Kheer Recipe

Kheer, especially Rice Kheer is everyone’s favorite Indian dessert! Simply delicious, comforting, creamy and rich, this Rice Kheer makes for a perfect dessert anytime you crave for something sweet. This North Indian Rice Pudding is easy to make & needs only a handful of basic ingredients. In this post I show you How to Make Rice Kheer on the stovetop in a pot and in the instant pot, with my easy step by step photo guide.

About Kheer

Kheer is a popular dessert from the Indian sub-continent, made primarily with rice, milk and sugar. The word “Kheer” is derived from the Sanskrit word “Skheer” meaning milk. So milk being the main ingredient in a kheer recipe, many variations can be made by using vermicelli, sago (tapioca pearls), lentils or vegetables like pumpkin and carrots.

What is Rice Kheer?

Rice Kheer is a traditional North Indian rice pudding made with basmati rice, sugar, full fat milk and cardamoms. Sometimes it is also flavored and spiced with clove, saffron, nutmeg, kewra or rose water.

This Rice Kheer is made across India and the popular variations of include the South Indian Rice Payasam & Bengali Payesh. The South Indian version uses short grain rice, ghee and jaggery, While the Bengali Payesh is made with Gobindobhog rice & date palm jaggery.

Kheer is a quintessential Indian dessert made for festivals and celebrations. But you really don’t need an excuse to make this! It can be eaten as a breakfast, after meal dessert or just when the mood strikes for something sweet!

Rice kheer is garnished with nuts and raisins. Various nuts like cashews, almonds and pistachios can be used. Apart from enhancing the nutrition profile of the dish, nuts also make for a delicious and crunchy toppings.

Staying true to the authentic version, I have not used any condensed milk, evaporated milk, milk powder or khoya in the recipe I have shared in this post. But there are also quick versions of rice kheer using them which are really handy when you are in a rush. Do check the Pro Tips section below to know more on that.

I have a faq section below. But here are some basic questions answered to get you started with making kheer.

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Ingredients

Which Rice is best for Kheer?

Basmati rice is widely used in North Indian cuisine so you will find a lot of people use basmati rice for making kheer as it imparts a fragrant and delicious aroma. However in different regions of India, different kinds of rice is used which is grown locally.

So feel free to use any normal starchy rice if you do not have basmati rice. But make sure you use starchy rice, else your kheer won’t thicken even after cooking for long.

Which Milk is best for Rice Kheer?

Use full fat (whole milk) to make the authentic, delicious and creamy version of kheer. If you are a vegan you may use coconut or almond milk as well.

Ratio of Rice:Milk

Traditionally made Kheer & Payasam has a predefined rice:milk ratio and this is what most people follow. ¼ cup rice for every 4 cups (1 liter) full fat milk. Remember this is a special dish so it does require so much milk.

How to Make Kheer (Stepwise photos)

1. Keep your ingredients ready. We will need about 4 cups or 1 liter of full fat milk. 1/3 to ½ cup of sugar, ¼ tsp cardamom powder, ¼ cup basmati rice, you can also use any other starchy rice. Nuts as desired. You can also use sweet raisins.

2. Wash and soak rice for about 30 mins. This helps to cook the rice quickly. Drain and set aside.

3. While the rice soaks, you can blanch the nuts in hot water and peel off the skin. Chop them and set aside. OR Alternately, you can just use some roasted cashews and skip blanching nuts.

4. Pour 1/4 cup water or grease a heavy bottom pot. This helps the kheer from getting scorched at the bottom. Then add milk and bring it to a boil on a medium flame.

5. When it turns hot or comes to a boil. Add drained rice.

6. Keep stirring often to prevent burning. Keep the flame on low to medium.

7. Cook until rice is soft and slightly mushy. You can mash it with a spoon and check.

Add Sugar

8. Add Sugar. You can add more or less to suit your taste.

9. Lower the flame and cook until the kheer thickens. You will have to scrape the sides and stir often.

10. Add nuts and cardamom powder. Stir and cook for 5 mins. If adding raisins just do it towards the end. Do not cook after adding them.

11. When it reaches a thick but of runny consistency switch off the stove. It thickens upon cooling down.

Garnish rice kheer with nuts before serving.

Faqs

Can I use jaggery to make kheer recipe?

Yes kheer can be made with jaggery. However kheer can split if you add jiggery to hot kheer. So the first method is to bring down the temperature of the kheer by cooling it for about 5 minutes and then stir the powdered jaggery.

The second method is to make a jaggery syrup first, filter to remove impurities and then cool it down completely. Just stir it to the cooked milk & rice.

Kheer in Instant pot vs regular pot

Making it in a regular pot does take some time & it needs continuous stirring to prevent the milk from getting scorched at the bottom.

But making kheer in Instant pot is a breeze as all you need to do is just dump the ingredients in the pot & press the button.

I have been making it more often ever since I started to use instant pot. All I do is just put the ingredients & turn on the porridge button.

The color of the instant pot kheer would be slightly golden due to the caramelization of sugar and it is just normal.

I have also made it a couple of times with jaggery. Once the rice and milk are cooked, cook on a saute mode until it reaches the desired consistency. Remove the steel insert and let the kheer cool down a bit. Then stir in the grated jaggery. Do not cook further as jaggery curdles the milk.

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Rice kheer recipe first published in October 2016. Updated and republished in October 2022.