Chocolate Chia Pudding is decadent enough to be considered an easy chocolate dessert, and at the same time, it’s at the top of my list for healthy foods with fiber.
Recipe for Chia Pudding
With 6 ingredients total, you can whip up my recipe for chia pudding with chocolate in a couple of minutes.
How to Make Chia Pudding with Coconut Milk
While chia pudding with almond milk is delicious, I like chia pudding with coconut milk even more, given its ultra creamy consistency.
Creamy Chia Pudding Vegan
For this Chocolate Chia Pudding recipe, it’s important to blend the coconut milk in a high-powered blender so that your result is smooth, rather than one with little lumps of coconut milk in it.
Vegan chia pudding, anyone? Here we go!
Chocolate Chia Pudding
Ingredients
- 1 13.5 oz can full fat coconut milk, blended
- 1 cup water
- 2 tablespoon cacao powder
- ⅛ teaspoon vanilla stevia
- ⅛ teaspoon celtic sea salt
- ¼ cup chia seeds
Instructions
- In a vitamix, combine coconut milk, water, cacao powder, stevia, and salt
- Blend until smooth
- Transfer mixture to a one quart mason jar
- Add chia seeds and shake well
- Refrigerate overnight to let chia seeds soften and absorb liquid
- Serve
What Are Chia Seeds Good For?
Wondering what chia seeds are good for? They’re not just for chia pets anymore!
Chia fiber can help improve gut motility and assist with blood sugar maintenance by slowing down the absorption of carbohydrates. It also improves the body’s response to insulin.
What is Fiber?
With all of this talk about fiber, it’s a good idea to hone in on what it is.
Fiber is the roughage from vegetables, fruits, beans, grains, nuts, and seeds. Although often overlooked, fiber is critical because it resists digestion and sweeps toxins, excess hormones, cholesterol, and waste out of your body via the digestive system.
Fiber Intake
Along with aiding in digestion and so much more, fiber is important for improving the gut microbiome, and it is also key in terms of creating that feeling of fullness that leads to satiation.
How Much Fiber Per Day?
When it comes to fiber daily intake, how much is enough?
Sadly, most American consume around 15 grams of fiber daily, but we may need upwards of 35 grams of fiber per day for our bodies to function optimally.
Fiber Rich Food for Digestion
Fiber rich foods can help to kick start your digestive system when things are feeling a bit sluggish. Furthermore, the fiber in a tasty chia pudding will help you feel full and eliminate cravings.
Other Fiber Sources
But chia is not the only fiber rich food on the menu. Here are some other great sources of lower carb fiber for you:
- Legumes
- Berries
- Green Vegetables
High Fiber Food List
Chia seeds are rich in omega-3 fat, quercetin, and vitamins B1 and B2, and near the top of the high fiber food list, right after beans which I also love.
| Fiber Content | Calories | Carbs | Fiber | Net Carbs | Protein | Fat |
| White Beans (1 cup) | 255 | 47g | 19g | 28g | 15g | 15g |
| Chia Seeds (2 T) | 142 | 12g | 9g | 3g | 4g | 8g |
| Blueberries (1 cup) | 129 | 33g | 5g | 28g | 1g | 0g |
| Broccoli (1 cup) | 31 | 6g | 2g | 4g | 2g | 0g |
Chia Seeds Calories
Like many perfect keto foods, chia seeds are not low in calories. But then again, not all calories are created equally.
Food is so much more than calories.
Food is information that tells your body whether it should release fat burning hormones or fat storage hormones, and this makes all the difference for weight loss and weight maintenance.
Chia Seed Carbs
Perfect for the Keto Diet, chia seeds are low in carbohydrates and high in fat.
Chia Seeds Uses
I use chia seeds in smoothies, brownies, and much more! Sometimes I make a drink of hot water with chia seeds and a squeeze of lemon, which is referred to as an internal shower.
Recipes for Chia Seeds
Looking for ways to get more fiber into your diet and recipes for chia seeds? You’re in the right place.
Chia seeds work well in my recipes and are incredibly easy to add to your diet due to their neutral flavor.
If you’re not in the mood to experiment, my recipes for healthy desserts and more are loaded with healthy and delicious chia.
Recipe for Chia Seed Pudding Easy
You can whip up this Vanilla Chia Pudding recipe, with a creamy cashew base, using my simple 2 step process.
Blend cashews, a touch of honey, vanilla, water, and salt until smooth, then place the mixture in a mason jar, add the chia seeds, and shake.
Experiment and add flavors like cinnamon or vanilla beans to customize the recipe.
Chia Seeds in Smoothie Recipes
I love using chia seeds in my smoothie recipes.
My Keto Chocolate Smoothie is made with chia seeds, protein powder of your choice, coconut milk, vanilla stevia, and 85% chocolate.
This fabulous fat fueled smoothie tastes like a heavenly chocolate milkshake and will energize you throughout the day! If chocolate isn’t your thing, try my Strawberry Breakfast Power Smoothie recipe also made with high fiber chia seeds.
Chia as Egg Substitute
Truth be told, I haven’t had much luck using chia as an egg substitute. Chia eggs just do not work 1:1 in my recipes as a sub for regular eggs.
I use the magical combination of chia, sunbutter, and bananas in my fabulous Vegan Gluten Free Brownie recipe. This somehow alleviates the need for eggs but is not really a “chia egg” substitute.
These scrumptious brownies hit the spot with a tall glass of my homemade Almond Milk!
Recipe for Paleo Porridge
My recipe for Paleo Porridge will shake up your breakfast routine in the best way!
This warm gluten and grain free porridge brimming with healthy fats from flax, chia, pumpkin seeds, and more, is quick and easy to make!
The complex flavors of spicy cinnamon and rich walnut in this healthy hot cereal recipe bring back memories of hot cereal from my childhood, only healthier!
Focus on the Fiber
Why all this focus on fiber? Living with an autoimmune disease that’s triggered by a specific food (gluten) means I make optimizing my gut a top priority.
What Celiac Disease Is
I was diagnosed with celiac disease in the late 1990s, the Dark Ages of Gluten Free, and it changed the course of my life.
Although commonly thought of as a gut disorder, celiac is a multi-organ system disease that can impact the body as a whole, given that it triggers a destructive reaction in the immune system.
The combination of a strict gluten free diet, along with plenty of fiber every day, have been instrumental in keeping my gut as healthy as possible.
The Fiber Health Connection
Celiac or not, fiber is such an important component of our health on so many levels. Do you get enough fiber each and every day? What are your favorite sources?
This Chocolate Chia Pudding post is an oldie but goodie from the archives. I first published this recipe in 2015.
Laura ~ Raise Your Garden says
I agree! And if you’re Mother-In-Law asks you to do something….you do it!! Haha. Luckily, my mother-in-law is great =)
Petra says
I make it with coconut sugar. It’s great. You can put in whatever you want. It’s up to your imagination.
Kim says
Hi Petra, how much coconut sugar do you use?
Ally @OmNomAlly says
Chia puddings are the bomb :) Love that you used stevia, I find when using coconut milk that you don’t really need much sweetener at all as coconut has it’s only mildly sweet taste anyway. I’ve Pinned and bookmarked this page to show my husband, he’s been talking all morning about making some chia puddings today!
Elana says
Thanks Ally!
DamselflyDiary says
I made this last night so it could sit until today. I only had light coconut milk and so I reduced the water to 1 cup. I used part of the vanilla stevia and about 1 Tablespoon maple syrup.
When I checked on it today, it hadn’t really set properly. I was afraid of this because I was using light coconut milk. So, I added another 1/4 cup chia seeds and will let it sit again. That said, the flavor is nice – slightly coconutty, slightly chocolatey and just barely sweet.
I am going to try to go “sugar free” after Easter and this will be a nice dessert recipe.
Iva says
I am allergic to cacao. Can I use carob instead?
DamselflyDiary says
If they make carob powder, go for it. Recipes are about experimenting and making them your own.
I would think that for people that like cinnamon you could either add cinnamon to the recipe for a “Mexican Chocolate” taste, or simply omit the chocolate and add cinnamon to taste. Since you don’t cook this, it is easy to taste as you go.
Elana also has a non-chocolate chia pudding recipe on the site – look at the end of her post for this recipe where you will find the link.
Good luck!
Iva says
I made it with carob powder and it was amazing! Thank you!!!
Kathy says
Once again you have another hit! This is amazing! Thank you so much for a creamy rich alternative! The stevia is just the right amount!
Barbara says
I made this yesterday and just took a bite this morning. Heavenly! FYI – I substituted a hot chocolate mix I had for the cacao and truvia for the stevia, as I didn’t have the listed ingredients on hand, and added a touch of vanilla. Still turned out great!
kylie says
Hi there how much trivia did u use?
aspoonfulofnature says
this looks deliciouuuus :) yumm
https://aspoonfulofnature.wordpress.com/
Dt says
My question also….for those of us who don’t use stevia. Maybe 2 to maple syrup and little vanilla? Your insight is helpful. Thx
claire ryder says
I use date sugar or date syrup
Jess says
Is there an alternative to the vanilla stevia? I’d imagine vanilla and honey, but the stevia is such a small amount, I don’t want to mess-up the consistency!
Jess says
I meant to ask about amount specifically. How it goes when trying to do two things at once!
Leigh says
I am so grateful to you Elena for your sophisticated palette and recipes.They have made me feel sated, and excited about food in a time when I could have felt deprived of ‘normal’ food. This yummy pudding recipe has particularly made my tail wag. You have combined two things I love together: chocolate and creamy!
However, I’m picky about chewing on seeds. So I put my chia seeds in a spice mill first, then add all my ingredients to a VitaMix. Hello Chocolate Velvet! Then I tried coconut water instead of the 1 c water for extra flavor. When I first did this, I used some TJ’s new blend of coconut water with aloe vera juice I happened to have in the frig. It came out jelled and ready to eat right out of the VitaMix! With regular coconut water, however, you need to wait an hour or so in the frig for a smooth and velvety texture. Also tried the chocolate raspberry stevia and I am over the moon!