Coconut & Mango Rice Pudding

The creamiest coconut & vanilla rice pudding served with a sweet mango & lime compote and a sprinkle of toasted pistachios.

This coconut & mango rice pudding is creamy, sweet & delicious! We’re slow cooking the rice in coconut milk & some really good vanilla then topping it with a tangy mango & lime compote and some toasted pistachios. It’s a tropical version of the classic British dessert & it’s super easy to make!

For more homemade desserts, take a look at our collection of dessert recipes! There’s lots to choose from here, from homemade ice creams, to pies, tarts, panna cottas, cookie dough & loads more. 

What You’ll Need

• Pudding Rice – This is a starchy, short grain white rice that makes the creamiest rice pudding! Arborio rice will also work but will need a bit more milk, as it absorbs more liquid.
• Coconut Milk – We’re using full fat coconut milk, to make our rice pudding as creamy as possible.
• Milk & Cream – As well as coconut milk, the rice pudding uses whole milk & double cream.
• Sugar – You’ll need caster sugar for both the rice pudding & mango compote.
• Vanilla – We’re using a teaspoon of vanilla paste for the mango compote & half a vanilla pod for the rice pudding (or another teaspoon of vanilla paste).
• Mango – Fresh mango is best for the mango compote but frozen will work as well.
• Lime – We’re adding some fresh lime juice to the mango compote then finishing the rice pudding with some lime zest.
• Cornflour – Used to thicken the compote. We make a slurry with cornflour & cold water then stir it into the mango.
• Pistachios – I sprinkled some toasted & chopped pistachios on top of my rice pudding but this is optional!

Coconut Rice Pudding

This rice pudding is started on the stove top then moved to a low temperature oven to finish cooking. This makes a creamier rice pudding that only needs to be stirred occasionally, so it’s a much more hands off way of cooking than when you cook it on the stove.

How To Cook Coconut Rice Pudding

1. Add butter into a pan, melt over a medium heat then add in pudding rice & caster sugar, stirring to coat.
2. Next, add in coconut milk, whole milk, double cream, vanilla & a pinch of salt then bring to a simmer, stirring regularly.
3. Cover the pan with a lid then transfer to an oven that’s been preheated to 120°c/248°f. Cook for 1-1½ hours, stirring every 20 minutes until the rice is thick, creamy & tender.
4. Once cooked, let the rice pudding stand for a couple of minutes then serve!

Mango Compote

We’re topping our coconut rice pudding with a simple mango compote. This is super easy to prepare & will keep for several days in the fridge, so can be made ahead of time. Once cooked, we let the compote cool then store it in the fridge until we need it.

To make our mango compote, we peel the skin off a couple of fresh mangoes then cut the flesh into 2cm chunks. Next, we add the diced mango into a saucepan with caster sugar, lime juice, vanilla paste & a pinch of sea salt then cook over a medium-low heat until the fruit is soft. Then to thicken up the compote, we stir in a cornflour slurry (cornflour mixed with cold water) & cook out for a minute or two.

How To Prepare Fresh Mango

There’s a few different ways to prepare a fresh mango but this is the way that I find the easiest! If you’d prefer, you could prep your mango the classic way, where you dice the flesh then scoop it out of the skin.

Keep in mind that mangoes are super juicy so can become quite slippery as you cut them, so it’s best to wipe up any excess juice with kitchen paper when needed.

1. First, use a sharp knife to cut the skin off from the outside of the mango. If you’ve got a really sharp peeler, this will work as well.
2. Next, cut one of the thicker sides of the flesh off, cutting as close to the pit as possible. Set this to one side.
3. Turn the mango over so that it’s sitting on the flat side (where you just cut the flesh off) then cut off the 2 thinner sides of flesh.
4. Turn the mango over again then cut the last side of flesh off.
5. If needed, trim any last bits of mango away from the pit.
6. Cut the flesh into chunks & discard the pit.

Tips & Tricks

• For the creamiest coconut rice pudding, use full fat coconut milk, whole milk & double (heavy) cream.
• When making the mango compote, use mangoes that are just ripe. If they’re too ripe, the pieces of mango won’t keep their shape once cooked.
• Flavour the rice pudding with some really good vanilla! I used half a vanilla pod, with the seeds scraped out but a teaspoon of vanilla paste will work as well.
• Cook the rice pudding in a low temperature oven, stirring every 20 minutes or so. A long, slow cook makes the creamiest rice pudding & means that it won’t catch on the bottom of the pan.
• Add a good pinch of sea salt into the rice pudding. This might seem strange but it really helps enhance the flavour of the pudding.

Frequently Asked Questions

More Dessert Recipes To Try!

• Greek Yogurt Panna Cotta With Poached Rhubarb
• Banana Sticky Toffee Pudding With Miso Caramel
• Blackberry Frozen Yogurt
• Lemon & Lime Possets With Ginger Crumble
• Mango & Coconut Ice Cream
• Amaretto Tiramisu

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