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| Chia Seed Coconut “Tapioca” Pudding |
Recently, I started adding chia seeds to foods. I had never used chia seeds until recently, when I spoke to Lexie from Lexie’s Kitchen. Chia seeds are amazingly high in fiber (1 ounce of chia seeds contains 10.7 grams of dietary fiber while the same amount of flax seeds contains 5.6 grams) and calcium (1 ounce of chia seeds has 200 mg of calcium), and are rich in Omega-3 fatty acids, and yes, these are the same seeds used in the Chia Pets!
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| My kids used to love growing Chia pets. Never knew you could eat the seeds! |
When mixed with liquid, chia seeds become gelatinous, almost egg-like. Chia seeds absorb a lot of liquid and retain a little crunch even after soaking. I have been using ground chia seeds as a substitute for eggs in baking, and more recently, tried using chia seeds in a coconut pudding.
Chia seeds come either black or white, and are crunchy. Black chia seeds seem to be more common at Whole Foods and health food stores. I haven’t seen white chia seeds in any stores yet, so I ordered them from Nuts Online.
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| Chia Seeds can be either black or white. There’s no difference in taste or texture. |
I call this Chia Seed Coconut “Tapioca” Pudding because it reminds me of tapioca pudding, with the chia “pearls” visible in the pudding. This recipe is so easy, and it makes a nice afternoon snack.
Chia Seed Coconut “Tapioca” Pudding
I used white chia seeds simply because the color is more appealing in this pudding, which is important for introducing new foods to my son; however, black chia seeds would work just as well. This pudding reminds me of a Thai coconut tapioca pudding I used to make.
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| Chia Seeds absorb a lot of liquid. After refrigerating overnight, this will turn into a creamy pudding. |
Cover and refrigerate overnight. Before serving, stir in 1-2 more tablespoons of almond milk to loosen up pudding. Stir in honey and sprinkle with cinnamon.
More Chia Pudding Recipes:
Chocolate Mint Chia Pudding, Choosing Raw
Blueberry Chia Seed Pudding, Sweetly Raw
Chocolate Cinnamon Chia Seed Pudding, The Domestic Vegan
Chia Pudding with Pecans, Raisins and Candied Ginger, Healthy Green Kitchen
Raw Tapioca Pudding, Elana’s Pantry
This sounds like a great breakfast or snack option. I am happy to hear that you are finding things to make for your son. Soon enough you will have an arsenal of recipes to choose from. Keep your head up! You are such an amazing mama!
Thanks for the encouraging words. I am definitely learning a lot from this whole experience, and trying more ingredients that I've never used before!
Nice to see you are finding ways to make delicious snacks your son will enjoy Jeanette. It must be difficult to find ingredients that will not only work in the confines of a recipe, but also taste good. My biggest issue with the grocery stores is that they do not carry many of the hard to get ingredients. You would think we have reached a time when these options should be easily available. So many people are faced with food allergies and it must be so difficult to change the way you eat and cook but why does it have to be even more difficult when trying to find suitable ingredient substitutions. Have you tried reaching out to the local grocery store and asking if they would consider increasing the availability and regularly stocking these ingredients. I am sure they have a list of various ingredients that would appeal to this market. Wouldn't it be nice to walk into the grocery store, have a dedicated few aisles of ingredients that fit into that category. You could find new ingredients with ease and be able to test them out. I am sure there are many ingredients you have never been exposed to that would work. I am rambling but can you understand where I am coming from (not sure if I am getting my point across)?
Hi Grace,
I've been having to mail order some hard to find ingredients, although we are fortunate to have Whole Foods stores nearby (this is a fairly recent development), which carries many organic and whole ingredients. Our grocery stores have also started to provide a separate aisle for healthier ingredients. It is quite bizarre that the majority of supermarket aisles are filled with processed foods and one aisle might be dedicated to healthier options. Hopefully, stores near you will start carrying more healthful items as well.
I love chia seeds and use them in so many things! Sprinkled into pancakes, muffins, breads, etc. and I also sprinkle them over bowls of noodles. I buy the white in the Salba brand. For some reason it's fairly easy to find at our store. I haven't tried to puddings yet, but I'm seeing so many recipes lately for them I think I'll need to!
Chia seeds are a lot of fun, I'll have to try them on noodles. They'd probably be good on salads too since they're crunchy. So interesting the difference in availability of products depending on where you live. The good news is that almost anything is available through the internet these days.
What a lovely round-up of chia puddings. I put chia in my morning oatmeal, but haven't really experimented with it in too many puddings. I should try something new. Thanks! 🙂
I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by what a delicious sweet treat this chia pudding was, so much healthier than traditional tapioca pudding since chia seeds are loaded with fiber, calcium and omega 3's.
I would love to try this for my son who also has many food allergies. He has a tree nut allergy. Could I substitute the almond milk with rice milk or hemp milk?
Thank you!
Denise
Yes, you should be able to substitute rice milk (although it's a bit more watery than other dairy-free milks) or hemp milk. Another dairy-free milk I have also had great success with is So Delicious Coconut Milk (a dairy-free beverage, different from canned coconut milk).
This looks delicious! Definitely trying this tonight. I’m going to use
Honey instead- have read some scary things about agave!!! 🙁
Honey would be great – I’ve stopped using agave too.