Chocolate Pudding

6 servings
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Refrigerate 30 minutes
Total Time 15 minutes

Chocolate Pudding is a rich and creamy dessert made with cocoa powder, sugar, evaporated milk, and corn starch, EASY to make and ready in under 45 minutes!

Chocolate Desserts are so popular on the site, they have their own category! Satisfy all your cravings with Chocolate Covered Strawberries, Chocolate Covered Oreos, and Chocolate Covered Pretzels!

Chocolate Pudding in dessert dish with whipped cream

Chocolate pudding is a really quick and easy dessert, perfect to make on weeknights when you want something sweet without a lot of work. You’ll love to top this with Easy Whipped Cream and chocolate shavings, or cut up a banana or strawberries and mix them into the pudding.

The presentation of this homemade pudding is impressive, even though it’s so simple. Just divide the pudding into any small, cute serving bowls or ramekins that you have, and top with whipped cream. You can even add some chocolate shavings, sprinkles, or a fresh strawberry garnish to dress it up for guests.

You might even want to make a double batch, because this never lasts very long!

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you make Chocolate Pudding even creamier?

Whisk two egg yolks into the milk before adding it to the pudding. This will create a custard-like consistency, which adds a thick and creamy texture to the pudding.

Can you make Chocolate Pudding ahead?

Chocolate pudding will last for a few days in the refrigerator, but try to make it within a 24 hour window so it will be as fresh as possible. You can also whip it with an electric mixer before serving to make it lighter, which is perfect when served over fresh fruit.
If you are going to save it for a few days, place the saran wrap layer directly over the pudding to help keep it from creating too thick of a skin on top.

How do I make Chocolate Pudding without cornstarch?

You can make this chocolate pudding recipe without cornstarch by substituting in regular all purpose flour and egg yolks. Add the all purpose flour the same way you would add corn starch in this recipe.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Heat the chocolate and milk mixture over medium heat. When the chocolate is hot, pour about a cup of it slowly into the egg while whisking (this is called tempering). Then pour everything back into the saucepan and follow the recipe as usual.

Chocolate Pudding Collage

More Chocolate Desserts

Chocolate Pudding in dessert dish with whipped cream and spoon

Tips for Making Chocolate Pudding

  • Wait until your pudding coats the back of a spoon without immediately dripping off before turning off the heat. This lets you know the pudding is thickening properly.
  • Substitute heavy cream or whole milk for the evaporated milk if that’s what you have. The higher the fat in the milk, the creamier the pudding will be.
  • If your pudding is lumpy from the corn starch, pour it through a strainer before refrigerating.
  • Top with coconut flakes, semi-sweet chocolate chips, or chocolate shavings for garnish.
  • Pour chocolate pudding over a Graham Cracker Crust and top with Wwhipped Cream before refrigerating for a chocolate pudding pie!
  • Add a tablespoon of instant espresso while cooking, or a splash of Irish cream for an adult version.
  • Add more flavor to this chocolate pudding recipe with ½ teaspoon of cinnamon and a dash of nutmeg, or ¼ teaspoon of cayenne pepper.
  • Use brown sugar instead of white sugar for a deeper molasses like flavor.
  • This recipe is naturally gluten free when made with corn starch and not flour.

How to Store Chocolate Pudding

  • Serve: Do not leave Chocolate Pudding at room temperature longer than 2 hours. It is best to keep refrigerated until serving.
  • Store: This is a dairy based dessert, so it needs to be refrigerated. Leave the plastic wrap on the container loosely, so the plastic is touching the top of the pudding. The plastic wrap stops the pudding from forming a skin. Chocolate pudding will last 3-4 days in the refrigerator.
  • Freeze: You can freeze pudding when wrapped tightly for 2-3 months. You can also freeze this pudding in popsicle molds to make pudding pops. For a twist on the classic pudding pop, freeze them with cut up strawberry pieces for a chocolate strawberry pudding pop.
Chocolate Pudding in dessert dish with whipped cream

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Chocolate Pudding

Chocolate Pudding is a rich and creamy EASY dessert with cocoa powder, sugar, evaporated milk, corn starch, and ready in under 45 minutes!
Yield 6 servings
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 15 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder

Ingredients
 

Instructions

  • Whisk the cocoa powder, sugar, cornstarch, salt and milk together well in a large pot before turning the heat on, making sure there are no lumps.
  • Bring the mixture to a boil, whisking constantly until thickened (2-3 minutes) then shut off the heat and add the vanilla and butter whisking it in well and chilling before serving.

Video

Notes

Note: click on times in the instructions to start a kitchen timer while cooking.

Nutrition

Calories: 264kcal | Carbohydrates: 32g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 40mg | Sodium: 196mg | Potassium: 377mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 27g | Vitamin A: 370IU | Vitamin C: 2.1mg | Calcium: 283mg | Iron: 0.7mg
Keyword: chocolate pudding
Chocolate Pudding Collage
Pudding

Rich Chocolate Pudding

Easy Chocolate Pudding
Quick and Easy Chocolate Pudding

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. If you enjoyed the recipe and would like to publish it on your own site, please re-write it in your own words, and link back to my site and recipe page. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  1. We just got our kitchen back after a pipe burst. The kitchen had been out of order since the first week of June 🙁 As I was putting everything back in its’ place I noticed a can of ever-so-slightly out of date evaporated milk. Made this recipe and have to say it was soooo easy and fast! Thank you for sharing!

    1. Goodness, that’s the worst. I know what it’s like to have water in the kitchen and it is NO FUN. Thanks so much for trying our Chocolate Pudding recipe and for the 5 star rating!

  2. This is so good. I was so happy to have all the ingredients. Will definitely be making again and again

  3. This is a great dessert to make without a trip to the local supermarket in
    search for ingredients!!

    Thanks again Sabrina

  4. This is a super easy and yummy recipe. We made it tonight and subbed applesauce for the butter (we’d run out otherwise would have used) and used flour for cornstarch (out of that as well ; doubled the flour). It turned out excellent! Will make this way for sure again.

  5. Just yummy. I used Droste cocoa and followed the recipe exactly. The pudding had a marvelous deep chocolate flavor and a wonderful consistency. It was hard not to eat the whole pot myself!

  6. I found this recipe when I was searching for a way to use up some evaporated milk before it expired. This recipe is so good! I have made this a few times now, and it’s a keeper. Really a hit with the hubby (and me).

  7. Amazing recipe! I used it to make a batch of pudding squares with marshmallows on top for my kids. They really loved it.

  8. So we’re trying to make a chocolate lasagna and it calls for chocolate pudding. Do you know how much this recipe makes? Thanks, the recipe looks amazing!

    1. Thank you for catching that. Looks like the recipe card had a glitch and added the cup part. I’ve fixed it so hopefully it sticks. It should read 2 tablepoons.