However, it’s easy to feel a little guilty about eating a chocolate dessert, because it’s not going to be the healthiest of deserts!
But what if you could spruce things up and have chocolate pudding that offers some healthy benefits, without sacrificing any of the chocolate goodness?
That’s where the tasty triple chocolate chia pudding comes in.
This is a creamy, mouthwatering dessert which uses healthy chia seeds to give it an extra kick and a unique taste. Better yet, it’s incredibly quick and easy to make, so it’s perfect for a last minute dessert.
You’ll find information on how to make triple chocolate chia pudding in our guide below, with easy to follow instructions and a useful list of ingredients!
On top of that, we’ve got details on the health benefits of chia seeds, how to store the dessert, and much more. Read on!
Why Are Chia Seeds Good For You?
To begin with, it’s worth us explaining what makes chia seeds so good for you. After all, they’re going to be the biggest healthiness factor in this delicious recipe!
For a start, chia seeds are very high in their nutritional content, with solid amounts of all of the key nutrients.
For example an ounce of chia seeds will provide you with 11.9 grams of carbohydrates, 4.7 grams of protein, and 9.8 grams of fiber, among other nutrients.
Speaking of nutrients, chia seeds contain many nutrients that are important for helping your bone strength, such as calcium and magnesium.
Additionally, its nutrients could potentially lower a person’s risk of getting heart disease, because they contain high amounts of fiber and omega-3s.
This is only according to some reports, though, so don’t entirely rely on chia seeds!
Eating chia seeds is also a great way to get antioxidants. These are substances that can potentially help to protect your cells from free radicals, which are molecules that can bring about various diseases.
And on top of this? Chia seeds are really easy to eat, because you don’t need to prepare them at all.
Simply sneak them into your diet, putting them into random meals and delicious desserts – like the chocolate pudding we’re looking at today!
It couldn’t be easier to get them into your diet, and they’re cheap to buy too.
Moderation
However, you must eat chia seeds in moderation! Eating them too often can give you digestive problems.
Why Should You Make Triple Chocolate Chia Pudding?
Besides being a great tongue-twister when you say it, tasty triple chocolate chia pudding is a great dessert that you’re going to want to make for a variety of reasons.
It’s Triple Chocolate
We’ve kept referring to it as “triple” chocolate pudding, but what are the three different types of chocolate that you’re going to be using? Well, they’re chocolate chips, cocoa powder, and cacao nibs.
You’ll have heard of chocolate chips and cocoa powder before, but you may never have come across cacao nibs.
Put simply, they’re like cocoa beans that have been crushed into smaller pieces, making them a perfect tiny addition to sprinkle on various dishes.
Chocolate lovers are sure to love this dessert for its range of chocolate alone, enjoying three different and delicious tastes.
It’s Dairy-Free
If you’re dairy-free and you’re worried that this chocolate pudding is going to contain dairy, there’s no need to worry! It’s completely dairy free, you don’t even need to miss out ingredients.
It’s Gluten-Free
On top of that, the chocolate chia pudding is also free of gluten, allowing any gluten-free people to still enjoy this tasty dessert.
It’s Easy To Make
Few puddings are going to be easier to make than this chocolate chia pudding, which requires only a small list of ingredients and will take just 10 short minutes to prepare.
With that being said, it will need an hour in the refrigerator at one point to set.
It’s Vegan
Finally, the chocolate chia pudding is completely vegan-safe, meaning that vegans and vegetarians can happily enjoy the dessert without worrying that they’re going to be in contact with any animal-related products.
Is It A Last Minute Dessert?
We said in the intro that this quick and easy pudding was a great pick for a last minute dessert, but is that true? Well, yes and no!
As you’ve just read, the pudding will take only ten minutes for you to prepare. However, the recipe will require an hour of refrigerators halfway through it.
For this reason, this can’t be a totally last minute dessert, because you’ll need an hour’s notice. With that being said, an hour is still a small time for a dessert!
If you finish your main dinner meal, you can have a small break while this pudding sets in the refrigerator, and then eagerly dig in once it’s ready soon after.
What Ingredients Will You Need?
There is a small list of ingredients that you’ll need in order to make triple chocolate chia pudding, but none of them are difficult to get, and they certainly won’t be difficult to use in the recipe.
Almond Milk
This is an optional ingredient, because we’ve also got coconut milk next on the list, which will also work.
With that being said, we like to use a 50/50 mix of almond milk and coconut milk in the pudding because it keeps it quite light, while losing none of its richness too (see also “Vegan Rice Pudding Made With Coconut Milk“).
Of course, using almond milk and/or coconut milk is what allows this pudding to be dairy-free, since we’re not using traditional milk.
Coconut Milk
As we’ve just said, we recommend using an equal mix of almond milk and coconut milk for the pudding. However, you can just use coconut milk instead, which can really make a difference with the texture and fullness of the dessert.
You’ll notice that it makes it particularly creamy, which is sure to keep you coming back for more!
Chocolate Chips
This is the first of the three types of chocolate you’re going to be using in the recipe, and you’ll have used these in other delicious treats like chocolate chip cookies.
They’re small and easy to add, but make all the difference to the dessert’s sweetness!
Chia Seeds
These are the key ingredients of the chocolate chia pudding, because they;re what makes it so unique.
We’ve explained the various health benefits of chia seeds already, and their presence in this dessert makes it a lot better for you than just a regular chocolate pudding would be.
On top of that, they’ll add a very subtle and unique flavor to it! Chia seeds have a mild hint of nuttiness to them, which can go very well with chocolate.
Cocoa Powder
Our second type of chocolate, you’ll find that these actually give the pudding the bulk of its chocolate flavor.
Cacao Nibs
The third type of chocolate, these are tiny bits of chocolate that have come from crushing up cocoa beans.
Cacao nibs have a slightly bitter edge to them that might put you off, but it actually complements the other flavors present in the pudding. Beware, though, they’re rich!
Vanilla Extract
A staple of so many delicious desserts, you’ll need vanilla extract too, because it brings out the other powerful flavors in the pudding.
Maple Syrup (Or Other Sweeteners)
Finally, you can use maple syrup in the pudding, or some honey or agave instead.
These are all sweeteners and they will help to make the pudding sweeter, which is always an essential thing for a dessert. Alternatively, though, you can leave them out if you don’t want it too sweet.
How To Make A Tasty Triple Chocolate Chia Pudding
Now that you’ve collected together your ingredients, it’s time to look at the recipe for making your triple chocolate chia pudding (see also “15 Best Keto Chia Pudding Recipes To Try Today“).
Thankfully, it’ll only take a few simple steps, so you’ll be able to follow our easy to understand instructions below!
Step One: Making A Mixture
To begin with, you’ll need to get a mixing bowl out. After that, add the cacao powder, chia seeds, vanilla extract, and maple syrup into the bowl.
Additionally, add your chosen milk, whether it’s a 50/50 blend of almond milk and coconut milk, or just one of those.
Now mix it all together with a whisk for a couple of minutes, stopping when the mixture has begun to thicken.
Step Two: Setting In The Refrigerator
After you’ve got your thick pudding mixture, you’ll need to set and get firmer. First, leave it for five minutes and then mix again.
Then cover it and put it in the refrigerator. It will need to be there for at least an hour, so make sure that you have planned this dessert just enough ahead that you have time for this stage.
Alternatively, if you’ve got the time then you can leave it in the refrigerator entirely overnight. This way, it’ll be even firmer when you take it out, which might be more to your liking.
Step Three: Adding The Final Ingredients
Once your mixture has had enough time to set, take it out of the fridge and uncover it. Whereas before it was only a single chocolate pudding, with just the cocoa powder, it is now the time to add the chocolate chips and the cacao nibs.
It’s triple chocolate now! Add them into the mixture and mix it all together once more, making sure that it’s all evenly combined.
Step Four: Serving
That’s all it takes to make the tasty triple chocolate chia pudding! You can now serve it up by spooning it into whatever bowls you want.
Of course, the tastiness doesn’t have to end there though, because there is a wide variety of toppings that you can add onto the pudding.
These take no effort to add, and they can improve both its flavor and its healthiness, depending on what you pick. Later in the article we’ve got a list of the potential toppings you might want to try!
Is Triple Chocolate Chia Pudding Good For You?
Now that we’ve explained the recipe, you might be wondering whether triple chocolate chia pudding is good for you.
Of course, you already know it’s got healthiness from the added chia seeds, which carry a variety of benefits and goodness.
But what about the rest of it? After all, it uses a lot of chocolate, and can even include maple syrup.
The cacao nibs actually have health benefits of their own! You might not think of any chocolate being the healthiest of foods, but the cacao nibs have great nutritional contents, including high levels of fiber and magnesium.
Chia seeds also have these, so you’re getting double the goodness! On top of that, the cacao nibs contain antioxidants too.
Additionally, the chocolate chia pudding that you make is going to contain less sugar than if you were buying it from a store.
These pre-made puddings will often have lots of sugar in them, as well as additives that won’t be good for you either.
Though the pudding in our recipe is far from sugar-free, it will be less sugary than any you buy.
What If Your Chocolate Chia Pudding Isn’t Thick Enough?
Ideally, your chocolate chia pudding will be relatively thick when it’s finished, and this will have come from mixing it together for the right amount of time.
However, if you’ve found that your pudding is too thin, then you’re going to want to know how to thicken it up. After all, nobody wants a thin, runny pudding!
There are a few different ways that you can thicken up your chocolate chia pudding. Using one of these should fix your problem, but you can always try them all in order to get it as thick as possible!
Adding Extra Chia Seeds
When you take your chocolate chia pudding out of the fridge after at least an hour of setting, you might find that it’s still a little bit thin.
In order to thicken it up, add another tablespoon of chia seeds into it, then mix it thoroughly again until it’s a bit thicker.
After that, cover it and put it back in the refrigerator again, before waiting half an hour and taking it out.
Mixing It Together More
Mixing your mixture together thoroughly is one of the key factors in making the pudding thick in the first place, and it’s an important part of the recipe.
As we said in its instructions, you need to mix it for a couple of minutes at least, until it has become thicker.
Mixing is also important as a way to get everything evenly placed in the mixture, rather than things like the chia seeds simply staying at the bottom of the pudding.
You should use a whisk to mix it all together and make sure that you’re doing it with firm, thorough movements.
Getting The Correct Ratio
You also need to be careful about the amounts of ingredients that you’re using in the recipe, as the wrong ratio will cause the pudding to be thinner rather than thicker.
With that being said, the correct amounts can vary depending on what you’re using.
For example, if you only used coconut milk, rather than a combination of it and almond milk, then you will need to increase the amount of liquid you’re using. This is because coconut milk is quite thick.
A general rule of thumb, though, is that you use the ratio of 1:4 when it comes to chia seeds and liquid, with one part of chia seeds and four parts of liquid in the mixture.
Following this should give you a thicker pudding in the end.
How To Store Chocolate Chia Pudding In The Fridge
If you’ve made more chocolate chia pudding than you can eat, or it’s so delicious that you want to save some for another day, then it’s important that you store the pudding properly.
If you don’t store it properly, then the pudding isn’t going to keep its taste, and it could even go off too. Nobody wants to be eating a gone-off pudding!
Any leftover chocolate chia pudding that you have should be put into an airtight container, making sure that the lid is on properly and sealed.
Alternatively, you can put the pudding in a mason jar that’s been sealed.
Once you’ve sealed it up, put the container in a refrigerator. Inside there, it will last for as many as five days before it starts to go off. Like any meal, it won’t last forever, so be sure to eat it within that period.
The sooner you eat it, the better it will taste. As you can imagine, the less old the pudding is, the closer it’s going to taste to how it tasted when you made it. It will lose its freshness and flavor over time.
You might also want to leave it out of the refrigerator for a short while before you eat it, unless you want it to be cold!
How To Store Chocolate Chia Pudding In The Freezer
Since you can put your chocolate chia pudding in the refrigerator for up to five days, you might be wondering if you can freeze the pudding as well.
After all, you might not want to eat it in the next five days, rather some random date down the line. So, can you freeze it?
You can! If you want to freeze chocolate chia pudding, put it into an airtight sealed container just as we covered in the previous section, then put it in one of your freezer drawers.
When you eventually want to eat the pudding, you’ll need to defrost it.
You can do this by either taking it out and leaving it out on a counter at room temperature, or you can remove it from the freezer and put it in the fridge instead.
Whichever method you choose, make sure that the chocolate chia pudding isn’t icy when you eat it. If it is, leave it longer.
While you are able to free the pudding, and it might be helpful if you’re keeping it for a far-off event or party, we’ll be the first to admit that it doesn’t taste as good when it’s defrosted.
Something of the flavor and the texture is lost when you freeze and defrost it, and it will be a little different to what you experienced when it was fresh. It’s still tasty, though!
What Toppings Can You Add To Chocolate Chia Pudding?
Your triple chocolate chia pudding’s already delicious, but you can make it even tastier with a variety of toppings that you can add afterwards. These are all low-effort and high-reward – perfect!
Roasted Nuts – as long as you don’t have a nut allergy, adding either rusted hazelnuts or roasted almonds to the pudding gives it a nice nutty edge. The chia seeds are already mildly nutty, but these nuts will really make the flavor clear. Roasting nuts also brings out the nut’s taste more.
Nuts – add unroasted nuts like peanuts, pecans, or walnuts. They’re less crisp than roasted nuts.
Fruit – you can add strawberries, raspberries, mango, passionfruit, and even banana slices. Whatever you like! Better yet, it’ll be healthier.
Almond Butter – this will give it a nutty edge, but also change the texture a little.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is It Better To Eat Chia Seeds In The Morning?
Eating chia seeds in the morning is better than eating them at night, because they can help your metabolism and digestion for the day ahead.
Tasty Triple Chocolate Chia Pudding
Preparation: 10 mins
Cooking: 0 mins
Amount: 2 servings
Ingredients
¼ cup of chia seed
1 tablespoon of cacao nibs
¼ cup of cocoa powder (use high-quality)
1 tablespoon of dark chocolate chips
1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
½ cup of coconut milk
½ cup of almond milk (+2 tablespoons)
2 tablespoons of maple syrup (or similar sweetener)
Recipe
Get a mixing bowl and add chia seeds, cocoa powder, vanilla extract, almond milk, coconut milk, and maple syrup to it. Mix for two minutes until thick.
Leave for five minutes, mix again, then cover and leave in the refrigerator for 1 hour – or overnight.
Remove from the refrigerator and ensure you’re happy with the thickness. Then add chocolate chips and cacao nibs and mix them in.
Hi, my name is Justin Roberts and I like to live by one major rule in life – health is wealth. And where does all health stem from? The food choices we make.
I grew up in a not-so-wealthy household that often struggled to get food on the table.
The food we did eat was cheap, holding no nutritional value at all. I’m talking frozen foods, carbs, fats, and very little fresh produce.
I am fortunate enough to have made a life for myself where the money for food is no longer an issue, and I have spent the majority of it looking into healthy foods and different diets to try.
The most notable is keto and paleo. I am also interested in only using whole foods wherever possible – call it trauma!
As a professional chef, I now create recipes surrounding these diets every day. My family are my tasters, and I strive to make my recipes as budget-friendly as possible.
I hope that you’ll find some inspiration for healthier meals from my website. I want to create a catalog of recipes that you can come back to time and time again. Enjoy!
![The Ultimate Healthy And Delicious [And Cheap] Breakfast Guide](https://gracefullplate.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/The-Ultimate-Healthy-And-Delicious-And-Cheap-Breakfast-Guide.jpg "The Ultimate Healthy And Delicious [And Cheap] Breakfast Guide")
