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This Chai Spice Rice Pudding is creamy comfort food at its finest – but it’s actually a THM E dessert that is low in fat! Subtle spice and orange flavors are good on their own or create a nice backdrop for your choice of additions or toppings. You could add some fruit (either cooked with the pudding or as a garnish on top), a splash of almond milk, and even a smidgen of butter on top! That’s how I like to eat it: warm with a little bit of salted butter to round out the flavors. I wouldn’t use a whole teaspoon because there are a few grams of fat in this recipe already from the light coconut milk, but a half teaspoon is fine and actually spreads further than you think when it’s melted! The rice pudding reheats well for a warming wintertime breakfast. Just add a little protein on the side, such as some collagen in your coffee or tea, a Fuel Pull hot chocolate with protein powder and gluccie to help fill you up (my current obsession! Use this recipe and omit the coconut oil since you already have some fat in the rice pudding recipe.), or a bit of low-fat cottage cheese or Greek yogurt.
I have a vanilla rice pudding recipe, but it uses glucomannan as a thickener and I wanted to try a more traditional option. If you switch out the sweetener and use orange extract instead of the orange oil I used, this recipe doesn’t take any ingredients that you can’t find at a local grocery store! Stay tuned for a chocolate version coming soon!
Rice pudding made with brown rice instead of white rice doesn’t get as soft, but it’s still completely enjoyable. I do like to eat leftovers cold out of the fridge, but the rice is softer if you reheat it a bit in the microwave. Do NOT use instant brown rice in this recipe! I have not had good luck with instant brown rice; it stays crunchy no matter how I cook it! Save yourself the heartache and just use traditional brown rice.
You may also enjoy:
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STARTING THM
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my recipe index
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recipe index by fuel type/allergy/theme
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Rice Pudding – a plain recipe for two made with glucomannan
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Creamy Vanilla “Tapioca” – a yummy E dessert made with barley!
As always, check out the Notes section of the recipe for extra info. Check out the links in and below the recipe to see the products I use and recommend. Some of the links included in the recipe and blog post are affiliate links, which means that if you make purchases through these links, I make a small commission (but your price doesn’t change).
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- 2 c. unsweetened almond milk
- 2 c. water
- 1 c. uncooked brown rice (not instant)
- ½ c. light canned coconut milk*
- -
- ½ tsp. cinnamon, ground cardamom, salt
- ½ tsp. molasses
- 4 drops orange essential oil**
- -
- 1½ T. THM Super Sweet Blend (or more, to taste)
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- ½ tsp. almond extract
- Stir the almond milk, water, brown rice, and coconut milk together and refrigerate (covered) overnight.
- The next day, add the spices, salt, and orange oil to the rice mixture and bring to a boil in a nonstick saucepan. Cook (covered) for 50 minutes or until the rice is soft, stirring occasionally.
- Whisk in the Super Sweet Blend and extracts, then cover and simmer for 5 minutes before serving. Add a little extra almond milk if the rice pudding is too thick.
- Feel free to add some cranberries or a small amount of fruit! I like to enjoy the rice pudding warm as an E dessert with a smidgen of butter, but it's good cold, too. If you add some protein on the side, it makes a great breakfast. The rice pudding reheats well.
**If you're not comfortable ingesting essential oils or don't have orange oil, add a dash of orange extract at the end with the vanilla extract.
-I've found that soaking the rice overnight helps the rice get softer, but it's not required. If you don't want to soak it, just omit that step and expect the rice to take a little longer to cook. Brown rice will never get as soft as white rice, but it's still very enjoyable!
-I can't taste any coconut flavor from the coconut milk, so don't worry if you're not a coconut fan!
-Molasses is acceptable on THM in very small amounts (up to ¼ tsp. per serving) for flavor.
Rather than to cook so long on the stove, could you prepare this dish in the instant pot?
I’ve never used an Instant Pot so I’m afraid I don’t know the answer to that! I’d love to hear how it turns out if you try!
Delicious!! Yes, comfort food, of the best balance.
This turned out wonderful and was so delicious. The salted butter absolutely makes it, too.
How did you make it in the crock pot?
Do you think this is crockpot-able? (It would be nice to wake up to.)
It would certainly be worth a try! I’m afraid I’m not that well-versed in overnight crockpot cooking so I don’t know if it would be cooked to smithereens or not, but please let me know how it goes if you try it!
Question… I’ve heard that “light” coconut milk is simply regular coconut milk cut with water by half. Is that the case? If so, then one could use 1/4 cup regular coconut milk, and add another 1/4 cup of milk, and have an even more budget friendly dish!
*water… add another 1/4 water. Oops!
I don’t know, Erynn! I’m sure Google could help you find out. That’s a neat idea.
Can you tell me what this would taste like? Chai tea?
Rice pudding with some chai-style spice. 🙂 Cinnamon and cardamom are the main flavors.
Thank you! I am trying to taste it – hypothetically , before I make it 😉