Baked Rice Pudding With Orange And Cardamom Recipe

Rice pudding is the perfect comfort food to warm you up from the inside out. Eat it for breakfast, as an afternoon snack, or as a cozy dessert to finish off your meal. There are plenty of ways to upgrade your rice pudding, and Tasting Table recipe developer Jessica Morone shares one of her favorites. Her baked rice pudding with orange and cardamom is an aromatic treat for the senses. "I love this recipe because while normal rice pudding is good, the addition of the orange makes it really light, and combined with cardamom it gives it a really interesting flavor that is brighter but also warmer," she shares. The maple syrup gives the dish a lovely earthy, autumnal sweetness, and the added complexity and depth from the combination of flavors really sets this recipe apart.  

There are as many ways to prepare rice pudding as to customize it. This baked rice pudding recipe is a simpler way to make the dessert, involving less hands-on cooking, but it will still be as creamy and velvety as rice pudding made on the stovetop. It's also a great method if you want to make a larger portion to serve more people. 

For this baked rice pudding recipe, you'll need eggs, granulated sugar, whole milk, salt, vanilla extract, cardamom, orange zest, maple syrup, and cooked rice. Serve it with whipped cream and additional orange zest to garnish if desired.

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Grease a 9x9-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray, set aside.

In a large bowl whisk together the eggs and sugar until smooth.

Pour in the milk and whisk until combined.

Add the salt, vanilla extract, cardamom, orange zest, and maple syrup to the bowl and whisk until incorporated.

Stir in the rice until combined.

Pour the mixture into the prepared baking pan.

Place the baking pan into a larger baking pan without about 2 inches of water in it (enough so that the water goes halfway up the pan with the rice pudding).

Bake in the preheated oven for 60-70 minutes, until the top has set.

Serve warm with whipped cream and orange zest, if desired.

This baked rice pudding recipe has the added appeal of being flexible about the kind of rice you can use. "Traditionally for rice pudding, you want to use a short or medium grain rice, because they help make your pudding extra creamy," Morone explains, listing arborio and sushi rice as examples. The starch in the rice helps to thicken the pudding. "But with this recipe, you are cooking the rice ahead of time, so you can really use any kind of rice that you have on hand or like. You could still use arborio, sushi rice, or medium-grain rice, but you could also use long-grain rice," Morone says. Since you'll be adding plenty of milk and eggs, the pudding will still have that soft comforting texture, though it will vary slightly based on the type of rice you choose. 

"So if you made a big batch of rice already and have leftovers, this would be a great recipe to use them up," Morone suggests. There are plenty of savory ways to use leftover rice, but you might not have considered switching it up and using it for dessert. Whether you use freshly cooked or leftover rice, you'll have a warm, sweet treat in no time.

Morone's recipe calls for a 9x9-inch baking pan, but this recipe is versatile enough that you can use whatever baking dish you like or have on hand and how thick you like your rice pudding — you'll just need to modify the baking time slightly to account for the volume. "You could use a smaller pan (like 8x8-inch) for a thicker pudding, and in that case, you will want to bake it for longer (about 5 to 10 minutes)," Morone instructs. On the other hand, she adds, "You could also bake this in a larger pan, like a 9x13-inch pan for a thinner pudding. In that case, you will want to cook it about 5 to 10 minutes less."

Meanwhile, for a more elegant presentation for parties or other gatherings, Morone says, "You could also bake this in individual ramekins for personal-size portions. They will take less time to bake, so you would bake these for about 30 to 40 minutes." The sophisticated combination of fragrant cardamom and bright citrusy orange elevates this simple dessert to make it comforting enough for a family meal and special enough to serve for brunch or even to end a dinner party.