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
This looks delicious! Would omitting the sweetener significantly alter the taste? It doesn’t look like there’s much in there compared to the rest of the recipe. I’m trying to do no added sugar/sugar substitutes, but this looks heavenly!
Unfortunately I’ve not tried, so I can’t say. But be sure to report back if you experiment 🙂
Ahhh I’m so glad you’re still posting!! I thought you’d stopped in 2014. Yay!!
Oh no, definitely still posting! 🙂
looks scrumptious and so creamy!! yumm
Can you use something other than cornstarch, as it raises blood sugar. Thanks!
Other commenters here in this post mentioned they used arrowroot successfully.
You had me at NO avocado (I just never get the results I’m looking for OR I cut open the avocados too late, sigh). Okay, technically you had me at ‘chocolate’ because I know your blog is healthy already 😛 I don’t know about you but good ole’ chocolate pudding sounds amazing to me. Thanks Katie! 😀
I’m sorry, but what exactly makes this pudding healthy?
The coconut milk contains lots of saturated fat (not healthy). Chocolate chips contain processed sugars (unhealthy) and stevia is an artifical sweetener, made from a plant, sure, but to become a sweetener it is treated with chemicals like any other sweetener.
And everything else is not particularly unhealthy, but it isn’t healthy either. Overall, it is just a regular pudding.
Sorry, but I don’t see the benefit of this recipe.
Love most of your other recipes though, because most of them are actually more healthy than the regular version :-*
First of all, you don’t even have your facts straight. Stevia is not an artificial sweetener as Katie specifically calls for UNCUT stevia right in the recipe instructions. And you need to do some more research on coconut as well as chocolate before you say these are unhealthy. (Not to mention the fact that both are optional in the recipe.) Dark chocolate is very high in magnesium, fiber, and other nutrients. It also supplies endorphins. Google “chocolate health benefits” and you’ll see that reputable sources agree with this.
Really? There’s nothing in this recipe that is “unhealthy” … coconut milk is actually really good for you. The fat in it is the fat your body desires. Almond or cashew milk (unsweetened) is really healthy and many brands are fortified with vitamins and minerals… and cocoa powder (again, unsweetened) has so many nutritional benefits you just have to Google 🙂 There’s definitely a variety of nutrional benefits in this recipe.
I tried to sign up for your recipes to follow you…….your system is not working and kept asking for the same info. I put it in at least four times and got the same results. Very frustrated. It also interfered with my viewing the recipes. Please advise !!!!!! Mary
Hi Mary! I’m so sorry for the trouble… I just tried to add you, and it said you are already subscribed. So it looks as thought it did indeed work correctly even if it was telling you otherwise! 🙂
Please do let me know if you don’t start getting the recipes in your inbox. Hopefully it was just a temporary glitch. And please accept my apologies again for whatever troubles you encountered. I know technology can be frustrating!
Thank you. The ingredients are all in my cabinets. The instructions are uncomplicated. Looking forward to great pudding.
Made this just now. I used almond milk and hershey’s special dark cocoa powder, and it turned out really well. It was thick right off the stove, so no need to wait! 🙂
I just made this and used almond milk and the same Hershey’s Dutch cocoa. Did you find it not sweet enough??
I incorporated semi- sweet chocolate chips and 1/3 maple syrup. I liked the dark choc bitter flavor but my taste testers wanted it sweeter. Wondering if I should use sugar instead Of syrup or up the sugar to 1/2 c. I don’t want to make a million batches. Thanks!
Increasing the sugar to 1/2 cup would be fine, or you could even increase the maple syrup to 1/2 cup if you still wanted to use that. Because it would boil off, there’s no need to worry about the extra liquid changing the texture 🙂
Very glad to read this–this is exactly how I’m about to make mine! I exclusively buy Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa, and since I am having my wisdom teeth out tomorrow, I thought it would be a good idea to prep some dairy-free pudding in advance.
This was super yummy with almond milk! You could add mint extract too!