CHIA PUDDING - HOW TO MAKE IT, USE IT AND ENJOY IT!
Here’s a simple way to make a chia pudding which can be enjoyed with granola, nut butter and toppings for breakfast, with fresh fruit as a snack or topped with a nice jam as a dessert.
There are several ways you can eat chia seeds. Some soak the chia into a nut milk or water 30 min before eating it (to me this isn’t enough time to make seeds swell enough). Others use them as they are sprinkling them over for example a yogurt. Personally I can only eat chia seeds when they’re WELL soaked, preferably overnight, and not in too big quantities (can cause constipation as they retain liquid!).
What I do is I soak the chia seeds in water in the evening and the next day I mix it with nutmilk. I also try to always have a container with soaked chia seeds (in water only) in the fridge so that it’s ready to use whenever I feel making a chiapudding, a filling smoothie (adding chia!) or for a breakfast smoothie bowl.
So, here’s the simple step by step method I use!
WHAT YOU NEED
2 tbs Chia seeds (either black or white)
2 cups water
glass jar or plastic container with a lid
a fork
Plant based milk (oat, almond, rice, coconut)
optional vanilla powder
fine sea salt
HOW TO MAKE IT
The night before you want to eat the chia pudding (or use it in your smoothie) place the chia seeds in a glass jar or plastic container, cover them with water. and stir well. Wait 5-10 minutes, stir again and try to separate all the chia seeds that have stuck together. A fork works really well! Once it looks like the chia seeds have separated well place the container in the fridge.
The next day (or after at least 2 hours after you’ve soaked them) take the chia seed/water mix out of the fridge. The texture should be like a jelly, not too watery. If you see that the chia seeds are VERY jelly like and seem to not have “swollen” much add some water and stir again.
It’s tricky with measurements when it comes to making a chia pudding as some seeds seem to swell more than others. Try a few times and see what quantities work for you!
Now pour some of the nut milk over the chia mix and stir again.
NOTE: If you use coconut milk I’d use also some oat or rice milk as it otherwise can be a bit too heavy and creamy with only coconut milk.
A tiny pinch of salt and vanilla powder is really yummy (but not necessary) to add to the mix.
Once your chia pudding looks and tastes good pour the mix into a beautiful bowl. Get creative and add your favroite toppings! Here are my favourites:
Almonds or Peanut butter
Roasted Coconut flakes
Roasted Almonds flakes
Berries
Coconut sugar
Homemade Granola (see recipe here)
TIP!
If you’d like to make your chiapudding extra beautiful and tasty (and have more time), use a glass jar or bowl and put a layer of frozen berries in the bottom (before you add the chia mix). Let the berries defreeze as it creates a really beautiful base layer!
