Colombian arroz con leche has coconut in it. That is the short answer to what separates it from the Spanish and Mexican versions, which are otherwise built the same way, and it is worth knowing before you start.
Rice is simmered soft in water first, then finished in milk with shredded coconut, raisins and cinnamon. It is served after breakfast or in the afternoon, and it is sold on the street in cups with condensed milk poured over the top.
Water first, then milk
This is the part of the method that matters most, and it is easy to get backwards.
The rice cooks for half an hour in plain water, with the sugar or panela, until it is genuinely soft. Only then does the milk go in, along with the coconut, raisins and cinnamon, for a final 15 minutes.
The reason is that rice softens faster and more evenly in water. Milk has fat and sugars in it that slow the grain down and scorch on the bottom of the pot over a long cook. Once the milk is in, the rice barely softens any further, so whatever texture it had when the milk went in is roughly what you are going to eat.
Not a slow cooker
Worth saying plainly, because the wording trips people up. This is cooked on the stove, in a heavy-bottomed pot, over medium heat. The heavy base is what stops the milk catching.
An electric slow cooker will not give you this in forty-five minutes; it works over four to eight hours and has no medium heat setting. If you have seen this recipe describe a slow cooker, that is a translation of a Spanish phrase for cooking gently in a pot, not a reference to the appliance.
Sugar or panela
The recipe gives you the choice, and they are not the same thing. Panela is unrefined whole cane sugar, sold as a hard block in Latin groceries, and it carries a molasses flavour that white sugar has none of. It makes a darker, rounder pudding.
A quarter of a standard block weighs around 115 grams, which sweetens about the same as the half cup of sugar. Chop it or grate it before it goes in, or it will sit at the bottom of the pot refusing to dissolve.
Grains that stay hard
The recipe warns against rice that turns out vidrioso, glassy. It is a useful word with no direct English equivalent, and it describes the most common failure of this dish.
A grain that has cooked properly swells and turns opaque and soft all the way through. A glassy grain stays translucent, with a firm little core that never softens. It happens when the rice goes into the milk too early, or when the heat is high enough to boil the outside before the middle catches up.
So the test at the end of the water stage is simple: bite one. If there is any resistance in the centre, give it longer before the milk goes anywhere near it.
Stirring, and the milk climbing the pot
The last 15 minutes need attention. Stir constantly, or at least often, because the starch released by the rice settles and burns on the base, and a burnt bottom flavours the whole pot.
If the milk starts climbing the sides, turn the heat down or take the pot off entirely for a moment. Milk boils over faster than almost anything else, and there is no recovering the pudding once it has gone up the walls and onto the hob.
Making it creamier, or fixing it if it is runny
For a richer pudding, replace some of the milk with evaporated milk or cream, or stir a few spoonfuls of condensed milk in at the end. Condensed milk is also what street vendors pour over the top, so it is not a departure from tradition.
If it comes out too loose, carry on cooking it gently until the milk reduces, or dissolve a tablespoon of cornstarch in a little cold water and stir that in. Keep stirring either way.
Bear in mind that it thickens a great deal as it cools. Something that looks slightly too loose in the pot will be right once it is cold, and something that looks perfect hot will be stiff from the fridge.
Hot or cold, and what to eat with it
Both are normal and people have firm opinions. Warm, it is looser and more comforting. Cold, it sets thicker and the cinnamon comes forward. A dusting of cinnamon over each serving is standard either way.
It is eaten on its own, or with cookies, toast or bread and cheese alongside, the way you would have a cup of coffee or hot chocolate.
Other Colombian rice dishes
- Coconut rice — savoury, and the other place coconut turns up in Colombian rice cookery.
- Coca-Cola rice — the festive sweet-and-savoury one, with raisins.
- Manjar blanco — the other classic Colombian milk dessert.
Colombian Rice Pudding FAQ
Shredded coconut, mainly. Spanish and Mexican arroz con leche are milk, rice, cinnamon and sugar; the Colombian version adds coconut and raisins, and often uses panela instead of white sugar. It is also street food there, sold in cups with condensed milk poured over the top.
Because rice softens faster and more evenly in water. Milk contains fat and sugars that slow the grain down and catch on the bottom of the pot over a long cook. Half an hour in water gets the rice soft, and the last 15 minutes in milk is what turns it into pudding.
Unrefined whole cane sugar, sold in hard blocks in Latin groceries, with a molasses flavour that white sugar does not have. A quarter of a standard block is around 115 g, which sweetens about the same as the half cup of sugar. Chop or grate it so it dissolves.
That is what the recipe calls vidrioso, glassy: grains that stay translucent and firm instead of swelling and turning opaque. It happens when the rice goes into the milk before it has softened in the water, or when the heat is too high. Once milk is in the pot the grain barely softens further.
For creamier, swap some of the milk for evaporated milk or cream, or stir in condensed milk at the end. If it is too loose, keep cooking gently so the milk reduces, or add a tablespoon of cornstarch dissolved in cold water. Remember it thickens a lot as it cools.
Both, and Colombians disagree about it. Warm from the pot it is looser and more comforting; refrigerated it sets thicker and the cinnamon comes forward. Street vendors sell it cold in cups. If you plan to chill it, stop cooking while it still looks slightly loose.
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup rice (short or medium grain gives a creamier result)
- 500 ml milk (about 2 cups)
- ¼ cup raisins (more or fewer, as you like)
- ¼ cup shredded coconut (unsweetened; this is the Colombian touch)
- ½ cup sugar, or ¼ of a panela block (a quarter block is roughly 115 g / 4 oz, about the same sweetness as the sugar)
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 4 cups water
Notas
Instructions
- In a heavy-bottomed pot, bring the 4 cups of water to the boil over medium heat. This is stovetop cooking, not an electric slow cooker.
- When the water boils, add the rice and the sugar or panela. Carry on cooking for about half an hour, until the rice is soft.
- Add the milk, the raisins, the coconut and the cinnamon. Cook for another 15 minutes.
- Stay with it and stir constantly so the rice does not catch on the bottom. If the milk starts to climb the sides of the pot, turn the heat down or off. What you are avoiding is grains that stay translucent and firm in the middle: they should swell and turn opaque and soft.
- Serve it however you like it, hot or cold.
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