8 Popular Rice Pudding Brands, Ranked Worst To Best

I know what you're thinking, and no, we didn't warp back to the 1920s, when folks were eating rice pudding like it was going out of style. Actually, the once-archaic dessert is coming back into fashion, and I say it's about time. Bougie restaurants are highlighting different variations, focusing on global recipes and elevated presentations. Upgraded rice pudding is the main attraction on some dessert menus, so this ain't your grandma's recipe that Brooklyn hipsters are chowing down on. There's even a popular rice pudding-only restaurant in NYC that's rumored to be a crime front — I don't think grandma would approve.

Now that rice pudding is getting the trendy restaurant makeover it's long overdue for, it's also time to take a look at convenient options for a late-night sweet treat at home. I picked up some of the most popular rice puddings available at grocery stores in the U.S. to see which brand is worth swapping your usual ice cream pint for. I assessed each brand's flavor, texture, and likeness to homemade in order to rank them from worst to best. Whether it's a simple American recipe or a decadent Latin American-style dessert, the most flavorful, creamy, and balanced rice pudding will earn the top spot, and the boring, bland options will get sent back to the 1920s where they belong (metaphorically).

I don't like the idea of rice pudding from a can; something about the concept is unsettling. When it comes to this can of Ambrosia brand rice pudding, matters are made worse by the packaging design, which looks straight out of the early 20th century. It was even covered in a thin layer of dust when I grabbed it off the shelf at Wegmans. Still, I don't believe that the eerily archaic design or dusty aluminum could have swayed my opinion on this product whatsoever.

The only canned option on this list contains nothing but rice, sugar, and milk. While it's probably the simplest pudding that I tried, there wasn't enough sugar to make it dessert-worthy. It tasted like the health-food version of classic rice pudding, and that would have been fine had there been spices or raisins. The bland recipe was made worse by the unmistakable flavor of the metal can; it was apparent in the aftertaste, with nothing to distract from it.

On top of that, the consistency was all wrong. The pudding at the top of the can was mostly watery milk, while the bottom harbored all the rice, like a weird, mushy secret meant only for those brave enough to make it through the questionable, shelf-stable milk. But perhaps the worst part of this gnarly rice pudding was that the entire thing was light brown in color, despite containing no cinnamon or any other spices. I have so many questions, none of which I want answered, which is why Ambrosia's pudding earned the last-place spot.

PICS rice pudding comes to us from Price Chopper, one of the oldest grocery stores in the United States, found in the Mid-Atlantic and parts of New England. PICS is one of Price Chopper's house brands, so I'll be honest: I didn't expect this hyper-regional chain's unassuming private label to be very good — and I was right. This rice pudding contains milk, rice, sugar, eggs, salt, rice starch, and natural flavor, so it's a fairly standard American-style recipe, albeit the starch is a slightly unique ingredient.

The only thing keeping PICS out of the last-place spot was the fact that it didn't come in a can. Actually, it was almost the exact opposite of Ambrosia in every way, yet still almost as bad. The pudding's texture was jiggly and gelatinous, kind of like a milky Jell-O with tiny chunks floating around. Despite being thick and goopy, it was also somehow very wet — a texture paradox. However, I didn't mind the jiggly, moist consistency as much as I despised the pudding's flavor, which was like a vanilla bomb went off in my mouth. The artificial vanilla flavor was accompanied by way too much sugar and a starchy aftertaste. The intense vanilla and heavy-handed sugar could work in a dessert that incorporates rice pudding as one element, but on its own, it's hard to force down more than a bite or two of this mushy, starchy mess.

Sun Tropics' rice pudding, which I snagged from an upstate New York ShopRite's health food aisle, is the only vegan option on this list. Since it was the odd man out, I compared it to the other puddings somewhat tenuously. The tiny cups of shelf-stable rice pudding come in plain and chocolate flavors and consist of coconut milk, coconut chunks, rice, cane sugar, and other ingredients.

It probably goes without saying, but this product should be avoided by anyone with a strong aversion to coconut. The coconutty profile in both flavors was intense, albeit slightly less so in the chocolate variety. Tiny chunks of tough, chewy coconut meat floated around in the pudding like a poorly planned afterthought. They contrasted with the slightly too-thick pudding, so biting into these chunks was jarring and unpleasant. The preferred chocolate flavor, which reminded me of Swiss Miss hot chocolate, over the boring plain one.

For coconut lovers, this dessert is a solid on-the-go, toss-it-in-a-lunch-box option. Its texture is grainy and rice-heavy, with plenty of thick coconut cream to make it dessert-worthy. However, I found the salt a little heavy-handed and a lack of sugar. When I first sank my spoon into a cup of the plain pudding, I popped a sizable air bubble at the bottom of the plastic cup, revealing significantly less pudding than initially appeared in the already-tiny cup. This could have been bad luck, or it could be a sneaky trick courtesy of Sun Tropics.

This next rice pudding comes to us from New York's favorite grocery store: Wegmans. One of the most important rules to remember before visiting Wegmans is to never shy away from its private-label goods, including its excellent dairy products. I hadn't dabbled in this store-brand rice pudding before, but I'm a big fan of private-label anything and an even bigger fan of Wegmans, so I had high hopes. Ultimately, it didn't excite me, but it wasn't a total letdown, either. Wegmans homestyle rice pudding contains milk, sugar, rice, whole eggs, rice starch, salt, and natural flavor, so I'd consider this a classic American recipe.

There wasn't anything particularly noteworthy about this rice pudding. It was a little too thick at first, but the texture evened out after opening it and giving it a good stir. Since there wasn't any cinnamon in the recipe and very little vanilla, it could only be described as "milk-flavored." The bland recipe showcased the one ingredient that did have some bold flavor, egg yolk, although I kind of wish it had been more subtle. It was a bit too sweet, but the rice was a nice consistency, right in between firm and mushy. Doctored up, this pudding could make a great base for an indulgent dessert, but on its own, it was extremely mid, thus earning the middle spot in this ranking.

Goya is king when it comes to Latin American packaged foods sold in the U.S., so I expected something at least mildly impressive in its traditional rice pudding. Goya boasts one unique ingredient that only one other option on this list has: sweetened condensed milk. It also contains regular milk, cane sugar, rice, eggs, natural flavor, salt, and cinnamon. Compared to Sun Tropics, these to-go cups offer a slightly more substantial serving.

This may be controversial, but I think rice pudding always needs a dash of cinnamon, no matter what else it's served with. This single-serving cup had just enough cinnamon to level up the pudding's flavor without turning it into a cinnamon lover's paradise. There was almost no egginess to this recipe, and the rice was a bit on the overcooked side. Ultimately, Goya's rice pudding reminded me of oatmeal, in both flavor and texture. It had some of that stickiness that you normally associate with oatmeal and some graininess. I expected it to be a little creamier with the addition of sweetened condensed milk, although it was certainly sweet enough. Still, it was missing the dessert-level decadence to make it a worthy indulgence; this one was more like a quick snack you have on a lunch break to satisfy a minor sugar craving.

I expected this rice pudding from El Viajero to take the top spot, and although it was a solid treat that beat out most of the others, it was still largely disappointing. Like Goya's pudding, El Viajero's is made with sweetened condensed milk. It also contains whole milk, sugar, rice, imitation vanilla, cinnamon, and other ingredients.

Since it's deemed "authentic," I expected a creamy Latin American-style pudding with plenty of cinnamon, and that wasn't the case. The light dusting of cinnamon on top did little to elevate the pudding's flavor. I can't say for sure whether it was the preservatives, fake vanilla flavor, mineralized water, or what, but it had a distinct aftertaste I can only describe as "pool water" — not exactly a flavor you're pining for in your dessert. Naturally, this took away from my enjoyment of this rice pudding. If not for this unsettling aftertaste, El Viajero might have ranked higher.

Despite its chemical-like flavor, the texture and consistency of this timeless dessert were spot-on. The rice was perfectly cooked, and the pudding was thick and creamy, but not too gelatinous. I also appreciated the heftiness of this portion cup, which put Goya's and Sun Tropics' to shame. Ultimately, with a little extra cinnamon and some raisins, this isn't a bad choice for a quick, late-night treat, but there are better options out there.

Kozy Shack is probably the most recognizable pudding brand you can find in U.S. grocery stores. In fact, when we taste-tested and ranked store-bought puddings, its chocolate pudding blew the competition out of the water and earned the No. 1 spot. But could its rice pudding hold up to the chocolate's supremacy? Almost. You can find three distinct versions of its rice pudding, including plain, cinnamon raisin, and a low-sugar option. The plain pudding contains just reduced-fat milk, rice, sugar, egg, salt, and natural flavor.

For a quintessential American-style recipe, Kozy Shack is a fantastic option. It had just enough egginess to give it complexity without making it taste too bland, and plenty of sugar to make it a suitable ice cream substitute. Its low-sugar version was expertly sweetened, with only a slight aftertaste from artificial sweetener, and came in convenient single-serving cups. Cinnamon-raisin was chock-full of raisins, but the cinnamon flavor was lacking and tasted artificial.

Kozy Shack's pudding's texture was excellent — thick enough to provide a satisfying bite, but runny enough that it didn't resemble Jell-O and felt silky smooth. Although all Kozy Shack varieties were balanced with a great consistency, they lacked the rich creaminess of homemade rice pudding and tasted slightly too bland. Lemon zest (which just so happens to be my favorite and Ulysses S. Grant's favorite way to enjoy rice pudding) would go far in the plain version, because otherwise, it's a little too forgettable.

Finally, we come to the cream of the creamy pudding crop. Señor Rico takes the crown as the best rice pudding brand, and honestly, it wasn't even that close. Señor Rico's authentic Latin American-style arroz con leche (rice pudding) contains only whole milk, cream, sugar, rice, rice flour, cinnamon, salt, and natural flavors. 

None of the rice puddings on this list came close to mimicking a homemade recipe the way Señor Rico's did. My friend, a chef from Colombia, makes the best rice pudding I've ever had, and this store-bought version comes eerily close to their recipe. The cinnamon on top is potent enough to flavor the entire cup once it's mixed in, but even without the cinnamon, this pudding might have still had the chops to earn the No. 1 spot. In the zero-sugar version, the cinnamon distracts from the funky taste of artificial sweetener, making it almost as satisfying as the full-sugar version.

The pudding is exceptionally creamy and rich, and the rice is a little firmer than it is in the other brands. Creamy milk and solid rice gave this pudding an appetizing consistency that was far from gelatinous and never too runny. Normally, I like to add raisins and walnuts to my rice pudding, but I fully enjoyed this treat as-is. It was as sweet and refreshing as ice cream and as layered with flavor as a chef-crafted recipe.

To accurately assess each rice pudding brand on this list, I tried each brand without any add-ins to get a clear picture of its flavor. When applicable, I tried multiple versions from each brand, opting for all the varieties I had access to at local grocery stores around New York and Pennsylvania. I made sure each one was sufficiently chilled before trying it for the first time, so I left them in the refrigerator overnight before conducting the taste test.

I judged each rice pudding primarily on how well it could perform as an indulgent dessert without any additions. Puddings ranked low if they were artificial-tasting, bland, had a strange aftertaste, had goopy or runny consistencies, or had mushy rice. High-ranking puddings had a refreshing, not-too-sweet flavor, a satisfyingly thick consistency, and plenty of rich, fatty creaminess.

It's no secret that the best rice pudding is one made from scratch, so I kept that in mind while trying these brands, looking out for the one that most closely resembled a homemade recipe. Although I had previously tried a couple of these brands on my own, I didn't factor any previous experience or preference into this ranking. I also didn't factor in cost or availability — just pure, unadulterated flavor and texture.