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Nana Serb's Sunday Rice Pudding

Name: Nana Serb's Sunday Rice Pudding
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 1 h 50 min
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 100g pudding rice; 850ml whole milk; 50g caster sugar; 1 vanilla pod, or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; Freshly grated nutmeg; A small knob of butter

Birmingham, England

15 min prep · 1 hr 50 min cook · Dessert

The story

“Every Sunday after church, Nana Serb put this pudding in the oven before we sat down for lunch. By the time we reached dessert, the house smelled of vanilla and nutmeg. She never measured a thing — she simply knew. One spoonful still takes us straight back to her kitchen.”

This recipe now belongs to every family who cooks it.

The method

1Heat the oven to 150°C fan. Butter a medium ovenproof dish.
2Add the rice, sugar and vanilla to the dish. Pour in the milk and stir gently.
3Dust generously with nutmeg and dot the surface with butter.
4Bake for 1 hour 45 minutes to 2 hours, stirring once after the first 45 minutes, until the rice is tender and the top is golden.
5Let it stand for ten minutes before serving. Nana Serb always insisted it was best with a little extra nutmeg on top.

A visual guide

See the key stages

Key moments to look for as you cook. Use these visual cues alongside the written method.

Pudding rice, milk, sugar and vanilla stirred together in a buttered cream baking dish — Step 2
Stir the pudding together
The rice, sugar and vanilla should sit in a loose pool of milk before the dish goes anywhere near the oven.

The uncooked rice pudding mixture dusted with nutmeg and dotted with small pieces of butter — Step 3
Add nutmeg and butter
Dust the whole surface with freshly grated nutmeg, then dot over small pieces of butter for a richly flavoured top.

Baked rice pudding with a golden wrinkled nutmeg skin in a cream ceramic dish — Step 4
Look for the golden skin
The rice is ready when it is tender beneath a golden nutmeg skin. Let it stand before serving so the pudding can settle.

Cook's notes & swaps

A little help from the OPR kitchen

These are optional pointers for making the recipe your own while keeping the spirit of the original.

Vanilla

A vanilla pod gives the fullest flavour, but vanilla extract works beautifully too. Use one teaspoon of extract in its place.

The best bit

Do not rush the resting time. Ten minutes lets the pudding settle and gives it that soft, comforting texture Nana Serb loved.

Families who've made this

Add your place at the table.

Cooked Nana Serb's Sunday Rice Pudding? Share a photo or a few words for the families who make it next — and you could be picked for a future OPR live cook-along. Every post is checked by OPR before it appears here.

Helpful answers

Questions about Nana Serb's Sunday Rice Pudding

Which rice should you use for baked rice pudding?

Nana Serb's recipe uses pudding rice. Its short grains soften during the long, gentle bake and give the pudding its comforting texture.

How do you know when the rice pudding is ready?

After 1 hour 45 minutes to 2 hours, the rice should be tender beneath a golden nutmeg skin. Stir it once after the first 45 minutes so it cooks evenly.

Can you use vanilla extract instead of a vanilla pod?

Yes. Replace the vanilla pod with one teaspoon of vanilla extract, as listed in Nana Serb's recipe.

Why should rice pudding rest before serving?

Let it stand for ten minutes after baking. The resting time allows the pudding to settle and develop the soft texture Nana Serb loved.

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