This is the Best Old Fashioned Slow Cooker Rice Pudding Recipe

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This creamy slow cooker rice pudding recipe is the best way to treat your tastebuds! It’ll take you back to your mom’s recipes that you have fond memories of! You’re going to see why this is a favorite recipe of mine!

Check out this old fashioned slow cooker rice pudding recipe you can enjoy if you’ve got 5 minutes to prep. You won’t believe how easy this is to make! Then just relax, or get on with your day and let the slow cooker do the rest!

This easy family recipe only takes 5 minutes to put together, and 3 hr and 45 minutes to bake in your slow cooker. Your gang will definitely ask for seconds, so make sure you double the recipe! (and since this is one of the cheapest desserts to make, you know that it’s gone be easy on the pocketbook, too!)

originally published on March 9, 2018 and republished January 20, 2021. Updated on January 26, 2023.

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The smell of the cinnamon, vanilla and creamy pudding while it’s baking are out of this world, just sayin…

I think slow cooker anything is the perfect way to cook on the weekends.  Kind of a fix it and forget about it, if you know what I mean!  And I do use my slow cooker a lot – as you know from some of my recipes!

Everything from cheesecake to pulled pork, yes indeedy.  Does anyone say ‘yes indeedy’ anymore?  Oh well, just my country gal slang I guess.  Here are some of my favorite slow-cooker recipes!

• BBQ Pulled Pork Shoulder
• Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake
• Harvey Wallbanger Cake

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

There are so many reasons why I think that this is the best rice pudding recipe…but here are some of the top!

• It’s an easy recipe with simple ingredients.
• There’s nothing like a bowl full of homemade goodness to warm your belly fast.
• One bite will literally give you the taste of home.
• It’s the perfect way to warm your belly on a cold winter night.

Now I don’t know about you, but rice pudding has not been on the top of my cravings list for many years. 

In fact, my mom used to love the stuff, but we always had it cold, and it was kinda sticky and yucky.  And she put nutmeg on her baked rice pudding! Shudder.  Oh well, to each their own right?

And rice pudding was always one of the ‘dessert choices’ at the local diner.  And it was kept under a glass case, looking like it had been there for quite a while, if you know what I mean. I wonder if their old fashioned rice pudding was made with minute rice? 🙂

So when my sweetie asked me to make him some rice pudding the other day, I kinda went Huh?  He wanted an old fashioned rice pudding with raisins. 

But of course I should have know that he had found an amazing recipe for me to try, and even better it was a homemade slow cooker rice pudding recipe!  Enough said!

But this old fashioned slow cooker rice pudding recipe is adapted from one of our new food magazines here in Toronto.  I just love finding these recipe treasures.

Tips for making this recipe

The texture of this recipe is creamy like my Panettone Bread Pudding Recipe {Instant Pot} but there are big differences between the two!

• aIf you’re not a fan of adding lots of raisins, you can opt for some fresh berries instead. I like the texture of plump raisins but some people don’t.
• The first time you take a bite of this easy rice pudding, you’re going to find it to be a comforting dessert. If you want to add a little milk to thin it out, you totally can!

How to make slow cooker rice pudding:

So with all of the ingredients in hand, I set out to put together this awesome old fashioned rice pudding with raisins recipe. 

Now this recipe uses whole milk.  You can swap that out for cream, half and half (half milk half cream) some recipes use coconut milk and sweetened condensed milk too.  But we’re not getting fancy today.  Just plain old fashioned rice pudding.  OK?

INGREDIENTS FOR SLOW COOKER RICE PUDDING

• Arborio rice
• Sugar
• Cream or whole milk (3%)
• Egg yolks (Tip: freeze the whites for later!)
• Vanilla
• Cinnamon
• Raisins or dried cherries, cranberries or blueberries (your choice!)

STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS FOR OLD FASHIONED RICE PUDDING

Learning how to make old fashioned creamy rice pudding isn’t hard to do at all! In a short amount of time, you’ll have a delicious mass of creamy rice that will have the end result of being gobbled down!

Step One: Add ingredients to the crockpot

Pour the rice, milk and sugar into your slow cooker (spray with cooking spray) and cover and cook for 3.5 to 4 hours.  Each hour give the rice a stir and cook until the rice is a bit mushy.

Step Two: Whisk the eggs

When that’s done, whisk the eggs together with a ½ cup of the hot rice mixture.  This is called tempering the eggs.

Step Three: Add back to the slow cooker

Then slowly mix this back into the slow cooker rice mixture.  You need to be careful here, since we don’t want scrambled eggs in our old fashioned rice pudding!

Step Four: Add raisins

Then you can add the raisins (or if you choose dried cranberries, cherries or blueberries!), vanilla, cinnamon.

Step Five: Cook

Cook for another 15 minutes.

Custard Style Rice Pudding FAQS

Does rice pudding get thicker as it cools?

Yes, this pudding rice will thicken as it cools. When it gets to room temperature, this slow-cooker rice pudding recipe will be pretty thick in consistency.

What toppings would pair well with the crockpot rice pudding recipe?

You can easily turn this into a sweet treat, just by adding toppings that will go a long way in flavor. I love adding orange zest and fresh fruit to this easy slow cooker rice pudding recipe.

You can also add brown sugar, cinnamon sticks, cup raisins, tasty coconut shreds, and even a thin layer of honey right on top. By adding toppings, you can easily make this one of your favorite dessert recipes that the whole family will love.

How do I store leftovers of this delicious pudding?

This creamy dessert needs to cool quickly and then be stored in an airtight container and kept in the fridge. For the best results, eat within 1-2 days of storage.

What does it mean to temper eggs?

When cooking with eggs and a hot mixture like we are doing here for our rice pudding, it’s important to introduce the eggs quickly to a small amount of hot liquid.

Once mixed you then reintroduce the egg mixture slowly into the pudding. Just a bit at a time – please don’t be in a hurry.

Just adding the eggs without this extra step will definitely result in a scrambled egg mess instead of a cream pudding.

This is the same principle used when you make a pudding type of filling for pies, like lemon meringue pie or chocolate cream pie!

Check out our video to see this step.

What type of rice is best for rice pudding?

Long grain rice is going to be your best bet. You can find this at the grocery store so look for it the next time that you’re there!

And that’s it!  We love this warm, but it’s just as good cold, as it retains an overall creaminess both ways. For breakfast, lunch and dinner. 🙂

Enjoy.

More Easy Desserts

• The Best Lemon Brownies (Easy Cake Mix Recipe)
• The Best Apple Dessert Recipes
• Glazed Bisquick Cinnamon Roll Recipe (Easy Family Favorite!)

Want more Slow Cooker Dessert recipes?

I also made a short video that I thought you might enjoy showing the process of how to make your own slow cooker old fashioned rice pudding step by step.  But it’s so easy to do, you get one of your kids to make it for family supper!

And they say if you don’t ask you don’t get, so if you loved this post, please feel free to share it with your friends on Pinterest!  Cause they love great recipes just like you do!

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