deen’s rice pudding is a very similar recipe. However, she uses a combination of milk and half and half, and she adds a pinch of ground nutmeg.
What to serve with rice pudding?
Baked rice pudding can be served for breakfast, a snack, or dessert. It’s a perfect main dish as is. But if you like, you can enjoy it with a little something extra. This might be a drizzle of honey or maple syrup, a dollop of whipped cream, or a side of your favorite fresh berries.
How long does homemade rice pudding last?
Homemade rice pudding will last in the fridge for up to four days.
Can you reheat a rice pudding?
Yes, you can reheat rice pudding, either in the microwave or oven.
You might also enjoy these recipes:
Fruit Salad With Vanilla Pudding
Ingredients
- 4 eggs
- 3 cups whole milk
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups cooked rice
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup raisins
Instructions
- Cook up your rice.2 cups cooked rice
- Beat eggs in a large bowl with a whisk before stirring in the sugar.4 eggs, 1 cup granulated sugar
- Add remaining ingredients and stir until combined.3 cups whole milk, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/2 cup raisins
- Spray an ovenproof casserole dish with nonstick cooking spray.
- Pour the rice mixture into the prepared dish.
- Set the dish in a water bath: a baking pan or baking sheet filled with hot water. Then bake it at 300 degrees for 90 minutes.
- After 30 minutes of cooking time, insert a spoon at the edge of the pudding and stir from the bottom to distribute the rice and raisins.
Christy, I am the odd-ball of this group. I do not like rice pudding but my husband and neighbors went wild over it. I doubled the recipe and 5 people licked the baking dish clean. Thank you so much for the wonderful recipe that is now in my book of must keep recipes. I have been saving recipes for over 40 years now and I am in the process of putting together a cookbook for my daughters 40th birthday. It will reveal all the secrets to my best recipes that she has grown up with and requested (to no avail) over the years. This recipe will be the first and formost in the pudding section. Thanks again.
Christy, I love your stories that go along with your recipes. My husband loves rice pudding, but I’ve never found a recipe like my mom made. Your recipe looks like the perfect one – I’ll have to make this recipe for him. Thanks!
The rice pudding recipe is nearly identical to my sweet Grandma Belknaps. She always added nutmeg to hers. My Grandpa would tease us kids telling us the raisins were bugs. I think he hoped we wouldn’t eat it and there would be more for him. Ha! We new better. There was nothing my Grandma cooked that was bad. Love going down memory lane with you.
This took me back to my childhood. My mama always baked her rice pudding too. She made this and ‘Nilla wafer banana pudding (including making the custard from scratch) regularly. I was a lucky girl but I didn’t know it then!
I hate to be the downer here, but I made this recipe, being very meticulous about the amounts, and it’s very runny and liquid after 90 minutes of baking. The other recipes I’ve found online are smaller in volume and recommend 90 minutes of baking at 325. Is there a typo in the oven temperature or time?
I love all of your recipes and have been trying quite a few of them. I am from Canada and I don’t have any Southern roots. But these recipes are so similar to those made by my grandmothers, great aunts, older family friends and other older relatives. My Mom has a lot of these recipes written down and I have been trying to accumulate them and compile a book of sorts of stuff from the family and family favourites. I have been verifying what we have to what you post and they are almost right on. Rice pudding is one of my favourites and I make it on a regular basis, If I cook rice and there is some left over, I have it for breakfast with some milk and sugar. Everyone thinks I am a bit nutty, and perhaps they are right.. I must say that growing up we never went hungry but there wasn’t always quite enough and being the oldest I sometimes did without some of the items on the menu for supper. But as long as I had some potatoes or rice a few other things added to the rice would suffice.
I thrive on getting comments on my cooking. The other day I made cabbage rolls (there’s my rice) and shared some with my sister. Her compliment was that they taste just like Nana’s (our Mom) YUMMMMM. I was thrilled – Mom taught me well. I made the Corn Salad to take to a 50th Birthday Party tonight – I sampled already and oh it is delicious. So “this lady from up North” is sure enjoying these Southern Place recipes.
Thanks so much
Sorry I edited my own post – should have read that I am sure enjoying these recipes from Southern places on Southern Plate Front Porch
My brother thinks he has to dig deeper into the family tree to see if we have relatives from the “south”
Some of these recipes are word for word what has been passed down for generations
Thank you Christy
Christy,
I just love getting your emails – with all the crazy emails we get -yours are a breath of fresh air! I’m from the north but I grew up with rice with milk and sugar for supper. I still make it for my family. We cook the rice and put into individual bowls, heat up milk in the microwave, and put brown sugar on the rice (and sometimes a little butter), pour over the milk and stir and eat. It’s an inexpensive supper and great for those evening meals that are really running late. I’m gonna try the rice pudding too cause we love rice pudding. God bless!