This comforting and nostalgic London Fog Rice Pudding features Earl Grey Tea and vanilla flavors. It's gluten-free and can be made dairy-free.
Rice Pudding was a dessert my mom made often when I was a kid. She made it when we had leftover rice from dinner, but in the oven vs. on the stovetop.
I didn't like it back then because she always put raisins in it, which I hated (I'm still not the biggest fan of raisins in desserts). But now I'm free to make my rice pudding how I like it (no raisins!), and I'm definitely a fan.
There's just something so comforting and nostalgic about any pudding, but rice pudding especially. And I love how you can turn dinner's leftovers into a delightful dessert by simply adding some milk, sugar, and eggs, and cooking it a little more.
And rice pudding doesn't have to be boring. You can change the flavors to whatever suits you. I decided to turn mine into a dessert version of one of my favorite hot drinks and ended up with this London Fog Rice Pudding.
How to make London Fog Rice Pudding:
This recipe is written to use leftover cooked rice, but you can easily make rice pudding from uncooked rice too. Find instructions in this recipe, adding the Earl Grey tea to make the pudding London Fog flavored.
When I was writing this recipe, I opted to grind the Earl Grey tea into a fine powder vs steeping the whole tea leaves and removing them after steeping. This worked out well, and I didn't notice any bitterness or texture issues from the ground tea.
I used a clean blade-style coffee grinder (I use this grinder exclusively for spices and other cooking-related uses, not for grinding coffee) to grind my tea, but you could also use a mini-food processor.
Once you have the tea ground simply add the rice, milk, sugar, and ground tea to a small saucepan and simmer for about 20 minutes. Whisk a large egg together with a little more milk, and add 1 cup of the hot rice mixture to the egg mixture ¼ cup at a time (this prevents the egg from scrambling when added to the pudding).
Pour this mixture into the saucepan and simmer for 10 more minutes. Remove the pudding from the heat, stir in the vanilla, and let cool for 10 minutes before serving, or chill before serving if desired. For extra decadence, serve with a dollop of whipped cream.
Flavor Variations 💡
If you only want to make plain Earl Grey Rice Pudding, simply skip the vanilla. If you want to make vanilla rice pudding, skip the Earl Grey tea.
London Fog Rice Pudding Ingredients:
- Earl Grey tea - choose loose-leaf Earl Grey for the best flavor. You can even use decaf Earl Grey tea if you wish (find this at specialty tea shops).
- Cooked rice - any type will work, as long as it is plain and has no seasoning added to it. If you wish to start with uncooked rice, follow the directions in this recipe.
- Milk- I used 1% milk because that's what I keep in the house, but any other milkfat percentage will work, as will a dairy-free milk
- Granulated sugar
- Large egg
- Vanilla extract
Want more pudding recipes?
London Fog Rice Pudding Nutrition Notes:
The nutrition information in the recipe below uses 1% milk for the calculations. If you use non-dairy milk, or a different fat percentage of dairy milk, the nutrition information of your pudding may vary slightly.
To make this pudding dairy-free, use your favorite dairy-free milk.
London Fog Rice Pudding
Equipment
- Coffee Grinder or mini food processor
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon earl grey tea
- 2 cups cooked rice any type will work (see note)
- 2 cups milk
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Add 1 teaspoon earl grey tea to a coffee grinder. Pulse until the tea is finely ground.
- Stir together 2 cups cooked rice, 1 ½ cups of the milk, and ⅓ cup granulated sugar in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium to medium-high heat, watching carefully and stirring frequently to prevent scorching. Reduce to medium-low and simmer until the mixture becomes thick and the rice has absorbed most of the milk (about 15-20 minutes).
- Whisk 1 large egg and the remaining ½ cup of milk together in a 2-cup liquid measuring cup. Stir about 1 cup of the cooked rice mixture into the egg mixture ¼ cup at a time. Stir the egg mixture into the remaining rice mixture in the saucepan and continue to simmer for about 10 more minutes, until the pudding is thick and creamy.
- Remove the pudding from the heat and stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Cover the pudding and allow to cool for 10 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature. Any leftovers can be refrigerated in an airtight container.
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