This decadent cinnamon-spiced vegan rice pudding, topped with a thick salted medjool date caramel sauce, is the embodiment of lavishness, and truly a confluence of flavors and sensations that represents the joy and jubilance of the holiday season. Arborio rice, when imbibed with almond and coconut milk, takes on a creamy and full-bodied bite, complimented astoundingly well by the smooth and sea salt flaked date caramel sitting atop it. Really, if you’re looking for an excellent vegan rice pudding recipe that’s as easy to make as it is to eat without being overtly sweet either, then look no further than this one.
“Rice is the best, the most nutritive and unquestionably the most widespread staple in the world.”
– Auguste Escoffier
Make A Medjool Date Caramel Sauce in 5 Minutes!
One of the extraordinary qualities of dates is that when they’re blended into a paste, they taste much like caramel. It makes sense if you think about it: traditionally, caramel is basically just sugar heated to a particular point of caramelization, and really, what fruit is more naturally sugary than a date?
As such, dates are a fantastic and delicious way of procuring a different kind of caramel-y sauce without having to fuss with processed sugars. They have this innate toasty golden brown sugary flavor that really replicates a thicker, more rich caramel.
However, dates alone can’t make this medjool date caramel sauce what it is, a gloriously sweet and rich creamy caramel. In addition to pitted medjool dates, you’ll need a couple other ingredients to temper the sugary dates and truly bring this fruity caramel to fruition.
– Warm Water (for consistency)
– Ground Cinnamon
– Salt
And really, that’s about it! Apart from a food processor, if you have these ingredients on hand, you’re well on your way to making a delicious medjool caramel date sauce.
Step 1: Pitt the Dates, and Then Combine The Ingredients
First things first, pit the medjool dates. For this, you’ll need anywhere from 15 – 20 dates to fill an entire cup, once roughly chopped. After that, add the dates to the food processor, along with the other ingredients (almond milk, coconut yogurt, warm water, ground cinnamon, salt).
Step 2: Process until Desired Thick or Thinness
Now, it’s time to blend everything together until you find that caramel-y consistency. This may be different for everyone. Personally, I like a creamy caramel sauce to be a bit thicker than thin, so I only added 1/2 cup of warm water. But if you’re looking for a finer, thinner medjool date caramel sauce for the top of your vegan rice pudding, by all means experiment by adding increments of 1 tablespoon water to the caramel.
“And the fruits will outdo what the flowers have promised.”
– Francois de Malherbe
How To Succeed at Vegan Rice Pudding: Consistency is Key!
Undoubtedly, finding the right texture of the rice in a rice pudding is one of the most important aspects to successfully procuring this particular dessert. You want the rice to be soft without being mushy; you want it to have a bite without being chewy.
Firstly, making sure that you have a good quality rice is paramount. Arborio, a rice classically used in a risotto, is the perfect vessel for this rice pudding; it absorbs the almond and coconut milk, and so expands into this delectable, unctuous grain that is at once creamy and soft without being too al dente.
Secondly, simmering the rice pudding with the lid on for the first 15 minutes will ensure that the arborio rice can become tender without the pudding reducing too much in volume. It’s only after that quarter of an hour that you’ll remove the lid and let the pudding become a thicker consistency, continuing to cook the rice past al dente in the meanwhile.
Follow these pointers and your rice should be perfectly pillowy grains of delicious vegan rice pudding goodness.
“Rice is great if you’re really hungry and want to eat two thousand of something.”
– Mitch Hedberg
A Little Bite Goes A Long Way
My second mom, Victoria, first “veganized” this rice pudding recipe for me a couple months ago, by swapping out whole milk for almond milk. Since, I have been hooked on the idea of finding a new expression of rice pudding that is completely different, yet inspired by that initial recipe.
Eventually, I muddled together this a vegan rice pudding recipe. One of the best parts about this recipe is that it isn’t overtly sweet. The grainy flavors of the starchy arborio come through primarily, and it’s really up to the date caramel to take the center stage for sweetness. But because of this, you can choose how sweet you want the pudding by adding more or less of the date caramel.
Even though this rice pudding is not on its own incredibly sweet, a smaller serving will go a long way. The combination of both the plump arborio rice, creamy coconut milk and sugary dates makes each mouthful not only a rich and inviting experience, but also a filling one. As such, the sea salt flakes atop the date caramel are incredibly important: they help to cut through the sweetness of date caramel, bring out the flavor of everything else, and really ground this dessert more than it would be otherwise.
“What’s this about rice milk? I didn’t even know rice had nipples!”
– Demetri Martin
More Vegan Holiday Recipes
“Take a nap
Making the mountain water
Pound the rice.”– Kobayashi Issa
A Vegan Rice Pudding Rice with Medjool Date Caramel Sauce
This vegan rice pudding utilizes the potent creaminess of coconut milk alongside the lighter, more-for-volume utility of almond milk. You could also use another non-dairy plant-based milk in its stead, of course. And the cinnamon stick, when thrown in with the coconut and almond milk, imbues the entire pudding with a subtle and succulent cinnamon flavor that is reinforced by additional ground cinnamon in both the pudding and the caramel. It really is quite magical when eaten all at once with the date caramel, too.
Really, this is a perfect vegan rice pudding for the holiday season, and for any time where you are craving a delicious, decedent dessert that is filling and wholesome and delightful to eat!
“Peace is achieved with rice and salt, not with katanas and arrows.”
– Uesugi Kenshin
Did you enjoy this vegan rice pudding with a medjool date caramel sauce? Then consider leaving me a comment and recipe rating before you go!
Cinnamon Rice Pudding with Salted Date Caramel
Equipment
- Food Processor
Ingredients
- 1 cup + 2 tablespoons unsweetened almond milk
- 1 (13.66 oz.) can coconut milk, regular or lite
- ½ cup arborio rice
- ¼ cup sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 whole cinnamon stick
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon
For the Salted Date Caramel
- 1 cup Medjool dates, roughly chopped
- 2 – 3 tablespoons warm water
- 2 tablespoons plain unsweetened coconut yogurt
- 2 tablespoons almond milk
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Dash of salt
- Dash of sea salt flakes, as garnish
Instructions
- Add the almond milk, coconut milk, arborio rice, sugar, salt and cinnamon stick to a medium pot, and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to low, cover the pot with a lid, and let the rice pudding simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Meanwhile, make the salted date caramel by combining roughly chopped dates, warm water, coconut yogurt, almond milk, ground cinnamon and salt together in a food processor until very smooth. Add more water for a thinner consistency of the caramel, if you'd like. Store the caramel in an air-tight container in the fridge until you're ready to use it. Helpful tip: If you're planning to double this recipe, don't double the date caramel ingredients. I actually had an excess of date caramel, but better too much than too little.
- After the rice pudding has simmered for 15 minutes covered and the rice is becoming more al dente, uncover the pot and continue simmering the pudding on a low heat for 7 – 10 minutes, until the mixture has thickened and the rice is perfectly tender without being mushy.
- Remove the rice pudding from the heat, and take out the cinnamon stick. Gently fold in the vanilla extract and ground cinnamon, and then transfer the pudding to a bowl. Let the rice pudding cool for about 15 minutes uncovered, and then cover and store in the fridge until it's entirely chilled, about 2 – 3 hours.
- Now you're ready to serve it! Scoop some rice pudding into some kind of fancy cup or glass, top it with a dollop of date caramel, and then sprinkle on some sea salt flakes.
Video
Nutrition
May you have good food in good company,
That Vegan Nephew
Yum
Indeed! 😀
This was wonderful. Thank you Vegan Nephew for another delightful dessert.