Arroz con Leche (Small Batch Rice Pudding)
Don't want a huge batch of arroz con leche? Try this easy stovetop recipe for a small batch of creamy, sweet desserts—the perfect recipe to make on the weekends and eat all week.
Servings: 4
Calories: 233kcal
Equipment
- sift
- Dutch Oven or thick bottom pot
- Spoon
- liquid measuring cups
Ingredients
- ½ cup rice
- 1 cup milk whole or 2%
- 5 Tablespoons condensed milk
- ¼ cup raisins
- 1 cinnamon stick
- ¼ Tablespoon vanilla extract
- pinch salt
- 2 cups water
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Wash your rice with the sift until the water runs clear and set aside.
- Add the rice, 2 cups of water, salt, and the cinnamon stick into the Dutch oven. Over medium-high heat, bring the rice to a boil and let it cook, stirring for a few minutes until most of the water has been absorbed and the rice is soft about 10-15 minutes.
- Mix the milk with the condensed milk in the liquid measuring cup before adding it to the rice.
- Once the rice is soft, remove the cinnamon stick, add the milk mixture, lower the heat, and let it cook for about 8 minutes, constantly stirring to prevent sticking and the milk from burning on the bottom.
- Turn off the heat, add the raisins, vanilla extract, and cinnamon powder, and stir to combine.
- Serve warm or cold with sprinkled ground cinnamon on top.
Notes
- Don't cook the rice pudding longer since it will thicken once cool. So if you leave it with some liquid, it should maintain its texture.
- If it thickens too much in the fridge, add a few splashes of milk and mix it in. Or you can warm it in the microwave.
- Basic arroz con leche liquid to rice ratio - 3 parts liquid:1 part uncooked long grain rice. The liquid can include water, evaporated milk, whole milk, or a combination.
- Long grain rice: you can use arborio rice. You may use brown rice, but the cooking time and the amount of liquid the rice needs to be cooked in will be longer.
- Milk: I have used 2% and whole milk. You can use evaporated milk, so you need more sweetener for sweetness.
- Sweetened condensed milk: If you don't have it on hand, you can omit it, add more evaporated milk and use sugar instead to sweeten it. Start with about 1/4 cup and adjust to taste.
- Raisins: you can replace them with golden raisins; these will work too.
Nutrition
Calories: 233kcal | Carbohydrates: 43g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 16mg | Sodium: 65mg | Potassium: 291mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 17g | Vitamin A: 168IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 168mg | Iron: 1mg
