Spanish Rice Pudding Recipe | Arroz con Leche

The creamiest Spanish rice pudding recipe

This Spanish rice pudding recipe is very special for me as it´s my Yaya’s recipe. Yes, my grandmum´s recipe!

She was a fantastic cook and we all enjoyed her food. I remember her always in the kitchen, with the radio on, cooking for us. Because my parents worked shifts, I had lunch at my grandparents on weekdays. I still remember when she opened the front door of their flat and the smell of the food was a blessing and an invitation to come in.

She cooked slowly, never in a rush, and you could notice the difference (the sauce for her meatballs was out of this world! or her arroz con leche, the Spanish rice pudding, definitely one of my favourite dishes). Her rice pudding was super creamy, with texture, but not soupy (I was not a fan of soups at that time so anything similar, either sweet or savoury, cold or hot, put me a bit off). Taking into account that I am not a sweet tooth person, that means something!

Cooked with love

I still can see myself opening the fridge door, just a little to glimpse what we had for dessert and when I saw the rice pudding, my smile was as broad as hers. She knew I loved it and prepared it especially for me. What I didn´t know at that time was how much time she spent cooking that dish. There is that well-known phrase “Cooked with love”, well, you understand the meaning when you cook my Yaya’s rice pudding recipe. The recipe is easy, just needs time and patience. I cooked it today with my mum and every stir I did to get the creamy texture was like a thought about my grandma, how many times she stirred and stirred the arroz con leche for us to enjoy.

Stirring for a better result

You will see other recipes that boil the rice in water, then infuse the milk and put them together. With all my respect, this is a short cut with disappointing results as the rice pudding is not creamy and is tasteless. It´s much better to spend a while stirring but later enjoying each spoonful of a tasty arroz con leche.

Take into account that the cooking time and quantity of milk in this recipe is calculated based on the “bomba” rice I used. Each type of rice needs different timing and liquid quantity so use the recipe as a guide but you will have to adjust it to your rice. And, ALWAYS use short grain rice, never long grain.

¡Buen provecho!

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Spanish Rice Pudding Recipe | Arroz con Leche

The creamiest rice pudding you can find, following my Yaya´s recipe

Course Dessert

Cuisine Spanish

Keyword cinnamon, pudding, rice pudding

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Total Time 45 minutes

Servings 4

Calories 337kcal

Author Quericotapas

Cost 2.5

Equipment

• Saucepan
• Wooden spoon
• Ramekins

Ingredients

• 100 g Bomba rice
• 100 g Sugar
• 1 litre Whole milk
• 1 Cinnamon stick
• 2 Lemon zest strips

Instructions

• Weigh the rice, sugar, and milk.
• In a saucepan, off the heat, put the milk, the lemon strips, cinnamon stick, and the rice and mix.
• Put the saucepan in medium to high heat until the milk starts to boil. Stir constantly to avoid the rice sticking at the bottom of the pan.
• Once the milk is boiling, turn the heat down to medium to low and stir for 10 to 15 minutes or until you see the rice starting to look translucent.
• When the rice is changing colour but still firm, remove the lemon strips and the cinnamon stick and, add the sugar. Stir again, going to the borders of the pan to ensure there is no rice stuck. Continue stirring for about 15 minutes more until you see the rice is done and the milk turns into a creamy texture. The rice has to be seen on the surface of the saucepan, with almost no liquid but this creamy, semi-thick sauce.
• Once you get to that point (it takes a while, around 35 to 40 minutes in total, so you have to be patient), divide the rice pudding into 4 ramekins and let them cool down.
• Once they are cold, cover them with cling film and keep them in the fridge until serving. When you serve, sprinkle some ground cinnamon on top.

Notes

Take into account that each type of rice needs different timing and quantity of liquid. The amount of milk and the cooking time is calculated for the bomba rice I used in the case. For a creamy rice pudding, ALWAYS use short grain rice, never long grain.