Recipe
🍰 DESSERT
Kheer
A slow-cooked rice pudding perfumed with cardamom and scattered with nuts, the comforting sweet of every occasion.
Pakistani · easy · serves 6
prep 10 min · cook 60 min
~355 cal · 11g protein · 48g carbs · 14g fat · 1g fiber · 39g sugars · 5g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Kheer is the classic rice pudding of Pakistan and the wider subcontinent, a dessert of deep comfort made for weddings, religious festivals, and ordinary Sundays alike. Simple in ingredients but demanding patience, it rewards slow cooking with a rich, creamy result.
Rice is simmered gently for a long time in milk until it breaks down and the mixture thickens and turns faintly golden, then sweetened with sugar and perfumed with green and sometimes rose water or . It is finished with slivered almonds and pistachios and served either warm or chilled, its silky, fragrant richness the very taste of celebration.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and gluten-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
6 cups whole milk
1/4 cup small-grain rice (or basmati, broken up first)
a generous pinch
3/4 cup sugar
6 green pods
1/3 cup slivered almonds and pistachios
1 tsp rose water (optional)
Instructions
1
Rinse the rice until the water runs almost clear, then soak it 30 minutes and drain.
✎ Chef’s note
Soak it. Unsoaked rice can take forever to soften in milk and stays faintly gritty. Small-grain rice is the right choice here; basmati is too starchy, and if it is all you have, break the grains up first. The quantity looks tiny but it is correct, because rice swells and thickens the milk dramatically, and more of it makes a stodgy kheer.
2
Bring the milk to the boil in a wide, heavy pan, scraping the skin back in as it forms, then add the drained rice and simmer on medium-low for 40 to 50 minutes.
✎ Chef’s note
Use a wide pan rather than a tall one; the extra surface lets the milk evaporate and thicken. Stir every few minutes and scrape the bottom, because anything that settles will scorch and taint the whole pot.
3
Keep going until the rice has dissolved into the milk and the colour has deepened from white to warm ivory.
4
Only now stir in the sugar with the ground cardamom and the saffron soaked in a little warm milk, and cook 5 to 8 minutes more.
✎ Chef’s note
Sugar goes in at the end, never at the start. Added early it stops the rice softening properly, and it also thins the kheer for a few minutes before it comes back.
5
Finish with rose water, then serve warm or chilled, scattered with the remaining nuts.
Pakistani and subcontinental sweet.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Lahore (Punjab). Lahore is Pakistan's food capital, famous for rich nihari, charcoal-grilled karahi, and buttery breakfast halwa puri. Punjabi generosity and Mughal heritage make it a city that lives to eat.
🗺️
Pakistan. Pakistani cuisine is rich, meat-forward, and boldly spiced, from slow-cooked nihari and karahi to fragrant biryanis and tandoor breads. Punjabi, Sindhi, and Mughal traditions meet over ghee, yogurt, and generous garam masala.
🌍
Asia. A grain line runs across the continent. Rice dominates the wet south and east, wheat the drier north and west, and the tools follow it: the wok and the steamer where rice is milled, the tandoor and the griddle where wheat is ground. Tea travels the other way, drunk green, black, salted, buttered or with milk depending how far it got from China.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
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Good to know
Storing it: Keep chilled and covered, and enjoy within 2 to 3 days.
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Frequently asked questions
What is Kheer?
A slow-cooked rice pudding perfumed with cardamom and scattered with nuts, the comforting sweet of every occasion.
Where does Kheer come from?
Kheer is a Pakistani dish from Lahore (Punjab), Pakistan.
Can Kheer be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Kheer recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Kheer safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Kheer take to make?
About 70 minutes total (10 minutes prep, 60 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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