A decadent, creamy, chocolate pudding that is easy to make from scratch and perfect to keep in the fridge for your next chocolate craving.

Top of chocolate pudding with whipped cream.

There are two main differences between mousse and pudding: mousse, like this chocolate mousse, is not cooked and uses egg whites, and pudding is cooked and uses egg yolks.
Pudding is made by tempering a milk mixture with egg yolks, sugar, and cornstarch or arrowroot base and cooking it until thick. Mousse is made by folding beaten egg whites and whipped cream.

🌟Why You’ll Love This Recipe

My promise to you is that this recipe will beat any store-bought pudding, and will have you wanting to make it over and over again.
Instead of using cornstarch as the thickener in this recipe, we are using arrowroot (link opens in new tab) which contains dietary fiber and more calcium than cornstarch for added nutrition.
As an alternative way to serve this, you can blind bake a pie crust, fill it with the pudding, and refrigerate overnight for a chocolate pudding pie!

🧾 Ingredients in This Recipe

arrowroot powder – you can thicken pudding using cornstarch, arrowroot powder, flour, tapioca powder, or rice starch. This reciep works best with arrowroot powder or cornstarch.
turbinado sugar – has a slight caramelized molasses flavor that is fantastic in this recipe. If you cannot find it, regular cane or granulated sugar work in this recipe.
cocoa powder – use unsweetened cocoa for this recipe. We are adding our own sugar and don’t need any extra fillers and additives.

👩‍🍳How to Make This Recipe

Whisk 3 cups of milk, turbinado, and cocoa in a ceramic or anodized stainless steel saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to simmer. Remove from heat.

Whisk 1 cup milk, arrowroot, salt, egg yolks, and vanilla in a medium to large bowl. Then, temper the egg mixture by whisking while slowly adding it into the cocoa mixture.

Pot filled with bubbling chocolate pudding.

Pour entire mixture back into the saucepan and whisk constantly over medium-high. When it comes to a full boil you will notice the mixture thickening. Reduce the heat to simmer and continue whisking until thick (~3 minutes).

Split between 8 cups/bowls/ramekins. Refrigerate for at least 6 hours. Optional: cover with parchment paper or plastic wrap. I don’t do this because I like the film that forms on top of the pudding. Try both and see which you like.

Note: You can serve this chocolate pudding hot or cold and is delicious, and different, both ways!

Pudding, Mousse, and Chocolate

If you like this recipe, I just know you’ll love these, too. Be sure to check out all the deserts & sweets on the blog, too!

Dairy-Free Chocolate Pudding

4-Ingredient Dark Chocolate Mousse

Dark Chocolate Chip Ghee Cookies

Matcha & Chocolate French Silk Pie

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