This vegan chocolate pudding is the epitome of decadence and simplicity. Super thick and chocolatey, you can craft this dessert in mere minutes with common pantry ingredients! No one will even know it’s totally plant-based!
Normally, I’m all for healthier oatmeal cookies or a banana bread but sometimes, I just want that decadent and luscious fixin’ of this vegan chocolate pudding!
Although I love my plant-based journey and almost never have complaints, one of the things that can be difficult to deal with when dining out is that while restaurants are beginning to offer vegan entrees, they’re still lacking significantly in the dessert department! Desserts are usually laden with cow’s milk, butter, eggs, and cream and thus, dessert at a restaurant is usually not an option. However, you won’t mind so much when you have this chocolate pudding waiting in the fridge for you at home!
What I love about this easy vegan chocolate pudding is it seriously takes 5 minutes to make (not counting refrigeration time) and it only has 7 ingredients that are common pantry ingredients.
The Itty Bitty Details of Gelatin
Let’s talk about why you might want to make my chocolate pudding versus a store bought box. Most non-vegan boxed puddings are made with gelatin.
Gelatin is derived from boiling the tissue, tendons and ligaments of animals, usually pig or cow. Kosher gelatin is derived from fish tissue, a common ingredient in marshmallows. As it cools, it partially solidifies, creating this jelly like texture which is the texture of pudding.
In this recipe, we’re achieving the thickening through arrowroot starch instead of animal tissue. It’s really that simple. If you don’t have arrowroot starch on hand, cornstarch will do.
The Other Ingredients
The rest of the ingredients are typical of a pudding, common household staples and/or easy to find in the grocery store. It’s truly a breeze.
The milk. In my house, we are huge fans of oat milk. However, you can use any plant-based milk that has a good fat content like almond or coconut milk. A full fat plant milk will help with the thick and creamy texture of the pudding.
The chocolate chips. Fortunately, there are a variety of dairy-free and vegan chocolate chip brands. We gravitate towards the Enjoy Life brand.
The sugar. 100% cocoa powder or chocolate is actually quite bitter, if you’ve never tried it on its own. Thus, we need a sweetening agent to make this a bit more enjoyable. For the sugar, you can use regular table sugar or coconut sugar works as well.
This chocolate pudding is perfect for parties where you can serve in individual cups. Or you can totally eat this out of the mixing bowl with a spoon. No judgment here! I’ll be on my couch doing the same 🙂 For portion control, consider storing the chocolate pudding in individual size jars like these Weck jars, pictured in this post.
You can eat the chocolate pudding simply as is or, to enhance the decadence, feel free to top off with crushed nuts, fresh fruit, shaved chocolate, and more.
Vegan Chocolate Pudding
Ingredients
- 1 150z can of coconut milk
- 2 cups oat milk or almond
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 4 tbsp arrowroot or corn starch
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder
- 1 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Bring all ingredients except for the chocolate chips to a boil in a saucepan. Once boiling, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 5 minutes. The mixture will begin to thicken. Whisk frequently so that it doesn't stick and burn at the bottom.
- At the end of the 5 minutes, add the chocolate chips and whisk until they melt. Once they're melted, shut off the heat and pour the pudding into a bowl.
- Refrigerate your pudding mixture. It will continue to thicken as it cools.
Notes
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