Silky Dark Chocolate Pudding

Dessert at its simplest form if you ask me, is a good chocolate pudding.

This chocolate pudding is quick and easy to make, rich and dark, kid-friendly and still always impresses my guests.

Pudding sets much more dense and thick than something like chocolate mousse so you’ll love this if you like rich dark chocolate.

It could also be used as a pie filling or even a cake filling, similar to my French Silk Pie and my Chocolate Ganache Cake. The texture is definitely more rich and dense than the french silk but it is lighter than the chocolate ganache in the cake.

Listen, I won’t bring out the science textbook and what not but I just wanted to quickly mention the difference between pudding, pastry cream, custard, etc. so I’ll just tell you the same thing I wrote in my pastry cream recipe. 

Custard is any dish where milk or cream is thickened by eggs. Regardless of cornstarch or flour, if there are eggs present, it’s a custard. Pastry cream is a custard thickened by both eggs and starch, creme anglaise would be a custard (usually pourable) thickened (barely) by just eggs. They are all custards except pudding. 

Pudding is milk or cream thickened by a starch. Essentially the same thing without the presence of eggs. So chocolate pastry cream and chocolate pudding look and taste and feel very similar but one has eggs and one does not. I would say pastry cream is richer because of the egg yolks (and butter), whereas I feel like pudding is a little lighter in texture. 

How To Make Chocolate Pudding

She’s as easy as it gets guys. We’re just whisking all the ingredients together until they’re cooked and let it cool. 

Ingredients: 

• Sugar: I used granulated sugar but you can sub this for brown sugar too. You can adjust the amount slightly to your preference but I prefer to just change the type of chocolate you’re using if you want it sweeter. Of course, if you want it less sweet, you can lower the sugar too. 
• Cocoa Powder: I like dutch-processed but any cocoa powder works fine here. I do always recommend using a digital scale to measure dry ingredients though.
• Cornstarch: this is our thickening agent. Do not substitute this flour. You can sub it for arrowroot though. 
• Milk/Cream: You can use half milk and half heavy cream or just use half and half. Technically you can use all milk too but it may be a little less thick/rich and slightly more runny (ofc you can increase the cornstarch then too but I haven’t played with the amount). 
• Chocolate: I use 72% dark chocolate. I like the pound bars from Trader Joes but any chocolate works here. This is where I would adjust the sweetness, if you want it sweeter and less dark, use milk chocolate or sem-sweet here. I haven’t tried it, but honestly even white chocolate should work fine, it’ll just be much sweeter and lighter in color. You can use chocolate chips or a chopped chocolate bar. Just know that the quality of your chocolate will impact the flavor. 
• Salt: I LOVE salted chocolate so you know I’m adding in my tiny pinch of sea salt to the pudding but then also topping it with flakey salt. 

Step-By-Step Photos:

1. Whisk together the sugar, cocoa powder, cornstarch and salt in a pot. 
2. Slowly stream in the milk/cream, while whisking. Don’t just dump it all in because then you’ll have to work harder to whisk out the clumps of dry ingredients. 
3. Cook over medium heat for 5-10 minutes, until it starts to thicken. Whisk aggressively for another 30-60 seconds.
4. Remove from the heat, add the chocolate and whisk until it’s completely smooth and all the chocolate has melted. 
5. Pour into serving cups and let it cool a little. It does form a skin on top (the best part lol) so cover the surface with plastic wrap if you don’t like that.
6. Serve with fresh whipped cream or my favorite way, just pour a tiny bit of milk or cream on top. 

Pro Tip: You could even use this as a cake filling similar to how I used chocolate ganache in my Chocolate Ganache Cake or in my Blueberry Chocolate Cake. 

Serving & Storing Chocolate Pudding

You can serve it warm, serve it cold, serve it with cream or fruit, however you like. 

I let it cool a little at room temperature and then eat it or cover it and store it in the fridge until serving. I haven’t tried reheating it but I don’t see why that wouldn’t work as long as you don’t burn it. 

Thank you so much for being here, if you like my chocolate pudding, I would appreciate it if you left a 5-star rating or a review. 

As always, happy baking and have a blessed day!

Love, B

Recipes

Puddings

Quick & Easy Chocolate Pudding Recipe

4.50 from 2 votes

prep 5 minutes mins

cook 10 minutes mins

15 minutes mins

total 30 minutes mins

Serves 4 servings

Dessert at its simplest form if you ask me, is a good chocolate pudding. This chocolate pudding is quick and easy to make, rich and dark, kid-friendly and still always impresses my guests.

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Servings 4 servings

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Equipment

• ▢
  1 small pot
• ▢
  1 Whisk

Metric(US) Imperial

Ingredients

• ▢ 100 grams granulated sugar
• ▢ 26 grams unsweetened cocoa powder , I used dutch-processed
• ▢ 30 grams cornstarch
• ▢ tiny pinch fine sea salt
• ▢ 480 mL half and half, OR half milk half heavy cream
• ▢ 85 grams dark chocolate, chopped, I used 72% baking chocolate – any kind of chocolate chips should be fine too

Method

1. In a small pot, whisk together the sugar, cocoa, cornstarch and salt until they’re evenly distributed.
   100 grams granulated sugar, 26 grams unsweetened cocoa powder I used dutch-processed, 30 grams cornstarch, tiny pinch fine sea salt
2. Slowly stream in the half and half (or milk & cream) while whisking. I do this slow so that you don’t get floating chunks of dry ingredients.
   480 mL half and half OR half milk half heavy cream
3. Once all the milk is added, cook over medium-low heat for 5-10 minutes, until you feel it starting to thicken.
4. Whisk aggressively for another 30-60 seconds, turn the heat off and continue whisking for a another 30-60 seconds so it doesn’t stick to the bottom.
5. Add in the chocolate and stir until it’s all completely melted and smooth.
   85 grams dark chocolate, chopped I used 72% baking chocolate – any kind of chocolate chips should be fine too
6. Pour into serving cups and serve warm or let cool.
7. Serve hot or cold, with fresh cream or whipped cream or fruit!*

Notes

• I topped it with whipped cream. I used half cup with 1-2 Tbsp of sugar to whip up enough. 

Nutrition

Calories: 428kcalCarbohydrates: 51gProtein: 7gFat: 24gSaturated Fat: 14gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 0.01gCholesterol: 44mgSodium: 81mgPotassium: 413mgFiber: 5gSugar: 35gVitamin A: 443IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 156mgIron: 4mg

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: chocolate pudding