Quick, comforting and creamy vegan rice pudding that’s ready in just 30 mins on the hob. Try it with cinnamon and citrus zest inspired by the Spanish Arroz con Leche, or have fun customising it with other flavours.
This easy vegan rice pud is:
- Ready in just 30 mins
- Simple with only 5 ingredients
- Comfortingly creamy - with no dairy needed!
- Naturally gluten free
- And so easy to customise for endless flavour variations....
Rice pudding is a traditional dish around the world, and many countries have their own recipes. One thing is common - the simple base of sweet & creamy rice.
This vegan rice pudding recipe is inspired by the Spanish rice pudding Arroz con leche. The lemon and orange zest infuses the rice pudding with a warming citrusy flavour, and the cinnamon adds a richness.
If you want to be even more authentic to the Spanish way of making rice pudding, then add a stick of cinnamon in when you first cook the rice.
Ingredient tips
Which vegan milk?
You can use your favourite plant milk for this recipe. We usually use soy or oat milk. For a more nutty taste, try almond milk or our homemade walnut milk. And for an extra creamy version, you can use canned coconut milk.
Which rice works best?
Short grain rice works best for making pudding, as it tends to be a bit more naturally creamy. In Spain look for bomba or paella rice.
Arborio rice also works well. In the UK you can also often find short grain rice sold simply as ‘pudding’ rice.
We've also tested it with long grain white rice, and it works too. So don't worry if you can't get short grain, you can stilll enjoy this yummy dessert.
Can I use leftover/already cooked rice?
Yes you can! As long as it’s plain and has been stored properly you can use already cooked rice to make rice pudding. No need to throw those leftovers away!
And if you want a savoury way to use leftover rice try our Vegan Egg Fried Rice.
Step by step
- Place rice with water and citrus zest in a saucepan
- Cook for 10 mins, covered with a lid, until the water is absorbed
- Add plant milk of your choice and cinnamon
- Simmer uncovered for 15 mins
- Stir in sugar (or alternative sweetener to taste)
- Dissolve sugar and simmer for a few more minutes until it reaches desired thickness
Make this recipe your own
There’s so many ways you can vary the flavour of this vegan rice pudding that you’ll never get bored! How about:
- Stir in some dark chocolate and sprinkle with cocoa for a chocolatey twist
- Switch the sugar for maple syrup and toss some pecans on top
- Stir in some peanut butter and your fave jam for a PB&J Rice Pud!
- Use coconut milk and top with mango and chill for a tropical rice pudding
- The variations are endless… let us know what you try!
Serve it...
As you can see we had our vegan Arroz con Leche with another Spanish delight - blood oranges. We just love these bright red beauties when they are in season.
This pudding is wonderfully versatile. You can serve it hot and let its creamy warmth comfort you on a cool, dark evening...
Or served it chilled, and you’ll notice how refreshing and delicate it can taste on a summer’s day.
This vegan rice pudding is so good, you can even serve it instead of oatmeal/porridge for breakfast. Just reduce the sugar and top with fresh fruit and some of our delicious homemade vegan granola.
We hope you enjoy our easy vegan rice pudding! Check out these other vegan Spanish recipes if you fancy some more inspiration.
For more yummy vegan desserts that are simple to make try our:
Easy Vegan Tiramisu (that's ready in 10 mins!)
or this no bake Chocolate Salami that's fun to make.
Thanks for dropping by Vegan on Board 💚
Sophie & Paul
Vegan Rice Pudding
Ingredients
- ½ cup (100 g) white short grain rice
- 1 cup (240 ml) water
- 2 pieces orange peel organic, unwaxed
- 2 pieces lemon peel organic, unwaxed
- 2 cups (480 ml) plant milk
- 1 tsp cinnamon plus more for dusting
- ¼ cup (50 g) sugar
Instructions
- Add rice to a sauce pan with the water and lemon and orange peel.
- Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes, covered with a lid.
- Add the plant milk and cinnamon.
- On medium heat, simmer for another 15 minutes with the lid off. Stir often.
- Stir in the sugar and keep simmering for a couple more minutes, until the sugar is dissolved and the rice pudding is thick and creamy to your taste.
Serving
- Divide the rice pudding up into small bowls or ramekins.
- You can serve arroz con leche hot, or chill it in the fridge and serve cold and firm.
CHP says
Yum! Feel like making this this weekend!
Thank you!
Sophie and Paul says
YAY! You're so welcome 🙂 Enjoy it
Christine V. says
Loved this! Having had a lot of leftover rice, a low country varietal grown here in the Carolinas, I decided to try this. I toasted up a cinnamon stick and cardamom pod, poured in the coconut milk and stirred it like a risotto.....which was very calming....good for sheltering-in-place doldrums. Added a touch of vanilla extract and some maple syrup to sweeten. Since I didn't have any oranges, I added a splash of orange blossom water for a middle eastern twist...yum!
Sophie and Paul says
That's fantastic Christine - it's lovely to hear you found making our recipe comforting. We're taking lots of pleasure and peace in cooking at this time. We love your idea with the orange blossom water, sounds delicious!
Have a lovely day, Sophie
Paul says
It is to much milk and H2O 240+280ml it come out a soup....
Sophie and Paul says
Hi Paul, It's actually normal for rice pudding recipes to have a high amount of liquid to rice. The standard ratio is around 1:7 rice to milk/water which is what we use here. It's important to note that the cooking of the rice is done first with the lid on, and all the water gets absorbed into the rice. Then the milk is added and the pudding is cooked with no lid so that the liquid from the milk evaporates and becomes concentrated, thick and creamy. If yours didn't thicken up enough to your taste, it's likely that your simmering was too gentle, or perhaps you didn't continue cooking after adding the sugar? It can seem very liquid and then suddenly thicken up, so maybe you didn't reach this point.
Also, another possible thing is that if you use already cooked/leftover rice, then you leave out the water as it says it the recipe notes.
Hope that helps! Sophie 🙂
Martinaf says
My new favourite rice pudding. I use oat milk and about 100ml less liquid to my taste (-40ml water and -80ml oat milk). And wow, what a quick and easy dessert, done in 30mins. Tick VG!
Sophie and Paul says
Hey Martina, so glad you like our recipe 🙂 Now I really want some too... Thank you, take care!
Suzy says
My husband will love this, but I'm confused. What is done with the pieces of citrus? Are they zested first? Do you eat them with the pudding? Remove them before putting the putting into the ramekins? Clearly I've never made rice pudding! :-/ But this will be made for sure!
Sophie and Paul says
Hey Suzy! Thanks for the question, hope we can clarify it!
The traditional Spanish way to make rice pudding is to cook larger slices of peel (like you can see in the pictures) with the rice from the beginning to infuse the pudding with their aroma. The peel can then be taken out if you prefer, but it's soft and has a mellow flavour. So often we just eat the peel if we find it in our bowl! If you or your husband are a bit sensitive to the flavour of citrus peel, then take them out after cooking.
So that would be th traditional way, but you don't have to do it that way. If you don't mind eating the peel but don't want it in the large pieces, you can zest the citrus fruits or chop up the peel finely before cooking.
For the pictures we just put a few pieces of zest on top of the final pudding for decoration 🙂 Sorry if that confused you. Hope it's all clear now!
Good luck with this recipe and hope you and your husband will enjoy the rice pudding! 🙂
Lisa says
Just tried this receipe. I made it without cinnamon and citrus but added raisens once it was cooked - Yumsh!