Risgrøt (Norwegian Rice Porridge)
Thanksgiving is over and it has even snowed in Bergen now, so I’m in full Christmas mode over here. I’ve of course been baking lots of my favorite Scandinavian Christmas cookies, but another Christmas favorite of mine is risgrøt (also risengrynsgrøt), or Norwegian rice porridge.
Risgrøt is a Norwegian rice porridge made with short grain rice and milk, usually topped with cinnamon, sugar, and butter. Norwegians eat risgrøt on Christmas Eve, but they will also eat it throughout the year. In the lead up to Christmas I’ll often whip up some risgrøt for lunch because it’s such a cosy Christmas meal.
We use short grain “porridge rice” (grøtris in Norwegian) to make risgrøt, which is actually the same as sushi rice – I use Norwegian grøtris for all of my Japanese cooking as well.
And then Norwegians use the leftover porridge to make riskrem, or Norwegian rice pudding. This is especially popular as dessert on Christmas Eve, after we’ve eaten rice porridge for lunch. I’ve shared my riskrem recipe here.
On Christmas Eve, we’ll usually have risgrøt for lunch, and we’ll hide an almond in the porridge (removing the skin so it’s not easy to find). Then whoever finds the almond wins the julegris, or Christmas marzipan pig! And they’ll try to be very secretive about finding the almond so that everyone keeps eating more and more porridge in the hopes that they’ll be the winner.
You might also hear Norwegians refer to risgrøt as julegrøt, or Christmas porridge.
This is a small marzipan pig, but the prize on Christmas is often a much larger marzipan pig!
You can switch the recipe from US measurements to metric by clicking from “US Customary” to “Metric” under Ingredients.
Risgrøt (Norwegian Rice Porridge)
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup short grain rice
- 1 and 1/2 cups water
- 4 cups whole milk
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp butter
- 4 tbsp granulated sugar
- 2 tbsp cinnamon
Instructions
- Add the rice and water to a saucepan and cook (without cover) until most of the water is absorbed – about 10 minutes.
- Add the milk and continue cooking on low heat, stirring frequently so the porridge doesn't stick. Cook until the porridge is as thick as you like (about 30 minutes).
- Top with sugar, cinnamon and butter, or anything else you like.
2 Comments
Cynthia Svenhard
January 14, 2024 at 3:58 pm
My Dad is from Sweden and we also have this on Christmas Eve.
But we call it Swedish Rice Pudding! We also add whipped Cream. I don’t know if that’s Swedish, my Dad’s family or Americanized but it is a very rich desert!
We always added strawberries on top too!
Tim Peterson
January 21, 2024 at 9:26 pm
This is so good. My sister-in-law makes a Swedish rice pudding and she won’t give me the recipe. Well this is as good if not better. They serve it with lingonberry jam. Either way its so good thanks for sharing.