Name: Creamy Rice Pudding Cups
Ingredients: 2 cups cooked rice; 2 cups half and half; 1 3-ounce package cream cheese, softened; 1/2 cup sugar; 1 tablespoon butter or margarine; 2 eggs, beaten; 3 tablespoons Grand Marnier or other orange flavored liqueur; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; 8 vanilla wafers; 1/4 cup sliced strawberries; 1/4 cup sliced nectarine; 1/4 cup sliced kiwi fruit

Why it works: Orange and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,371 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Orange + vanillatop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,371 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Cream cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,747 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together35,032 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Rice + vanillatop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,352 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Rice + orangetop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,067 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs: Thicken the pudding as they set when gently heated, giving it body.
Cream cheese: Adds richness and a smooth, creamy texture to the pudding.
Cooked rice: Forms the body of the pudding, giving it a soft, starchy texture.
Half and half: Provides the liquid base and creamy moisture for the pudding.
Sugar: Sweetens the pudding and adds to its softness when cooked.

The step that matters

Temper the eggs and do not boil the pudding. Adding hot pudding to the eggs slowly, while stirring, warms them gradually so they do not scramble. Once the eggs are in, boiling can curdle the custard, so cook only until it thickens.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, cream cheese, sugar, butter, egg, vanilla):

Coconutfits better
Blueberryfits better
Peachfits better
Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rice, cream cheese, sugar, butter, egg, vanilla. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Cream Cheese	1 oz (28g)	99
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Orange	1 medium (131g)	62
Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Strawberry	1 cup (152g)	49
Kiwi	1 medium (69g)	42
Vanilla	1 tsp extract (4ml)	12
Nectarine	not in our table	0
Fruit	not in our table	0

Creamy Rice Pudding Cups