Seneca Avenue in Brooklyn gave American supermarkets their best-known tub of rice pudding, and it arrived by bread truck. Vincent Gruppuso was delivering for Arnold Bread Company when he began selling the kettle-cooked puddings from a deli on his route called Cozy Shack, according to his Wikipedia biography. In 1967 he bought the recipe outright and opened a small factory in Ridgewood, Queens. He changed the “C” to a “K,” and the brand stuck.
The company kept moving east. Long Island Press reported a move to Mineola about a decade after the start, then to Hicksville in 1994, and by early 2008 Hicksville was one of three Kozy Shack plants, beside Turlock, California and Lough Egish, Ireland. Marketing director Andy Braunshausen described the method to that paper as pudding made “one kettle at a time.”
The kettle is the point. Rice pudding is a slow dessert, built on rice gradually thickening milk until a spoon can stand in it. At home the kettle becomes a heavy pot and the clock reads about an hour and fifteen minutes. Below are the ratios, the timing, the doneness cue and the fixes for a pudding that goes wrong.
A Dessert Older Than the Pot It Simmers In
Nobody can name the cook who started it. The Daily Meal traces the dish to India and China, and cites a reference around 6,000 B.C. to a rice-and-milk preparation called ksheer or kshirika; that date is the article’s claim, and early history of this kind is hard to pin down. The same piece says rice pudding reached Europe around the 14th century, where early versions could be savory. One recipe from the 1390s, The Forme of Cury, pairs rice with saffron, almond milk and meat broth. Sweet, boiled versions with sugar, spices and eggs followed in the 15th century, and by the 17th and 18th centuries the dessert was a fixture on British tables.
Think of rice pudding as a family recipe that kept getting adopted. In New York it landed in German and Jewish delis and on the menu at Delmonico’s, as writer Caitlin Van Dusen notes in a 2021 City Lore essay. She describes one of the city’s last German delis, Stammtisch Pork Store in Glendale, Queens, selling its version by the pound from an aluminum tray, a milk skin on top and a faint note of cinnamon.
Every few years someone declares a comeback. In 2024 New Orleans baker Bronwen Wyatt of Bayou Saint Cake named rice pudding an “in” for the year, saying she had a feeling about it, as Symrise’s in-sight site relayed from Eater. That was a prediction rather than a sales report, and the page offers no figures. Still, the dessert has never really left. National Rice Pudding Day lands on August 9, per The Daily Meal, and the stovetop version needs nothing more than a Tuesday night.
What Goes in the Pot
The ratios below follow the tested formula from America’s Test Kitchen, which serves six to eight. Four decisions matter more than the rest.
The rice. ATK prefers medium-grain white rice and says long-grain also works. Whatever grain you choose, it cooks in plain water first, a step that keeps the rice flavor from being buried; the test kitchen found that cooking the rice in milk or cream muted it.
The dairy. Equal parts whole milk and half-and-half, two and a half cups of each. That split gives a pudding that is creamy without turning heavy.
The sugar. Two-thirds of a cup of plain granulated sugar, stirred in with the dairy.
The finish. A quarter teaspoon of salt goes into the rice water at the start, and the vanilla goes in last, off the heat.
Two pantry items are worth choosing on purpose:
- Lundberg Family Farms White Arborio Rice, 32 oz: A short-grain white rice sold in a resealable 32-ounce pack; ATK tested medium-grain and long-grain, so go by the spoon test below rather than the clock if you use it. See it on Amazon (affiliate link)
- Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Extract, 8 oz: The vanilla goes in at the very end with no heat to cook off its aroma, which makes a pure extract the one place where the flavor is easy to taste. See it on Amazon (affiliate link)
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. A commission may be earned if you buy through this link, at no extra cost to you.
A heavy-bottomed pot is the third piece of gear, and the only one that matters for scorching. Anything thin will catch at the bottom long before the pudding thickens.
How to Make Creamy Old-Fashioned Rice Pudding
Total active cooking is about an hour and a quarter, plus half an hour to cool.
Step one: cook the rice in water (15 to 20 minutes). Bring two cups of water to a boil in the pot, add the salt and the rice, cover, and drop the heat to a low simmer. Stir once or twice. When nearly all the water has been absorbed, the rice is ready for dairy.
Step two: add the dairy and sugar, and simmer uncovered (about 30 minutes). Pour in the whole milk, the half-and-half and the sugar. Bring the pot to a simmer over medium-high heat, then ease it down so it keeps bubbling gently. Stir often. By the end of this stretch the liquid should start to cling to the spoon.
Step three: slow it down (about 15 more minutes). Lower the heat again and stir every couple of minutes. This is the stretch where scorching happens, because the starch is thick enough to stick and the milk solids sit at the bottom. The cue is physical: ATK says the pudding is done when a spoon can stand upright in it.
Step four: finish and cool. Take the pot off the heat and stir in the vanilla. Serve it at room temperature or chilled, and expect it to tighten a little more as it sits. If you are chilling it, press plastic wrap directly onto the surface so no skin forms.
Rice pudding behaves like a tide chart. For half an hour nothing seems to change, and then the level drops all at once. Watch the spoon rather than the clock.
When the Pot Misbehaves
Most failures trace back to heat or timing. This table follows ATK’s technique notes.
| What happened | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Brown bits stuck to the bottom | Heat too high late in the cook, or too long between stirs | Lower the heat and stir every couple of minutes through the final stretch |
| Pudding is thin | Pulled off the burner too early | Keep simmering until a spoon stands upright in the pot |
| Rice flavor is faint | Rice was cooked in milk or cream | Cook the rice in water first, then add dairy |
| Skin on top | Open air while cooling | Press plastic wrap onto the surface, or stir the skin in |
Storage and Make-Ahead
Cover the pudding with plastic wrap pressed onto the surface and refrigerate for up to two days, which is the window ATK gives. The recipe gives no tested freezing method, so plan on the refrigerator only. Because it is served at room temperature or chilled, it is an easy dessert to make the day before a dinner.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use long-grain rice?
Yes. America’s Test Kitchen prefers medium-grain white rice but says long-grain works too. Judge doneness by the spoon test.
Why cook the rice in water first?
The test kitchen found that cooking rice in milk or cream muted its flavor, so the rice goes in water first and the dairy comes later.
How do I know the pudding is done?
A spoon should stand upright in the pot. If it slumps, simmer a few more minutes.
How long does it keep?
Up to two days in the refrigerator, covered with plastic wrap pressed onto the surface.
Is rice pudding the same as arroz con leche?
They belong to the same family. Symrise lists arroz con leche, riz au lait and kheer as global versions of the dessert, each with its own spices and texture.
Recipe: Creamy Old-Fashioned Stovetop Rice Pudding
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Cooling Time: 30 minutes
Servings: 6 to 8
Difficulty: Easy
Ingredients
- 1 cup medium-grain white rice (long-grain also works)
- 2 cups water
- ¼ teaspoon table salt
- 2½ cups whole milk
- 2½ cups half-and-half
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- 1¼ teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- Bring the water to a boil in a large, heavy-bottomed pot. Add the salt and rice, cover, and simmer on low for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring once or twice, until nearly all the water is absorbed.
- Stir in the milk, half-and-half and sugar. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, then reduce to keep it gently simmering. Cook uncovered, stirring often, for about 30 minutes, until it begins to thicken.
- Lower the heat and cook for about 15 more minutes, stirring every couple of minutes, until a spoon can stand upright in the pudding.
- Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla. Serve at room temperature or chilled.
Notes
- Ratios and method follow America’s Test Kitchen’s Simple Stovetop Rice Pudding.
- Refrigerate covered, with plastic wrap pressed onto the surface, for up to 2 days.
- Judge doneness by the spoon test, not the clock.
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