Chia Chocolate Pudding – A Delicious Two-Ingredient Dairy-free Dessert

A simple, delicious dessert, this chia chocolate pudding is gluten-free, dairy-free, low-FODMAP, healthy and so easy to prepare, it’s almost embarrassing. It’s perfect for dessert or snack time.

Sometimes we discover something so simple, we wonder how we didn’t always know it. But if we didn’t know about chia chocolate pudding, maybe you didn’t either. 

Chocolate chia pudding is a super easy dessert on its own, or it makes a great base for other sweet treats.

What you need to make this chia seed chocolate pudding

We make this as individual servings. For each serving, all you need is: 

• 2 Tablespoons chia seeds
• ½ Cup chocolate almond milk

What you need to know about chia seeds

To get the maximum health benefits from chia seeds, they need to be soaked until they puff up. 

A healthy addition to recipes, chia seeds contain calcium, zinc, Omega-3 fatty acids, and fiber. Fiber aids in blood sugar control, gut health, and cholesterol levels.

This recipe puffs the chia seeds naturally while it sets, but in other recipes like our banana superfood muffins, we soak the seeds overnight. A few hours is really all that is required. However,  we often enjoy the muffins for breakfast and don’t want to wait.

According to the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), chia seeds are the richest plant source of omega-3 fatty acids. They are a complete protein. They contain the nine essential amino acids that cannot be made by the body.

Two tablespoons of chia seeds (the per-serving amount in our recipe) contain:

• 140 calories
• 4 grams of protein
• 11 grams of fiber
• 9 grams of fat (including 8 grams unsaturated fat)
• 18% RDA for calcium
• And trace minerals including zinc and copper.

According to SFGate, they are also good for appetite control; and therefore, weight loss, suggesting to me that chia pudding is potentially the perfect dessert.

This is all there is to making our chia pudding

1. Mix chia seeds and chocolate almond milk in a bowl and place in the refrigerator.
2. After ½ hour, stir the mixture to remove lumps, then place the bowl back in the refrigerator for at least another 2½ hours.

Optional ingredients

Sometimes we like a little variety. Here are our favourite options: 

• Top with any diced fruit. My personal favourites are berries, cherries, or mandarin oranges.
• Vanilla chia pudding: simply substitute the chocolate milk with vanilla almond milk. It’s good, but not as sweet (or chocolatey) as the original. When I do this, I also like to add a dash of cinnamon.
• Coconut chia pudding: If using drinking coconut milk, you can substitute it straight for the almond milk. However, canned coconut milk is a higher fat content so we use ¼ cup canned coconut milk and ¼ cup water in place of the almond milk. 
• Chocolate and Cherry Chia Pudding: This is one of my favourites, a bit more complex but delicious. Don’t miss our chocolate and cherry chia pudding recipe.
• Or try my favorite chia pudding breakfast.

Our chia chocolate pudding recipe

This recipe was contributed by Jeff Albom

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A few more gluten-free desserts

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