Chocolate Chia Pudding tastes like a decadent chocolate dessert with nutrition of a healthy breakfast. Ready in 10 minutes and packed with 15 grams of fiber, you will be making it on repeat.
Reader’s Review
So happy to find this! Thank you! I use really good quality vanilla extract (steenbergs UK), I use full fat filtered organic cows milk and my kids LOVE this too!
Rebecca
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Dessert for breakfast anyone? I mean delicious chocolate mousse with healthy fats, complex carbs, fiber and protein. This chocolate chia pudding is creamy, rich and full of dark chocolate flavor.
I started making vanilla chia pudding years ago for breakfast and afternoon snack, then naturally turned it into a chocolate chia seed pudding which I swear feels like eating your favorite chocolate bar, but so much healthier!
According to Healthline, chia seeds are full of antioxidants, its fiber helps you stay full longer and aids in digestion, plus Omega-3s fatty acids offer the good kind of fat that is proven to be heart healthy.
Ingredients for Chocolate Chia Pudding
- Chia seeds: Please use whole chia seeds sold in any supermarket. I do not recommend to use ground chia seeds. Chia pudding will have very prominent Omega taste and unpleasant texture.
- Milk: Any dairy or dairy-free milk from a carton. I like unsweetened vanilla almond milk but soy milk or oat milk works. Canned coconut milk doesn’t work because it’s too thick.
- Maple syrup: I prefer pure maple syrup to honey because it mixes better with cold milk. You can use honey if it is of a runny consistency and your milk is room temperature. Otherwise, my experience shows honey doesn’t dilute well.
- Cacao powder: You can use cocoa powder, it is what most people know and have on hand. The only difference between cacao powder and cocoa is that last one is more processed. Cacao powder has more antioxidants and is better for you.
How to Make Chocolate Chia Pudding
- Combine all ingredients: To any small jar, add milk, maple syrup, vanilla extract, chia seeds and cacao powder in this exact order. Whisk with a small whisk or a fork really well or until cacao powder is dissolved. Some tiny cacao powder lumps are OK.
- Stir again: Let chocolate chia pudding sit for 10 minutes and stir mixture again to break down any clumps. Close jars with lids.
- Refrigerate overnight: Chill in refrigerator for at least 6 hours or overnight is the best.
Recipe Tip
If you don’t like tapioca consistency of chia pudding, gently pulse in a high-powered blender once until combined. Let sit for 10 minutes, pulse again and then chill in the fridge. Don’t process too long because chia seeds will start grinding.
Tips for Best Results
- Liquids first: It’s important to add ingredients in the order listed in the recipe.
- To avoid lumps: I highly recommend to stir chia pudding 2 times before refrigerating overnight. 1st time when mixing, 2nd time 10 minutes later.
- If you have lumps just stir again with a fork before enjoying.
- Too thick: Add a splash of milk and stir. I like my chocolate pudding to fall off the spoon and that is what this recipe makes.
- Too thin: Next time making it, add additional 1 tablespoon of chia seeds.
- One batch: You can also make it in a large bowl and then distribute between jars.
Toppings Ideas
You can enjoy chocolate chia pudding on your own or here are a few of my favorite garnishes:
- Chocolate chips or cacao nibs
- Fresh or frozen berries like raspberries, blueberries, or strawberries
- Coconut flakes
- Banana slices
- A drizzle of peanut butter or almond butter
- Greek yogurt for a protein boost
How to Store
Store: You can prepare and refrigerate this chocolate chia pudding recipe for up to 5 days. I love to meal prep it in individual mason jars!
When ready to eat, give your pudding another good stir. Sometimes you might have lumps due to gulps of air in-between the chia seeds and that’s OK.
Freeze: You can freeze chia pudding for a make ahead option as well! Just thaw as needed for a feel good treat anytime.
More Chia Seed Recipes to Try
- Cottage cheese chocolate pudding
- Greek yogurt chocolate pudding
- Tiramisu chia pudding
- Chocolate banana chia pudding
- Greek yogurt chia pudding
- Banana chia pudding
- Coconut chia pudding
Chocolate Chia Pudding
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup milk, I used unsweetened almond milk
- 2 teaspoons maple syrup or honey
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 3 – 4 tablespoons chia seeds
- 1 tablespoon cacao or cocoa powder
Instructions
- To a Mason jar or any container with a tight lid (I prefer glass), add milk, maple syrup and vanilla extract. Then add chia seeds and cacao powder. It's important to add ingredients in the order listed in the recipe, liquids first.
- Whisk well or stir vigorously with a fork until cacao powder is well combined with the rest of ingredients. Let sit for 10 minutes and stir again.
- Refrigerate for at least 6 hours or overnight.
- When ready to eat, stir well again. Some lumps are OK, just stir well. The thickness and sweetness can be adjusted to your taste.
Notes
- Store: Refrigerate for up to 5 days.
- Consistency: For a thick consistency pudding use 4 tbsp chia seeds, for soup like consistency (pictured) use only 3 tbsp (my favorite).
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
If you add 2tsp more chia, let sit, then blend the mixture in a blender it will be just like pudding.
Chia seeds on my shopping list again. Tis ages since I last made this .
I go through waves too. 2 weeks ago I made like 10 jars and since then nada. I buy chia seeds at Costco so it’s hard to run out lmao.
I subbed 2 tbsp. Xylitol for the honey and maple syrup to cut down carbs, and it is delicious. I plan to sprinkle on Hemp seeds to raise the protein, because eating it all is too much chocolate for one meal for me. Thanks for sharing!
You are welcome, Martha!
This is so delicious! I made it with coconut milk instead of almond milk, as it’s what I had on hand. Reminded me of my all-time favorite dessert, chocolate mousse! THANK YOU!
Awesome, Natalie!
So I found this a few days ago and tried it and liked it but I always want something hot for breakfast. I made a basic chia pudding last night with the milk and seeds then this morning threw in about a tbs of semi sweet chocolate chips then heated it up until hot. Stirred it all together until the melted chips were incorporated and I gotta say- it was pretty damned fantastic. About the same sugar content as using the honey option too. Have you tried it hot? You should if you wasn’t 🙂
I should try it got, Sara. Never thought of that. Thanks.
I’ve really started to fall in love with chia pudding. I have a bunch of recipes collected to try, but I wanted to explore the basics before going into some of the crazier options. So I made this the other day, and it was fantastic! I keep getting surprised by the subtle sweetness of the healthy things I’ve been making, and that happened with this, too. Great richness to the chocolate flavor, and I got a wonderful texture out of 4 tbsp of chia seeds. I like my pudding to fight back. lol My roommate, who eats all sorts of processed garbage, couldn’t detect any sweetness and called this a good “palate cleanser.” That made me a little bit sad.
Hi Sherwood. Good for you! DOn’t be sad or offended, I used to. Try to eat a serving of ice cream and then chocolate chia pudding. Your tastebuds will be so overpowered by added sugar you won’t taste any natural sugar in the chia pudding. Processed foods screw up palettes big time! So keep calm and make chia pudding.:)
Hi there- just wondering how it comes out to 12g of fat? I’ve just started chia puddings like this for lunch. Love them!
Chia seeds are high in Omega-3s that are good for you! This is good fat that doesn’t make you fat so don’t worry and enjoy!
Found this recipe yesterday and ate this morning! Quick assembly made it super easy for me to actually eat breakfast for once! Perfect for to-go! It tastes like chocolate pudding with some extra nibble in it.
It really works better to mix cocoa with chia seeds first, then add it to warm ‘milk’ while whisking – no lumps and thickens quicker as it needs only about 45-60 minutes to cool :0).
That’s a good idea!
If this is going in a mason jar, why do we have to whisk it? Can’t we just screw on the lid and shake it?
Because cacao powder has a hard time dissolving in liquid and your chia pudding might be lumpy and lack taste.