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This Chocolate Custard Chia “Tapioca” is the most delicious milk chocolatey chia pudding you’ll ever taste and reminds me of the tapioca I enjoyed as a child! Thankfully this version is a whole lot better for me: it’s sugar free, a THM S dessert or snack, and low carb. Even better, it contains 7 grams of protein per serving!
This chia “tapioca” is actually dairy free as well, for those of you who have dairy sensitivities/allergies! Don’t worry; it’s still super creamy.
PS: did you know that I’ve had a DAIRY FREE INDEX of all the dairy-free recipes on my website for years? Yep! I’m not a strictly dairy-free blogger, but I’ve been making a concerted effort to provide more dairy-free recipes and dairy-free tweaks in the last year or two as I’ve been made aware of the need for THM-friendly dairy-free recipes.
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This Chocolate Custard Chia “Tapioca” is a chocolate version of this super-popular Vanilla Custard Chia “Tapioca”, so if you’re not into chocolate for some reason or don’t have coconut milk on hand you could try that recipe instead. If you want to make that one chocolate, just whisk in some cocoa powder after cooking. On the flip side, if you want a vanilla dairy-free custard chia “tapioca,” try just omitting the cocoa powder from the recipe on this page.
This recipe is actually a no-special-ingredients recipe if you use your favorite locally-sourced low-glycemic sweetener to taste! I can get everything in this recipe but the THM Super Sweet Blend at Walmart.
COCONUT MILK:
I really like Thai Kitchen Lite Unsweetened Coconut Milk! Look for it at Walmart, your local grocery store, or online. You can use full-fat coconut milk, but I don’t see the point of adding excess calories when this pudding is nice and creamy already!
Click here for a plain chocolate pudding recipe without chia seeds!
PRO TIP:
If you accidentally cook this too long and end up with scrambled eggs in your pudding, you can try using an immersion blender to blend it and smooth it out. You’ll lose some of the “tapioca” effect because you’ll be blending the chia seeds, but some texture remains and the pudding actually becomes a really nice consistency.
Coming soon…
A Sweet & Tangy Barbecue recipe perfect for summer picnics and a Mango Baked Oatmeal recipe with a yummy jam-like mango and ginger compote baked right on top like a built-in “frosting.”
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STARTING THM
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MY RECIPE INDEX
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RECIPE INDEX BY FUEL TYPE/ALLERGY/THEME
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A VANILLA CUSTARD CHIA “TAPIOCA” RECIPE
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A SINGLE-SERVE DAIRY-FREE VANILLA CHIA “TAPIOCA” RECIPE
- 1 (13.66 oz.) can lite unsweetened coconut milk
- 1 ½ cups unsweetened almond or cashew milk
- 3 eggs
- ⅜ teaspoon salt
- -
- ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons chia seeds
- -
- 2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon THM Super Sweet Blend (or more, to taste)
- 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Whisk the first section of ingredients very well in a nonstick saucepan. Whisk in the chia seeds and turn the heat to medium (maybe a little lower on a gas stovetop). Cook until the mixture just starts to bubble, whisking often, especially towards the end. Pull the pan off the heat as soon as the eggs thicken up and small bubbles form, then whisk in the Super Sweet Blend, cocoa powder, and vanilla. Taste and add more sweetener if desired. Refrigerate overnight to thicken, then enjoy!
- This "tapioca" is good warm or cold. If I heat it up for breakfast, stirring a little bit of peanut butter into it to melt is super yummy. (This pudding does contain 7 grams of protein per serving, but for breakfast you might want to add some extra protein on the side, such as collagen in your coffee or tea.)
- TIP: If you accidentally cook this too long and end up with scrambled eggs in your pudding, you can try using an immersion blender to blend it and smooth it out. You'll lose some of the "tapioca" effect because you'll be blending the chia seeds, but some texture remains and the pudding actually becomes a really nice consistency.
-Nutrition info calculated for each of 5 servings. Nutrition and allergy info for “tapioca” only, not toppings.
ALLERGY INFO:
-Gluten Free
-Dairy Free
-Nut Free if you use the low-calorie unsweetened carton kind of coconut milk in place of the almond/cashew milk. Most people with tree nut allergies can have coconut products, but confirm with your doctor first.
You can pin this recipe here:
Great recipe!
You can avoid the scrambled egg effect by tempering the eggs. Whisk the eggs on the side. Heat up the milk/cream mixture up to the bubbling point. Pull it off the heat. Then you temper the eggs by taking a ladle of the hot mixture and whisking it into the eggs. Keep adding more of the hot mix and whisking the eggs until about half of the hot mixture has been incorporated. Then you can dump the tempered egg mix into the rest of the hot mixture. This gives you all the creaminess of the eggs without having them scrambled!
This recipe is delightfully creamy! Very tasty and well crafted.
PS Briana we used coconut almond milk from the carton and 1/3 cup heavy cream to make our double batch and it worked like a dream if any ones the substitute for canned coconut milk. ❤️🥰❤️🕊✨☃️💕🌟💫🌲⭐️☃️⛄️🥰🕊❤️
Yay! I’m so glad it was a hit! Thanks so much for stopping by to tell us how you did it, Carolyn!
Briana , bless you, you have given me the recipe of my dreams! Talk about comfort food! We made a double batch of this recipe with vanilla, touch of almond extract, cinnamon and nutmeg and white chia seeds mixed with some black and we are in bliss! This is my new favorite food! Brilliant as always dear sister! Happy Thanksgiving !
I decided to try this recipe tonight. I started mixing it and thought, “This is gonna be a waste if I don’t like it.” But the first bite proved the recipe to be a winner! I dipped some out and ate it warm topped with a few chocolate chips & pecans. 😋
Would this be a deep S for THM?
No, canned coconut milk and chia seeds aren’t allowed in a Deep S setting. 🙂
So I recently discovered that I have an allergy to almonds, so almond milk is out of the question for me. Could I make this with only coconut milk and have the same effect, or make the vanilla version with coconut milk and half and half?
Hi Meg! Did you see the nut free allergy note at the bottom of the recipe? “Nut Free if you use the low-calorie unsweetened carton kind of coconut milk in place of the almond/cashew milk. Most people with tree nut allergies can have coconut products, but confirm with your doctor first.” I’d use the carton coconut milk that has the same nutritional info as the carton almond milk – 30-40 calories per cup. 🙂 You could use additional canned coconut milk, but it’ll just be higher calorie when you don’t really *need* the extra creaminess/richness.