Well, this is the best culinary discovery I have made in a very long time. Chia seed pudding! Suitable for breakfast, dessert, a snack, or by the spoonful (when you can’t seem to stay away from it too long and it is taunting you from the fridge). Go ahead, eat up… this recipe uses no refined sugars and is 100% real and unprocessed!
I made a recipe a long time ago that used about a tablespoon of chia seeds, and since then the bag has been lurking in my pantry taking up space (as well as a bag of forgotten frozen strawberries in my freezer). I came across chia pudding on Simple Bites, and decided to do my own spin on it using the ingredients I had on hand.
Have I mentioned that chia seeds have some ridiculous health benefits? High in Omega-3s, fiber, and calcium, chia seeds are emerging as one of the healthiest superfoods. Most grocery stores have them, but they can be found on Amazon if you have trouble finding them!
When combined with liquid, chia seeds gel up and turn to the texture of pudding, similar to tapioca. This recipe is sweetened only by strawberries and a little bit of maple syrup and vanilla extract, and tastes like a delicious mixture of strawberry ice cream and tapioca pudding. While it takes at least 4 hours to set, the hands-on time is only 5 minutes (which, if you are me, translates into practicing taking photos with your brand new Canon EOS Rebel SL1 by doing a photo shoot with your cat while you are waiting for it to set!).
The basics to making chia seed pudding are simple. Combine 2 cups of milk, yogurt, coconut milk, almond milk, or any other common dairy substitute (making a vegan-friendly option) with 1/3 cup of chia seeds and sweeten however you like. Since I used strawberries, I increased the seeds to 1/2 cup to account for the liquid released from the fruit. I sweetened with maple syrup and vanilla extract- these plus the natural sugars from the strawberries definitely made it sweet enough to satisfy my sweet tooth!
I made mine in a large bowl and divvied into smaller containers after the pudding had set, but in the future, I will probably make these in individual small mason jars by adding smaller portions of the ingredients, shaking, and allowing to set right in the jar. I admit, I ate quite a bit of this while taking pictures of it today, but am excited that there is still plenty left to take as a snack with me to work this week!
Strawberry Chia Seed Pudding
Ingredients
- 12 oz. thawed frozen strawberries
- 1 cup milk or your favorite milk alternative/ vegan alternative
- 1 cup yogurt or your favorite yogurt alternative/ vegan alternative
- 1/2 cup chia seeds
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
Instructions
- Place strawberries in a large bowl or blender and and add milk, yogurt, vanilla extract, and maple syrup.
- Using an immersion blender (if in bowl), blend until smooth.
- Add chia seeds; stir.
- Place in refrigerator, let sit for 4 hours or overnight. If possible, stir after one hour to redistribute chia seeds.
Notes
- The provided nutrition information does not include any added sodium from seasoning to taste, any optional ingredients, and it does not take brands into account. Feel free to calculate it yourself using this calculator or by adding the recipe to Yummly.
Nutrition
Hi does it matter if the strawberries are frozen or not? I have fresh does that work?
You can definitely use fresh! Hope you like it :-)
Just made this for myself and my son, looks amazing. Do you know how long it will keep in a tub in the fridge once made?
I’d say about a week! The liquid from the yogurt will separate out- you can either dump it out or just stir the whole thing up to reincorporate. Hope that helps!
Just whipped this up and it’s so good I’m eating it before the chia seeds have had time to puff up! So yummy!!
So happy you like it!
wow its yummy
Uhhh… yum! Thank you for this recipe. I love all things chia, and I have a huge two pound container to use. I just made this and I wanted to eat it right away, so I just tossed the chia in the blender too and then let the bowl sit out for a few minutes and it was pretty solid :) Thanks for a great recipe!!
You are so welcome!! Glad you liked it, and thanks for coming back and commenting :-)