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.
Can this be made without raisins? And What size casserole dish? My mom baked her rice pudding and we had for dessert at supper time.
Your Mom’s rice pudding sounds like my Mom’s only Mom used Carnation milk. We bake it in a water bath the same way. Sometimes I delete the raisins! She’s from Northern West Virginia so it must be the northern version with the Carnation milk! My husband never had it this way until I made it and he loves it! I usually use about half all the ingredients to make a smaller version!
your recipe calls for 2 cups of cooked rice; as we know rice expands when cooked, so is it 2 cups of uncooked rice that gets cooked, or 1 cup of dry rice that becomes 2 cups when cooked?
It is two cups of rice once cooked. Mama Reed would make extra and use leftover rice for this.
Christy, you have no idea how happy I am to finally find a rice pudding recipe that starts with cooked rice, because I often have left over rice, but never had a recipe to turn it into rice pudding. Thanks!!!! Is the water bath there to keep the pudding moist? Other than cooking it for the 90 minutes, how do you know the pudding is done consistency wise? I saw another commenter say she cooks hers longer than 90 minutes. Thanks.
The water bath keeps the rice pudding from baking too fast and helps it bake evenly. It’s a really important step to end up with a great rice pudding that isn’t dry around the edges and is fully cooked in the middle. It will be “set” in the middle, it won’t jiggle like it does when you put it in the oven.
At last I’ve rediscovered this recipe! I originally found a similar recipe in a spiral-bound book called “favorite recipes of home economics teachers” (or some such title). Of course this book disappeared, much to my chagrin.
In order to fit the recipe into my available casserole dish/water bath container I’m going to need to”almost” cut your quantities by 50%. My recollection is that I used 2 eggs, 1 1/2 cups of rice, 1 1/2 cups of milk, 1 tsp. of vanilla and 1/4 tsp. of salt. The rest of your recipe matches up with what I remember.
I hope you get it to work Carl, can’t wait to hear how it turns out!!
Christy, first of all I am new to your email list. I am thoroughly enjoying them, just wish I had joined sooner! I did see you several years ago on a cooking show and loved your recipes and your wonderful personality. Due to some medical issues lost I interest in cooking for a while but am getting it back. Yeah!! My wonderful maternal grandmother used to make a rice pudding that I loved. She died when I was a teenager and I foolishly did not her recipe. My mother did not like to cook, she always laughed and said the only reason she had a kitchen was because it came with the house. Despite this she was a good cook but did not enjoy it. After a very tiring and emotional day yesterday of cleaning out my deceased parents storage building I made this rice pudding last night. I shed some tears while eating some, it reminded me of my grandmother’s. A heartfelt thank you for this recipe!!! After an emotional day I had something from my past that makes me happy and cheered me up. As a child and teenager I loved to bake, I was a throw back to both grandmothers and many great aunts I was told. So many of your Southern recipes remind me of them, so thank you for that. I now have my maternal grandmother’s rice pudding, I already have my paternal grandmother’s pineapple upside down (My Dad loved it!). Now if I can get close to my grandmother’s pot roast! I have wonderful memories of this roast!
Sorry this is so long, but I wanted you to know how much this recipe and others of yours have meant to me. One bowl of rice pudding last night made me smile and cry. After a tough day I was once again reminded that although my parents and grandparents are gone parts of them are still here. Thank you and God’s blessings to you and yours.
Welcome to Southern Plate April!!! I a man so glad you are enjoying the emails and recipes and I look forward to getting to know you!!! Yes, parts of them will always be with us, thank the Lord! God’s blessings to you and yours as well!!
My family has a lake house near your mother’s house. I recognize the island! My mother was raised in town there. We have other family members that live on the river in the same area as your mom.
Small world!
Small world indeed!!!
I have all of your books and my family has been enjoying the recipes since your first book came out. Thanks for sharing the stories and recipes.