This post may contain affiliate links. Click here for my affiliate disclosure. If you purchase items through my affiliate links, I receive a small commission but your price doesn't change.
I miss tapioca. Tapioca isn’t exactly health food, though, so it’s something I haven’t had much of in a long time. I’ve been wanting to recreate it but had no idea how to do so…until I got this brainstorm. OK, so you guys know how I like weird foods, right? I make cake with cauliflower and ice cream with cottage cheese. Are you going to be surprised that I make tapioca with barley?
Let me set things straight here: this does not taste exactly like tapioca. You do get some earthy flavor from the barley. However, this dessert reminds me a lot of tapioca, and I’m perfectly happy with eating this as a healthy substitute for one of my old favorites. Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it, and if you don’t like it, I won’t be offended. Maybe you will be, but I guess that’s a risk you’re going to have to take.
One of my lovely readers said that she used Trim Healthy Mama’s Not-Naughty Rice in this recipe and it was almost a dead ringer for tapioca. What a great idea! The Not-Naughty Rice can be purchased at the Trim Healthy Mama online store. And guess what? Using not-naughty rice in this recipe would make it a Fuel Pull (no significant sources of either carbs or fats)!
The recipe below is for vanilla “tapioca”, but if you’re concerned about eating barley in dessert and want to really mask the flavor, add some pureed fruit (I made a strawberry version the other day, which you can see in the picture below). Chunks of fruit would be great in this as well. I’ve eaten the vanilla version with some sugar-free maple-flavored syrup, and the vanilla and maple went together like peanut butter and jelly.
Barley is indeed on plan for Trim Healthy Mamas. Hulled barley is preferred over pearled barley. To be honest, I don’t know what kind I used; the box didn’t say. This “tapioca” is an E(nergizing) dessert, which means that it contains healthy, slow-burning carbs and only a small amount of fat. On the Trim Healthy Mama plan you can have up to 3/4 cup of barley as your fuel for an E meal. If the barley in this dessert is your only carbs for your meal, you’ll need at least a half cup (or a little over, because there’s stuff in this recipe other than barley as well) to get you over your 20 carb minimum threshold to get you into E territory. If you’re eating this along with another carb source in an E meal, make sure that you keep your portions moderate so you don’t exceed your 45 gram net carb limit.
You can find this recipe in my cookbook, Necessary Food.
- 1¾ cups cooked barley, not hot (cook the barley al dente, tender but not mushy)
- 1 cup unsweetened almond milk, divided
- ½ tsp. plain gelatin (such as Knox brand - if using beef gelatin such as Great Lakes brand or THM Just Gelatin, add an extra ⅛ tsp.)
- ½ cup low-fat cottage cheese
- ½ tsp. glucomannan
- ¼ tsp. salt
- 3-4 doonks THM Pure Stevia Extract Powder (to taste)
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- Boil a half cup of the almond milk, then stir in the gelatin. Set aside.
- Meanwhile, blend the other half cup of almond milk, cottage cheese, and glucomannan until completely smooth (I like to use my Ninja single-serve blender cup).
- Add the almond milk/gelatin mixture as well as the blended mixture to the barley. Add the salt, sweetener, and vanilla as well. Stir until completely mixed, then refrigerate for several hours until chilled through and thickened. This lets the flavors develop as well. Serve.
- I like this tapioca best the first day, but it will keep for a day or two in the fridge.
- This recipe makes approximately 2½ cups.
Feel free to add some pureed fruit to this "tapioca". Chunks of fruit would be great in this as well. I've eaten the vanilla version with some sugar-free maple-flavored syrup, which was great.
Suggested products:
- Ninja blender
- Unflavored gelatin
- Glucomannan
- THM Pure Stevia Extract Powder and Not-Naughty Rice can be purchased at the Trim Healthy Mama online store.
So if I wanted to try this with the Not Naughty Rice, I would just replace the barley with the rice? I have a bag on hand and am trying to find a recipe to use it with! This would be right up my alley.
I’ve never actually done that, but one of my readers said she did. I’m not sure if she cooked it or not (I’ve never used the Not Naughty Rice so I don’t even know what it feels like when it comes). If it’s hard, I’d cook it before adding it, and if it’s not, I’d just rinse it and add it without cooking.
Thanks! It’s not hard, so I’ll try the rinse and add. 🙂
Wondering how this would work with quinoa, as barley contains gluten.
Hi Denise! I’ve never tried it with quinoa, but it would be worth a try if you have a gluten intolerance.
Thanks so much for this! I love tapioca pudding and had been making one smiled to this with chia seeds in place of the barley & gluccie (maybe it was in the first book?). I have so much trouble getting E meals/snacks in.. this will be a great help! 🙂
Thank you so much for posting this recipe! I have been missing tapioca too, and recently made my old version for guests that were staying with us. Now I can’t wait to try your version and be on-plan! Thank you for putting all your notes on the print version of the recipe, as that saves me a lot of writing after I print it out. One suggestion I might offer is to add about 1/2 tsp. or so of almond extract. My grandmother made that addition and we really love it. Thank you for ALL you do for the THM community! I see your posts and I always wonder, how DOES she do this? You are amazing!
Thank you, Kathy! And thanks for the almond extract tip.
I am desperately looking for a rice pudding type recipe. I have always loved the stuff and really miss it. Do you think this might work with brown rice versus the barley? I think I might try it soon and see, but was wondering if you had ever considered it or what you thought about it. Love, love, love your recipes by the way. Simple good and everyday type food. I am not a complicated type of girl!
Hi Nanette! Yes, I’ve thought of doing a rice pudding recipe, but have never actually had rice pudding so I don’t have a lot to go off of. I do plan on trying it sometime in the future, though, and I would probably use this recipe as a base. I don’t see any reason why you couldn’t substitute brown rice for the barley. Do you usually eat rice pudding cold or hot?
First I want to Thank You for all your hard work! Could you please give a recommendation for the Barley you use? This is a new product for me and I want to make sure I purchase the right product.
To be honest, I don’t even know what kind I used. My mom does the grocery shopping. I do know that for Trim Healthy Mamas, hulled barley is preferred over pearled (but barley itself is acceptable in an E setting).
I was just thinking about tapioca pudding earlier this week & wondering how to make it fit THM! So excited to try this out! Thanks for sharing your creativity with the THM Community. 🙂
I just made this & it’s wonderful! Thanks again for posting it. 🙂 My only change was to use the not-so-naughty rice in place of the barley. Dare I say, it’s a near perfect copycat of regular tapioca this way. You should try it! 😉
Thanks so much for trying it, and great idea!
I love your attitude about healthy cooking/eating; and, going ‘outside the box’ shows creative thinking—difficult for those of us who have been cooking the ‘old’ way for 40+ years! Also, the THM information was an additional benefit for those of us who are interested. However, one thing I believe you failed to highlight is the fact that, for people with gluten problems, BARLEY–along with wheat and rye–are all NOT gluten-free grains.
Hi Kay, thanks for the kind words as well as the concern. I’m a little confused though. I never labeled this recipe “gluten-free”. I don’t know much at all about gluten-free cooking, although I’m aware that quite a few of my recipes are gluten-free compatible.
Hi! I’ve only recently discovered your blog and I’m very inspired by it since I’m just trying to start my THM journey and it looks a bit overwhelming. It requires such a re-thinking of my cooking habits; however, I believe I can do it if so many others can! So your blog is a great help with recipes – thanks so much! I do have a question – is the Swanson’s Whey Protein Powder you picture on the TMH start-up page still compatible with TMH cooking? I saw some reviews online saying that Swanson’s had changed it and it no longer works on plan. Do you know if this is true? It looks more affordable, so I’d love if it works. Thanks!
Hi Mary Beth! As far as the protein powder goes, I heard that Swanson switched back to their old formula after receiving a lot of grief from consumers. I don’t know if that’s accurate or not. I still use it; I looked at the nutritional info on the back and it’s not too scary imo so I’m all for saving some money. It’s definitely a personal choice you have to make, though.
Briana,
So this would be fine following an E meal as long as I watch my total carb count or wait the three hours and then eat?
Thanks,
That is correct. 🙂