Vegan Breakfast Rice Pudding

Make this decadent rice pudding to start your day off with a treat. If you feel like adding some plant-based protein, try adding any vanilla flavored Vega® plant-based protein powder. Just be sure to add some extra almond milk to keep the consistency. This recipe calls for short-grain rice, but if you prefer the texture to be less creamy you can use long-grain basmati rice.

Ingredients

1/2 cup Arborio rice
1 cup water
1 Tbsp vegan butter or coconut oil
Pinch of salt
1 (400mL) canned coconut milk
1/2 vanilla bean (or 2 tsp vanilla extract)
4 Tbsp organic sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 navel orange, zested and juiced
1/2 cup dried apricots, sliced
1/3 cup sliced almonds, toasted
2 banana, sliced
Optional: 1 scoop Vanilla Vega® Protein & Greens
Optional: 1 cup Silk® Original Unsweetened Almondmilk

Preparation

Bring rice, water, vegan butter, and salt to a boil. Cover with lid, lower to a simmer, and cook for 5 to 8 minutes or until most of the water is absorbed. If using brown rice, cook for an additional 10 to 12 minutes.
Add in coconut milk, vanilla bean (seeds scraped out), sugar and cinnamon. Bring to a boil, lower to a simmer, and cook for 15 to 20 minutes or until most of the milk is absorbed and rice is soft. Stir occasionally.
Remove from heat, and stir in orange zest, protein powder, and almond milk if using. Allow to cool for 30 minutes before finishing cooling in refrigerator.
In a small saucepan, combine orange juice and apricots. Bring to a simmer. Cook for 5 to 10 minutes, stirring often, until most of the orange juice is absorbed. Remove from heat and let cool.
To serve, split rice pudding into 4 bowls and garnish with apricots, almonds and sliced banana.

Enjoy!