Mango and Sticky Rice Popsicles

By Samantha Seneviratne

Mango and Sticky Rice Popsicles
Linda Xiao for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini.
Total Time
45 minutes, plus freezing
Rating
4(522)
Notes
Read community notes

These pops are ice-cold versions of mango sticky rice, a beloved Thai dessert. Glutinous rice (also called sweet rice or sticky rice) can be found in Asian markets, and it requires a special cooking method: Soak it overnight, then steam it. You can cook about ½ cup uncooked sticky rice to yield the 1 cup cooked rice needed for this recipe, or you can simply buy a side of cooked sticky rice from your local Thai restaurant. Don’t be tempted to use any other kind of rice here; sticky rice’s signature chew is a big part of this popsicle’s appeal.

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Ingredients

Yield:10 popsicles
  • 1(13-ounce) can unsweetened full-fat coconut milk (1¾ cups)
  • 1cup cooked glutinous rice (from ½ cup uncooked rice)
  • ¾cup heavy cream
  • ⅓cup granulated sugar
  • ¼teaspoon kosher salt
  • ¾cup fresh ripe mango, preferably Ataulfo, cut into a ¼-inch dice (from 1 large mango)
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (10 servings)

191 calories; 15 grams fat; 12 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 2 grams monounsaturated fat; 0 grams polyunsaturated fat; 14 grams carbohydrates; 0 grams dietary fiber; 9 grams sugars; 2 grams protein; 58 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Have ready a 10-cup (⅓ cup each) popsicle mold. In a medium saucepan, combine the coconut milk, rice, cream, sugar and salt. Bring to a simmer over medium-high, stirring often. Reduce the heat to medium-low and continue to cook, stirring often, until the rice has softened and the mixture has reduced and become very thick, about 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly, about 15 minutes. Stir in the mango.

  2. Step 2

    Distribute mixture evenly among molds, stirring the mixture after filling each mold. Freeze for 1 hour. Add the popsicle sticks and continue to freeze until solid, at least 8 hours.

  3. Step 3

    To unmold, briefly dip the mold in hot water a few times just until the pops can be pulled out. Serve immediately.

Ratings

4 out of 5
522 user ratings
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Cooking Notes

RosebudTX

When the ingredients were cooking the taste was heavenly—I had to stop myself from eating it all while stirring. Just like the taste of mango sticky rice you get in restaurants but even better. Unfortunately, freezing took away that sumptuous taste! My whole family said, “It tastes....cold”. There was basically a tiny taste of mango here and there. I won’t be doing molds and freezing again, but it’s likely we may stop after the 20 minutes of cooking and have sticky rice porridge with mango!

Michelle

After reading how freezing dulled the flavors, I squeezed lime juice on the mango, used 2 cups of coconut milk and a half cup of cream, and increased the sugar by a tablespoon, the salt by a dash. I was lucky, too, in that my mango was particularly full flavored. No dearth of flavor now! Fantastic in this terrible California heatwave!

Habanero

I'd say more full far coconut milk or a cashew cream

Graham

Delicious recipe before freezing, but cold food dulls the palate and what tastes delicious while still warm becomes a bit bland frozen. I suggest upping the sugar a bit in this recipe. It may taste cloyingly sweet before it freezes but will balance out as popsicles.

kevin

I substituted the heavy cream with more coconut milk and they turned out great!

Bre

I soaked my rice for about 18 hours (much longer than most recipes I read- just how it turned out for me), in a bowl with about 1-2 inches of water above the rice. Then rinsed the rice twice. Boiled a pot of water on med high. Then put rice in a bundle of double layered cheese cloth into a steamer basket (making sure steamer basket doesn’t touch the water; cheese cloth folded over the rice) and steamed with a lid for 18 minutes, decreasing temp so it’s boiling but not crazy boiling.

Stephanie

Try thoroughly blending one part silken tofu to one part whatever plant milk is already in your fridge

Robert

Use Mae ploy coconut milk. It's the thickist one.

Bre

When I went to pick up some coconut milk and glutinous rice, I also picked some kaffir lime leaves to use a couple stems in this. I added a couple kaffir lime leaves from my freezer to the simmering cream- added that extra herby citrusy note and now I have lime leaves for the next time I make Thai cuisine :) The pops are now in the freezer. The fluid amounts seemed to work for me, I used sticky rice I had just made.

Michael Stubbs

Sounds amazing! Question: in your experience, is there an effective non-dairy substitute for heavy cream? More full fat coconut cream? Almond milk? I’m allergic to dairy (not lactose intolerant). Thanks, Michael

LJK

I did add vanilla (because I always do), but otherwise kept the recipe the same. I am now addicted to these. I was skeptical about 'frozen rice', but the 'chew' is an added dimension. I am now wondering about a riff on this, using cocoa or chocolate...

Cecret

Based on the reviews of others, I added 4 tbs extra sugar, extra diced mango, and 1/4 c lime juice. The texture was great but the flavor was still minimal. I think adding extra sugar, or mango butter or puree would help. I'll try that next time. The chew from the glutinous rice really is wonderful.

Sylvie

I was just reading various websites about how to make dairy based popsicles stay creamy instead of watery/frosty. Authors recommend adding 1Tbsp cornstarch to the cream/yogurt/coconut milk (cooked then cooled) to ensure the consistency and taste remains “creamy” tasting after freezing. Might be worth a try…

Flerken

Wanting to try this and was wondering what would be the best alternative fruit that can be used besides a Mango in this recipe …I’m very allergic to the Mango so I was thinking of using a Peach or a Strawberry has anyone tried doing that?

Appetips

I used packaged, pre-cooked sticky rice, and followed the lead of other cooks by upping the sugar, replacing some of the heavy cream with more coconut milk, and adding a squeeze of lime and a dash of salt. Great flavor and interesting texture in these pops!

realitysurf

totally messed up the recipe first time around by using twice as much rice as i should - forgot that the recipe measures in cooked rice, not uncooked. wasn’t very sweet like that but was pretty good. second time around, used the correct proportion of cooked rice and followed the comments and added more sugar til the pudding was cloyingly sweet. went great when frozen.

realitysurf

followed someone else’s note of making it cloyingly sweet while cooking. that made it a lot sweeter and more flavorful after freezing

mjdb

For a vegan version I would suggest coconut cream (either purchased, or put a can of good coconut milk in the fridge for a day, flip it upside and open it halfway and then drain the water through that opening until you are just left with the cream) or homemade cashew cream (soak raw cashews for a few hours -more if you don't have a powerful blender; less if you use boiling water- and blend with equal parts by volume water or non-dairy milk until smooth).

Maura

I haven’t made this yet and I’m wondering why the flavour is lessened by freezing since I’ve often made mango ice cream that tastes just as good frozen. Like other posters my kids and I were big on preparation sampling!

MT

Would try this with canned Alfonso mango puree for amping up the flavor

RMF

IS there are substitute for the heavy cream to make this vegan?

Deborah

I was interested in that, too.

Elizabeth

I added some sweet shredded coconut to the pops and it reminded me of the paletas I used to eat in Logan Square in Chicago. Delicious!

Dennis Starks

Mango sticky rice is a brilliant marriage of textures and flavors. But rice is best served warm or room temp. Chilling rice doesnt do it any favors. This sounds like cold tough greasy pebbles to me.

Michelle

in fact, the sticky rice becomes addictively chewy...it's a delicious popsicle. don't knock it till you've tried it!

LJK

I did add vanilla (because I always do), but otherwise kept the recipe the same. I am now addicted to these. I was skeptical about 'frozen rice', but the 'chew' is an added dimension. I am now wondering about a riff on this, using cocoa or chocolate...

Michelle

After reading how freezing dulled the flavors, I squeezed lime juice on the mango, used 2 cups of coconut milk and a half cup of cream, and increased the sugar by a tablespoon, the salt by a dash. I was lucky, too, in that my mango was particularly full flavored. No dearth of flavor now! Fantastic in this terrible California heatwave!

Tipitina

Rosebud, I had the same problem with a frozen mango pie - amazing until it was frozen. Wondering if the vodka trick to keep from getting g too icy would help.

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