Brown Rice Pudding with almond milk, chia seeds, raisins, frozen fruit, maple syrup and Greek yogurt. Try it for a fuss-free week of healthy breakfast ideas!
Our other favorite make-ahead breakfasts include chia pudding, overnight oats and chocolate chia pudding.
Healthy Rice Pudding
Brown rice pudding… A few years ago after we got back from Mexico, I wasn’t sure what to cook for breakfast.
I got so tired of oats for breakfast and quinoa for dinner. Even pumpkin chia pudding wasn’t going to cut it! I immediately thought of rice.
Is Rice Pudding Healthy?
I grew up in Ukraine on rice pudding for breakfast. We call any grain cooked with milk and sweetener “kasha” (we are cooking steel cut oats the same way now). We did not have brown rice then.
Can you make rice pudding with brown rice healthy? Of course, if you make this simple almond milk brown rice pudding with a bit of butter and vanilla. And then load with superfoods like chia seeds, raisins, frozen fruit and maple syrup. Of course, it is healthy! It’s perfect for healthy snacks, too!
Just look at all the goodness you will nourish your body with!
How to Make Breakfast Rice Pudding
- Rinse brown rice with cold water really well, until water is clear; drain.
- In a medium pot, combine brown rice, 4 cups of milk, butter and vanilla extract. Bring to a boil and cook on low covered for 40 minutes. Stir a few times.
- Remove from heat and add 2 cups of milk, raisins and chia seeds. Stir and let the pudding set for 15 minutes. Transfer to a large baking dish and add toppings: berries, Greek yogurt and maple syrup. Stir again. YUM!
Tips for Best Healthy Rice Pudding
- Don’t walk away from milk until it boils. This will save it from burning.
- Make ahead and refrigerate in a large baking dish for up to 5 days. Hello, easy breakfast!
- Make vegan with coconut oil instead of butter. So good!
- If you are not on a dairy free diet, use cow’s milk. This sweet rice pudding will be even more creamy.
- Use fresh berries when in season and frozen other months to save money.
- Replace berries with frozen mango in winter.
More Healthy Breakfast Recipes
- Healthy granola
- Quinoa breakfast bake
- Quinoa granola
- Instant Pot yogurt
- Chocolate banana chia pudding
- Banana chia seed pudding
- Mango chia seed pudding
Brown Rice Pudding
Ingredients
- 1 cup jasmine brown rice*
- 6 cups unsweetened almond milk divided**
- 2 tbsp butter salted***
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup raisins
- 1/4 cup chia seeds
- 3 cups frozen berries cherries, blueberries, chopped strawberries, raspberries
- 1/2 cup Greek yogurt 2% or higher
- 2 tbsp maple syrup or raw honey
Instructions
- Rinse rice with cold water really well, until water is clear; drain. In a medium pot, combine rice, 4 cups of milk, butter and vanilla extract. Cover and bring to a boil (don’t walk away so milk doesn’t run away). Reduce heat to low and cook covered for 40 minutes or until rice is soft and tender, stirring a few times and making sure rice is not burning (good pots really help).
- Remove form heat and add 2 cups of milk, raisins and chia seeds. Stir and let the pudding set for 15 minutes.
- Transfer to a large baking dish and add berries, Greek yogurt and maple syrup, stir gently. Adjust anything to taste and enjoy this best healthy brown rice pudding for breakfast or a snack.
Notes
- Store: Refrigerate covered for up to 5 days.
- Adapted from this recipe. *I used jasmine rice but basmati or long grain brown rice would work. You can use short grain but consistency will be more mushy. **Any milk from a carton would work. I think coconut, rice or cashew milk would be amazing. ***If using unsalted butter add a pinch of salt.
welp. Imma try this for sure, I been buying the sugar free rice pudding in the 6 packs at Krogers like this going out of style, its SO GOOD!
I tried to make my own and its good but not the same, however I had no vanilla extract so i used some vanilla coffee powder, not bad its good and edible but not that flavor of the kroger..
while searching fora recipe I saw someone had written a review and how good brown rice was, the texture and all, I do agree cooked properly brown rice has this sweetness and texture that’s very addictive IMHO, maybe its the brand or species whatever but I get these 1 quart plastic containers, I bought 5 of them don’t remember where but its SO GOOD, cooks up so full and soft, lil’ sweet? but oh so good, I put nothing on it after I cook it fresh its that good then reheated I’ll toss some soy sauce n it for a change up..
the pan I used was too small so i really couldn’t put any heat to it without a big boil over mess so I slow slow cooked it and the milk still didn’t totally soften up the white long grain i used.. my guess is the sticky rice they used in Japan is best short grain, lots of starch for a creamy sauce..
I bookmarked this and when my batch of white rice puddin runs out I am going to make this, I am trying to save money and I wont eat refined sugars and what not.. its bad news even tho its legal to sell… DANGER WILL ROBINSON!
specially for children and babies, no!!! honey and fruit sugars, COMPLEX everything their tiny little brains are trying top develop they need a lot of complex everything their body understands and omegas..!!!! and all those grains you speak of are perfect! long as they didn’t spray roundup weed killer or any other chemicals on it right?
Thank You and I will return and give a review how it all worked out!
Do berries need to be previously defrosted?
Nope.
What a treat for breakfast this brown rice pudding was!
I just made your recipe this morning, and it is delicious! Thanks for sharing!
You are welcome, Laura.
Hi, i would like to know choices to substitute the greek yogurt with, going dairy free?
Skip it all together – pudding is quite creamy and flavoured with fruit. It’s really just more of a topping, not a key ingredient.
Use some dairy free yogurt if you like it, I personally don’t like any of it but that’s me. I tried them all and can’t find any I like, sadly…
Can you use white rice instead of brown? Does it have to be basmati? Thanks
Yes, just cook less.
1 cup cooked or uncooked rice?
Uncooked – you are going to cook it.
I made this for breakfast this week. It was delicious and perfect “on-the-go”. My husband gave up sweets for Lent so he had it in place of dessert and enjoyed it. Thanks for the recipe (and all others too!).
You are very welcome, Hannah!!! I’m remaking this brown rice pudding again in a few weeks because I’m tired of oats again haha.
Oooooh! You’ve got me! I grew up eating and loving rice pudding! Rice was cheap and we always had it in the house! Sometimes it was dinner all by itself, in fact, with a little hot powdered milk (ugh) reconstituted, and sugar. But sometimes we had dessert and it often was rice pudding, which I miss very much! Yours looks so darned good!
Funny, I haven’t been able to find organic almond milk. But I have discovered coconut almond, though it too, is not organic. I guess we just have not come as far as you in Canada yet. I will making this soon, but scaled down a little. Unless…. it looks good enough for Easter! And I have a feeling it would go fast! Thank-You again Olena, and Welcome home! Vacations are a wonderful thing, but coming home is always so nice.
Aaaaaahhhh, yes powdered milk, I remember it. I loved to eat it dry! So to give you an idea for my mom and grandma rice was expensive, and so was powdered milk.:) Interesting how rice pudding in America was eaten by dessert – for us it was breakfast or dinner itself.
Oh no, Laurel, the US is WAY ahead of Canada in terms of healthy/organic food choices. It must be the remote area you live in. I live in a big city, don’t forget. When I go to an American small town near us choices are crazy – Trader Joe’s, Fred Meyer, Safeway and Food Co-ops offer unbelievable amount of organic food at much better prices.
Home is nice! I’m back at redecorating and painting it, so I’m busy.:)
Wow….powdered milk was the bottom of the barrel for us and we r e a l l y resisted it as kids. Our Aunt got assistance and gave us her extra p.m. and Spam…uch, my gosh, I gagged over both. I did like rice, but for us it was inexpensive. And a little made a lot. Popcorn also, grown locally. We sometimes had that, from the night before, with milk, for breakfast! Sounds a little crazy but I did like it, my mom liked it too, and I think I still might. Haven’t tried in years though. My siblings didn’t but they ate it 🙂
We ate a looooooot of potatoes, all year round. We grew them. Every spring, we would find a piece of land for rent and all family, except children and elderly, worked hard to raise potatoes. Cultivate by hand, make soap spray and spray bugs from a little sprayer, and then hauling buckets of water half a mile. I remember my teenager sister HATED she had to do that, I didn’t. Otherwise, there would be nothing to eat come winter. And every family did this. Because I know how scarce food can be, I have zero tolerance for food waste, picky eaters and finding excuses parents. I have zero tolerance for laziness and lazy excuses many people of 21st century come up with. Spoiled, taking things for granted and ignorant people I have zero patience for them.
I think for us rice was so expensive because it had to be imported from Asia, and communism and import, as we all know, are not the best friends.:)
Hi Olena! Welcome back to reality, huh. I will make some version of this recipe this weekend. I have blueberries and chia and raisins and rice. I Iove that you can just add in whatever you have on hand! Great ideas from you!
Thank you, Beth! My reality isn’t actually that bad now that the hockey season is over. 😉 Yes, that is a beauty of this brown rice pudding. We finished ours this morning and it went really well, even with kids. Staple for breakfasts and snacks rotation for sure from now on.
Oh my goodness. This is delicious. I added slivered almonds and raisins. They added great color and texture.
Hi Elizabeth. In Ukraine we always added raising. Not sure why I didn’t haha. Glad you enjoyed.:) I am super proud of you giving it a go and being non-traditional. I mean this is not the most popular recipe of mine and is totally under appreciated. So glad you tried it!
My kids liked it as well. We actually had it for dessert. I am surprised that this recipe is not popular. I try to live my life by my rules which means that I always try something once and I am glad I tried it.