Chocolate Pudding Recipe (Gluten Free, Egg Free)
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This homemade chocolate pudding recipe is easy to make, with a rich chocolate flavor. It tastes so much better than a box mix, and makes great fudgesicles.
When I was a little girl, it was a special treat when mom took the time to make homemade chocolate pudding from scratch. I love pudding straight out of the pan, or chilled with the “skin” set up on top. (The skin is my favorite part.)
We had some extra milk on hand this week, so I went digging for a chocolate pudding recipe that reminded me of the one mom used to make.
The recipe below is adapted from the Chocolate Yummy recipe in “Favorite Recipes of America: Desserts“, published in 1968. (This was one of my mom’s favorite cookbooks. )
I used a little less sugar, a little more vanilla, and a different thickener. My youngest said he “could eat it at least ten times in a row”.
Unlike some custard-style recipes, you don’t have to worry about overcooking the egg yolks and ending up with lumpy pudding.
Chocolate Pudding Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 cups milk
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 1/3 cup cornstarch
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2/3 cup cocoa powder
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract (homemade extract is great if you have it)
Directions
Heat 3 cups milk in double boiler or heavy bottom pot. Reserve one cup of milk.
Mix dry ingredients together in bowl, whisking until thoroughly blended and all lumps are gone.
*Note: These dry ingredients are all shelf stable, so you could make up your own pudding mix to have on hand for faster prep in the future.
Stir reserved milk (1 cup) into dry ingredients and continue whisking until blended.
Pour chocolate mix into hot milk. Whisk to blend. At this point, the chocolate pudding will look similar to hot chocolate.
Cook over medium high heat until thickened, mixing frequently.
Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract. Pour the pudding into individual serving containers or large serving bowl.
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If you want to keep a skin from forming, press plastic wrap onto surface of pudding. If you do this, I don’t want to hear about it, because it is blasphemy.
Top with whipped cream before serving, if desired.
Yields: 8 servings.
Homemade Fudgesicles
Becky Jo, a member of our Facebook community, shared:
“I made this chocolate pudding recipe, poured it into a cake pan lined with wax paper, and froze it.
It stayed soft enough to score for serving. (I didn’t have popsicle molds available.)
OMG! This puts a fudgesicle to shame! These are the best chocolate pudding pops EVER! YUM!”
Some Notes on Chocolate Pudding Ingredients
I prefer cane sugar for cooking and baking, because it cooks differently than beet sugar. (Read “Sugar/Sugar: Cane and beet share the same chemistry but act differently in the kitchen” for more details.)
If your baked goods don’t brown the way you expect, it could be the sugar. If your granulated sugar doesn’t say “cane sugar”, odds are that it’s made from genetically modified sugar beets.
I also look for non-GMO cornstarch, and prefer grey sea salt or Real Salt over standard bleached table salt. I buy non-alkalized organic cocoa in bulk and repackage it into quart jars for storage.
Chocolate Pudding without Cornstarch
If you want to avoid cornstarch, substitute double the amount (2/3 cup) of tapioca powder instead.
Use the recipe card below to double or triple the recipe. You can also use the “Cook Mode” to keep the screen from going dark while cooking.
PrintOld Fashioned Chocolate Pudding
This homemade chocolate pudding recipe is easy to make, with a rich chocolate flavor. It tastes so much better than a box mix, and makes great fudgesicles.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: stove top
Ingredients
- 4 cups milk
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 1/3 cup cornstarch
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2/3 cup cocoa powder
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Heat 3 cups milk in double boiler or heavy bottom pot. Reserve one cup of milk.
- Mix dry ingredients together in bowl, whisking until thoroughly blended and all lumps are gone.
- Stir reserved milk (1 cup) into dry ingredients and continue whisking until blended.
- Pour chocolate mix into hot milk. Whisk to blend. At this point, the chocolate pudding will look similar to hot chocolate.
- Cook over medium high heat until thickened, mixing frequently.
- Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract. Pour the pudding into individual serving containers or large serving bowl. Eat warm or store in refrigerator.
- Top with whipped cream before serving, if desired.
Notes
If you need to avoid cornstarch, substitute 2/3 cup tapioca starch instead. Avoid boiling.
More Homemade Sweets and Treats
If you enjoy old fashioned desserts, you may want to check out the recipes and kitchen tips page, including:
Is there a favorite recipe you remember from years past that you’d like to see, or memory you’d like to share? Leave a comment below.
Originally published in 2014, last updated in 2023.