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Want the perfect old-fashioned recipe? This Rice Pudding with Cooked Rice lets you use up any rice you have leftover and elevate it into a delicious and addictive breakfast or dessert.
You will be surprised at how easy this recipe is to make as well as the colorful appearance when you use golden raisins with regular raisins.
The best part is that this Rice Pudding can be served warm or cold. I know that everyone has their own preference for recipes, and this one can go either way!
We have been making this Rice Pudding with Cooked Rice since I was a little girl. It is so much simpler when you have your already-cooked rice.
But you can also cook some just to use for this recipe, no problem! Not everyone has leftover rice, but it is a great recipe for when you do. We always seem to, or I cook just a little bit more so I can make this.
This is such a classic dessert, and you either love it or hate it; I’ve never met anyone who was in-between. I absolutely am addicted to this, so obviously, you know what side I’m on!
Some of our favorite dessert recipes we have on our site that are rice-based or pudding-based include: Magnolia Banana Pudding, Chocolate Rice Pudding and Caramel Apple Pudding Cups.
WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
- Using already-cooked rice helps this come together quickly.
- We love using golden and regular raisins for a delicious contrast.
- You can double this recipe to serve more people.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED (SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST FOR THE FULL RECIPE):
- Cooked white rice
- Whole milk
- Kosher salt
- Egg
- Heavy cream
- Ground cinnamon
- Ground nutmeg
- Granulated sugar
- Golden raisins
- Raisins
- Unsalted butter
- Vanilla extract
HOW TO MAKE RICE PUDDING WITH COOKED RICE:
- Place the cooked rice along with the milk, and salt in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir occasionally until thickened, about 10 minutes.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the beaten egg, heavy cream, cinnamon, and nutmeg, set aside.
- Pour the sugar into the rice mixture and stir to combine.
- Stream in the heavy cream mixture, stirring constantly until combined.
- Add both varieties of raisins, and stir to combine. Continue to stir occasionally until thickened, about 5-8 minutes.
- When it is thickened, take the pot off the heat and stir in the butter and vanilla.
- Let cool for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally and serve.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS RECIPE:
CAN I MAKE THIS IN THE MICROWAVE?
While I don’t generally enjoy using a microwave to make rice pudding and feel like it is much better on the stovetop, it is possible.
If you want to use the microwave, you’ll simply place the milk, eggs, sugar, and salt into a 2-quart microwaveable bowl.
Stir in your heavy cream, cooked rice, raisins, golden raisins, nutmeg, cinnamon, and vanilla. Cook this on high for 8-10 minutes, stirring every 1-2 minutes.
HOW TO THICKEN RICE PUDDING:
If your Rice Pudding Recipe didn’t thicken as much as you would have liked, it was not cooked long enough.
My favorite way to thicken items is with a cornstarch and water mixture.
Mix about 1 Tbs cornstarch and 1 Tbs of water together and pour it into the pudding and stir over heat, and it should thicken right up.
WHAT IS THE BEST RICE TO USE?
Any rice will work fine with this recipe, medium grain, long grain, risotto, and minute rice.
Since it will be cooked, what you are looking for is the amount of rice, not the variety.
You just want to make sure that the rice you are using is not a flavored rice, so do not use any of those packets that might be flavored and used bags or boxes of plain rice.
WHAT ARE SOME SUBSTITUTIONS I CAN USE?
Other than the types of rice as listed above, you can substitute some other ingredients.
- In place of heavy cream, use a coffee creamer of any kind; this will make it sweet, so cut back on the sugar slightly.
- Pumpkin Spice in place of the cinnamon and nutmeg
- Dried cranberries, chopped dates, or chopped apricots switched out for the raisins
HOW TO STORE:
Rice Pudding with Cooked Rice can be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container where it will last for up to one week.
This can also be frozen; place your cooled pudding in a freezer container or smaller containers if you want to portion out your servings.
Place in the freezer, and it should keep for up to 3 months. Let defrost in the refrigerator overnight to thaw.
If you want to reheat this (it is great served cold), you can pop it in the microwave or in a saucepan until heated through.
DANA’S TIPS AND TRICKS:
- Any rice is great for this, and we like white rice; just make sure that it is not flavored.
- This can be frozen, see my tips above.
- Double this recipe if you want to have more for later or will be serving a larger crowd.
- If your pudding is too thin, you can thicken it, use my ratios above.
- If you are not a fan of raisins, you can omit them or just use one or the other.
- Add more or less cinnamon and nutmeg to your flavor preference.
Want a classic but super easy recipe that can be devoured any time of day? Then you need this Rice Pudding with Cooked Rice!
If you like this recipe you might also like:
If you’ve tried this RICE PUDDING WITH COOKED RICE let me know in the comments how it turned out! You can follow me over on PINTEREST, INSTAGRAM OR FACEBOOK to find some more of our mouthwatering recipes!
Rice Pudding with Cooked Rice
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cup cooked white rice
- 1 cup whole milk
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 egg beaten
- ½ cup heavy cream
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- pinch ground nutmeg
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup golden raisins
- ⅓ cup raisins
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Place the cooked rice along with the milk, and salt in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir occasionally until thickened, about 10 minutes.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the beaten egg, heavy cream, cinnamon, and nutmeg, set aside.
- Pour the sugar into the rice mixture and stir to combine.
- Stream in the heavy cream mixture, stirring constantly until combined.
- Add both varieties of raisins, and stir to combine. Continue to stir occasionally until thickened, about 5-8 minutes.
- When it is thickened, take the pot off the heat and stir in the butter and vanilla.
- Let cool for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally and serve.
Notes
- Any rice is great for this, we like white rice, just make sure that it is not flavored.
- This can be frozen, see my tips above.
- Double this recipe if you want to have more for later or will be serving a larger crowd.
- If you pudding is too thin you can thicken it, use my ratios above.
- If you are not a fan of raisins you can omit them or just use one or the other.
- Add more or less cinnamon and nutmeg to your flavor preference.
Nutrition
Love This Recipe?
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Best rice pudding recipe ever!
👋 I have seen my mom make rice pudding or translated directly from our Albanian it’s milk and rice; for years it was a wonderful treat. You, Dana, take it to a whole other level—Thank You! I have checked out a few recipes online for this culinary delight and yours is the most informative—the best. I ❤️the way you present it; why you’re not a silly girl after all 😅 You’re delightful, smart and hardworking. T’fala 🇦🇱/best regards!👋
Aww, thank you so much Suse!!!
I absolutely love this recipe. I doubled it, but found that doubling. The raises was a bit too much. I think for this recipe a half a cup when doubling the recipe would be plenty. The taste was when I remembered as a child it was so delicious and this will be my go to from now on.
Quick and easy! The only thing I will do next time is with 1/2 cup or less of sugar. My family loved it overall other then it was a bit too sweat causing a few tummy aches
I made the rice pudding and followed the recipe instructions. I didn’t have any raisins so I used dried cherries; also using 1/3 cup of sugar made it a little too sweet for me. The next time I make it I will reduce the amount of sugar to a scant 1/4 cup. The recipe is easy to follow and very good.
Try this for the first time ever making it…it was easy and very delicious…one thing is get everything ready before you add heat cause it does need alot of attention but goes very fast and watch you don’t scramble the egg thank goodness I have watched cooking show to know how to apply an egg mixture to the boiling pot…thank you
This is a great recipe. I soaked the raisins in bourbon, just to cover them, and put them in, bourbon and all. Wonderful!
The rice pudding recipe is excellent!
Beautiful ! I added raw sugar in place of white, absolutely delicious.im a chef and love old fashioned recipes. Will definately make this again. Thank you.
Absolutely love!!! So delicious. I will definitely make it again!!
Really really good. I’ve only made baked rice pudding like my mom used to make, but this one is a definite competitor. Saving this recipe for sure.
Yummy I just made it second time had to double the next day everyone ate it. I added cinnamon 😋
I made this when I realized I did not have cornstarch and could not use my usual recipe. I also did not have heavy whipping cream, so I substituted a mixture of whole milk, evaporated milk, and flour. It turned out great!
Very easy and super tasty! Easy to tweak slightly to personal preference too. Definitely saving this recipe 🙂
Soo pleasantly surprised! This recipe was easy and wonderfully delicious. Just followed instruction
This was my first time making rice pudding. I used some leftover boil-in-a-bag-rice and this turned out DELICIOUS! It was a little too thin for my liking so used the cornstarch/water which made it the perfect consistency for me. I don’t need to go looking for a better rice pudding recipe because I don’t think I’ll find one any easier, quicker or tastier! Thank you!
So yummy! Followed directions exactly and came out perfect. This will be a favorite I will make quite often.
I remembered having fond memories of rice pudding, so I asked my mom to make it about 8 years ago, and it was absolutely disgusting. I finally got the courage to make it myself, and I’m pretty sure my eyes popped out of my head. This is absolutely delicious! My husband and toddler love it too!
This is the third time I’m making this recipe. Has always been a hit with my family. I make the recipe as written with a small bit more nutmeg