A single-crust open tart from Verviers in the province of Liège, filled with sweetened rice pudding scented with vanilla, almond and cinnamon, baked at high heat until just caramelized on top; a celebrated Verviers variant folds crushed macarons into the filling.
Recipes for a rice-pudding tart have been documented in the Low Countries since at least 1604, making the tarte au riz one of eastern Belgium's longest-attested regional pastries. Its heartland is Verviers, a wool-trading city in the province of Liège: long-distance merchants brought rice into the region through trade routes, and the Herve plateau nearby—renowned for its full-cream milk and its pungent Herve cheese—supplied the dairy that gives the filling its richness. The macaron variant, with crushed almond macarons folded into the pudding and a blanched-almond-and-egg-white crust baked on top, is a Verviers specialty.
The short-crust base crumbles cleanly on the fork; the rice filling is soft and spoonable—warm with vanilla and a thread of almond—barely holding its shape. The top surface carries a thin caramelized skin, adding a faint bitter-sweet contrast to the creamy interior.
Short-crust pastry requires minimal kneading—fat coats flour particles and limits gluten development, producing a tender, crumbly base. Rice is par-cooked in salted water, then slow-simmered in full-cream milk: water is progressively replaced by milk, the rice starch fully gelatinizes, and the amylose-amylopectin matrix thickens the liquid into a stable pudding on cooling. Beaten eggs set during baking above 70°C, locking the filling into a soft but sliceable texture. The 230°C oven temperature caramelizes the surface sugars rapidly, generating volatile flavour compounds and a golden-brown crust while the interior remains moist and creamy.
Variations
The macaron variant (Verviers specialty) folds crushed almond macarons into the pudding and tops with blanched almonds pressed into beaten egg white, which bakes to a crisp almond crust. Flemish and Dutch rijsttaart adds a custard element (egg-yolk cream) to the pudding; Walloon versions use whole eggs only. Some older recipes include a top pastry crust. Cross-border relatives appear in Aachen (Germany) and the Dutch province of Limburg. A 2016 Belgian food-safety study confirmed the tart can be held safely at room temperature for up to twelve hours.
On the Palate
Where Tarte au riz / Rijsttaart sits in the Belgian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 8
How it's made
7 steps · 50 min active + 50 min waiting
- 135 min
Make the short-crust pastry: rub cold butter into flour until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs; add egg yolk, salt, a little sugar and just enough cold milk to bring it together. Wrap and chill 30 minutes.
- 230 min
Par-cook rice in salted water for 10 minutes; drain, then transfer to a saucepan with full-cream milk, sugar, vanilla sugar, a cinnamon stick and butter. Simmer gently 20 minutes, stirring regularly, until most liquid is absorbed and the mixture is creamy. Remove cinnamon; cool slightly.
Watch outSimmer the rice slowly in the milk until creamy and most liquid is absorbed — the starch has to fully release so the filling sets into a sliceable pudding, not a loose one.
- 35 min
Beat eggs with almond extract and stir into the warm rice pudding; the filling should be thick but spoonable. For a lighter texture, separate eggs, beat whites to stiff peaks, fold in.
- 415 min
Preheat oven to 200°C. Roll out chilled pastry to 3mm and line a greased 26cm tart tin; trim the edge, fill with baking weights and blind-bake 10 minutes to set the base.
- 53 min
Remove weights and baking paper; spoon the rice filling into the par-baked shell and spread evenly.
- 620 min
Raise oven to 230°C and bake 15–20 minutes until the surface is lightly golden-brown and caramelized, and the filling is just set with a slight wobble.
Watch outBake hot at two-thirty until the top is golden-caramelised and the center still has a slight wobble — bake it stiff and the filling turns rubbery as it cools.
- 730 min
Cool to room temperature before cutting; the filling firms further as it cools. Serve the same day for best texture.
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