Plimoth Plantation’s Slow Cooker Indian Pudding
This easy slow cooker Indian Pudding recipe from Plimoth Plantation makes preparing and enjoying this classic New England dessert a snap.
By Yankee Magazine|Nov 05 2020|
Coffee By Design | Portland, Maine
Photo Credit : Katherine KeenanStill hungry? See more about this Crock Pot Indian pudding recipe: Easy Slow Cooker Indian Pudding
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75 Classic New England Foods
Yield:
Ingredients
3 cups whole milk
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon table salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing cooker
2 large eggs
1/3 cup molasses
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 cup dried cranberries (optional)
Garnish: ice cream, whipped cream, or light cream
Instructions
Grease the inside of your slow cooker with butter and preheat on high 15 minutes.
In a large, heavy-bottomed pot, whisk together milk, cornmeal, and salt, and bring to a boil. Continue whisking another 5 minutes; then cover and simmer on low 10 minutes. Remove from the burner and add butter.
In a medium-sized bowl, combine eggs, molasses, and spices. Add some of the hot cornmeal mixture to the egg mixture to temper the eggs; then transfer egg mixture into the pot. Stir in cranberries, if you like.
Scrape batter into the slow cooker (5-6 quarts) and cook on high 2 to 3 hours or on low 6 to 8 hours. The center will be not quite set.
Serve warm topped with ice cream, whipped cream, or light cream.
Halleluiah! @ long last NO lumps. Smooooth and creamy. Thank you so very much.
A very Blessed Thanksgiving to all
Marthalie & Sachem Piper in Vermont
I made this slow cooker Indian Pudding for Thanksgiving this year and it was met with rave reviews. My uncle said it was perfect — not too sweet and just like he remembered it. Will definitely make this recipe again!
This is wonderful to make ahead of time on Thanksgiving morning and it will be ready for a dessert. It is fairly easy to assemble, and the flavors melding together make it delicious. It is so good with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
I appreciate the people giving their reviews – this was encouraging to me to try this..my family and friends just loved it and wolfed it down – served with a good vanilla ice cream/ will be on my to do list for my Thanksgiving meal.
My grandmother used to make Indian pudding in an old pressure cooker. It was my favorite dessert. I have since tried several times to duplicate it, using her recipe, but for whatever reason it has never tasted quite the same. Might have something to do with time and place. Will definitely give this recipe a try.
Our family loves Indian pudding and this recipe by far is the best. Not just for Thanksgiving any longer. I use my slow cooker on a regular basis and this recipe came out perfectly. Especially like the dried cranberries – so much better than raisins.
Many thanks!
I would like to try the plimouth plantation slo-cooker Indian pudding receipe and I was wondering
How many servings the receipe makes and if the receipe can be doubled?
Hi Susan. I’d say this recipe makes 4-6 servings depending on portion size. We haven’t tested it doubled, so we can’t advise on how much longer it would need to cook, but if you try it out, please report back! Thanks!
They had very little wheat and had to use cornmeal which they called Indian Meal ! Which they got from the Indians.
Is there a company that makes indian pudding that sells it on-line?
Hi Addison. Try Bar Harbor Foods (from Maine) for canned Indian Pudding.
http://www.barharborfoods.com
I have tried both companies that make Indian pudding in a can. I am from Maine and I have to say that these really are not Indian pudding they’re not very nice. The recipes for Indian pudding can be cut way down if you happen to be one or two people. I also have a very quick and easy recipe for Indian pudding on food.com Happy Thanksgiving 🙂
I have never made Indian Pudding before but I want to try this recipe. I was wondering if this is good reheated? There is just the two of us and I don’t want it to go to waste.
Hi Chris. Indian Pudding reheats fine — just be sure to cover it with plastic wrap (with a hole to vent) if you’re microwaving it so it doesn’t dry out!
What size slow cooker?
Hi Jean. A standard 5-6 quart slow cooker works best with this recipe. I’ll adjust the recipe instructions to specify. Thanks!
Thank you. That is good.
I made mine and added some Butterscotch and Vanilla box Instant pudding mix. It came out delish!! I did not use butter but 3 eggs and 1/2 cup of Molasses cinnamon and Ginger, No salt and sprayed the slow cooker with Pam. YUMMMMMMY!!
love this recipe, used to make an Indian Pudding in my microwave and serve it to my kids for breakfast with vanilla ice cream before school. Now in thier 30’s and 40’s it is a favorite memory.
I was introduced to this at Durgin Park in Boston in the ’50s by my grandfather.
I’ve done the classic recipe at home but I’ll take my slow cooker when I go to a friend’s house for Thanksgiving.
The recipe doesn’t say how many servings! Can anyone enlighten me?
I have been making Indian Pudding for many years. Always for my father-in-law who LOVED IT! He made me feel so special….I don’ have a slow cooker in my possession right now. Can I adjust cooking time to the oven?
Having a Turkey Dinner Girls Night tonight….HELP ! Thank you so much
Can you use honey instead of molasses. I am a diabetic.
Molasses is far better for a diabetic than is honey. And Grade B dark Amber maple syrup is better than both of them for diabetics. With these flavors I would either stick with the Molasses or go with the maple syrup. I’ve been making Indian pudding since I was 12 that’s over 40 years. Happy Thanksgiving 🙂
Hi Janice. We haven’t tried this recipe using honey. If you do, let us know how it turns out!
Hi Leslie! If you’d rather use a traditional recipe, this one from Durgin-Park is also great! https://www.yankeemagazine.com/recipe/old-fashioned-durgin-park-indian-pudding
I am guessing that this is finished in the oven with no lid on the baking dish?
I did add a little sugar, for my husband, but I had a question, do I cover the slow cooker? I am using a metal, sets on top of the heater plate style. For now I put a splatter screen, and paper towel then the glass lid. Any comments?
Wondered if recipe could be doubled?
Can I use soy or almond milk? I have a cow’s milk allergy.
Louise, perhaps try goats milk? I had an allergy to cows milk when I was a kid, but goats milk was fine. (I eventually grew out of it, but was pretty severe when I was little.)
I love Indian Pudding. Will try this recipe. I’ve bought Indian Pudding from Vermont Country Store and it is delicious. I remember Indian Pudding from Howard Johnson’s. Love all the reviews…
first time ive heard howard johnsons mentioned with indian pudding, thats where i was introduced to it back in the the late 60s hojos in manchester nh on the way home from sking they served it with hard sauce.
I didn’t see the answer to the cover question but assuming you use the cover on the crock pot. Can this be made the day before and then put on warm to reheat in the crock pot?
The family folklore says my grandmother’s grandmother either disliked the grittiness of Indian pudding or maybe she ran out of cornmeal so instead she decided to use cornflakes and discovered she like it better that way. She also added a bit of sugar to the recipe as our family likes things sweet. And this is why my family always has cornflakes pudding for the holidays not the traditional Indian/cornmeal pudding. I will say its all in what you are used to as a friend and I made our family pudding for each other to try and neither liked the other, I found the cornmeal gritty and my friend found the cornflakes soggy. lol Happy Thanksgiving!
hi, the ginger in the recipe, is it grated fresh ginger or the powder in a bottle?
Hi Robert. It’s powdered ginger. Happy baking!
Will be making this tonight,transporting to my daughters tomorrow.(20 mins away) should I reheat on warm once I arrive?
Simple, delicious, & makes the house smells wonderful! Brought back memories of going to Howard Johnson’s & Durgin Park. Thanks for reminding me of this Thanksgiving treat.
I made this today and it seemed to be missing something…….I googled other recipes and they use some brown sugar…..I added some in after the fact and it was much better!
I made this for Thanksgiving and it seemed a bit too salty, I also thought it needed sugar. How much brown sugar dud you add to it?
Hi Marcia – I hope you found an answer to your question, but, in case you didn’t: I followed Yankee’s “Durgin Park Indian Pudding” recipe and added 1/4 cup sugar (well, actually, a little less than that – I don’t measure very carefully) – that seemed to be more than sweet enough. Hope that helps!
Is it OK to use the crock pot liners, makes it easier for clean up. Been using them for just about everything. Will it comprise the recipe???
Can I use a liner in the slow cooker??? 2nd request!!!!!
Can this be made ahead of time and reheated the next day?
Will this recipe be OK in an Instapot and what settings should be used?
I dice unto the a large apple and add it to the crockpot with raisins instead of cranberries,
Sounds good. I like the idea of the raisins instead of cranberries. Or use both?
How about recipe for ” hard sauce. “
Cream together:
1 stick (1/2 Cup) Softened (not Room Temperature) Butter
1-1/2 cup Powdered Sugar
When well incorporated and fluffy, add:
2 Tablespoons Whiskey
until fully incorporated
Thankful for the reviews on here and questions answered, some dating back to 2012. I had many of same what size slow cooker, re-heat, variations, etc. I’ve never tried this recipe before and will this week for Thanksgiving 2019. What is different for me, is my parents Franklin & Betty DURGIN both passed away on this holiday weekend in 2013/2016 and we never had Indian Pudding on our table!! None of us in MN really knew much about Durgin Park either until I moved to Colorado in 1985 and a new friend asked me if I was related to Durgin Park? Since then, I/we’ve been researching our heritage, finding the connections, asking questions, and yes back to Durgin Park we go. So sad the restaurant closed earlier this year 2019, after 200+ years. I never got there! Surprising also I am finding the love for this recipe is my draw to my heritage….TU for sharing these wonderful recipes/foods from ~400 years ago!!! With love, Sharon (DURGIN) Hanson. I hope it works out for the Hanson Thanksgiving this year! I will report back what miracles happen… 🙂
Sharon-it’s 2021 I’m just reading this. I loved Durgin Park it was a Boston treasure. As a child growing up in western Massachusetts, our 8th grade English teacher took the class to Boston. It was an annual field trip. As part of the class, we first read “Johnny Tremaine” and then took a 1&1/2 hour bus trip to Boston to see historical sites and the highlight for me-which was lunch at Durgin Park. We had a copy of the menu that we could choose from and I looked at that menu many times throughout the semester, I couldn’t wait. (I see now the seeds of a foodie being planted way back then!) I had the whole meal planned out: I settled on the fried clam platter and of course amazing Indian pudding. That was almost 50 years ago and I can still see myself sitting there thrilled when that huge plate of fried clams and onion rings came to the table, followed by the delicious Indian pudding. I believe everyone is sorry the restaurant is gone, it was an institution and a gem in the city of Boston.
I LOVED Durgin Park. There is a Durgin Park Cookbook. You should get that and try some of their classic recipes. Might be the next best thing to having been there! Xo
I doubled this recipe this weekend and it worked out beautifully! IT was done cooking on High at about 2 1/2 hours. I will definitely make it again.
Thank you for this recipe! Could I make this in an instant pot? If so, any tips on cooking time?
Hi Melanie! We haven’t tried this recipe in an Instant Pot, but please let us know if you do! Happy cooking!
Just made it in the crockpot it was delicious. Took about 3 hours on high. Followed recipe exactly and added a handful of raisins. Glad I did as it’s not real sweet. Served with a small scoop of maple walnut ice cream and spoonful of fresh whipped cream. Perfect!