This keto chocolate pudding is unbelievably smooth and creamy. It takes only 20 minutes to make and is totally dairy-free. It’s a wonderful low carb dessert the whole family loves.
For more chocolatey goodness, be sure to check out my keto chocolate cake recipe.
I was never really been much of a pudding person until I started making my own keto chocolate pudding. But this delicious and easy recipe changed my mind completely.
I love keto chocolate mousse and cheesecake, and other creamy, rich desserts, but pudding was just never my thing. I tended to associate it with the instant variety, that tasteless goo that comes out of box and is the ubiquitous dessert of summer camps and school cafeterias everywhere.
So I used to consider pudding beneath my notice as a dessert, too plebian, too mass-market, to be any good. I just didn’t know any better. My prejudice is thus rooted in plain, old ignorance, as such prejudices usually are.
Homemade chocolate pudding is a game changer
But making my own homemade keto chocolate pudding has changed my mind completely. Done right, it’s an incredibly delicious treat that’s worthy of a spot at my dessert table.
What make your own sugar free pudding at home?
- Smooth and creamy
- Deeper chocolate flavor
- Dairy free option
- No questionable ingredients
- Just as easy as making it from a box (seriously!)
Really, making your own keto chocolate pudding at home is worth it. It beats out boxed mixes every time for flavor and consistency, and you have the advantage of knowing exactly what’s going into your dessert.
And did I mention that it’s ridiculously easy too?
How to make keto chocolate pudding
- Use full fat coconut milk or cream. Conventional pudding calls for milk but full fat dairy or coconut milk helps thicken sugar free pudding.
- Bring to a simmer. You don’t want it to boil but you should see a strong simmer before moving to the next step.
- Temper the egg yolks. Tempering is the process of slowly adding hot liquid to the yolks as you whisk, to bring them up to temperature. This helps ensure that they don’t curdle when you add them back into the pan with the rest of the hot liquid.
- Use cocoa powder. Choose a good quality cocoa powder like Rodelle or Ghirardelli. Do not use natural cacao as it won’t mix in well and the pudding will have lumps.
- Whisk almost constantly. This is not a dessert you can walk away from, as it can thicken up without warning. Keep your eye on it!
- Thicken the mixture. You do need a thickening agent to help the pudding set properly. I have used both xanthan gum and glucomannan and they are equally good.
Frequently Asked Questions
You bet. I recommend using 1 ¼ cups of heavy cream and ½ cup almond milk or hemp milk to thin it out and lighten it.
There is a hint of coconut flavor in this keto chocolate pudding, but mostly it tastes like chocolate. The cocoa powder masks the flavor.
Don’t panic, it’s an easy fix. Simply dump all of it into a blender and blend until smooth.
You can try but I can’t guarantee the results. When I use allulose in pudding, I find that they take a long time to set (up to 36 hours!). So just be mindful that if you replace the sweeteners, it may not set as well.
You can make this pudding up to two days in advance. Place plastic wrap over the top of each individual serving so that it doesn’t dry out too much.
Praise for keto chocolate pudding
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
“This recipe is awesome! I tried it yesterday and it’s the first time I’ve had chocolate pudding come out well (I’ve tried so many recipes). It had a mousse-like texture that I really loved.” – Carol
More delicious dairy free desserts
- Keto Oreos
- No Bake Peanut Butter Pie
- Coconut Milk Fudge
- Keto Angel Food Cake
- Strawberry Lemonade Popsicles
- Edible Cookie Dough
Want more amazing keto desserts? Check out my new Keto Desserts page. All recipes under 7g TOTAL carbs!
Keto Chocolate Pudding
Ingredients
- 1 13.5 oz full fat coconut milk (or 1 ¼ cups cream and ½ cup almond milk)
- ⅓ cup Swerve Sweetener
- 3 large egg yolks
- ¼ teaspoon glucomannan (or xanthan gum)
- ⅓ cup cocoa powder
- 3 tablespoon coconut oil (or butter)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine the coconut milk and Swerve. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks until smooth. Slowly add ½ cup of the hot coconut milk mixture into the egg yolks, whisking continuously.
- Slowly whisk the tempered egg yolks back into the saucepan of hot coconut milk. Reduce heat to medium low and sprinkle with xanthan gum, whisking continuously.
- Stir in the cocoa powder and cook until mixture thickens, 3 to 4 minutes, whisking continuously.
- Remove from heat and stir in the coconut oil and vanilla extract until smooth. Divide between 6 dessert cups and refrigerate until set, 2 to 3 hours.
- Garnish with lightly sweetened coconut whipped cream, some berries, or some macadamia nuts.
Kari says
Soooo good! I accidentally used a whole cup of cocoa so I used a whole can of coconut milk plus a half cup of heavy cream. I also added a pinch of sea salt to ofset any bitterness and increased the Swerve to 3/4 cup. I took this to a friend’s house the next day who is diabetic and needs to eat more keto friendly foods. He LOVED it!
Janet Streib says
The nutritional information is for 8 servings. Your recipe says 6 servings. Too hard for me to adjust. Sorry.
Carolyn says
No it’s not. The nutritional card says 1 serving = 1/6th (one-sixth) of the recipe. No adjustments are needed.
Martha Gonzalez says
Made this tonight and it was fantastic. I’ve been playing around with my Vitamix, so found a blender pudding recipe and applied their methods with Carolyn’s ingredients (no changes to CK’s amounts): Add warm cream & almond milk, egg yolks, and swerve to the blender, and blend for 5 minutes on highest setting. Then add xantham gum, pulse a couple of times, then butter and vanilla, pulse a few times. Done! Smooth, deeply flavored chocolate goodness. Thanks for the recipe!!
Nicki says
OMG you must make this! Seriously one of the best desserts ever, keto aside! Can’t keep it in the fridge for more than a day or 2 between my husband and I. It is perfect exactly as written (I do the dairy version) – however, bc organic heavy whipping cream is hard to find for me and quite expensive too, I tried this recipe using all organic whole milk instead and doubled the xanthan gum and it still turned out great! Not quite as thick, but as the original recipe turns out thicker than your standard pudding anyways, the whole milk approach was actually more similar to classic pudding, so it works! I do like the original, thicker version better, but using whole milk allows me to make more of it more often 😉 TY for another life-changing recipe!!
Kari says
Try using whole fat coconut milk and heavy cream. It is a lot less expensive that way.
Paula says
My husband is sensitive to Swerve could I use allulose instead?
Carolyn says
Yes, but it will take MUCH longer to set properly.
Katie says
Holy Hannah. This is delicious!
Michelle says
I made mine and it is gritty. What did I do wrong
Kay says
Does it taste like the coconut cream used? I tried making a different recipe with the coconut cream once, and all I could taste was the the coconut cream, not the chocolate. I really WANT to like this, as I’d like a non-dairy recipe for pudding.
Julie says
What type of cream? Heavy cream? Half n half?
Carolyn says
Heavy cream.
diana says
This pudding is so good! I just made it for the second time in 3 days. I followed the recipe exactly the first time. This time I used 2 oz unsweetened chocolate instead of the cocoa and I like it better. It has a smoother but still rich flavor. Both times I also added a few drops of monkfruit sweetener. After it cools it’s kind of solid, almost like a softish fat bomb. I like that about it, though! It is delicious! Thanks for the recipe.
diana says
Oh, and I give it five stars!