Chia Pudding for Breakfast
Chia pudding always hits the spot for me, and it’s becoming really popular. It can be really simple to make, and with a couple of special touches, it can be elevated to the most delicious breakfast. What are those special touches? Dried fruit, fresh fruit, cacao nibs or coconut flakes are all really nice touches.
The recipe you’ll see below is for the base Vanilla Chia Pudding, to which you can add these optional extras. When you mix the chia with the almond milk, you’ll find that it needs about 30 to 60 minutes to come together in a nice pudding consistency.
You can also make this the night before, so it’s pretty much ready to go for breakfast in the morning, when you might not have as much time.
Chia Pudding Ratio
Apparently chia seed can swell up to 10 times its size when mixed with liquid. But what is the correct ratio? Well, it depends on what consistency you’re looking for. here’s a rough guide:
- 1/2 cup chia to 2 cups milk – thick and creamy pudding, especially if you’re using fattier milks such as coconut milk.
- 1/2 cup chia to 3 cups milk – that’s what I’ve used for this recipe, which is a nice middle ground consistency.
- 1/2 cup chia to 4 cups milk – this will give you a much looser chia pudding, to which you might even want to add oats.
Almond Milk
You don’t have to serve this with almond milk, it is great with any non-dairy milk. Whatever milk you serve it with though, I recommend making it yourself. It’s so much nicer homemade. Here’s a tutorial I did on How to Make Almond Milk.
Vanilla Chia Pudding with Almond Milk Recipe
Nutrition (For one serving)
Ingredients
- 3 cups almond milk
- 1/2 cup chia seed
- 1 teaspoon vanilla powder
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup or honey
- 1 pinch Himalayan salt
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
Instructions
- Whisk all of the ingredients together in a bowl and leave to stand for 30 to 60 minutes.
- This can also be made the night before, left in the fridge and enjoyed in the morning. If you're doing that, you might want to add a splash of almond milk to loosen it up before eating.
- Optional: Serve with thawed from frozen blended berries, and/or dried fruit such as mulberries. Cacao nibs are also really nice for this, as are coconut flakes.
- Will keep in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Video
- Related: Chia seeds and chia pudding have become so popular in recent years because the seeds themselves are so nutritious. They offer a massive amount of nutrients, without many calories. Check out the 11 Proven Benefits of Chia Seeds.
Beautiful recipe Russell. Had to soak for about 5 hours but still wasn’t thick. Then added one banana and that gave a better result with consistency and taste.
Hey Menkit, glad you liked the recipe, although it’s strange that it didn’t thicken up for you. Good that it worked out with the banana 🙂
Hi Russell,
Wow, just found your site and thinking your classes will be my birthday gift to me. But got a question, doesn’t seem like you use too much grains, or starchy vegs like potatos, sweet potatoes. Lots of nuts, and vegs, little fruit. Am I right, and if so why?
Chris
Hey Chris, I do eat those things, but mostly cooked. I have a raw Curried Sweet Potato Salad in Weekday Raw, but I also love baking sweet potatoes and filling them with raw goodies such as guacamole.
Hi Russell, this is Georgiana again 🙂 I wanted to share with you something that I discovered in my kitchen. Hemp milk is the milk I love the most. It is easy to make and tastes delicious, especially with the chia. However, I used to make it as you did, using the blender. One night, I had the revelation of using the juicer instead of blender. You should try if you did not yet and let me know how tastier it is. I use Angel Juicer but I am pretty sure it will work in any other slow juicer just the same. Because we live in Florida, we use coconut water instead of the pure water and that makes my milk so damn delicious 🙂 Thank you for sharing all these goodies with us!
Ah, interesting. So you mix the coconut water with the hemps seeds, and then put the whole mix through the juicer?
Yes, that is right.just run it as you make the the juice. Let me know how it is:-)
That’s fantastic to know. I also have an Angel juicer, but was weary of using it to juice hemp seeds as my friend managed to break his Greenstar doing it. Will try that very soon. Thanks x
Can this recipe be prepared the night before?
Sorry, I just saw the video again and you said that it can be prepared the night before. So my question has been answered. Thank you!
Hi Russell,
not sure if it is just my ipad, but I can’t see the video above, it’s just a white spacs. All the others seem to be ok.
I haven’t been on the site for a while, and am loving reintroducing myself to it’s contents.
Should all be OK now
I have tried your zucchini and leeks wrap and the flavor was excellent. I have looked at many of your recipes and am very interested in signing up for your Weekday Raw course, but hesitate because of the number of ingredients you use that my husband, daughter and I cannot digest. For example, the nutritional yeast and tamari. Would you have suggestions for substitutes I might use?
It might interest you to check out food intolerances at http://www.doctorananda.com and songofhealth.com. They explain why we cannot digest these foods. My two sons have a fruit/sugar combination meaning they cannot digest foods with both of these together in what they eat. If they ate all fruit and no sugar they had no trouble with acne. The opposite should be true, but sugar is not healthy so I did not give it to them. One time my son picked up a salad dressing by mistake and my other son alerted me to look at the ingredients because he mentioned he had a headache. He never gets headaches. But he did that time because he was having difficulty digesting his food and his body told him something was wrong. Our loving God created us this way. (I do not buy salad dressing any more.)
Hey Tricia, thanks for sharing. It’s great that you and your kids are getting to know your bodies well and know what works for you.
Nutritional yeast can be left out if you don’t want it, and tamari can be substituted for a little salt.
To get started I need tools right? There’s a lot here that I wanna learn….there’s a lot a really don’t know and would love to learn..
Hi, my friend introduces me to this website… Couple days ago, I wish I’d known about this website before…I will be taking some courses soon but the thing is….I have no baking utensils and I don’t know what to buy…
Hey Marcia, try this 🙂 https://therawchef.com/equipment-need-raw-food-diet/
This is my favourite recipe! Thank you for sharing! I eat it every day! :)))
I want to make a chocolate chia porridge/pudding.
What would you take out and what would you add to make a perfect chocolate porridge or pudding?
I personally found that maca and chocolate does not go well for my taste buds.
Ah, that’s interesting because chocolate and maca usually go well together.
I would add cacao powder to this, along with a little extra sweetness to counteract the bitterness of the chocolate. I’d maybe leave out the dried fruit and the medicine flower, pomegranate, lemon juice and the pumpkin spice mix.
Please can you give a link for the stevia in uk thanks
Hi – Pumpkin pie spice mix isnt a product I am aware of ( im in the UK ).
Can I substitute with spices ?
Mixed spice is the UK version. Also, Steenbergs do a really nice Apple Pie Spice Mix, which is the same thing 🙂
Would this recipe work with grinding half of the seeds?… would you only soak the ones that are whole? I am also wondering what else could be mixed into this… perhaps a sprouted buckwheat? Thanks!
You an grind half, yes, but I would still soak them.
And, yes, adding sprouted buckwheat would be awesome.
I love chia seed porridge, but I grind my chia seeds to get maximum nutrition from them. The texture isn’t as good, but still really tasty. Also I’ve found if there’s any left overs then it can be dehydrated into a sheet, and is great for packed lunches.
Awesome!
Thanks for sharing 🙂
Could we have more breakfast ideas please. now we are coming into autumn here in the UK I would like something more comforting than just fruit. Thanks
Noted! 🙂