I have done it!! After months and months of mixing ingredients and tweaking recipes, I have done it. What have I done? Well, you already read the header to this post so you know it has something to do with rice pudding. Not just any rice pudding…a wonderful, creamy, delectable replica of the most amazing rice pudding I have ever had.
If you have been reading my blog that far back, you might remember my trip to New York back in November. One afternoon in SOHO, I was starving but having dinner reservations in an hour I did not want to ruin my appetite, I just wanted a snack. My cousin told me he wanted to take me to a pudding restaurant. Um, pudding? I was game since I’ve never been to a restaurant just about rice pudding.
I was not ready to be blown away by such a simple desert, but that is exactly what happened at Rice to Riches. Have you ever been there? If you are ever in the SOHO neighborhood of New York, do yourself the favor. I had the plain rice pudding because I didn’t expect much. At the first spoonful, I just sat there thinking “how can it be this good?” and good it was.
Good enough to keep me thinking about it and causing a really bad pregnancy craving which I could not fill…until now.
The best part is this is so simple and easy and my goodness is it good. In the past few months I have scoured the internet and recipe books and tried so many that were good but they weren’t as good as Rice to Riches pudding, not even close. They were all missing one thing, warmth and creaminess. I decided to use my custard base for making ice cream and then it happened and I stood there eating hot rice pudding right out of the pot because I couldn’t wait for it to cool.
Just as good as Rice to Riches Rice Pudding
7 c whole milk
1 can evaporated milk
1 cup regular long grain rice
2 eggs
1 c sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup of raisins
Heat to boiling the milk, rice, salt and bay leaf. Stay nearby and stir it often until it boils or it can stick to the bottom of the pan. Reduce to low and cook for about 20 minutes or until rice softens.
In a bowl whisk together the sugar and eggs. Add some of the rice mixture (about a half a cup) to the sugar egg mixture and whisk quickly for about 30 seconds then add the whole bowl into the rice pudding pot, mix thoroughly. Add the vanilla extract and the raisins and cook until it thickens up.
Enjoy!!
If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or follow me by email at the top right hand of the screen to have future posts sent to you. Tricia (Crunchy Catholic Momma)
Made this just added dried cherrys and marscapone cheese and no bay leaf tho so good thanks for posting
Thanks for the blue print! I found the recipe required way too much milk. As I waited for my rice+milk+salt+bay leaf concoction to thicken up… maybe I got too impatient and freaked out at the milk to rice ration so I collated half the milk out and cut the rest of the ingredients in half. I’ll def try again and add 2 cups of rice with the same of the other ingredient amounts. Just cause I’m curious! My pot still came out nice and creamy with the reductions and I also added maple syrup in mine so it could taste more like Fluent in French Toast! tastes amaazzinnggg. Don’t remember if it’s just like R2R but it’s making me just as happy!
So I used 4 cups whole milk, 2 1/2 cups almond milk and 1/2 cup light cream. I also mixed some cinnamon with the sugar and eggs and it’s absolutely heavenly!! It tastes better than r2r, in my opinion and I’m one of their biggest fans!!
Oh and the evaporated milk also
Yay!!!!! This is still my best recreation and I think I should make some today. So glad you liked it. Good to know you can sub almond milk!!!! Thank you so much for telling me
Soo happy recipes. Thanks for your information
Thanks for the recipe. I used a cup and a half of sushi rice, as that is what they told me they use. I made it twice, once on stovetop, which meant lots of stirring, and yesterday using my slow cooker. I put all but sugar, eggs and craisins in the cooker and cooked on high for 2 and a half hours until the rice was done, whisking ever half hour or so to prevent the rice from clumping. At that point I whisked eggs and continued to whisk while adding sugar. I then tempered the egg and sugar mixture with about two cups of the hot milk from the cooker and then whisked that back into the rice mixture in the cooker. I turned the cooker to low heat and left for another hour, stirring a couple of times. The result was very close to my recollection of Rice to Riches and much less work than doing on stovetop. I flavoured mine with Tonka bean and will try other variations in future. I also cut sugar to 3/4 of a cup as I found it a bit sweet the first time.
Thanks so much for this recipe! I just made some today and it is amazing! I had a cup of arborio rice leftover from making risotto and it worked perfectly. I used golden raisins and let them soak overnight in some Jack Daniels Tennessee Honey which certainly didn't hurt 🙂
We LOVE Rice to Riches. I decided to make this recipe today. It turned out really good. Some of my observations while making it. Use a large pot so you have more surface and less depth in your pot. Stir more than you think you should stir. My rice need to cook longer than I thought so be patient. Next time I'll use 1 1/2 cups of rice. I didn't have vanilla extract so I used almond extract and scraped the seeds from a vanilla bean…..heavenly flavor. I only had 3/4 cup of sugar and it sweetened it enough to for us so 3/4 will be my measurement for the next batch. I didn't use raisins because we don't like raisins.
My end result was a creamy rich rice pudding that is the closest recipe to Rice to Riches I have ever tried. Makes a lot and a small bowl is enough to satisfy your sweet tooth.
Mary, thank you for sharing your notes with us!! Glad you liked my recipe 🙂 Its a cold day here but I am dreaming of cold rice pudding.
When can I add cinnamon during the process?w
I would just sprinkle cinnamon in individual servings and mix it in.
My recipe didn't have cinnamon in it because I was trying to replicate R2Rs pudding but if I was to add it I would just do it in the beginning with the sugar and milk. If you are using the whole cinnamon stick then definitely in the beginning with the milk and of course, remove it before serving :).
Everybody is asking that I make more. Was a huge hit
It makes my heart so happy to see that so many people are enjoying this.
Delicious. Not rice to riches but best one I’ve ever made! Almost as good as r2r. Question? You must remove bay leaf before serving correct?
Yes! So sorry about that. I guess I should mention that little detail huh? I'm so glad you enjoyed it. I think I will make some today at your prompting.
Yes Meg, remove the bay leaf :). So happy you tried it and liked it.
I LOVE this recipe. I found it several years ago and made it several times that winter. I have been talking about it for two years and really, really can’t wait for it to be done tonight. Talk about anticipation!!! Yum!
So glad you enjoyed it Caitlin!
Recipe …err I followed the recipe !!
I followed the rev up to the letter and it is amazing!! Bravo!! Thank you♥️❤️❤️
How would this recipe work with arborio rice instead of long grain? Would I need to change anything? Would I get mahout texture differences using 1 or 2 percent milk instead of whole milk?
I followed this recipe and felt that the cooking times were off.
First of all, cooking raw rice in milk takes a long time on low heat, like 45 minutes, It also requires constant stirring because it will burn. I had to change pots because I burnt it. Also, even after I added the egg, it wasn't as creamy as I wanted it, so I had to keep it on the stove for a while longer, hoping that the rice kernels would break up more.
When I make this recipe again, I will make a few modifications. First of all, I think that I will use instant rice instead because the cooking time will be shorter, which means less likelihood of burning. Secondly, I think that I will reduce the amount of sugar because it is a bit too much for me. And thirdly, I think that I will leave it a bit liquidy and put it on the counter, then fridge to absorb and become even creamier.
The taste is good though. I think that the Bay leaf is, indeed, the secret ingredient.
can you post how to make it but with cookie and cream pls
This recipe was for rice pudding with raisins. If you want a cookies and cream recipe use this one and omit the raisins and add crushed up cookies.
Very rich recipe. Interesting that you use a bay leaf because I’ve seen that in kheer (Indian rice pudding) recipes. Rice to Riches uses sushi rice. I made your recipe almost to the T and it’s not only rich, but just all around delicious. I omitted the raisins because I hate raisins.
This recipe did not work for me AT ALL. I don't know if it's because I used 2% milk instead of whole (my aldi's didn't have whole milk), but something somewhere must've gone seriously wrong.
I heated up the 7 cups of 2% milk, 1 can of evaporated milk, 1 cup long grain rice, 1 tsp salt and a bay leaf in a big pot on my stove until it started to boil, then I reduced it to "low". After 20 minutes, the rice was only half-way to soft (lots of hard grains still in there, so I kept it on low for another 10 minutes (with marginal improvement, but I figured it would be cooking more once I added the egg/sugar mixture).
I mixed 2 whole eggs to 1 cup sugar, then added 1/2 cup of the rice mixture, whisked for 30 minutes, then put it all in the big pot and stirred. Immediately, I got some frightening RED CLUMPS of stuff – perhaps from the egg/sugar mixture? Maybe the egg cooked real fast somehow? It kind of looked like I had weird bright red grape peels in there. I was hoping that perhaps it would breakdown and re-absorb into the overall mixture, but nope. I added the vanilla and have been cooking it on low for the past 20 minutes, and it's still 90% a liquid ordeal. It's not thickening up at all. How long is it supposed to take to thicken up? 1-2 minutes? 10 minutes? 40 minutes?
Any ideas where I went wrong?
The red lumps are 'burned' egg yolk from having the sugar in contact with the yolks too long before whisking. When adding sugar to an egg yolk you need to whisk the eggs before adding sugar and whisk as you slowly add the sugar. Once whisked up for a few seconds it will be OK.
I just made this today and I think the peel looking things in your mixture may have been overlooked or scorches milk coming to the surface when you stirred it. I had something similar happen, I just took them out of the pot as I saw them. The key to this is to stir often. It did take longer than I though for the rice to cook too but no big deal, spjust contunue to stir and simmer until it's done to your liking. I don't think it was necessary to whisk the egg, sugar and 1/2 cup of rice mixture for 30 minutes. I mixed in a soup ladle size serving of just the rice mixture liquid, wisked, added another ladel full wisked it in then added it all to the full pot and stirred it in. It does take a while for the mixture to start to thicken up. It will thicken more when it is refrigerated but it won't be firm like baked rice pudding gets. Rice to Riches rice pudding is a very creamy texture, think vanilla pudding with just a little bit of rice. This has been the closest to their recipe I have ever made.
Only supposed to whisk egg mixture with hot rice for 3o seconds not mins. Not sure if that was a typo
Have you tried to replicate the other flavors?
Thanks
Does the rice turn hard after being in the fridge R to R is cold pudding but when I make rice pudding I have to eat it when it's warm cause it gets very hard if I refrigerate it.
No the rice doesn't get hard, it will get a "skin" over it it you don't press a piece of plastic wrap over the surface of the rice pudding.
I am so glad you’ve posted a recipe!!! I am going to try this. My sister is addicted to rice to riches and she brought me there and I had it for the first time on Thursday and I feel like I’m addicted as well hahah. I had their cookies and cream and I am regretting not getting a dish to go!!!! Would you have any suggestions for the cookies and cream one?!? Thank you thank you thank you!!! 😀
I can't wait to try this! Thank you so much! My favorite is the man made mascarpone.. Any idea of what's in that?
Hi, is the 1 cup of rice cooked or uncooked?
Uncooked,
combine the milk, rice, salt and bay leaf as said in the recipe
Oh, and btw, Rice to Riches is in Little Italy, not Soho.
oh goodness Beverly, you are right! hehe. I love SOHO so maybe I just want everything to be there!
This is an excellent recipe and as close to R2R as I have found. It was still missing something I couldn't put my finger on so I tried it again with basamati rice like Ima Garden does. I also used 3 eggs to cream it up more, but neither worked. It came off too eggy and farther away from R2R. I'd leave this as it is. I did add more raisins, 1 cup, and I think that makes it taste much better. It was definitely not too sweet, as one person commented, if we are comparing this to R2R. I added 3 tbsp Meyers dark rum to make mine the rum raisin variety, and that was very good. Overall, I'm going to just stick with this recipe. It's very good.
…maybe some cream?
Beverly, I'm so glad you tried it!! This recipe has gotten me through winter and I love your addition of rum and extra raisins!! I tried the basmati rice in my experiments also but the long grain just works and its way cheaper. How I miss Rice to Riches…. I will not be in NY until the fall again but I already can't wait to eat there.
Thank you for posting this! I have been thinking of RtoR since I visited NYC and tried it last year!! I halved the recipe and adapted it to my kids’ food allergies (milk) and personal taste. I used a can of coconut milk and some sweetened almond milk. With the half-recipe, I reduced to 1 tablespoon of sugar. Terrific! Next time I’ll cut back a little on the almond milk to thicken it up a little more.
Irene, thank you so much, my momma has these same issues and now I can try my recipe with your suggestions!!!
Do you use a 12 oz can or 5 oz can of evaporated milk?
oh dear Kelsey, I do not remember what size the can is but it is the regular sized can and I do believe it is 12 oz.
It's good but just not the taste of there's
Can you use precooked rice left over from dinner?
I am not sure about using leftover rice, I have never tried it. Whenever I have leftover rice, I make rice fritters 🙂
Does the rice stay soft after refrigerating? I have tried many different recipes and the rice always turns hard after putting it in the fridge. I will love to try this but afraid of wasting so much milk if it’s not going to work. Thanks for posting, I love rice to riches and have been craving it like crazy ever since I moved to CA
Yaritza, I am not sure, when I make it, it goes too fast to go in the fridge. With 9 kids, we go through everything I make super fast 🙂 I will be making it again next week, I will put some in teh fridge and find out.
Thank you for the receipt I'm so happy that I found it. May I raise a question that how it would become to use the same ingredient but replace the long grain rice instead of the short grain rice?
Emily, it works with both long and short grain so enjoy 🙂
Thank you for this recipe!!! I love rice to riches and haven’t been able to go to NYC for several years I will randomly crave the creamy awesomeness of R to R. I just made the recipe, and the pudding is awesome! I can’t wait to experiment with flavors. My favorite is “Fluent in French Toast” so I plan on adding some cinnamon and maple syrup to this.
Thank you again!
Hillary, You are very welcome!!
Fluent in French Toast is my favorite too…is he secret cinnamon and maple syup?
Oh my goodness, I just finished making this because I'm preggo and have been drooling over my memories of Rice To Riches from previous trips to NY. I searched recipes and this was the first one I used, and it tastes SOOOOO GOOD, with consistency just like I wanted! THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!
Crunchy Momma, I made the pudding today and it turned out delicious! Dropped a bowl off at my parents and like me they absolutely loved it 😀 The bay leave is probably the magic ingredient. So thanks a lot for the recipe! I think without the raisins it's a perfect base to experiment with; try different varieties with fruit or chocolate. Also found the evaporated milk; here it's called 'koffiemelk'.
Thnks! One more question; is evaporated milk here same as condensed milk? Coz e don't have this in NL. Would it be possible to use condensed milk and cut the sugar?
Tedere, Condensed milk is very sweet and evaporated milk is just concentrated milk but it has no sweetness. If you cannot find evaporated milk then perhaps half and half can be substituted but I have not tried it.
Tedere, Yes, it is one cup of rice to 7 cups milk and one can evaporated milk. I know it sounds like too much but it works. Just don't leave the pot so it does not burn! Let me know how it comes out.
Loved the pudding in NYC! Will try to make this recipe this weekend. However 7 cups of milk and 1 can of evaporated milk to only one cup of rice indeed sounds a bit unlikely. So also would like to know if this is correct.
We just came back from NY and we had to go to Rice to Riches. It's always fun and tasty. Thanks for the recipe, I was searching for a way to replicate it. We live in South Florida so we only get up to NYC once every couple of years. Am I readig correctly that you listed 7 cups of milk and 1 can of evaporated milk to only one cup of rice???? Thank you!
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! We live in Germany, and I have been craving a taste of home. This fit the bill perfectly!
I've had rice to riches in little iitaly last mo and haven't stopped thinking of it! Thanks, I'm trying this for sure. I'm confused abt the bay leaf??
Gina, I know it sounds weird but just put the bay leaf in ; ) you won't regret it. I got it from someone who "knows".
okay..I tried this…love it. I did cut the sugar to about 1/2. It was a bit too sweet the first time for me.I also tried the recipe using rice milk…that does not work so well. It tastes great, but it does not thicken
Wow thanks for the recipe. I do enjoy myself some rice pudding. Who knew there was such a thing as a pudding restaurant. 😉
you betcha, I am going to try this.
Oh yum! I'm going to make this tomorrow for my boys!!!
I made this today exactly as recipe called, very yummy and will make again. I saw a lot of questions about the milk to rice ratio and about the bay leaf and everything worked out, the rice firmed up nicely in all the milk and the baby leaf gives for a wonderful flavor. I tried to log into this site and it was just too difficult, 1st my name was too long then it told me I already had an account yet I used the password I use for recipe sites and it would not let me in. I only try these things twice and if they do not let me in I say forget it which is a same because I like this site.