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How to make chia pudding – a delicious snack, breakfast, or dessert loaded with protein, fiber, and omega-3s! Including the perfect chia pudding ratio, how-to, variations, and FAQs for the ultimate guide to chia seed pudding!
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What is Chia Pudding?
Along with overnight oats(5 flavors), chia pudding is my favorite meal prep breakfast, snack, and dessert. Simply combine chia seeds, milk (dairy or vegan dairy-free milk), and sweetener, mix, and leave them to thicken. The result is a light and creamy chia seed pudding with the consistency of tapioca. And, you can top it with all your favorite toppings and enjoy it throughout the week!
Not only is it quick and easy, but this chia pudding recipe is extremely versatile and nutritious too. Eating it provides a wonderful boost of energy (perfect for breakfast or the mid-afternoon snack). It will help keep you satiated for longer, and packs in fiber, protein, and omega-3s.
Plus, with your choice of liquid and sweetener, you can easily adapt the recipe to various dietary requirements. This includes gluten-free (which is naturally), dairy-free, vegan, keto, whole30, refined sugar-free, etc. I’ve also included options for chia pudding with yogurt instead of milk and a simple method for protein chia pudding! However, it all starts with just three basic ingredients!
The Ingredients
- Chia Seeds: There are white and black chia seeds. You can use either (or a mix of both).
- Milk: You can use any milk of your choice, including both dairy and non-dairy options. Here are some choices:
- Sweetener: I love to use a drizzle of maple syrup, but you could use:
- Honey (or vegan dandelion honey)
- Agave syrup
- Brown rice syrup
- Date syrup or date paste
- A sugar-free sweetener: Like monk fruit sweetener, stevia, erythritol, etc. (for keto chia pudding).
- Vanilla: (optional) I love to add a small amount of vanilla extract (or vanilla powder) for a subtle dessert-like flavor.
You could also add a teeny pinch of salt to enhance the various other flavors within the vanilla chia pudding. However, that’s 100% optional and not something I usually do. My favorite combination is coconut milk chia pudding with maple syrup.
How to Make Chia Pudding?
Once you know the correct ratio, it takes just a couple of simple steps to prepare this easy recipe in practically seconds.
What is The Perfect Chia Pudding Ratio?
Having experimented with several ratios over the years, this is the one that I return to time and time again:
1 1/2 Tablespoons Chia seeds + 1/2 cup milk of your choice.
With chia seeds absorbing up to 10x their weight in liquid, this ratio is creamy without being overly thin or thick.
If you prefer a thicker pudding, use 2 tbsp chia seeds per ½ cup of milk. Either way, you’ll only need a few tablespoons of chia seeds to prepare a week’s worth!
The Step-By-Step Instructions
- Add all the chia seeds and milk to a cup, bowl, or jar and mix well. Then add the vanilla extract and sweetener and stir once more.
- Then, set it aside in the refrigerator to thicken for a minimum of 30 minutes, but 2 hours is the optimal amount. I prefer to make it the night before.
Give the mixture another good stir 5-10 minutes after setting it aside for the best results. This will help you avoid clumps of chia seeds.
You can blend the chia pudding before serving it for a more traditional pudding, mousse-like texture. I usually do so after thickening, but you could do it before too.
Serving Recommendations
My favorite part about meal-prepping multiple jars of this easy chia pudding is thinking of all the different toppings I can enjoy with them. These include:
- Fresh fruit: Berries (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, etc), peaches, plums, chopped apples, pears, banana slices, etc.
You could also puree your favorite fruit and swirl it into the vanilla chia seed pudding for a super simple way to add flavor. I like to add them right before serving.
- Dried fruit: A sprinkle of raisins, dried blueberries, apricots, dates, etc.
- Nuts/Seeds: Like this mixed seeds, candied nuts or seeds, almonds, walnuts, etc.
- Seed or nut butter: Drizzle your favorite seed or nut butter (like almond butter, cashew butter, or even this coffee peanut butter). It will add creamy richness to the recipe.
- Jam: Dollop or swirl a spoonful of jam into the pudding. This vegan caramel sauce would also make for a delicious treat.
- Sprinkles: i.e., coconut flakes, cacao nibs, homemade granola, puffed quinoa, chocolate chips, etc.
- Spices: A pinch of cinnamon, nutmeg, chai spice, cardamom, etc.
- Spirulina: To achieve a fun oceanic effect.
- Smoothie: My favorite breakfast combination was always to prepare overnight chia pudding topped with a small amount of thick and creamy smoothie.
How Long Does Chia Pudding Last?
You can store it in the fridge, covered, for 5 days, making it perfect as a meal-prep breakfast or snack.
You can also freeze it for up to 1 month! Allow it to thaw in the fridge overnight before enjoying it.
I like to meal prep it in mason jars with lids for simple, mess-free storage.
Top FAQs
You’ll need to leave chia seed pudding for a minimum of 30 minutes to thicken, but two hours is the optimal time. I usually prepare a large batch the evening before I want to enjoy my first portion and then enjoy the rest throughout the week.
Chia seeds don’t have a taste. Instead, they soak up the surrounding liquid. So the chia pudding ends up tasting like the milk, sweetener, and any other additions you add to the recipe.
The most standout thing about chia seed pudding is its texture. It looks a little like a frog spawn and is texturally similar to tapioca pudding.
This will depend on the milk and sweetener used to make the pudding. However, chia seeds are around 69kcal per Tbsp, meaning roughly 105kcal per 1 ½ tbsp serving.
With maple syrup and low-calorie milk, a serving of chia pudding is around 170 calories per portion.
Recipe Tips and Notes
- Adjust the sweetness: According to personal taste.
- If it doesn’t thicken: This usually only happens if you have old chia seeds. Certain ingredients can also affect their ability to thicken (like orange juice or other ingredients with a certain pH level).
- For a thicker chia seed pudding: Add another ½ tablespoon of seeds per portion and leave it a further 30 minutes (at least) to thicken. Or thicken it with yogurt.
- For a thinner pudding: Add a little more milk of your choice.
- Adjust the texture: If you aren’t a fan of the tapioca pudding-style texture, you can blend the mixture in a blender (or possibly a food processor). Then you’ll get more of a smooth, creamy pudding-like, mousse texture.
More Chia Seed Recipes
If you try this 3 ingredient base chia pudding recipe, I’d love to hear your thoughts/questions below. Also, I’d appreciate a recipe card rating below, and tag me in your recipe recreations on Instagram @Alphafoodie!
3 Ingredient Chia Pudding (How to, Variations + FAQs)
Ingredients
- 4.5 Tbsp chia seeds
- 1.5 cups milk dairy or dairy-free (coconut, almond, cashew, soy, oat, pistachio, oat, etc.)
- 2 Tbsp maple syrup adjust amount to taste; OR use sweetener of choice: honey, agave, brown rice syrup, date paste/syrup, monk fruit, erythritol, stevia, etc.
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract optional
Check the blog post for recipe variations and topping ideas!
Instructions
- Add all the chia seeds and milk to a cup, bowl, or jar and mix well. Then add the vanilla extract and sweetener and stir once more.
- Set it aside in the refrigerator to thicken for a minimum of 30 minutes, but 2 hours is the optimal amount. I prefer to make it the night before.Give the mixture another good stir 5-10 minutes after setting it aside for the best results. This will help you avoid clumps of chia seeds in the pudding.
- You can blend the chia pudding before serving it for a more traditional pudding, mousse-like texture. I usually do so after thickening, but you could do it before too.
How Long Does Chia Pudding Last?
- You can store chia pudding in the fridge, covered, for 5 days, making it perfect as a meal-prep breakfast or snack.You can also freeze chia pudding for up to 1 month!
Notes
- Adjust the sweetness: According to personal taste.
- If the chia pudding doesn’t thicken: This usually only happens if you have old chia seeds. Certain ingredients can also affect their ability to thicken (like orange juice or other ingredients with a certain pH level).
- For a thicker chia seed pudding: Either add another ½ tablespoon of seeds per portion and leave it a further 30 minutes (at least) to thicken, or thicken the pudding with yogurt.
- For a thinner pudding: Add a little more milk of your choice.
- To adjust the texture: If you aren’t a fan of the tapioca pudding style texture, you can blend the mixture in a blender (or possibly food processor) for more of a smooth, creamy pudding-like, mousse texture.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Thank you so much. Glad you liked it!
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I use some simple metal heart cutters that work best for me 🙂
Found it. Now to get ingredients and try for myself. Thanks again for the inspiration
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