Chocolate Pudding {Homemade, from Scratch}

Name: Chocolate Pudding
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 5 min
Total time: 135 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 1/4 cup sugar; 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder; 3 tablespoons cornstarch; Pinch of salt; 2 cups whole milk; 1 large egg; 4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips; Four 6-ounce ramekins or custard cups

What to do on the last day of vacation with a kid who loves to help cook, a fridge stocked with whole milk and eggs, and a pantry with cocoa, chocolate chips and sugar?

Make chocolate pudding, of course!

Pudding ingredients are basic and usually on-hand, and Aldie and I shared a wickedly good afternoon making this batch, based on a recipe from The Gourmet Cookbook.

Alden loves to help in the kitchen, not only with the cooking but with the cleaning up of the pots and pans as well.

Cups and spoons to eat homemade pudding. — Sally Vargas

An Easy Chocolate Pudding Recipe

This homemade chocolate pudding is easy to quickly put together. The only tricky part is slowly tempering a beaten egg with a hot cocoa mixture. By tempering the beaten egg, we slowly heat it up by adding a small amount of hot cocoa mixture to it at a time. This way, the egg doesn't cook and curdle in the chocolate pudding.

Then, you need to pour the chocolate pudding into individual ramekins and chill for a few hours before it's officially ready to eat.

Glass cup of homemade chocolate pudding. — Sally Vargas

Tips to Make Sure Your Chocolate Pudding Sets

For whatever reason, your pudding might not be setting. Here are a few tricks that might help:

Be sure not to overcook or undercook the pudding. Just bring to a gentle boil while stirring, since cornstarch won't set unless it's briefly held at a gentle simmer (it needs to bubble). But it will turn liquid-y if overcooked. You can remove it from heat once it's started to thicken.
Right after cooking, put the pudding bowl over an ice bath and stir every few minutes. The rapid chilling helps the pudding set faster.

How to Store Chocolate Pudding

For easy serving, you can store the pudding in individual ramekins or small canning jars with lids. Homemade chocolate pudding can also be frozen up to three months. Do know that the texture might change a bit when frozen. Defrost completely and stir the pudding before serving again.

More Chocolate Pudding Recipes

Chocolate Pudding

Prep Time 10 mins

Cook Time 5 mins

Chilling Time 2 hrs

Total Time 2 hrs 15 mins

Servings 4 servings

Recipe adapted from The Gourmet Cookbook.

1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3 tablespoons cornstarch
Pinch salt
2 cups whole milk
1 large egg
4 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
4 (6-ounce) ramekins or custard cups

Heat cocoa milk base:

Whisk together the sugar, cocoa powder, cornstarch, and salt in a heavy 2-quart saucepan.

Gradually whisk in the milk.

Sally Vargas
Boil and thicken the pudding:

Bring to a boil, and whisk until the ingredients are well mixed and smooth. Stir until pudding is thick, about 3 to 5 minutes. Once the pudding starts to thicken, remove from heat.
Temper the egg:

Immediately beat the egg lightly in a medium, heat-proof bowl, such as a hard plastic, metal or ceramic mixing bowl.

Very gradually stir the hot chocolate mixture into the egg.

Sally Vargas
Add the chocolate chips:

Whisk in the chocolate chips until they are melted and the mixture is smooth.

Sally Vargas
Pour into ramekins and chill:

Pour the pudding into ramekins or cups. If you want, cover the surface of each of the pudding cups with some cut out wax paper to prevent a skin from forming on the top of the pudding.

Refrigerate, covered, until cold, at least 2 hours or overnight.

Sally Vargas

Optional: Serve topped with whipped cream.

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
320	Calories
14g	Fat
45g	Carbs
8g	Protein

Nutrition Facts
Servings: 4
Amount per serving
Calories	320
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 14g	18%
Saturated Fat 8g	38%
Cholesterol 59mg	20%
Sodium 107mg	5%
Total Carbohydrate 45g	16%
Dietary Fiber 3g	10%
Total Sugars 34g
Protein 8g
Vitamin C 0mg	0%
Calcium 154mg	12%
Iron 3mg	17%
Potassium 282mg	6%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate. In cases where multiple ingredient alternatives are given, the first listed is calculated for nutrition. Garnishes and optional ingredients are not included.