This healthy Chocolate Peanut Butter Chia Seed Pudding can be made for breakfast, snacks, or dessert and is a nutritional powerhouse with fiber, healthy fats, protein, plus lots of essential vitamins and minerals. Chia seeds provide tons of health benefits and are a great thing to add to your morning routine. Here's a basic chia seed pudding recipe in case you want to build your own.
Peanut butter and chocolate for breakfast! It's happening. This healthy chocolate chia seed pudding is packed with fiber, protein, and enough chocolate and peanut butter flavor you may just want to eat it for dessert. In fact, I have been having it as an after dinner treat all week. I like to stick it in the freezer during dinner so it gets super cold and dare I say, ice cream like. So good.
After a bit of a hiatus from chia seed puddings, I am jumping back on board since I am starting to burn out when it comes to oatmeal. I tend to do that. Eat something every day for weeks or months and finally hit the point where I can't stand to think about it again. Last year that happened with chia seed pudding when it was all the rage, but luckily after a break, I can't wait to jump back on the chia seed bandwagon and this dessert inspired pudding is the perfect jumping in point. I highly recommend trying it as soon as possible and don't forget to go crazy with the toppings - fresh fruit, shredded coconut, nuts, or even whipped cream. It's delicious.
Why blend chocolate chia seed pudding?
If you want smooth and creamy pudding, then blending chia seed pudding is the way to go. While normal chia seed pudding has a texture similar to tapioca since the chia seeds expand and become gel-like in liquid, blended chia seed pudding is smooth. This means that it is closer to traditional pudding and for this recipe, I think that works. Also blending it ensure there is peanut butter flavor in every bite.
How long can I store chia seed pudding in the fridge?
Chia seed pudding can be stored in the fridge for 4-5 days. When making chia pudding for meal prep, I like to pack each individual container in a mason jar or other portable container that I can grab and go. Each day the chia seed pudding is in the fridge, it may get thicker as the chia seeds contain to expand. If it becomes too thick, just stir in some extra milk to thin out the pudding.
Making Keto Chocolate Chia Seed Pudding with Coconut Milk
If you want to make a keto chia seed pudding, you will need to swap out the almond milk and yogurt for full-fat canned coconut milk. However, since canned coconut milk is already very thick, it is better to cut it with some water or milk to make it slightly thinner. I find a ratio of 3 parts coconut milk to one part water/milk works best. In this recipe for four people, you would use 3.5 cups of canned coconut milk and one cup of water or milk.
How to Make Sugar Free Chia Seed Pudding
If you want to make a sugar free version of this pudding, you can replace the sugar with mashed banana. The riper the bananas are, the more sweet the pudding will be. I recommend using 1/2-1 banana per serving of pudding since cocoa powder can be very bitter without enough sweetness,
What kind of cocoa powder is best for chia pudding?
There are lots of questions when it comes to cocoa powder and what is best for making pudding with chia seeds. Ideally, you want to choose an alkalized unsweetened cocoa powder. This is also known as Dutch-processed cocoa powder. Alkalized or Dutch cocoa powder is less bitter and less acidic, which makes desserts taste better. Most store bought cocoa powders are alkalized, but it is worth checking.
There is another option out there as well if you want to pack in more nutritional value. That is to use cacao powder. Cacao powder is less processed than cocoa powder and has tons of nutritional benefits. It is full of antioxidants, helps regulate blood sugar and blood pressure, and is known to be anti-inflammatory. It's also rich in nutrients and minerals like magnesium, zinc, calcium, and even contains some iron.
Topping Ideas for Chocolate Chia Seed Pudding
- Unsweetened shredded coconut
- Strawberries, blueberries, or raspberries
- Chocolate chips or cacao nibs
- Chopped nuts
- Extra melted peanut butter (or other nut butter)
- Bananas (see above for a way to include bananas in the recipe instead of Stevia/sugar)
- Cherries
- Coconut or dairy whipped cream
- A little scoop of ice cream or frozen yogurt
A few more quick ideas for chocolate chia seed pudding
- Make popsicles: During hot summer months, I love pouring this into popsicle molds and creating chia pudding pops. So delicious and so good.
- Add some healthy fats: Sometimes I will throw an avocado into the blender with the pudding to make it extra creamy and add some extra nutrients and healthy fats. You may need to add some additional sweetener depending on your tastes.
- Make a smoothie bowl: This is right in between a pudding and a smoothie, so it can easily be transformed into a smoothie bowl by adding a little extra liquid and topping it with all kind of fruits.
- Add oatmeal: If you aren't watching carbs, you can add some oatmeal to the mixture as well to add some whole grain goodness. Depending on how much oatmeal you add, you may need to add some extra milk. You may decide not to blend it and make more of a overnight oats/chia seed pudding mash up.
This post originally was shared in 2013 but has been updated with new photos and information.