Rice kugel, popular in Lithuania and parts of Poland, converges beautifully with rice puddings of the American South. In his latest book, Koshersoul, Michael W. Twitty explores and celebrates similarities between the people and foods of the Jewish and African diasporas. This apple butter rice kugel, glistening with honey, is adapted from a peach version that appears in the book. Use freshly cooked and cooled rice, or leftovers from last night’s dinner. If you don’t like raisins in rice pudding or your noodle kugel recipe, use chopped dried apricots instead, or skip them altogether. The kugel is best eaten warm when it’s still faintly custardy in the center.
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What you’ll need
Silicone Spatula
$13 At Amazon
8x8" Baking Dish
$18 At Amazon
Pastry Brush
$6 At Amazon
Recipe information
Yield
4 servings
Ingredients
4
3
¼
1
1
1
¼
2
½
½
Preparation
Step 1
Place a rack in middle of oven; preheat to 350°. Generously grease a shallow 1½-qt. baking dish with room-temperature butter. Whisk together 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted, 3 large eggs, ¼ cup sugar, 1 Tbsp. vanilla bean paste or extract, 1 tsp. Diamond Crystal or ½ tsp. Morton kosher salt, 1 tsp. ground cinnamon, and ¼ cup honey in a large bowl until smooth. Using a rubber spatula, mix in 2 cups (packed) cooled cooked long-grain white rice and ½ cup golden raisins or chopped dried apricots, breaking up any clumps of rice, until well combined.
Step 2
Scrape mixture into prepared baking dish and shake dish gently to evenly distribute. Dollop apple butter over (about 6 dollops), then swirl in with a butter knife or chopstick (don’t overmix or swirls will disappear).
Step 3
Bake kugel until puffed and browned on top but still slightly jiggly in the center, 35–45 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes, then brush with more honey and sprinkle with flaky sea salt.
Leave a Review
Reviews (9)
Back to TopI made the recipe ALMOST as written up except skipped the apple butter topping, poured the batter into 5 regular size ramekins and baked them in an airfryer! Airfyer temp the same but cut the time down to less than 20 minutes for 2; 20 minutes for 3. I have a small airfryer. I then topped each warm ramekin with a tablespoon of vanilla ice cream. I used basmati rice which is very user-friendly for this type of recipe (doesn't clump).
Mary Long Beach
Long Beach ca
9/30/2022
The hit of Rosh Hashanah dinner!! This was so easy to make and such a joy to eat! The crispy topping and softer but spongy rice center had such a perfect texture. I am gluten free so it was lovely to be able to eat kugel again! I added chopped dried cherries instead of raisins and apricot. Everyone loved it!! Will definitely be making again. Love Twitty’s weave of his two diasporic traditions. Love.
Portland Schwartz
Oregon, USA
9/29/2022
Delicious flavor and really easy to make! Our turned out as more of a baked casserole and was not jiggly in the center or particularly puffed and we baked it for 35 minutes. When we make it again, we might trying baking for less time. Still good though!
Anonymous
Washington, DC
8/29/2022
Love this! Tastes like a really good rice pudding.
Caroline
Cincinnati, OH
8/18/2022