This Puerto Rican style Arroz con Leche is a comforting dessert made with long grain rice, whole milk, butter, brown sugar and spices. It's surprisingly easy to make at home and comes together in under an hour!
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This was inspired by my Arroz con Dulce (Coconut Puerto Rican rice pudding), and has very similar flavors and ingredients.
It's a Puerto Rican dessert that can also be found Latin countries and other cultures around the world.
Ingredients
Many of the ingredients required for this recipe are common pantry staples in our kitchen. Check out the list below before heading to the grocery store and see what you already have on hand:
- white rice (I used long grain)
- water
- cinnamon sticks
- cloves
- nutmeg
- salt
- whole milk
- brown sugar
- butter
- ground cinnamon to garnish
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
Start by combining rice, water, and spices in a saucepan and bringing to a boil. Once a boil is reached, cover, lower the heat to low and cook for 15 minutes.
Once the 15 minutes is up, raise the heat back up to medium, uncover and add the milk, brown sugar and butter.
Mix everything together in the pot with a spoon or spatula before covering the mixture again and cooking for 20 minutes, continuing to check every five minutes or so to mix things around.
Allow your rice pudding to cool for at least 10 minutes before serving hot or chilling in the fridge for an hour and serving cold. Enjoy!
Hint: the pudding should be thick when done but not all of the milk should be absorbed, as it will continue to thicken even after removed from the heat.
Variations
There are a few changes you can make to mix things up in this recipe. Here are a few of my favorite ideas:
- Raisins - many traditional Arroz con Leche recipes will include raisins, so feel free to add these in at the same time you add the milk, if you're into it!
- Deluxe - add chopped nuts and fresh berries for a fun spin on a breakfast parfait.
- Dairy free - check out my Arroz con Dulce recipe for a dairy free alternative to this recipe
Storage
Store your arroz con leche in the fridge in an airtight container (I love using these Pyrex bowls with lids) and enjoy within 3-4 days for best results.
This recipe doesn't stand up well to freezing.
Happy cooking!
Salima
Arroz con Leche
This Puerto Rican style Arroz con Leche is a comforting dessert made with long grain rice, whole milk, butter, brown sugar and spices. It's surprisingly easy to make at home and comes together in under an hour!
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Category: Dessert, Breakfast
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Puerto Rican, Latin
- Diet: Gluten Free
Ingredients
- 1 cup white rice (I used long grain)
- 2 cups water
- 3 cinnamon sticks
- 5 cloves
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- ½ tsp salt
- 4 cups whole milk
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon to garnish
Instructions
- In a saucepan combine rice, water, and spices and bring to a boil. Once a boil is reached, cover, lower and cook for 15 minutes.
- At this point raise the heat to medium, uncover and add milk, brown sugar, and butter.
- Mix everything together in the pot with a spoon or spatula before covering the mixture again and cooking for 20 minutes, continuing to check every five minutes or so to mix things around.
- Allow mixture to cool for at least 10 minutes before serving and enjoy!
Keywords: Arroz con Leche, Puerto Rican Arroz con Leche
Comments
Steve
I can't decide which recipe I liked more... this or the Arroz con Dulce! Great work.
★★★★★
Jeannette Rosales
Great Recipe.! Easy and Yummy!
★★★★★
Salima Benkhalti
Thank you for your review Jeannette!
Sun
Thank you for all your recepies,specially for this one of arroz dulce, my grandmother 👵 used to make this every year on holidays and everyone loved it she had a secret ingredient for her arroz dulce, she also used
Prepare dulce the papaya. Thank you for bringing back to me those memories of my childhood.😋🥰😢🙏
★★★★★