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Lilac Rice Pudding

Rice pudding is a creamy, delicious bit of homemade comfort food. Make it sing of the spring season by making a lilac rice pudding that is sure to please.

A bowl of lilac rice pudding with a spoon and text overlay.

Eating Lilacs

Lilacs blossoms are indeed edible and delicious. They also do not taste like they smell. If you’ve eaten lavender – you know it tastes quite a bit like it smells. Lilac flavor is much milder than it’s perfume implies.

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Make It Quick

This recipe requires already cooked, leftover rice. A little planning means this can be made rather quickly. Cook extra rice for dinner tonight and use the leftovers for lilac rice pudding tomorrow. If no leftover rice is on hand, simply cook the rice than proceed with the rest of the recipe.

Use Only the Blossoms

Only use the blossoms, the flowers not the stems or leaves here. The stems can be a little bitter, so for this recipe simply snip or the pull lilac blossoms from their stems and collect in a bowl until ready to use.  The snipping of the lilac blossoms does take a little bit of time, but is not hard work and in fact, can be a nice way to relax on the porch for a bit.

A bucket of fresh lilac blossoms on stems and a bowl of blossom snipped from branches.

Recipe Adaptations

Use any cooked rice favored in your household. I generally use short-grain brown rice but whatever you have on hand will work. Use regular dairy milk or some nut alternative as desired or required for dietary considerations. Honey could easily be switched for the maple syrup as a sweetener.

A bowl of lilac rice pudding garnished with a branch of fresh lilac blossoms.
Yield: 4 Servings

Lilac Rice Pudding

Lilac rice pudding in a bowl with lilac garnish.

Use the gorgeous and edible blooms of spring in a tasty and comforting dessert with this delicious and beautiful lilac rice pudding.

Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Chill Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 35 minutes

Ingredients

  • 4 Cups Milk (cow, goat, rice, coconut, almond - any will do)
  • 1 ½ Cups Cooked Rice (brown, white, etc.)
  • ⅓ Cup Maple Syrup
  • 3 Tablespoons Cornstarch
  • 1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
  • 1 Cup Lilac Blossoms (1/2 ounce by weight)

Instructions

  1. In a saucepan, whisk together the milk, maple syrup, and cornstarch. Add the rice and whisk to break up any clumps.
  2. Over medium heat bring the mixture to a light simmer. Turn down the heat to medium low and cook for about 18 minutes. Stir frequently to prevent scorching. At this point, the mixture to coat the back of spoon thickly.
  3. Add the lilac blossoms and vanilla extract, stir well. Cook another 2 minutes.
  4. Remove from heat and pour into serving dish and refrigerate. The pudding will thicken more as it cools.
  5. Serve chilled.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

4

Serving Size:

1

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 303Total Fat: 5gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 20mgSodium: 132mgCarbohydrates: 53gFiber: 0gSugar: 17gProtein: 10g

We try our best but cannot guarantee that nutrition information is 100% accurate.

Did you make this recipe?

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Linda

Thursday 4th of June 2020

Is there any other flowers you could use in this pudding, lilacs are all done where I am, sadly.

Heidi C

Wednesday 3rd of June 2020

Can arrowroot powder be substituted for cornstarch in an equal amount? I love rice pudding!

Barbara

Friday 26th of May 2023

@Heidi C, For anyone wondering, I tried it with arrowroot powder instead of cornstarch and it works great

Kathie Lapcevic

Wednesday 3rd of June 2020

Probably. I haven't tested it in this recipe but it does generally work for most things.

Susannah

Sunday 12th of March 2017

I had no idea you could eat lilacs! Thanks for this terrific recipe!

Kourtney

Sunday 29th of May 2016

Rice pudding is also one of my favorites, and this sounds like an excellent way to make it more glam and restful at the same time. I can't wait to try this recipe when our lilac blooms!

Homespun Seasonal Living

Monday 30th of May 2016

And we all need more glam now and then, don't we? Enjoy it!

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