Jump to Recipe Jump to Video Print Recipe

This creamy rice pudding is baked gently in the oven until thick, tender, and beautifully comforting — no burnt pots or constant stirring required. It’s the easiest way to make a classic dessert, and the caramelised pears on top take it to another level. If you don’t have pears, sliced apples or bananas work just as well. With just a few pantry staples, you’ll have a dessert that’s warm, nostalgic, and always a crowd-pleaser.

If you love cozy sweets with rich caramel notes, you might also enjoy my German Apple Cake with Caramel Frosting — it’s another simple treat that works beautifully as a dessert.

A close-up of creamy oven-baked rice pudding served with golden caramelised pears in a black bowl.

Creamy Rice Pudding with Caramelised Pears

Prep Time: 10

Cook Time: 1 30

Servings: 4 servings

This oven-baked rice pudding turns out beautifully creamy without any stovetop stirring! Paired with golden caramelised pears, it’s a comforting, old-fashioned dessert that everyone loves.

Print Recipe

Ingredients

For the Rice Pudding

⅓ cup arborio or short-grain rice 70g
600 ml full cream milk
2-3 tablespoons sugar I used 3
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
30 g butter dotted on top
Extra butter for greasing the dish

For the Caramelised Pears

6 medium pears peeled and sliced thickly
30 g butter
½ cup brown sugar approx. 80g
¼ cup cream approx. 70ml

Instructions

Rice Pudding

Lightly butter a casserole dish with a lid (or you can use foil).
In the dish, stir together rice, milk, sugar, and vanilla. Dot the top with butter. Cover with lid or foil.
Bake at 150°C/300°F fan (170°C/340°F conventional) with the lid on. After 30 minutes in the oven, give it a gentle stir.
Bake another 30 minutes with the lid on. Then remove the lid, check the rice to see if it is almost tender, if it's still hard for some reason (it shouldn't be) return to the oven covered until the rice is almost tender.
Then bake, uncovered for 30 minutes more. Stir once halfway through the uncovered time, checking consistency, adding more milk if required.
Once the pudding has finished cooking, let it sit, covered, for 10 minutes — it will thicken beautifully.

Caramelised Pears

Melt the butter in a fry pan, once the butter is foaming and sizzling add the pears and cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally for between 5 – 10 minutes, until tender, but still holding their shape, and showing some lovely golden-brown colour.
Add brown sugar and cream to the pears. Simmer gently for 2–3 minutes until the sauce thickens to your liking. If you need to, you can add a touch more cream (1-2 tablespoons). Cover and keep warm until ready to use.

Serve

Spoon the warm pudding into bowls and top with caramelised pears and sauce. I love the addition of a bit of cream on the side.

Video

Notes

Pears not your thing? You can use thinly sliced or small diced apples or bananas instead. If using bananas, fry them first just for a minute or two in the butter. Then add the sugar and cream. Just don’t overcook them — they can go mushy.
Rice pudding too thick? Just stir through a little extra milk or cream.
Serving Tip: This dessert is perfect warm, but leftovers are lovely cold too.
Make Ahead: You can prepare the pears ahead of time and gently rewarm them before serving.
Caramelised Pears: Are so delicious just served by themselves with cream or ice-cream or with pancakes or crepes.

Creamy Rice Pudding with Caramelised Pears – Baked in the Oven