This is the best arroz con leche or rice pudding recipe. Creamy, sweet and easy to make this recipe is my all time favorite dessert and a holiday classic in my family!
What is Arroz con Leche?
There are different variations of arroz con leche in Latin America, this is my family recipe and it is simple and very easy to make. It's basically a dessert made with rice, milk, sugar and cinnamon. It will be the highlight of any meal.
This Colombian-Style arroz con leche is sweet, creamy and delicious. The rice pudding will thicken more as it cools, so be careful not to overcook it. The best part of making this rice pudding recipe for a dinner party is that you can make it the day before and it will taste even better after chilled in the fridge overnight.
This is one of my favorite Colombian desserts. I hope you enjoy making my simple and easy Arroz con Leche recipe!
To make this rice pudding you will need
Long-grain white rice, cinnamon sticks, water, whole milk, pinch salt, butter, vanilla extract, sugar and sweetened condensed milk. The exact amounts, tips, and cooking instructions are listed in the printable recipe card below, you can also find the step by step video to make this arroz con leche below the recipe.
This rice pudding recipe is sweet, if you prefer your rice pudding less sweet, just add less sugar, but don't skip the sweet condensed milk, because it adds a wonderful flavor and texture to the dish.
Here are other Colombian desserts you may want to try:
Coffee Mousse (Esponjado de Café)
Colombian Fruit Cocktail (Salpicón de Frutas)
Fried Bananas (Bananos Calados)
Arroz con Leche Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup long-grain white rice washed
- 4 cinnamon sticks
- 2 cups water
- 4 cups milk
- Pinch salt
- 2 tablespoon butter
- 1 ½ tablespoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup of sugar
- 1 12 oz can sweetened condensed milk
Instructions
- In a small pot, add water and cinnamon sticks, bring to a boil and cook for 10 minutes. Set aside and discard cinnamon sticks.
- Place the rice and the cinnamon water in a large saucepan, over medium heat and cook for 5 minutes.
- Add salt, butter, vanilla extract, 2 cups of milk, and sugar. Stir well to mix and cook uncovered for approximately 15 minutes.
- Reduce heat to medium low. Add the remaining milk and condensed milk. Stir with a wooden spoon. Cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until the rice pudding thickens to desire consistency.
- Stir well and remove from heat, and let it cool at room temperature. The consistency should be very creamy. Refrigerate for a least 1 hour or overnight.
Video
Notes
- Arroz con Leche can stay in the fridge up to 4 days.
- I like to use long grain rice to make this arroz con leche recipe
- If your rice is still hard or crunchy when all the liquid has been absorbed, add ¼ cup of more milk and ¼ of water and return to a simmer with the lid on.
- This rice pudding recipe is sweet, if you prefer your dessert less sweet add less sugar.
ana
I'm colombian but my husband is not. I love to get these recipes in english so I know exactly what to buy here in USA. sometimes thigs get lost in translation!!
This one looks great. I ususally put Rum..just to add a little XXX to it hahah
I love it!
Erica
Thank you all!
Sandra Milena
I made this one week ago, It was perfect.....the flavor is fantastic.....it was a hit at my party.
Alanna
I love how there are sooo many ways to make rice pudding, one country, one home to the next!
lulu
this is amazing.
Patricia
Primera vez que lo preparo y quedo delicioso. Gracias por tan excelentes recetas
Erica
Patricia- Gracias por el comentario.
natalia
estoy haciendo esta receta para navidad!
ya habia intentado esta receta y el arroz me quedo duro 🙁 pero esta vez esta perfecto! mi mama me recomendo remojar el arroz toda la noche y perfecto!!!
i recommend soaking the rice overnight in water... it helped me!
Ximena
We are bringing this to a colombian party. It looks and tastes delicious.
I love my culture.
Sydney
Hi, I am making this tomorrow afternoon for my Spanish class...we will see how it turns out, hopefully yummy!! I love the culture and the food so this is going to be a ton of fun for me!
Erica
Loucho,
Thank you for your comment 🙂
Loucho
Great recipe erica, my family is from Barranquilla my mom makes it with regular milk, evaporated milk,condensed milk , and coconut milk. and the same ingredients as you.thanks fellow colombian!!! love this website
Kimberly
Hello, I'm very happy I found this website. I'm American. My husband is COL. We live in Bogota; recently moved. I've tasted several arroz con leches here. This recipe has great flavor, but is very sweet for my taste. I have made rice pudding before and never use more than a cup of sugar. Anyway, thank you. Tomorrow, I'm going to try the sopa de lentejas.
Erica
Hi Kimberly,
Thank you for the comment!
I love tastes
This rice pudding here looks very yummy! Do you usually have it plainly or have you tried adding other ingredients to enrich it?
Erica
Hi Felisha,
I am sorry....I make this recipe at least once a month and the time is perfect.....I don't use a gas range, but next time cook the rice over medium-low from step 2.
Thank you and good luck next time.
Erica.
Hannah
I LOVE rice pudding...... no i adore it!!!! 🙂 it tasts soooo good during the winter... i love to just get my bowl of hot rice pudding and curl up on my couch and eat it while i read a good book.
Felisha
I made this tonight, but it didn't turn out right 🙁 I am thinking bc the rice was still crunchy that I may have cooked it too high. I even used the timer for each step---see I couldn't figure out how one cup of rice that cooked for over an hour and a half still ended up crunchy lol. I want to try again, but try maybe cooking the rice a little longer. When it was down to the last 20 min of cooking it was already getting pretty thick...I use a gas range so I have to gauge what the temp really is (high/med/low..etc). The flavor was awesome! It was hard to have to pitch it out let me know if you have any suggestions
Anonymous
You have to put soak rice over night. Thats the secret 🙂
Stella
I had the same problem. Thank you so much for your respond, I really appreciate it. My son is making it for his class assignment.
vicente Perez
recomiendan cocinar el arroz como si lo hiciera para acompañar la comida y dejarlo un poquito humedo . ahi pongale la leche el azucar, pasas y pongalo a cocinar o espesar segun su gusto
Anonymous
I'm about to try it right now but have always had crunch rice. I'm using instant fluffy white rice to see if that will do the trick !
Claudia
The sugar has to be add it only at the last step or the rice don't cook well.
Margarita Rodriguez
You need to let the rice to boil in water don't cook the rice
Anonymous
when i made it i used already cooked rice and you should try a recipe of this by tasty buzzfeed it turned out great and was really easy
Maria Morales
I cook the rice first with the cinnamon water and just until it's completely done I add the milk.
Sarah
Do not lift the lid while the rice is cooking
Not even a peek
The timer is most accurate when
cooking the rice and after you add the rice and reduce the heat you can see that all is well placing the lid on until the time goes off
No peeking
Not one tiny peek
The lid is steaming and cooking the rice
I hope this helps
Sarah
Virginia USA
Cindy paola
This is yummy but wayyyy too sweet, next time I will use way less sugar
liz
Yes I only use the condensed milk and do not add sugar at all. its excellent.
Lina
Same here, it is too sweet. I will cut the sugar in 1/2, next time.
I like to add cardamon, and golden raisins.
Françoise
Did you wash the rice until the water ran clear before starting.
vicente perez
yo no lo lavaria . creo que ese almidon le da natilla al arroz
Monica
I had the same problem of the rice being hard even after soaking it overnight. I researched it and it turns out sugar solidifies the starch in the rice, so the rice can't absorb moisture as it normally does. So the solution is to not add the sugar or condensed milk until AFTER the rice is very soft. Its important to let it get rather mushy because it also hardens back up after its put in the refrigerator.
With those two caveats, this recipe is delicious!
Anonymous
Rice and this goes for any recipe has to go in cold water. It also needs to cook without sugar first or it will never get soft. I should’ve remember this when I made ut
Anonymous
Rice should be cooked with only water first bc the milk wouldn't let it cooked soft.
Anonymous
I cooked the rice first then followed the rest of the steps and that works very well. It also cuts down on the cooking time if you par cook the rice first. Worth a try anyway
Anonymous
This is the best rice pudding I ever had...thanks.