Recipe · Dessert · Lima and criolla cooking
Arroz con leche
Short-grain rice cooked with cinnamon, cloves and orange zest, then in sweetened milk until it is a cream that still flows. On its own or with mazamorra.
- About 900 g: 6 small bowls or 4 large ones
- About 1 hour, served lukewarm (estimate)
- Easy
- Vegetarian, judging by the ingredients
A familiar rice pudding, with a Peruvian scent: cinnamon, cloves and orange zest. In Lima, it is often served alongside mazamorra morada, in the same bowl.
The Peruvian version
Rice pudding exists in many countries. According to Wikipedia, the Peruvian version combines milk, condensed milk, sugar, orange zest, raisins, cloves, cinnamon and vanilla, sometimes coconut. Served half and half with mazamorra morada, it becomes the clásico or the combinado; between two layers of mazamorra, it is called “bandera peruana”, the Peruvian flag. Panchita’s menu offers it this way under the name “el favorito”.
Why short-grain rice
Short-grain rice releases its starch as it cooks: that is what binds the milk and gives the creamy texture. This version first cooks the rice in the scented water, then finishes it in the milk, so that the rice is tender before the milk reduces too much.
Our version
Two adjustments make it work: the sugar, to measure according to your taste, and the moment you stop cooking. The cream thickens a great deal in the fridge: stop while it is still runny.
Ingredients
Cooking the rice in the milk depends on evaporation: if you double the quantities in the same saucepan, the time changes. The quantities are therefore not recalculated automatically.
About 900 g: 6 small bowls or 4 large ones
Estimated preparation time
- Active time
- 15 minutes
- Cooking
- 35 to 40 minutes over a low heat
- Resting
- 20 minutes to cool slightly, longer to serve it cold
- Total
- About 1 hour, served lukewarm
Techniques: Simmering.
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Useful equipment
- A heavy-based saucepan of about 20 cm
- A wooden spoon
Method
- Rinse the rice quickly. Put it in the saucepan with 500 ml of water, the cinnamon stick, the cloves, the zest and the salt. Bring to a simmer.
- Cook over a low heat, uncovered, for 15 to 18 minutes, stirring from time to time, until the rice is tender and the water has almost all been absorbed.
- Remove the zest, the cinnamon and the cloves (count them). Pour in the milk and sugar, and the raisins if you are using them.
- Simmer over a very low heat for about 20 minutes, stirring often and scraping the bottom so that it does not stick, until the mixture is creamy.
- Stop cooking while the rice is still runny, like a loose porridge: it thickens a great deal as it cools. Taste and adjust the sugar.
- Serve lukewarm, dusted with ground cinnamon, or cool quickly and then chill to serve it cold.
Signs of success
- At the end of cooking, a spoon drawn across the bottom of the saucepan leaves a trail that closes slowly.
- The grains are tender and whole, bound by a white cream, with no burnt layer at the bottom.
- Cold, the dessert holds on the spoon without being stodgy: if it is too thick, loosen it with a little milk.
Precautions
- The bottom of the saucepan catches quickly once the milk is added: a very low heat, and stir often.
Allergens identified
Present: milk.
Always check the labels of the products you buy (sauces, stocks, chilli pastes).
Variations and tips
- The “clásico” or “combinado”: half arroz con leche, half mazamorra morada in the same bowl; according to Wikipedia, the name comes from Lima’s football clásico.
- Richer: replace part of the sugar with sweetened condensed milk, as in many Peruvian recipes.
- With grated coconut, added at the end of cooking.
Reasonable substitutions
- Plant-based milk (oat, rice): the texture will be less creamy and the taste different; it is an adaptation.
- Long-grain rice: it releases less starch and gives a less creamy dessert.
Storage
- A rice dessert follows the rule for cooked rice: cooled within an hour of cooking, kept in the fridge, eaten within 24 hours, reheated only once to 70 °C at the core for 2 minutes.
Going further
Sources and dates
2 sources
Prices, opening hours and rules change: every piece of information cited links to its source, with the date it was consulted.
Figures and rules cited
- cooled within an hour of cooking, kept in the fridge, eaten within 24 hours, reheated only once to 70 °C at the core for 2 minutes: Storing cooked rice (United Kingdom)
Official source: NHS, starchy foods and carbohydrates (reviewed on 15 March 2023) (new tab) , published on 15 March 2023 · consulted on 3 October 2026
Sources consulted
- Wikipedia (Spanish), Arroz con leche (Peruvian version, “clásico” with mazamorra) (new tab) (consulted on 3 October 2026)
- Panchita, dessert menu (“El favorito”, arroz con leche and mazamorra morada) (new tab) (consulted on 3 October 2026)
How we choose and date our information: our method. Has something changed? Let us know.