Brown rice pudding recipe is a healthier way to enjoy rice pudding for breakfast, without the guilt! Naturally sweetened with mashed bananas (and an optional honey drizzle), it's great for adults and toddlers!
I'm pulling this recipe for brown rice pudding out of the archives, dusting it off, and proclaiming it baby food. But also: Mama food, too. Belly-pleasing, soul-soothing, and perfect when Mama and baby both have a cold but one of us still has to take care of the other one.
Yikes, friends, it's been a long week.
You know it's bad when you don't mind when baby wakes up in the middle of the night because at least you get to sit in her room with the humidifier. I'm telling you--a humidifier is amazing. I'm not sure the science behind it, but anytime Camille has a runny nose, I crank that thing all the way up during her nap and she's almost instantly better.
Whole grain baby food.
But let's talk whole grains.
When Camille was an itty bitty baby (ok, 7-8 months old), she would eat all kinds of grains because I pureed them. Oats were easy, amaranth was common, barley, millet, quinoa--it all went in her belly. It made me so happy. Whole grains are some of the healthiest foods for you--rich in B vitamins and great for your blood sugar. Fast forward to today, and I now have an awesome eater (seriously, she ate sauerkraut the other day and begged for more)...but she is VERY into feeding herself. I can hardly offer her a bite of anything. We're definitely in the 'do it myself' phase.
This is troublesome for whole grains. She can't quite wield a spoon, and so picking up tiny grains of quinoa or brown rice is near impossible. How are we supposed to get the good stuff in their bellies, Mamas?
Now that she's over the age of 1 and can handle a small amount of texture, porridge came to mind. Slow cooked whole grain porridge, especially this delicious brown rice pudding.
Brown rice pudding is a healthy take on rice pudding.
I had a pot of leftover brown rice from the night before, and I remembered this recipe from my archives. It is perfectly suitable for baby because it has no added sugar--just a mashed banana. You can top it with honey or maple syrup, if you like. I am unbelievably thrilled that Camille can eat honey now--isn't that silly?
If your baby isn't quite ready for the texture of this brown rice pudding, make it with powdered oatmeal or powdered rice cereal. If your babe is younger than 1, don't use honey. Never give honey to infants, ok?
When Camille was under 1, she ate this brown rice pudding sweetened with nothing but mashed banana. The maple syrup or honey on top is really just for me.
This brown rice pudding is easy to throw together with leftover rice. I always cook double the amount of brown rice I need when I'm making stir-fry for dinner during the week. A little milk (or whatever nut you squeeze hard enough to get a milk-like substance out of), a drizzle of honey, and your favorite fruit and nuts to top. A handful of this, a handful of that. It's warm, filling, and a totally guilt-free dessert for breakfast.
We're working on our iron levels, since we're not big meat-eaters in our house. Dried figs and pumpkin seeds are great vegetarian sources of iron for mom and baby!
Mix up the fruit and nuts for your topping, but don't leave out the mashed banana for sweetness and texture---it makes the rice pudding creamy without cream.
Rice baby food recipes
If you're looking for more baby food recipes, I have an entire section of the site devoted to them: Baby Food Recipes. I also have a great ebook that will help you ease into feeding babes solid foods when they're ready: Hip Hip Purée: My Recipes for Feeding Bébé.
I'm a big proponent of whole grains for babies. I used the fortified cereal powders a lot when Camille was little. I prefer to buy the organic boxed version of powdered baby cereal because they're fortified with vitamins and minerals. I've seen some recipes on the internet for grinding your own grains for baby cereal, and I really they're missing nutritional components.
The baby cereals we loved were made by Earth's Best.
Fortified food products are an important part of our lives. Grocery store items like parboiled rice, fortified milk, juice, and cereals make it easy to make sure we hit our recommended daily requirements for nutrition.
Breakfast Rice Pudding
A brown rice pudding that's perfect for breakfast
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups cooked brown rice (cold)
- 1 cup milk (any kind)
- 1 tablespoon butter
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 banana (half mashed, half sliced)
- garnishes: dried fruits, nuts, extra honey
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, combine the brown rice, milk, butter, and cinnamon. Bring to a gentle simmer, stirring occasionally.
- Stir in the mashed banana half and the honey. Cook about 1 minute to thicken.
- Divide between two bowls, and top with your choice of garnishes and the remaining banana slices. I used dried Mission figs and pepitas for the photos.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
2Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 569Total Fat: 17gSaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 10gCholesterol: 25mgSodium: 156mgCarbohydrates: 98gFiber: 7gSugar: 45gProtein: 12g
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Such a great idea, love this! This would definitely start my day out right :)
Melanie | Melanie Makes says
Would love to add this to our morning routine as a new choice for the menagerie - so clever!
serene @ house of yumm says
I love breakfast! This is absolutely my kind of meal too. Looks gorgeous!
Joanie @ Zagleft says
What a wonderful way to start the day, with a beautiful bowl of breakfast rice pudding. This looks so good!
Meg @ With Salt and Wit says
Can I tell you how genius it is to start your day with warm rice pudding? Mine usually starts with oats but I would love to switch it up; especially since I am making a big batch of brown rice today!
PS can we still have mimosas with this? I think so.
Sonia says
Sounds great but surely it should be stressed no nuts for such a youngster.
Christina Lane says
My pediatrician recommended any and all nuts-even though we have nut allergies in the family. The thinking on allergies has changed, and the stuff in Internet message boards is wildly outdated. Talk with your doctor first though! My doctor said avoidance is causing the allergies.
Jenifer John says
Thank you, thank you, thank you !!!
My fussy eater and it`s so hard to find something that he will like. I tried this yesterday and the miracle happened :)
Kirstin says
I might try these spoons for my 12 month old... have you heard of/tried them?
http://www.amazon.com/Num-100-NumNum-Pre-Spoon-GOOtensil/dp/B00GM52N0M
Josie says
Thank you for your recipe. I altered it to fit a low FODMAP diet.
Lactose free milk, nuttelex and pure maple syrup instead of honey.
Absolutely delicious!
Rita says
Do you think I could use white rice on FodMap?
Christina Lane says
I do, just decrease the baking time. I'm finding myself eating more white rice than brown these days too :)
Ambee says
This looks so yummy! Do you have any tips for making large amounts of grains or puddings for babies? My little one LOVES her oatmeal, I want to explore other things with her, but could you freeze something like this? Or make it easier for small batches?