Vegan White Chocolate Pudding Recipe
Rich, sweet, and delicate, this white chocolate pudding recipe is super simple and totally delicious. You only need 5 ingredients and about 10 minutes to make this pudding (although you will have to wait for it to cool- sorry!). It is a delightful dessert on its own, and also a great jumping off point for other more elaborate creations. It’s vegan, gluten-free, and can be made nut free (just use a nut free milk) and/or soy-free (again, use a soy-free milk).
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What is Cocoa Butter?
Cocoa butter is the fat in the cocoa bean. It is a yellowed white when solid, and yellow when melted. Despite having butter in the name, it is totally vegan! Dark and milk chocolates are made with cocoa butter- that is, good quality chocolate is made with cocoa butter. Since this “liquid gold” is the most expensive ingredient in chocolate, cheaper chocolate bars might substitute some or all of the cocoa butter with other vegetable fats. Which give the fatty smooth texture you want in chocolate, but leads you to loose a lot of flavor. Cocoa butter has that wonderful, rich, chocolate flavor, without the bitterness that comes from cocoa powder. It is also the key ingredient in white chocolate, which is made from cocoa butter, cream, sugar, and vanilla. Again, cheaper white chocolate can be made with alternative fats, but it tends to taste like sweet, vanilla-ish wax. Cocoa butter really is the key to good chocolate. Cocoa butter should be kept in a cool, dark place to insure it remains solid. If it does melt, you will have to temper it again to keep the structure firm and stable.
Cocoa butter is also commonly used in cosmetics and skincare. It makes a really good moisturizer and lip balm, and melts at body temperature.
While you probably won’t find it at your local supermarket, cocoa butter can be bought at many health food or specialty stores, as well as online. Just make sure you’re using food grade cocoa butter, as other ones will not be suitable for consumption.
Looking for Cocoa Butter Recipes? Try one of these!
- Homemade Vegan Strawberry Flavored Chocolates
- White Chocolate Maple Walnut Vegan Biscotti
- Vegan Coconut Key Lime Fudge
- Vegan White Chocolate Granola with Wild Blueberries
Looking for Vegan Pudding? Try one of these!
- Vegan Chia and Pinole Pudding Recipe
- Homemade Butterscotch Pudding (Vegan)
- Make-Ahead Chia Pudding Parfaits
How to Make this White Chocolate Pudding Recipe
Making “real” pudding involves using eggs, and some attention and care to avoid a scrambled egg pudding. Fortunately, we’re making vegan pudding, and it’s going to make our lives a good bit easier. The base of this pudding is a plant-based milk (we used almond milk, but feel free to sub in your favorite). To that we’re going to mix in sugar for sweetness, and cornstarch which will work to thicken our pudding and give you the desired texture. While cornstarch works fantastically to thicken, it can also clump easily. My solution to avoid a lumpy pudding is to mix the cornstarch into the milk and sugar using an immersion blender. If you do end up with lumps in your pudding, you can always push it through a fine metal strainer when it’s still warm, but if you give it a good mix with your immersion blender you shouldn’t need to do that. Before you get cooking, make sure you’ve measured out your cocoa butter and chopped or grated it into small pieces- if they’re too large, they won’t melt. Heat the cornstarch, almond milk, and sugar together, whisking somewhat often. Let the mixture come to a boil, at which point things will start moving very quickly- make sure you don’t stop whisking while it’s boiling. After 30 seconds to one minute your pudding should be nice and thick. Remove it from the heat, and throw in the cocoa butter and vanilla. Whisk or immersion blend to combine- you’re done when you no longer find solid lumps of cocoa butter in your pudding and the melted cocoa is all mixed in. Transfer into cups, jars, a pie, bowls- whatever your planned serving vessel is. Let them cool down a little on your counter before covering and moving to the fridge.
And now, you wait. Until your puddings are completely cool, if you have the patience for that. You can eat this pudding straight, but I really recommend having it with fruit. Chopped strawberries, raspberries, oranges, blueberries, persimmons, cranberries, and more would be delicious. A homemade vegan lemon curd would be just phenomenal. Maybe a few crumbled cashews or hazelnuts on top.
Vegan White Chocolate Pudding Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups almond milk (or other plant-based milk)
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- Pinch of salt
- 1.75 oz. (about ¼ cup) cocoa butter, grated or finely chopped
- 1 ½ tsp. vanilla extract
Instructions
- Add the almond milk, granulated sugar, cornstarch and pinch of salt in a medium-sized saucepan on the stove. Use an immersion blender to make sure there are no clumps of cornstarch. Put the heat on high, and whisk often as the milk comes up to a boil. Once the milk is bubbling, wait for about a minute, whisking constantly. The pudding should become very thick at this time.
- Remove from the heat, and add the cocoa butter and vanilla. You may want to use your immersion blender to stir again, or just whisk until all the cocoa butter is melted and incorporated.
- Transfer the pudding into your serving vessels, and let cool for a few minutes at room temperature. Cover with plastic wrap to avoid letting a skin form, and move the puddings to the fridge. Let cool for a couple hours, so that it is completely chilled and set. Serve as desired (excellent with fruit!).
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