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!
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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.
Chera says
Does this taste like coconut at all? I don’t like coconut but love chocolate :) I can’t have regular milk.
Elana says
Chera, it doesn’t to me but everybody is different :-)
Barbara says
I am not sure what I did wrong. I made this yesterday. when I checked it today, it was runny not at all a pudding texture. I used 1 can of regular coconut milk and I cup of water. Any suggestions? Should I try coconut cream instead of the coconut milk?
Elana says
Hi Barbara, thanks for your comment! I make this every week and it is incredible. I’m not sure why it didn’t set up for you. If you’d like it to be thicker I would leave out some of the water, but be careful as it could make the chia seeds somewhat binding. Too much fiber without liquid can be tough on the digestive system.
Marie Douville says
You probably found a tin of coconut milk that uses a gum to stop the fat from separating OR one of the “drink” products rather than a tin of coconut milk with 60% coconut and water. It should turn really thick and separate if you leave it in the fridge overnight (great for whipped topping).
Elana says
Thanks Marie!
Betsi says
Hello,Just starting a keko diet SO MY ON GOING QUESTION IS— How many carbs in a cup?? I love Chia seeds.love your site.
Elana says
Betsi, thanks for your comment! For more on that please go here:
https://elanaspantry.com/nutrition-information/
Have a great day!
Elana
Barbara says
Can I use coconut cream instead of coconut milk?
Elana says
Barbara, I haven’t tried that so not sure :-)
Sue says
Cream works fine for me if you didn’t already make it:)
Tammy says
This pudding is delicious! Another successful recipe! Thanks for sharing…
Elana says
Tammy, you’re very welcome! I’m so happy that this pudding was a success :-)
Alice says
I made this last night for today. Perfect balance of ingredients. I feel very spoiled enjoying pudding!
You are so kind and generous!
Elana says
Alice, thanks for your sweet comment! I’m so glad this was perfect!
Sue Schroeba says
Why do all the chia pudding recipes I see call for almond or coconut milk? Does actual milk not work with chia seeds?
Elana says
Hi Sue, thanks for your comment. I cannot digest dairy milk so I use coconut milk in this recipe :-)
Cynthia says
LOVE this recipe! But then what’s not to love with whole coconut milk? I can eat that by itself & it whips up do nicely with the chia seeds. I have used chia for years in smoothies, have seen & wanted to try a pudding recipe but just now finally getting around to it!
Thanks Elana! PS – I did not find I needed any sweetener & I even added more chocolate than the recipe.
Crazy but I have actually learned to love snacking on 100% cacao nibs or a piece of a bar…go keto!
Elana says
Thanks Cynthia! So glad you love this recipe :-)
Evalin says
Can you use regular stevia instead of vanilla stevia?
Elana says
Evalin, I think that will work.
Kathy says
Wow, Elana, you’ve done it again! I’ve been using a keto diet since June 7 when there was a suspicion I was in metastatic ovarian cancer recurrence. It was confirmed June 29 and I love the keto diet because not only is it helping me heal chemo side-effects from 2000/2001, I can feel a new freedom in my abdomen, I know it’s clearing tumors away. Cancer cells can only burn glucose, they cannot burn fat or ketones for energy so I’m starving them and going in for the kill with another 11 evidence-based strategies. I’m adding another two strategies this month. My goal is to heal myself and make surgery scheduled late August unnecessary. I haven’t had a dessert in a really long time, thanks for giving me a recipe to try tomorrow — I already have the ingredients in my pantry!
Elana says
Kathy, so glad to meet more people that are on the keto bandwagon. Good luck, my thoughts are with you all the way!
Pa says
Wow – could Kathy or someone please share evidence -based strategies?! That would be awesome!
Gail says
I tried this yummy recipe using Light Coconut Milk & it has half thickened. Should I have used full coconut milk?
Elana says
Gail, yes :-)