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.
You can absolutely use canned coconut milk. It works great producing a thick creamy pudding.
I was so excited to find the Chia seed pudding recipe couldn’t wait to clean the kitchen after dinner and start preparing my chia seed pudding I went to my local nutrition store that sells everything from A to Z for a healthy lifestyle and I found the chocolate cocoa powder and the Chia seeds I had to play around with it for wasn’t sure on the quantity but it tastes delicious so I put it in a glass container with a tight lid and I can’t wait until I try it tomorrow thank you for this information I’m trying to live healthier and eat healthier and I’m juicing and my older son is juicing with me he goes to the gym I do some workouts at home so it all works out for the best I’m excited thank you Lori M Killeen Texas.
You are very welcome. Be healthy. You can find chia in any store.
I love this recipe. Usually have it for dessert, it’s so chocolatey. I add one packet of Splenda for a bit of extra sweetness.
Delicious and simple to make. I topped it off with a dollop of COYO coconut yoghurt and fresh fruit….what a great way to start the day!
This chocolate chia pudding was so creamy!
Thank you so much for this awesome recipe! Made it yesterday and had it for breakfast today. Yum!
(I used unsweetened vanilla almond milk and one packet of Stevia because I did not have honey or syrup)
You are so welcome!:)
This was so yummy! I used honey, fat-free milk and 4 tbsp of chia seeds. Tomorrow I am going to add a banana for texture. How do I calculate the calories with the changes I made? TIA
I don’t know because I don’t count calories anymore. I used to use sparks people calculator, you can also use my fitness pal.
Hi there! My Naturopath wants me to give up grains for a while, so I was looking for an alternative for breakfast, and looked up chia pudding. I tried this recipe today, and though I liked it I found it was-for me anyway, a bit bland. Now I am not sure if it wasn’t sweet enough, though I followed the recipe exactly with honey to sweeten..maybe I’ll try maple syrup next time. I added some strawberries and banana chopped which helped.:) What do you think I might have done wrong? Used coconut milk (unsweetened) btw, and the raw cacao…it just didn’t seem like I could taste the chocolate! I’m not giving up, trying your vanilla chia pudding next! Thank you, lovely website! 🙂
Hi Noelle. You can add another tsp of cacao powder and more honey or maple syrup to taste. Also chocolate chips will help.:) I don’t think you have done anything wrong, everyone has different taste buds. Thank you and enjoy!
Hi Olena!
Well, I tried it again, and again…and have it every morning now pretty much! I added 1 and then eventually 2 tsp of maple syrup instead of the honey, the coconut milk, with or without 1 tsp of raw cacao powder (like it better with because it has that weird grey look without lol!) and add some fruit and I LOVE it! I’ve only tried it with your version of 3 tbsp of chia seeds, and it’s perfect for me…thanks for the feedback! 🙂
Perfect! Sometimes it’s just a few tweaks to suit your personal taste.
Very tasty! I love it and at least one of my kids likes it (I think if I cut the cinnamon the other one will like it too).Thanks for the recipe!
Got my Nutiva chia seeds from Costco as well! The cacao powder was a bit of a pain to mix to ensure no clumps but it was sooo worth it. Many other recipes for the pudding have lots of ingredients, so it was awesome that yours had items I had on hand! Thanks for sharing
Use a whisk. Also let chia pudding sit for 5 minutes after the first mix and stir again. It soaks up some liquid almost immediately and is easier to mix. Less is more.:)