Recipe of the Day – Arroz con Leche (Rice Pudding)
Arroz con Leche (Rice Pudding) is a delicious, healthy dessert that will have your whole family praising your cooking. Rice pudding is a very forgiving recipe, you can substitute almost all the ingredients and you can modify the quantities to your preference. You can even use leftover rice, it just need to be white rice or even butter white rice and you can easily turn that into delicious rice pudding.
Depending on the region you can add raisins, diced apple or even dried cranberries. We love it on its own!
I think of this dessert as a traditionally Mexican… it’s actually not… it is said that it was originally created in Asia. You can find it in any Mexican restaurant but also in many French restaurants.
You can serve Arroz con Leche (Rice Pudding) hot or cold, and don’t be fooled by the fact that it’s a dessert, this is very filling, so make sure you leave some space for it!
Today we’ll be making the recipe that my Mom passed on to me and it’s a favorite! It is healthy, filling and you can make it in about 40 minutes. This recipe is easy and only uses a few ingredients, all of which you can substitute.
Feel free to share this recipe via facebook, twitter or comment down below. I love to see your success pictures and secret recommendations!
Good luck and enjoy!
Arroz Con Leche
Rice Pudding
- 1 cup white rice
- 3 cups water
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 12 oz evaporated milk ((1 can))
- 12 oz condensed milk ((1 can))
- vanilla extract
In a saucepan put the white rice, the water and the cinnamon stick over high heat. When the water starts boiling turn down the heat and put a lid on. Cook for about 20 minutes.
TIP: After the water boils and you put the lid on, there is no need to stir the rice
When the rice is fully cooked it will be dry. Put in the condensed milk, evaporated milk and vanilla. Turn the heat up to medium and start stirring. You'll need to continue stirring constantly for about another 20 minutes. Watch it constantly and keep stirring, we don't want the rice to burn, it's okay if it sticks to the pan a little bit, but we want to make sure it does not burn. Keep stirring until you like the consistency. Keep in mind that when you put in the fridge, the consistency will solidify a bit more. I let it cook for about 20 minutes.
TIP: If you don't have condensed milk, double up the evaporated milk and use a cup (or more) of sugar. If you don't want to use sugar you can use sugar substitute. If you don't have evaporated milk you can use regular milk. If you don't want to use vanilla, don't!
The liquid will start evaporating and the consistency will become more like a pudding. When you are happy with the consistency, transfer to the final mold that you'll use to serve. I use a big mold but you can also use smaller individual ones. I left the cinnamon stick because I like the way it looks, but we don't eat it.
Sprinkle ground cinnamon on top of it. At this point you can eat this warm or put it in the fridge to cool down. My preference is to serve this cold so I always put it in the fridge for at least one hour.
When you serve you can put in raisins, diced apples, dried cranberries, pecans…. up to you! Make it your own. My preference is to eat as is, I only add the ground cinnamon. You did it again beautiful! Enjoy!
