Velvety smooth vegan chocolate pudding made from scratch. This healthy recipe is refined sugar free with paleo option.
Woah...we are just 1 week away from Easter!! Really? And Olivia is almost 9 months old now. I cannot believe we have now spend as much time with her as we have spent anticipating her arrival.
This last month was one of many firsts - and not only pleasant ones. Olivia got sick for the first time. Her first fever and head cold with the cutest runny nose I've ever seen. Followed by her first tiny little tooth breaking through. Oh my - what an ordeal. And right after she developed a chest cold with a nasty baby cough.
Needless to say, our little trooper has been a wee bit miserable. It must be so confusing for her little baby mind having to deal with all of this. She hasn't figured out the concept of blowing her nose and gets so frustrated when simultaneous eating and breathing just doesn't work right now.
But she has been a champ through all of this. And honestly, I have quite relished the extra snuggles these days. Our Little Miss Uber-Independent would usually not sit still long enough to cuddle or even rock to sleep. So this extra bonding time was very special to me.
No worries though, the little monkey is getting much better already; climbing and crawling everywhere and keeping me busy as ever. Take the smoothie incidents of today for example. Yes, plural!
I've told you before how Olivia likes to share a few sips of my green smoothie every day. Well, today I had to take my smoothie on the go as we were going to our chiropractor appointment.
I thought I was holding the cup far enough from her as we were walking to the car. But first chance she got, she grabbed the straw, pulling it right out and splashing little green droplets all over my left side. Not a single drop on her.
We were short on time already, so a wet wipe cleaning (good thing we carry those everywhere now) had to do. Also good that I gave up on caring too much what people think about my appearance.
Later, back home, we were getting ready to leave again to pick up Konrad from work. Suddenly, I realized Olivia was having a little too much fun playing with my purse. A closer look revealed, said smoothie cup, that I had left in my purse, was eliciting such squeals of excitement.
What little leftovers of green smoothie there were, Olivia had a great time emptying out into my purse, over her feet and onto our (fairly light colored) carpet. Wet wipes came to the quick rescue again...
I guess you could say, I was lucky it wasn't this vegan chocolate pudding she was happily spreading over our apartment. Because you, know she would, if given the chance.
But there was no way I would leave any leftovers of this delicious chocolate yumminess sit around. Nope, my bowl is always licked clean.
Cooked chocolate pudding was always one of my favorite quick desserts. It had to be cooked though; the instant kind just doesn't compare. We always used the packaged powder mix and cooked it with sugar and milk.
Little did I know back then, that we had all the ingredients of that mix at home and could make chocolate pudding from scratch without any of the additive those packaged mixes tend to have.
The dry ingredients in this vegan pudding recipe are just cocoa powder, a touch of salt and a powdered starch. Cornstarch would be the most common, but if you are avoiding all corn products, I have also had success with tapioca starch and arrowroot powder.
To make this recipe fully vegan I used coconut milk and I am sure any other non-dairy milk will work too. Coconut just gives a chocolate pudding a unique tropical touch. But almond milk chocolate pudding would be great too.
As sweetener I used maple syrup, but feel free to substitute a sweetener of your choice.
Preparing the dairy free chocolate pudding is as simple as can be. Whisk all ingredients (except vanilla) together in a saucepan and heat on the stove top. When using cornstarch, you want to bring the mixture to a boil and then simmer while stirring constantly for 1 minute until it the chocolate pudding thickens.
Tapioca starch and arrowroot powder are effective thickeners at lower temperatures already. Stirring often, heat the liquid until it is thickened enough. Usually just before boiling.
Once the healthy chocolate pudding has thickened, just stir in the vanilla extract and fill into serving bowls. You can chill it, but I LOVE warm pudding!
I know some people cover the pudding surface with plastic wrap or sprinkle it with sugar to avoid the skin forming on top. In a weird way, I really like that skin though.
I love to dig into it with my spoon. It's almost like breaking the protective shell and discovering the velvety smooth pudding underneath.
And if it weren't for the caffeine in cocoa powder I would even let Olivia have some of this paleo chocolate pudding. Maybe I have to come up with a vegan vanilla pudding version for her?
More Vegan Chocolate recipes you'll love
Recipe
Vegan Chocolate Pudding
Ingredients
- 3 cups (710 ml) coconut milk (or any other dairy-free milk like almond or cashew)
- ⅔ cup (80 g) cocoa powder
- 4 tablespoons (40 g) cornstarch (or tapioca starch or arrowroot powder)
- ¾ cup (175 ml) maple syrup
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a large saucepan whisk together milk, cocoa, cornstarch, maple syrup and salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat, whisking frequently.
- Leave on a full boil for 1 minute while stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Cool for a couple of minutes, then pour into 4 serving bowls/glasses.
- *When using tapioca starch or arrow root powder, I only heat the mixture until it has thickened enough (usually when it just starts to boil), stir in vanilla and transfer to serving bowls right away.*
- Let pudding cool, top with whipped coconut cream, chocolate shavings, fruit etc. and serve.
Pin Vegan Chocolate Pudding recipe for later?
Random Questions
Vegan chocolate pudding typically includes ingredients such as cocoa powder, plant-based milk (like coconut or almond milk), a natural sweetener such as maple syrup, and a powdered starch like cornstarch, tapioca starch, or arrowroot powder for thickening.
Jello instant chocolate pudding is not vegan as it contains dairy products. However, there are various homemade and store-bought vegan chocolate pudding options available that use plant-based ingredients.
Vegan pudding is made without any animal-derived ingredients. It usually includes plant-based alternatives such as non-dairy milk, vegan sweeteners, and plant-based thickeners to achieve a similar texture and taste to traditional pudding.
Vegan pudding is typically made from ingredients like plant-based milk (coconut, almond, soy, etc.), natural sweeteners such as maple syrup or agave, and thickening agents like cornstarch, tapioca starch, or arrowroot powder. These ingredients help achieve a creamy and delicious texture without using any animal products.
Rain
I have used this recipe every year for thanksgiving to make a base for my vegan chocolate pudding pie. It works perfectly every single time and it’s excellent. It’s truly a foolproof recipe. The only thing I do differently is dissolve the corn starch into a quarter cup of soy milk to make a slurry before adding it into the remaining ingredients and that prevents any clumps. One of the best recipes I’ve come across and it’s done in five minutes flat.
Jennifer @ Leelalicious
I'm so happy to know this is part of your Thanksgiving tradition! 🙂
Vanilla
Too much cocoa,too little tapioca starch, it was like a hot chocolate, then I added more tapioca and of course it didnt had time to desolve. This recipe is a mess. Tapioca is very expensive in my country. And no, ai dont expect this comment to be approver and Yes I measured everything and did exactly like the recipe.
Regina | Leelalicious
It sounds to me like you may have overheated the mix after adding the tapioca starch. Tapioca's thickening ability actually breaks down if brought to a boil for extended time. If you have any other starch that is more common and cheaper where you live, you may use that instead.
Priscila
This recipe is easy to make and yet, it is so delicious! I am always searching for tasty recipes that I can make from scratch but that also my husband, who has cronh's, will be able to eat without any guilt of consuming foods that can irritate his digestion.
I made it using tapioca starch as he cannot have anything with corn, so the cornstarch is out of the list. I also made raspberry and blackberry sauce and added it on the top. My goodness, it was so yummy!
Regina
Thank you for your wonderful feedback Priscilla. I am happy to hear your husband can have this pudding without adverse effects.
Barbara
Hello, i'm very thankful for this easy and delicious recipe! I'm from Austria and made the pudding immediately! Soooo delicious and 1 000 thx for the ml and g in the recipe!!!! I wrote it down in my recipe box!
Lg Barbara
Regina
I am so happy to hear you enjoy this recipe Barbara. I grew up in Germany and still prefer metric measurements. Glad you could appreciate them as well 🙂
C
this recipe is awesome already tried with different flavour combos too
Regina
Fantastic! So happy you enjoy this recipe and are even making new flavor combinations 🙂
Janine
Gorgeous pictures of Olivia! The pudding sounds delicious, and it's certainly useful how easy it is to make.
Regina
Aww...thank you so much Janine. And the pudding is soo easy. If you have the ingredients in your pantry, its easier than going to the store and buying a box mix 😉