How To Make Rice Pudding Southern Style by Mama Reed
This is Mama Reed’s famous baked rice pudding recipe. It creates a rich comforting dessert that anyone who likes rice pudding will love!
Of course, Mama Reed was an amazing cook. Like the other matriarchs in my family, she was adept at making do with what ingredients were on hand and affordable, which made rice a regular ingredient for her cooking (even now, we all love a bowl of hot rice served with butter and sugar for breakfast). Most rice puddings are cooked in a pot on top of the stove, but our family has always baked rice pudding.
What is Rice Pudding?
Rice pudding is rice cooked in sweetened milk. As the rice cooks with the ingredients the starch in it creates a rich and creamy dish. You can start with uncooked rice or cooked rice. See information below for using both.
Why Bake Rice Pudding?
Baking this dish only requires stirring once or twice (depending on if you are using cooked or uncooked rice) versus frequent stirring if made on the stovetop. But what I love most of all about rice pudding when it is baked, is it develops a wonderful custard and transforms into a rich and comforting dessert. This pudding would be served at dinner for dessert and any leftovers could be re-served for breakfast. True comfort food. I’m sure Mama Reed would be proud to know we’re still loving it today.
Ingredients you’ll need:
- White Rice
- Eggs
- Milk
- Sugar
- Salt
- Raisins
- Cinnamon
- Vanilla
Actual recipe is at the bottom of this page.
How to Make Baked Rice Pudding
First off… cook up your rice. It will be added later in the recipe.
Stir it up til it looks like this.
Bake at 300 degrees for 90 minutes.
After the first thirty minutes of baking, stir from the bottom.
Scoop and serve in fancy schmancy crystal glass wear or even better…regular cups or bowls will do!
Do I Have to Cook The Rice?
Ingredients
- 4 eggs beaten
- 3 cups milk
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 cups cooked rice
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 cup raisins
Instructions
- Cook up your rice. Beat eggs. Stir in sugar. Add other ingredients. Stir.
- Spray oven proof casserole dish with Pam. Pour mixture into dish.
- Set dish in pan of hot water and bake at 300 degrees for 90 minutes.
- After 30 minutes of cooking insert spoon at edge of pudding and stir from the bottom to distribute rice and raisins.
Christy, I love your site and all the wonderful down home recipes– the storie all take me back down memory lane and to my own childhood which goes back alot futher than yours…I’m much older than you and the stories remine me so much of my grandma and my owm mama– their quote was ” waste not want not” and in our poor home front– we didn’t have any thing to waste, everything was put to use.. Cooking along with you puts me back in the kitchen with grandma and mama– I can still smell all the goodies from the kitchen!!!! Thanks for a wonderful site and for all the memories you bring back to this old lady.. You are a real doll for keeping alive your family memories… Love ya, Nana Dot
Thank you so much, I’m just tickled to have you hear and even more that I get to call you Nana!!!!!!
Isn’t it amazing how incredibly rich we all were? Thank goodness we didn’t have money to distract us from what real wealth was.
Gratefully,
Christy 🙂
PS, I am from a small town in between knoxville and chattanooga in TN, doubt yall ever heard of it though.
I’m from Palmyra talk about small !! lol I love your page!
NOOR
Just read your post from 2009 that you live in a small town between Knoxville and chattanooga. So do I, we live in Sweetwater! Where do you hail from?
When I told my in laws I never ate rice growing up but with milk or sugar after dinner they thought I was crazy, even thought it was gross. YUM, thats what rice is for in the South, right?
Lisa – it is lovely, isn’t it? Living so near, we tend to take it for granted and don’t often sit and listen to the water like we should. I’ll try to do that next time I am at my mother’s now. Thank you for the reminder!
Pam – thank you for letting me know! I am SO THRILLED you liked her recipe and know Mama Reed is smiling down on us now.
I need to make me some soon….
Southern Maryland, reckon what y’all’s accent sounds like? ~hugs~
Thanks for reading and especially for commenting!!!
Christy 🙂
Christy,
Just wanted to let you know that I made Mama Reed’s Rice Pudding today and OMG it is WONDERFUL! I’m packin’ myself a little goody bowl of this to take with me to work tomorrow. Thank you so much for posting these recipes and the stories to go along with them. The stories make the recipes so very special. :o))
PamandMikeD
~in dee by gawd Southern Maryland
I grew up on the Tennessee River and still go back frequently, I find solace in the peaceful little town and the water!
Dee: Isn’t Knoxville the greatest little town? I just love going there!
I’m gonna go eat more rice pudding now! I use Splenda in mine so there is no guilt!
Christy
P.S. I just love comments!