Keto Orange Rice Pudding

Orange and rice on a keto diet? No way! – Oh yes, read on how to prepare a fully keto-friendly version of the popular Finnish dessert. With only a tenth of the carbs of the traditional sugary and starchy version, you can indulge yourself in this fruity, sweet, and creamy dessert without any guilt!

What is this 5-ingredient keto dessert about

Orange rice pudding is a popular and very retro dessert in Finland. I remember my mom used to make it when I was a kid. We also made it at school when learning to cook. For the traditional version, you use rice porridge or cooked rice, chunks of fresh orange, and whipped cream. Naturally, the dessert is sweetened with sugar. Usually, some vanilla sugar is added to lend a hint of vanilla flavor.

Actually, in Finland, we call the dessert just “Orange Rice,” so the word “pudding” is not included. That’s just my own addition to the translation since the dessert is quite pudding-like, and in my opinion, pudding describes it best.

For years, I have wanted to make a keto version of this fascinating dessert. I have played with the idea and actually had planned the ingredients but never managed to do actual experiments. However, now it was about a time. This fruity dessert is just perfect for a hot summer day, though people often make it in the wintertime and for the holidays, too.

Naturally, to make this dessert keto-friendly, you won’t use regular rice or orange as fruit. The recipe uses calorie-free and thus carb-free shirataki rice (also called miracle rice) that is made from konjac root that contains glucomannan. Shirataki rice and noodles have been popular among ketoers and weight watchers for years.

Konjac — and glucomannan — have been used in traditional Chinese medicine, for example, for detoxification and tumor suppression. Glucomannan is one of the rare substances allowed to have health claims for supporting weight loss and is thus used as a component of some weight loss supplements.

For fruity and powerful orange flavor, this recipe uses freshly grated orange peel. To get as much orange flavor as possible, the peel is ingeniously infused overnight in heavy cream. Since I’m not a big fan of orange peel in my desserts, I strain the infused cream and discard the orange peel. When infused and strained properly, the orange flavor is super fruity, delicious, and prominent. Actually, orange peel has such a versatile and diverse flavor of orange, a much more indulgent orange flavor than just orange flesh or OJ have.

I’ve used orange peel to lend fruity and elegant orange flavor for my keto dishes, condiments, and drinks for years. Orange peel is such a perfect ingredient for a keto diet when you cannot use real fruit. Of course, if you don’t have to do strict keto, you can include some fruits, let’s say, one orange a day. However, since current fruits are cultivated, overly sweet, and not particularly nutritious, I don’t actually encourage you to use them. I instead recommend wild berries in case you want to include something fruity and fresh in your diet, and you tolerate a tad more carbs yet still want to stay in ketosis.

And, since this ketoized version contains just one-tenth of the carbs of the traditional sugary and starchy version, you can indulge yourself in this fruity, sweet, and creamy dessert without any guilt!

How to make Keto Orange Rice Pudding

There are a couple of easy tricks to ensure your dessert turns out perfect. First of all, infuse the orange peel preferably overnight in the heavy cream to get out as much orange flavor as you can. Well, infuse it for at least a few hours.

Secondly, when you strain the cream and orange peel mixture, use preferably a tea strainer or other small strainer. And now an important step: press well the orange peel in the strainer to save as much liquid as possible. You’ll see that the liquid turns beautifully orange when you press the orange peel in the strainer. It’s the flavorful oils in the peel that give the beautiful color.

When you whip the orange peel-infused cream, be sure to whip it until stiff peaks form. Like this, your dessert won’t be runny but temptingly fluffy.

For the shirataki rice, be sure to rinse the rice properly to avoid a fishy smell and pungent flavor in your dessert. Be also sure to drain the rice well so that no water ends up in your dessert to make it runny. Again, you’ll aim at the fluffiest possible result.

So, that’s it, let’s take a look at how to make this fascinating keto dessert.

First, grate a peel from organic orange. Yes, it has to be organic as the non-organic citrus fruits contain nasty chemicals. If you cannot access organic oranges, wait until you get some before making this dessert. Alternatively, take a look at the Tips for Variations section further down to see my suggestions for alternative sources for orange flavor. In any case, do not use the peel from non-organic oranges.

Next, take 3/4 cup (180 ml) heavy cream or heavy whipping cream. Yes, the type you can whip. And no, it’s not allowed to contain food additives like carrageenan. Go for the real stuff — that has only cream as an ingredient — if you can. Unfortunately, in some countries, it’s difficult to find heavy cream without carrageenan. If you don’t find any, please make some noise about it to your shopkeeper or directly to dairies. We don’t want awkward food additives in our food that don’t support our health. It’s your right to get clean food from the store. Carrageenan may cause stomach and gut problems, so there is no reason to include it in your diet.

Add the freshly grated orange peel to the heavy cream.

Stir well.

Cover with a plastic wrap and let infuse overnight in the fridge.

The next day, take the infused cream and orange peel mixture from the fridge. Remove the plastic wrap.

Strain the mixture into a mixing bowl.

Press well to save as much liquid (and orange flavor!) as you can.

Like this. Discard the orange peel.

Add 1/3 cup (80 ml) powdered erythritol to the infused cream. This amount of sweetener provides moderate sweetness. If you want a sweeter dessert, you can add more sweetener to the ready dessert.

Beat with an electric mixer…

…until stiff peaks form.

Add 200 g (1 bag) well rinsed and drained shirataki rice.

Add also 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla powder.

Stir with a spoon until well combined.

Ready!

Transfer into 4 serving bowls.

Decorate as you wish (I love to decorate this dessert with dark chocolate).

Enjoy!

How I came up with this fruity keto dessert recipe

So, I had wanted to make a keto version of this famous Finnish dessert for years. When shirataki rice hit the market several years ago, I knew that it was the perfect rice for desserts as well due to its neutral taste. Of course, it’s not that sticky like regular rice because it’s void of starch.

For the orange flavor, I was planning to use orange peel. However, I suddenly got the idea to infuse the peel in heavy cream — that was another must-have ingredient in the orange rice pudding.

I decided to sweeten the dessert with my favorite sweetener, powdered erythritol.

In my opinion, the dessert also required a hint of vanilla flavor, so I opted for vanilla extract.

Now, I had all ingredients: shirataki rice, orange peel, heavy cream, powdered erythritol, and vanilla extract. The next step was to ponder over the amounts.

I took 1 cup (240 ml) heavy cream and added freshly grated peel from one organic orange. I let this mixture infuse in the fridge overnight.

The next day, I took the mixture and strained it well. I added 1/2 cup (120 ml) powdered erythritol to the infused cream and beat it with an electric mixer until stiff peaks formed.

I added 1 bag (200 g) well rinsed and drained shirataki rice and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. After a brisk stirring, the dessert was ready. Excitedly, I grabbed a spoonful and placed it into my mouth.

The taste was very rich, fruity, and elegant, just what I was hoping. However, to my taste, it was far too sweet. There was also too much whipped cream compared to the amount of shirataki rice, so I definitely needed to decrease the amount of cream. Other than that, I was extremely positively surprised by how well the dessert had turned out and how inviting and scrumptious the orange flavor was. Magnificent!

For my next experiment, I used 3/4 cup (180 ml) heavy cream and 1/3 cup (80 ml) powdered erythritol. Now, the ratio of whipped cream and shirataki rice was ideal. I was also happy with the sweetness, but I still wanted to make one final test with even less sweetener.

For my third test, I used only 1/4 cup (60 ml) powdered erythritol. However, it was clearly too little, so 1/3 cup (80 ml) was the perfect amount for providing the optimum sweetness for my taste buds.

Now, I was super happy with my rich and creamy yet fruity keto dessert. Because of sturdy shirataki rice, it was fun to eat, too.

Here’s the recipe for you to enjoy:

Continue to Content

5-Ingredient Keto Orange Rice Pudding

Yield: 4

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Additional Time: 6 hours

Total Time: 6 hours 15 minutes

Orange and rice on a keto diet? No way! – Oh yes, read on how to prepare a fully keto-friendly version of the popular Finnish dessert. With only a tenth of the carbs of the traditional sugary and starchy version, you can indulge yourself in this fruity, sweet, and creamy dessert without any guilt!

Print

Ingredients

• 1 organic orange
• 3/4 cup = 180 ml heavy cream
• 1/3 cup = 80 ml powdered erythritol
• 200 g (1 bag) well rinsed and drained shirataki rice (miracle rice)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla powder

Instructions

1. Grate the peel from the orange (only the orange-colored part).
2. Combine the orange peel and the heavy cream. Stir well. Cover with a plastic wrap and let infuse in the fridge overnight or at least for a few hours.
3. Once infused, take the cream and orange peel mixture from the fridge. Strain the mixture through a small mesh strainer like a tea strainer. Press well to save as much liquid (and orange flavor) as you can. Discard the orange peel.
4. Add the sweetener.
5. Beat with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form.
6. Add the shirataki rice and the vanilla. Stir with a spoon until well combined.
7. Divide the dessert into 4 serving bowls. Decorate as you wish. Serve immediately.

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Tips for variation

There are numerous ways to vary and jazz up this easy keto dessert. Here are some suggestions:

• For a Café con Naranja type of approach, add 1 teaspoon of instant coffee together with the sweetener, before whipping the cream.
• Since chocolate and orange is a match made in heaven, feel free to add 1 tablespoon dark cocoa powder to the dessert after adding the shirataki rice and the vanilla extract.
• For even more chocolatey flavor and some extra crunch, add 1/4 cup (60 ml) grated dark chocolate (minimum 85 % cocoa) after adding the vanilla extract.
• A great way to give more variation and flavor to this dessert is by adding warm-flavored spices. For example, add 1 teaspoon ground Ceylon cinnamon after adding the vanilla extract.
• I admit the taste of this dessert is pretty mellow, and the heavy cream makes it super-rich. Therefore, this dessert benefits from tangy flavors. You can replace a part — let’s say 1/3 — of the cream with plain full-fat Greek or Turkish yogurt. Add the yogurt to the whipped cream before adding the shirataki rice.
• Another way to lend more tang to this dessert is to add 1-2 teaspoons of freshly squeezed lemon or lime juice. You can add these together with the vanilla extract. Alternatively, you can infuse a teaspoon of freshly grated lemon or lime peel (naturally from organic fruit!) together with the orange peel.
• If you cannot access organic orange — or if you want an even more prominent orange flavor, feel free to replace part or all of the powdered erythritol with orange-flavored stevia. Even more orange flavor you’ll get if you add 2 drops (not more!) 100 % food-grade orange essential oil to the dessert together with vanilla extract.

Which one of these fascinating tweaks do you prefer?

General prattling

This week was a busy week with Ketokamu. However, last Sunday was my son’s name day (yes, we celebrate name days in Finland), so I made this keto cake roll for him. I filled it with a mixture of pureed strawberry and whipped cream that I sweetened with powdered erythritol. I also used gelatin to make the filling stiff and sturdy.

And now to the Ketokamu activities. We had a Ketokamu team day with 8 persons in the center of Tampere in Bistro Naapuri (our usual place to gather). We were discussing our brand image, planning future activities, products, and marketing.

On Wednesday, we finally launched our electrolyte powders. I can proudly say that these electrolyte powders are the best ones in the world! And why I’m able to make this bold statement? First of all, these electrolyte powders are developed by my colleague, who has developed the current (well, soon the previous!) most popular electrolyte powder in the Finnish market.

Our new electrolyte powder, though, has trace mineral extract that contains naturally occurring ionic trace minerals. It’s one of the most powerful mineral supplements in the world. There are over 80 different trace minerals in the powder, but that’s not all: if you have ever heard of ORMUS minerals (Orbitally Rearranged Monoatomic Elements, also called ORME), our electrolyte powder is also a great source of those. There are also other ingredients that support health and hydrate you in the best possible way.

There are two fascinating different flavor variants of our electrolyte powders: orange cola and strawberry lime. I’ve used them for a few days now, and I can see my reaction time to be shorter now. I’ve always had a short reaction time (for example, if something is dropping from the table, I can catch it before it falls to the floor), but now with our electrolyte powder, my reaction time is even shorter!

On Tuesday, we were taking photos in the beautiful Pyynikki in Tampere for the marketing purposes of the electrolyte powders. It was a really windy day so photographing and the preparations were a bit challenging. Here are some shots:

We also wrote a blog post to Ruohonjuuri blog (a health food store chain in Finland) about our electrolyte powders.

And, I took product photos of our electrolyte powders that we can use for various online stores and also for brick-and-mortar stores:

Naturally, we hope that we can get our fantastic electrolyte powders soon to the international market. Next week, I’ll throw a giveaway where one lucky person can win our electrolyte powders, one jar of each flavor. So, stay tuned!

Last, I want to wish a Very Happy Independence Day for all my American readers!

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