Healthy Homemade Vanilla Pudding
When I scooped a (GIANT) spoonful of this Healthy Homemade Vanilla Pudding and shoved it into my pie hole, I was beyond shocked at how smooth, silky, creamy, sweet, and flavorful it was. But why on Earth was I so shocked? Because it’s refined sugar free, low carb, gluten free, and dairy free!
*makes shocked face*
This Healthy Homemade Vanilla Pudding makes the storebought puddings in those plastic little tubs taste like garbage. And once you read their ingredient lists, you’ll realize that they ARE garbage. I’m ashamed I used to eat that stuff allll the time. This healthy pudding and that unhealthy pudding are not comparable. They are not even in the same league. That is how much better this recipe is! I’m sure you’ll love it just as much as we did.
Healthy Homemade Vanilla Pudding
Ingredients
- one 13.5oz can Light Coconut Milk
- 4 Large Egg Yolks (room temperature)
- 50g (5 tbs) Arrowroot Starch *
- 1 tsp Vanilla Paste
- ¾ tsp Vanilla Creme-Flavored Stevia Extract
Instructions
- In a double boiler placed over medium heat, whisk together a tiny splash of the coconut milk, the egg yolks, and starch, until smooth. Then, whisk in the rest of the coconut milk. Whisk occasionally for the first 5-7 minutes or so. Once it heats up, whisk constantly until thickened and pudding-like (total, it takes me ~12-13 minutes). DO NOT overcook! When I took my mixture off the stove, I stuck a thermometer in it and its temperature was 140 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Whisk in the vanilla paste and stevia extract.
- Strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve into a heat-proof bowl and let cool to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Serve and enjoy!
Only 180 calories per serving for this rich, creamy, and insanely addictive Vanilla Pudding!
Compared to a ½ cup serving of the Epicurious Vanilla Pudding recipe, my Healthy Vanilla Pudding has:
- 50 less calories
- HALF the carbohydrates (original recipe: 32g carbs)
- ZERO grams of added sugar (original recipe: 26g sugar — that’s more than 2 tablespoons)
I would gladly take an extra serving of my Healthy Homemade Vanilla Pudding instead of a single bite of the original pudding recipe. The texture is silky smooth, the flavor is jam-packed full of vanilla, it’s sweet, it’s satisfying… it’s perfect.
Make this. Make this NOW!!
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– Jess
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Indulge − no strings attached!
I have been doing low carb for nearly 10 years. Unfortunately the corn starch is not low carb. But the combo of erythritol and the egg yolks might thicken without the corn starch. Simply because erythritol acts like the synergy of sugar. Maybe a bit of guar gum would work as guar seems to thicken into a pudding consistency.
SkeeterN-
You’re right, the corn starch is not low carb in a sense where ketogenesis will be able to take place. However, the recipe is low carb in terms of most individuals, such as those who suffer from diabetes or are just reducing their carbohydrate-intake in general. The pudding will not thicken to its full extent without the starch, it will probably just turn into a very flavorful vanilla “soup” or “smoothie.” I haven’t tried making the recipe without the starch but if you do, I hope it works! Fingers crossed!
-Jess
Hi Jessica! I was wondering if you will post the chocolate blueberry cake loaf recipe, and also I was going to ask you if you have become busier since the posts are less frequent than before 🙂 I’m simply curious, haha, I must be the only one asking since I check your blog everyday! I suppose you must be busy while studying nutritional sciences? If that’s the case I hope you do great! Congratulations on the blog 😉 (I posted this question on another recipe too, but I wasn’t sure if you saw it! )
Jessica-
Are you talking about the loaf used in my homemade raspberry curd post? If so, I used this recipe for the chocolate blueberry cake:
http://www.growingnaturals.com/recipes/recipe-rice-blueberry-protein-bread.php
but used fresh blueberries instead of the frozen raspberries, chocolate brown rice protein isolate instead of vanilla, and added 2 tbs of regular cocoa powder (unsweetened) and 5 packets truvia to the recipe. I also used an 8×5″ loaf pan, but the batter didn’t really fill it up much and it didn’t rise much either. You can kind of see the short height in the pictures in the raspberry curd post.
-Jess
Oh, and yeah, I’m back at school so posts will be 2-3x per week rather than 3-4x. So sad I know!!! 🙁
i am low carbing at the moment. got a wake up call this past march with my weight and some unhealthy blood sugar levels that were not quite high enough to be considered diabetic. since then i have lost almost 50 lbs and my tests results are in the normal ranges now. this pudding looks great. im wondering if the cornstarch can be left out for something else, like maybe xanthum gum (its all fiber). if i ingest carbs, i like it to be good carbs and corn starch just isnt a good carb, no matter how much of it you use. i may try this and use xanthum gum as the thickener. you should also put the carb count of the erythritol since only half the total carb of that can be subtracted from a low carb diet. i.e. if 1 serving has 26g of sugar alcohol, you are ingesting about 13g of carb. looks good though, i will use a splenda/eryth mix.
Andrew-
Kudos to you for taking some new steps in the healthy lifestyle! And a BIG congrats on your weight loss, that’s amazing!
As for the corn starch, I have not tested the recipe without it so I cannot be sure of any possible substitutes. When heat is added to the egg yolks and corn starch, they make a very smooth, emulsified texture. I believe the egg yolks and corn starch go hand in hand.
BUT, I have a suggestion. Check out my no-cook pudding recipes (free of egg-yolks and starches) and adjust them however you like to the flavors you want:
Healthy Butterscotch Mousse Pudding (omit the maple syrup, molasses and sucanat and add 5-6 more packets of truvia (or splenda/erythritol mix) and a splash of coconut milk to the recipe)
Healthy Pumpkin Pie Mousse Pudding (omit the maple syrup, molasses and sucanat and add 5-6 more packets of truvia (or splenda/erythritol mix) and a splash of coconut milk to the recipe)
I hope this helps!
-Jess
This look sooo good and sooo beautiful that I laughed when I read “shoved in my pie hole”. Too funny. This does look so decadently smooth and silky! Great recipe idea!
Annie @ Natural Sweet Recipes-
Haha, so glad I made you laugh lol 🙂
Hope you like the recipe! I always love yours!
-Jess
amazing recipe.. looks quite appetizing
Have you ever thought of creating a cookbook? You should!
I know you commented like, literally a YEAR ago, but I was looking through my comments for people who asked about cookbook recommendations or cookbook requests. I just thought I’d let you know that I just published my very first cookbook, DIY Protein Bars! I hope you get a chance to check it out 🙂
Thank you so much for recommending making a cookbook. So glad I finally did! 😀
-Jess
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If I am unable to use any starch, would the recipe work with ground flax seed or Xantham Gum?
While ground flax seed would definitely work to thicken the pudding, I feel like it’ll make the pudding a little chunky with a weird texture. Xanthan gum might work, however I haven’t tried it.
I would try the recipe like this:
one 13.5oz can Light Coconut Milk
4 Large Organic Egg Yolks
1 tsp Xanthan Gum
1 tsp Vanilla Paste
¾ tsp Vanilla Creme-Flavored Stevia Extract
To make sure the xanthan gum doesn’t clump up, I would add the cooked coconut milk + yolk mixture into a blender, and while blending, slowly add the xanthan gum, then add the vanilla paste and stevia.
Hope this works out for you! 🙂
I just made this and I can honestly say with all confidence, this is my new favorite recipe! It was so delicious and I am already planning to make it again! Thank you so much for posting!
SO so glad to hear that Matthew!!! Thanks for letting me know you got a chance to make the recipe 😀
-Jess
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Hi there!
This looks perfect for Valentine’s Day! I’m wondering how many the recipe serves?
Thank you!
Sorry for the delayed response! This recipe makes 4 servings (the recipe yield is in the yellow ribbon at the top of the recipe box) 🙂
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Hi Jessica, I used 2 heaping tbsp of cornstarch instead of the 5 tbsp arrowroot starch that the recipe calls for (based on my experience with pumpkin pie). It worked, and it didn’t need straining. I wonder if the type of coconut milk used would make a difference in the amount of starch needed. Made it for my hubby who is recovering from surgery and needs soft foods. He loved it. Thank you!
I’m surprised it worked using about half of the starch the recipe called for! I didn’t feel like corn starch was THAT much stronger than arrowroot, but I guess not! So glad to hear your husband enjoyed it. Hope he recovers well Marie!
Could you use grass fed unflavored gelatin in place of the arrowroot?