Instant & Smooth Chocolate Chia Pudding
This Chocolate Chia Pudding is quick, easy and amazingly delicious. Made in your blender, this healthy dessert is also smooth and requires no baking! Vegan + Paleo
Chocolate chia pudding
I’ve made a lot of chia puddings in my day…..but *this* one is my favorite. Instant, made in two minutes (for real), smooth, loaded with protieny goodness chocolate chia pudding.
I know like a mama, a food blogger shouldn’t play favorites among her recipes….but I can’t help myself. Some recipes are special and this one absolutely is.
Chia pudding “fish eyes”
Chia pudding is known for being an amazing way to get Omega-3 and protein loaded chia seeds into one’s diet in an easy and tasty way. However, so so so many people simply can’t handle its tapioca texture and the sight of the black “fish eye” seeds (as one child put it to me). I get it. Absolutely.
Also….challenge accepted. The challenge to make a smooth chocolate chia pudding that masked the chia seeds for those “selective eaters”. TNNers, I totally did it.
My little trick
I found that by mixing the chia pudding in the blender for a few minutes, it not only gave the pudding a lovely smooth texture, but it also made it instantly thicken. No waiting around for the chia seeds to gel. No making it the night before or waiting 2-4 hours to enjoy your chia pudding.
You can decide in the moment that you want some chia pudding and literally be eating it in two minutes. Mixing chia pudding in my blender is now one of my new favorite kitchen shortcuts.
I traded in the black “fish eye” chia seeds for white chia seeds in the pudding, making them a little less detectable to those who don’t care for the visual appearance of of chia seeds (like my daughter).
Yeah, white chia seeds are totally a thing. I know! I was shocked too! Here is the kind I use.
So, this chocolate chia pudding is all sort of magical. Fast, healthy, smooth, and (most importantly) chocolate.
Other dessert recipes you are going to adore
- Coconut Chia Pudding (Paleo & vegan)
- Egg-Free Chocolate Butternut Squash Muffins
- Healthy Chocolate Muffins (with butternut squash)
- Chocolate Chip Paleo Pumpkin Muffins
Loving this chocolate chia pudding and hungry for more?
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Instant & Smooth Chocolate Chia Pudding
Ingredients
- 2 cup full fat coconut milk, or almond milk
- 1/3 cup maple syrup or honey, or to taste
- 1/2 cup chia seeds
- 1/3 cup cacao powder, or unsweetened cocoa powder
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a blender.
- Blend on high speed for 2 minutes or until pudding is desired thickness. You may need to scrape down the sides of your blender once or twice to make sure all ingredients are well blended into the pudding. Taste for sweetness and add extra maple syrup/honey if desired.
- Portion out into 6 small containers. Either enjoy immediately (it will be slightly warm from the blending process) or chill in fridge until you are ready to enjoy it (and you will!)
- Will last in fridge 5-6 days.
Notes
- I traded in the black “fish eye” chia seeds for white chia seeds in the pudding, making them a little less detectable to those who don’t care for the visual appearance of of chia seeds (like my daughter).
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Gah! Why didn’t I ever think to blend them first?! Great idea! We’ll be making it this week!
Thanks! I hope your crew loves it as much as mine does!
PERFECT for the kiddo’s snacks. Every morning I freak out before leaving for work, but THIS will be on the rotation for sure. You rock lady! 🙂
Aw! What a great compliment! Thank you, Michele!
Can I use the dark chia seeds if I don’t have white
Yes! I just made it that way yesterday!
Could I use raw milk?
Hmmmm….never tried it but I can’t see why it wouldn’t work!
Yesss! I love regular ol’ coconut milk chia pudding. I’ve added rosewater before as well. Now on to chocolate! This looks so delicious.
Oooohhh I love the idea of rosewater
Yum! We love this dessert. It’s so simple and so good that we sometimes have it for breakfast!
I love desserts that are healthy enough for breakfast!
Wow this sounds amazing! I can’t find white chia seeds, would it be ok to use black ones at all?
Hmm, my ninja wouldn’t break down the chia seeds so you could still feel them. What kind of blender did you guys use?
Really? So interesting! I use a Vitamix, but originally made this recipe with a simple, no-bells-or-whistles Kitchen Aid blender.
My boys love this, but they prefer to call it "coconut chocolate mud" because it doesn’t quite have the same texture as pudding.
My blender wouldn’t break down the chia seeds either. But luckily I was at the grocery store and found ground chia seeds- who knew!
Ohhhhh! Good to know!
i have used a coffee bean blender to grind chia seeds and flax seeds and it works great!! they aren’t that expensive and you just might find one at a thrift shop! i will be making this recipe soon 🙂
Could Chocolate Protein Powder be used as a substitute for the cacao?
This sounds amazing! Is the coconut milk in the recipe the kind you get in a can for cooking, or is it the kind you get in a carton as a milk substitute?
I always used canned, but the kind from a carton could also work!
Is it the same quantity of coconut milk ie: 2 1/2 cups?
Has anyone tried freezing this in batches? How does it do once thawed?
Oh I’d be curious to hear if anyone has tried this! I’d be concerned about it separating during the thawing process.
I made this and froze the leftovers in silicon ice pop molds. It didn’t separate, and the taste reminded me of the fudgecicles I used to eat as a kid. Only better, with more texture, and not as sickly sweet. Loved it!
This is the best chia seed pudding I have tried! I halved the recipe and it was great. I like the texture of chia seeds and my blender does not blend them. Absolutely perfect. Many thanks!
Really delicious! I used cashew milk and added cinnamon and almond extract.
Maybe this will taste better when it has chilled, but it tastes like cocoa autumn leaves. I followed recipe exactly. I had to add more honey to help. Do all chia puddings taste like this?
Hi Amy!
Yes, I would say chilling it might do the trick!
Some chia seeds can be quite bitter, so adding sweeter to taste is always suggested!
With that said, I feel like this is recipe people either love or simply don’t. It all depends on your tastebuds! Hopefully you end up enjoying it!
Loving this recipe!!! Made a half batch over the weekend and topped with homemade whipped cream for desert. So perfect. Decadent. I’ve done non-blended with the tapioca texture and my girls likes it (they’d never had regular chocolate pudding so nothing to compare it to), but I still miss that jello chocolate pudding. This beats that for sure! So good I just made another half batch. Thanks for sharing!
I am so glad!!!
I followed the recipe as written using ground chia seeds. The taste was very good, however it was very soupy and never thickened up. If I used whole chia seeds would that make a difference?
Usually but using whole chia seeds and blending them, this thickens up nicely. I’m glad the flavor was on point (yay) but bummer to hear about the texture. Did you make any subs in the recipe? Regardless, stick in in the fridge and it should thicken up soon!
I am following a Keto diet and was wondering if you could substitute the honey/maples syrup for Swerve as the sweetener?
I haven’t tried it with swerve but I can’t think of a reason it wouldn’t work! You might have to play with the amount of sweetener to get it to your taste preference
Like!!
This looks so good! What a great way to still get a satisfying treat while maintaining a healthy diet!
Thanks for sharing! Can I freeze them? I wonder if they would turn out like fudgsicles?
Oh I bet that would be delicious!
Thank you for this recipe. I watch my grandchild who is more accustomed to eating a pudding pack than homemade pudding but after adjusting for sweetness , she really enjoyed this pudding. One more recipe in this hippie dippy grandma’s arsenal! I just do not keep standard American diet ingredients in my home and her parents are cool with my way of feeding her. Huge success! Btw, I used a heaping 1/3 cup of an erythritol/stevia blend and she thought it was perfect.
Thx again for a perfect recipe!
I’ve never tried chocolate Chia Pudding before. Super excited to give it a try though! 🙂
Love this recipe! My girls have dance through dinner time and during all the covid stuff when they actually were going into class, I didn’t want them snacking on anything they had to touch. This is perfect for filling reusable snack pouches! They love it! And it’s so easy! I use regular milk and it subs fine.
I am so glad they enjoy it and it can help fuel their fun!
I have had great luck making this with an immersion blender. Love it!
Thats great to hear! Thanks for sharing, Emaily.