Rice Pudding Nutritional Facts

Rice pudding is a rich, creamy dessert made with rice, milk, sugar, eggs and other ingredients. Like many foods, there are healthy and less healthy versions of rice pudding. Making this dessert yourself, vs. buying it prepared, enables you to reduce the amount of calories, fat and sodium in this dessert. As with all sweets, rice pudding should be consumed in moderation.

Ingredients

Rice pudding is one dessert found in nearly every part of the world. Recipes and ingredients vary greatly. The main ingredient is rice and long or short grain white rice, brown, basmati or jasmine rice may be used. Milk is the other main ingredient. Cow's milk, cream, coconut milk or evaporated milk is often used. Usually, a sweet, aromatic spice is added, such as nutmeg or cinnamon, an additional flavoring, such as vanilla extract, pistachio or rose water, eggs and a sweetener, such as sugar or honey.

Store-Bought Rice Pudding

Kozy Shack makes "all natural" desserts, such as puddings and flan, in ready-to-eat containers. Their original rice pudding is made with milk, rice, sugar, eggs, salt and natural flavorings. One pudding cup provides 130 calories, 3 g fat or 2 g saturated, 4 g protein, 22 g carbohydrates, or 14 g sugars or 3.5 tsp., and 120 mg sodium, and meets 10 percent of the Recommended Daily Value, or DV, for calcium, a mineral important for building strong bones and teeth. Their European-style rice pudding has ground vanilla added. Their cinnamon-raisin rice pudding is slightly higher in calories and sugars.

Homemade Rice Pudding

If you use whole or coconut milk, and add additional sweeteners, the calories, fat and sugars in the pudding will increase significantly. A recipe featured on AllRecipes.com calls for rice, milk, sugar, salt, eggs, butter, golden raisins and vanilla extract. One serving, or 1/4 of the recipe, provides 367 calories, 6.7 g fat or 3.8 g saturated, 8.6 g protein, 69.4 g carbohydrates, or 37 g sugars or 9 tsp., 64 mg cholesterol and 238 mg sodium. It is a good food source of calcium and iron. Iron is important for building red blood cells. This is a high-calorie, rich dessert recipe.

Recipe Modifications

You make homemade rice pudding healthier. To increase the amount of dietary fiber, you could prepare it with whole grain brown rice instead of white rice. You may also use low-fat cow's milk, evaporated skim milk, reduced fat soy milk or even light coconut milk in place of whole milk. Reducing the amount of sugar and salt and/or using a low-calorie sweetener in place of the sugar would decrease the calories and sodium content. Adding sweet, aromatic spices and other flavorings would make up for the flavor lost as fat is decreased.

Health Benefits

Rice pudding offers more health benefits than other desserts, such as custard or ice cream. Offering children and those who do not like milk rice pudding is a smart way to increase their intake of calcium and vitamins A and D, other important nutrients in milk. Because it is made with eggs in addition to milk, it provides protein, necessary for building and maintaining body tissues. Though white rice is rich in iron, using brown rice instead increases the amount of magnesium, manganese and selenium in this dessert. These are other minerals important for human health.