As North American consumers seek foods that offer familiarity and comfort, few desserts resonate more strongly than rice pudding. It’s a dish rooted in tradition, rich with texture and versatility. Rice pudding is equally at home in a ready-meal tray as in a glass jar on a premium grocery shelf. For food manufacturers, industrial cooking solutions for rice pudding present both a challenge and an opportunity: how do you produce a delicate, creamy product at scale without compromising quality or consistency?
DC Norris North America supports this need with process-driven kettle cooking systems designed specifically to handle starch-heavy, dairy-based recipes like rice pudding.
The Market Opportunity: Rice Pudding’s Revival
Rice pudding is enjoying a quiet but steady revival across North America. While exact category sales figures are limited, broader consumer trends point to strong and growing demand. Within that, traditional desserts like rice pudding are gaining traction, thanks to shifting consumer values around comfort foods and clean-label products.
This renewed interest mirrors what international retailers are seeing, too. In the UK, chains like Aldi and Ocado reported double-digit sales increases for rice pudding products in recent years source: The Guardian.
For North American manufacturers, now is the time to capitalize on this trend with production strategies that maintain the artisanal qualities consumers seek while meeting industrial yield demands.
Why Kettle Cooking Is Ideal for Rice Pudding
Rice pudding presents unique production challenges. It contains ingredients that scorch easily, starches that require slow hydration, and milk solids that demand precise temperature control. These factors make kettle cooking a preferred method for large-scale production.
At DC Norris North America, our steam jacketed cooking kettles are engineered for consistency, control, and safety. For rice pudding production, our kettles allow manufacturers to:
- Hydrate rice grains fully without overcooking
- Maintain gentle agitation to preserve texture
- Heat evenly to avoid burn-on contamination
- Ensure dairy stability with accurate temperature control
- Scale batch production without losing quality
Our kettles can also be customized to ensure every batch meets exacting standards.
Elevating Rice Pudding with Sous Vide
For brands looking to enter or grow in the premium dessert segment, DC Norris North America has a robust sous vide cook tank portfolio that can be used for rice pudding. Sous vide cooking allows manufacturers to prepare individual portions of rice pudding in jars or pouches using vacuum-sealed packaging and low, controlled temperatures.
The result? A finished product with an elevated texture and clean presentation—ideal for gourmet retail shelves, restaurant supply chains, and health-conscious meal programs.
Supporting Innovation Through Equipment and Expertise
Our dual capability to both design and manufacture our food processing systems and to source and integrate best-in-class equipment from global partners makes DC Norris North America a unique and trusted partner for food producers. For rice pudding, that means we can help clients identify the best approach—whether they’re looking to batch cook hundreds of gallons daily or explore small-batch sous vide formats.
We understand the critical variables in rice pudding production and work closely with food manufacturers to match their output needs, product characteristics, and facility layout. From steam kettles to cooling systems, every recommendation we make is backed by decades of global experience in food manufacturing.
Versatility & Agility
Rice pudding’s return to relevance isn’t just a fleeting trend—it reflects deeper shifts in consumer demand for comforting, familiar foods made with care. For food producers, this opens the door to new product lines, seasonal offerings, and premium formats. With kettle cooking as the foundation and sous vide as a creative extension, manufacturers can scale their rice pudding production while maintaining the quality that today’s buyers expect.
Looking to explore rice pudding production in your facility? Contact DC Norris North America to discuss process design, kettle systems, or equipment integration.
