Rich, chocolatey, and ultra creamy, this delicious healthy chocolate pudding recipe is surprisingly easy to make at home!
A classic chocolate pudding recipe with no tofu, no banana, and no avocado!
Not that there is anything wrong with avocado, but sometimes you just want traditional homemade chocolate pudding without any surprise ingredients.
As much as I love recipes where you can’t taste the hidden vegetable, such as in the famous Sweet Potato Brownies, my everyday meals are usually much more simple.
This thick and healthy chocolate pudding can be soy free, sugar free, egg free, gluten free, nut free, and dairy free.
Also be sure to try these Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
Creamy vegan chocolate pudding
In sixth grade, I went through a chocolate pudding phase, where I’d make a package of Jell-O chocolate pudding, add an obscene amount of Cool Whip to the top, and savor it slowly with a small spoon as I watched the Dallas Stars games.
(Hockey was another of my sixth-grade obsessions. I am a girl of many obsessions!)
Today’s recipe is a homemade version of that packaged chocolate pudding. And like most homemade recipes, it is so much better than anything that comes in a box.
This healthy chocolate pudding is super creamy, chocolatey, and absolutely fantastic!
If you want to avoid the hydrogenated oils, artificial flavors, high fructose corn syrup, and hard-to-pronounce ingredients found in store bought Cool Whip, try topping the dairy free chocolate pudding with Coconut Whipped Cream or Coconut Ice Cream.
Healthy chocolate pudding ingredients
Here is what you need: milk, cocoa, sweetener, salt, cornstarch, and vanilla extract.
A few readers have substituted arrowroot for cornstarch and say it works if you use less arrowroot. I have not personally tried this substitution.
For healthy chocolate pudding with no cornstarch, try my Vegan Chocolate Mousse or this sugar free and paleo Keto Chocolate Mousse.
Feel free to test out different milks in this recipe to find your favorite taste and texture. If you use canned coconut milk, it is super thick and velvety like chocolate mousse.
I also love making the dairy free pudding with almond milk or cashew milk.
You can also change up the flavor if you wish, by adding a few drops of pure peppermint extract, maple extract, or even coconut extract along with the vanilla.
Still craving chocolate? Make your own Chocolate Truffles
How to make the healthy dessert
Start by heating two cups of milk in a small pot with the salt, cocoa powder, and sweetener of choice.
Meanwhile, whisk the cornstarch and the remaining half cup of milk in a small bowl until the cornstarch is completely dissolved.
When the mixture in the saucepan is warm, whisk in the milk with cornstarch and bring to a boil. Once boiling, stir constantly with a whisk or spoon for two minutes.
Lower the heat to a simmer for an additional minute, then turn off the heat and add the pure vanilla extract. If using the optional chocolate, stir it until completely melted.
Transfer the chocolate pudding to the refrigerator to thicken. It gets thicker and thicker the longer it sits and will be ready to eat after a few hours or overnight.
*If you do want a recipe with avocado, make this Avocado Chocolate Mousse.
Watch the healthy chocolate pudding video above
Healthy Chocolate Pudding
Ingredients
- 2 cups milk of choice OR canned coconut milk
- heaping 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup dutch cocoa powder
- 1/3 cup sweetener (sugar, pure maple syrup, erythritol, or honey)
- 1/2 cup milk of choice + 3 tbsp cornstarch
- optional 3 oz chocolate chips or broken-up bar
- 3/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Healthy Chocolate Pudding Recipe: Heat the 2 cups milk of choice in a saucepan with the salt, cocoa powder, and sweetener. Meanwhile, whisk the cornstarch and 1/2 cup milk in a small bowl until dissolved. When the 2 cups milk are warm, add the cornstarch mixture and bring to a boil. Once boiling, stir constantly for 2 minutes. Lower to a simmer for an additional minute, then turn off the heat. Once the heat is off, stir in the vanilla and broken-up chocolate pieces until the chocolate melts. Transfer the pudding to the refrigerator to thicken. It gets thicker the longer it sits and will be ready to consume after a few hours or overnight. *Note: I’ve not tried arrowroot and have only tried this recipe with Dutch cocoa powder so can’t vouch for the taste if regular unsweetened cocoa powder is used in its place. But you are always free to experiment!View Nutrition Facts
Video
Notes
More Healthy Desserts
Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies
I just wanted to leave a comment because you had said something about never using arrowroot powder. Arrow root powder is a more natural source for thickening, however you need to understand that when you use arrowroot powder it’s good in the moment. Meaning that if you refrigerate your product it will come out liquefied it’s only for something that you were going to eat immediately just an FYI on that.
Thank you for this recipe, easy and delicious (I used regular non-sweetened cocoa)
Wonderful recipe. The only thing I would change is to add a little more milk. It is so rich and thick, it needed to be a little more spoonable for us
How long should this sit out before going in the fridge? I feel like I put it in prematurely and it’s a little clumpy. Flavor is great, though! I used only almond milk and unsweetened cacao powder and 2.5 oz of nestle chocolate chips. Yum!
Hi, just let it cool down a little. You can definitely re-stir once it’s chilled and thick 🙂
I made this recipe with canned coconut milk. When I opened the cans, the coconut milk looked grainy. I looked it up on the internet and found this was a consequence of the temperature and as long as the exp. date was good, it was fine. I followed the recipe to the letter. But for some reason, the pudding never really jelled. It was almost runny. It tasted very good, but it had that grainy consistency and it was not pudding-like. I couldn’t eat it so I threw it out.
What happened?
Thanks.
If using Coconut milk in the carton . Would this be thick enough to make a pie ?
So first I thought that the avocado chocolate pudding was the best thing ever. Then I made the protein chocolate pudding and instantly decided that THAT was the best thing ever. Then I made this a few days ago and, well… It was SO good! But better than the other two? I guess I will just have to keep making them all until I can decide lol! Thanks Katie, amazing recipe always 😀
Absolutely wonderful! I’ve tried it with toasted coconut and it was amazing.
Thank you so much for trying the recipe 🙂
This recipe is amazing! However, every time I make it I burn the bottom of my pan. I don’t turn the heat high to bring it to a boil so I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong. I doubled the recipe this time around and it burned before I could get the mix to a boil, and the result was that it tasted burnt. I had to toss that batch out. Do you have any pointers? Should I not double the recipe?
I still will make this recipe all the time because it’s so good!
Hi! Thank you so much for making it 🙂 We haven’t ever had that issue so are not sure. Is it a new or old pot? Stainless steel or nonstick? Katie used to have issues with recipes (not this one, but others like pancakes or stir fries) sticking to her old pans and the issue was resolved when she got a Green Pan if you might want to try that – It looks like they make saucepans too: https://amzn.to/3EvvA37
So yummy, thank you. I found out 3 weeks ago I am diabetic and your recipes look amazing.
Thank you so much for making it!