Nourishing coconut brown rice pudding! Made in a slow cooker with only 5 ingredients (excluding water and salt), it is both vegan and gluten-free.

coconut brown rice pudding in a Mexican dish with a wooden spoon

Nourishing Rice Pudding for Breakfast or Dessert

People fall into two camps with rice pudding: love or hate.

I am squarely in the love camp.

But I’ve made a discovery: if the aforementioned haters like oatmeal, and they are served the same rice pudding for breakfast, they move–or at least take several significant steps–over to the love camp.

So, for the time, being, let’s forget about calling this dessert. This especially-plain, hands-free brown rice wonder is a breakfast for champions: rich, yet frugal, and nutritious, yet satisfying.

How to Make Nourishing Brown Rice Pudding

Here’s how you make it: throw all of the ingredients in a slow cooker and walk away. A few hours later, you have this:

close up of a bowl of brown rice pudding studded with dried apricots and cranberries

One essential characteristic of any worthy rice pudding is creaminess: it should have a silky richness without being soupy. The rice should be plump and tender, too. That’s why this rendition needs to go on your must-make list.

What is Used to Sweeten the Rice Pudding?

This humble pudding is not too sweet either: both the brown rice and coconut milk have a natural sweetness, so roughly two tablespoons of added sweetener is all that’s needed.

I used coconut sugar, but any sweetener will do; maple syrup, brown sugar, honey (if you are not vegan) are equally satisfying options.

I am fond of the convenience of dried fruit, but feel free to omit it and top with seasonal fresh fruits. I can attest that summer blackberries and chunky, autumn-spiced applesauce are equally spoon-worthy toppings.

You are so welcome :).

close up of a wooden spoon full of coconut brown rice pudding

Happy eating!

Nourishing Coconut Brown Rice Pudding {vegan, gluten-free, 5 ingredients}

Cook Time: 4 hours
Total Time: 4 hours
Servings: 4 cups pudding

Ingredients

1 cup medium or short-grain brown rice
1 14- ounce can lite coconut milk
2 and 1/4 cups water
2 tablespoons coconut sugar or sweetener of choice
1 teaspoon ground cardamom or ginger or cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 cup chopped dried fruit I used apricots and cranberries

Method

Stir together all of the the ingredients in a slow cooker.
Cook on low setting for 3-1/2 to 4 hours until the brown rice grains are plump and tender and almost all of the liquid is absorbed. Serve warm or cool completely.