Vegan Lebanese Rice Pudding (Riz Bi Haleeb)

Delicious and easy to make Lebanese rice pudding aka riz bi haleeb is a fragrant and creamy dessert. Flavored with orange blossom, naturally sweetened and gluten free using dairy free milk.

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Jump to:

• What is Lebanese Rice Pudding?
• 😋Why You’ll Love This Recipe
• ✔️Ingredients You’ll Need
• 🥄How to Make Lebanese Rice Pudding
• 🌟Pro Tips
• 🥄Variation
• ❓FAQ
• 🥄Other Lebanese Dessert Recipes
• Vegan Lebanese Rice Pudding (Riz Bi Haleeb)

What is Lebanese Rice Pudding?

Known as riz bi haleeb in Arabic which translates to rice in milk.

Riz bi haleeb is pronounced as riz bee ha·leeb

Lebanese rice pudding is quite an easy dessert to prepare and is normally eaten cold. It requires only 7 ingredients, with the main components being white rice and milk.

There are different variations of this riz bi haleeb, which are dependent on the country and region.

Traditionally made with full-fat milk and white sugar. However, this recipe is a healthier vegan version using almond milk and a natural sweetener such as maple syrup.

😋Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• The taste and texture are deliciously creamy
• Very easy to prepare over the stovetop using minimal ingredients, ready in under 30 minutes
• Dietary friendly, vegan, gluten free and naturally sweetened.
• Can be enjoyed as a dessert or for breakfast.

✔️Ingredients You’ll Need

Notes on some of the ingredients, the full list of ingredients and their measurements can be found in the recipe card below.

Unsweetened almond milk or substitute with any of your favorite dairy-free milk.

Note that not all dairy free milk is pure white which may affect the color of your dairy-free rice pudding. See pictures below.

White rice - I prefer to use medium-grain, but you can use short grain also.

Maple syrup or rice malt syrup (affiliate link) you can also use raw sugar granules if you prefer. May affect the color of your pudding.

Orange blossom water or rose water (affiliate links) or use both. Lebanese rice pudding with rose water or orange blossom water is so fragrant.

These flavorings can be found at your local Middle Eastern grocer, or click on the links to shop for them online.

I always use a brand I can trust and my family has been using the Cortas brand which is readily available via Amazon in a duo pack.

Corn starch - (aka Corn flour in AU) acts as the thickener. If you prefer it thicker, add another ½ tablespoon

Water - use filtered water if possible, this is used to parboil the rice and also to dissolve the corn starch before cooking.

🥄How to Make Lebanese Rice Pudding

Step 1 - In a pot over medium heat, add rice and 1 cup of water. Cook rice until par boiled, approximately 6 minutes.

Step 2 -On high heat, add almond milk & maple syrup to parboiled rice, stir through and bring to a boil.

Step 3 - Once boiling, turn the heat down to medium and add cornstarch water (pre-mix corn starch with ¼ cup cold water) and orange blossom water. Allow simmering for around 10 minutes. Stirring continuously slow.

Step 4 - Turn heat to high and allow contents to boil. Once thickened, turn off the heat.

Step 5 - Pour into individual portions and allow to cool at room temperature. Transfer to the fridge to chill. Serve cold, garnish with either crushed pistachio or cinnamon.

In these photos I have portioned them into 175ml bowls (6fl.oz) (affiliate link)

🌟Pro Tips

You could use leftover plain rice, simply skip the first step, this will quicken the process. 

If you are substituting almond milk with oat milk, it's important to note the color may turn out grey.

In winter I like to eat my riz bi haleeb warmed.

Pre mix cornstarch in cold water. In this case, add 2 tablespoons corn starch to a ¼ cup of cold water and mix thoroughly then add into the hot pot. This step will ensure there are no lumps.

Allow Riz Bi Haleeb to fully cool down to room temp, before covering and transferring to the fridge

🥄Variation

Rose water and orange blossom water can be swapped with vanilla or simply left out.

Corn starch can be swapped with potato starch, however, note the color and texture may be different. Also when stored in the fridge, potato starch tends to expel water and the pudding may shrink. Not recommended for storing more than 24 hours.

❓FAQ

🥄Other Lebanese Dessert Recipes

Another creamy milky dessert is called Haytaliyeh vegan Lebanese milk pudding or sahlab which is a sweetened milk drink.

Try this silky milk pudding called Muhallabia or this Lebaense spiced pudding meghli.

Or for other Lebanese desserts try;

• Sfouf Lebanese Turmeric Semolina Cake - A very bright golden cake
• Vegan Meringue with Rose Water - whilst vegan meringue isn't a Lebanese dessert, I have flavored these with Rose Water which is an iconic Lebanese flavoring.
• Baklawa (Lebanese Baklava) which is lighter baklava than others from different cultures.