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Smoking Chimney

Recipes from a working kitchen · Cape Town

English Rice Pudding

By Marna Ross Updated 12 August 2026 4.05 from 22 ratings British
English rice pudding is a favourite all over the world and doesn’t have a specific place of origin. In some way seeing pictures of English Rice Pudding, it makes me think of one of my favourite childhood Sunday Lunch puddings namely Sago or Tapioka pudding. English Rice pudding is a lovely creamy dessert, and with the vanilla and lemon rind added into the pudding, it is really a creamy, soft and sensational pudding. The key element in this pudding is to use short grain rice such as Arborio rice.This rice makes a thick, sticky pudding. It gives a smooth, tender result and using milk and cream together makes this a luscious pudding. Serving rice pudding in beautiful see-through glass types make it also visually very beautifully, not to mention adding cinnamon sticks if using ground cinnamon on top! Some recipes serve this delicious rice pudding with a dollop of strawberry jam, others sprinkle it with raisins. For a coconut flavoured version you can substitute the milk with coconut milk. To serve you can add cold almond milk on top with coconut shavings. Add fresh blueberries for a lovely colour and a purple type of eatable flower such as pansies. If you like this dessert you will problably love Bread and Butter Pudding.If you are looking to celebrate Christmas in style with a great Christmas Cake Recipe, then look no further. I found and tested this Christmas Cake Recipe on The Cooking Cat and it works a charm.
A comforting bowl of old-fashioned baked English rice pudding dusted with nutmeg.
Prep 20 min
Cook 1 h 35 m
Total 1 h 55 m
Serves 6

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Ingredients

  • 150 g rice (small grain pudding rice/ Risotto Rice- also known as Arborio rice)
  • 1 litre milk
  • 250 ml cream
  • 6 g lemon rind or 1 vanilla pod/vanilla bean
  • 120 g sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 50 g butter
  • grated nutmeg
  • fresh blueberries to garnish

Method

  1. Wash the rice thoroughly and drain it

  2. In the mean time, heat the milk, cream and the lemon rind and bring to a boil

  3. You can scrape the vanilla pod/beans seeds out with the knife after cut length ways, then add it to the milk, cream and lemon rind

  4. Remove the lemon rind and discard, but leave the vanilla pod a bit longer to infuse, then remove

  5. Add the rice and cook it for 35 minutes

  6. Add more milk if necessary

  7. Combine the sugar and the egg to the milk

  8. Pour the mixture into a buttered dish and add a little bit of ground nutmeg on top

  9. Bake Au Bain Marie(In a water bath) at 180° Celsius for 35-40 minutes until thick and creamy, with the nutmeg forming a crust

  10. TIP: Some people prefer ground cinnamon on top instead of the cinnamon

  11. Garnish with fresh blueberries

  12. TIP: for a coconut flavour rice pudding

  13. Use coconut milk instead of milk and top with coconut shavings and cold almond milk on top

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