Low Carb Chocolate Coconut Milk Pudding

A thick and healthy low carb chocolate coconut milk pudding recipe to replace packet puddings. Only 100 calories per serving and 3 carbs.

Low Carb Chocolate Coconut Milk Pudding

Sometimes I have a craving for chocolate. So I’ll make a batch of coconut flour brownies, or even some coconut milk hot chocolate. With the winter fast approaching, they are two of my favorite recipes.

But lately, I’ve been craving some coconut milk pudding. You can actually find coconut milk yogurt in the store. Yet I’ve never seen coconut milk made into pudding, though.

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What’s great about pudding and yogurt made with coconut milk is that it’s rich and thick. The downside to buying store bought products made with coconut milk is that it can be rather expensive. It costs me over $2 for one serving of coconut milk yogurt when I can buy a can of coconut milk cheaper and make it myself.

Instead of waiting for a coconut milk pudding to hit the shelves, I’ve just been making my own pudding. It’s quick, easy to make, and flavors are easily customizable. Plus, making chocolate coconut milk pudding is one of the ways I have been putting an end to my chocolate cravings.

You don’t need to worry about the high fat and calories in this recipe. Especially if you’re eating a paleo or low carb lifestyle. If you’re worried about overeating portions, you can easily use the small snack sized portion containers.

Coconut milk is higher in calories and fat than traditional puddings. However, coconut is also very nutritious compared to boxed pudding. For instance, a quarter cup of coconut milk provides 27% of your daily value of manganese, 8% of copper and 6% of phosphorus.

Plus, 50% of fat from coconut milk provides a rich source of lauric acid. And studies have found that the medium-chain triglycerides (MCT) fatty acids found in coconut milk increase energy and enhance physical performance.

So for someone like me that also likes to supplement with coconut oil, this is a great alternative on occasion. There’s even a coconut diet for those interested in coconut for the weight loss aspect. You can read more on how to incorporate a low carb lifestyle using coconut to aid in weight loss by reading The Coconut Diet book.

When I first started playing around with this recipe, I knew my biggest challenge would be how much gelatin to use. From my past experiment making a dairy free cheesecake, I learned that too much gelatin would create a jello-like texture. And too little could mean a runny pudding.

Normally, you can use a packet of gelatin per two cups of liquid. But I’ve noticed that when you use coconut milk, the liquid needs to be thicker. So even though a can of coconut milk is more than two cups of liquid, it would still turn into a jello-like pudding with too much.

So in this instance, less is more for the pudding. The addition of a small block of a unsweetened chocolate baking bar did help thicken up the coconut milk. And I also added Hershey’s dark cocoa to increase the chocolate flavor.

But the key ingredient in this chocolate coconut milk pudding recipe has to be the Madagascar vanilla bean paste. Unlike vanilla extract, using vanilla bean paste has a stronger flavor since the vanilla beans are in the paste. That strong flavor enhances the chocolate in this recipe.

So even with the strong vanilla flavor, you really can’t taste it at all. It’s just one way I’ve used vanilla bean paste to enhance the chocolate taste in this recipe. Another thing I added to increase the flavor was a very small amount of cinnamon.

If you’re looking to enhance the flavor further, you can add a very small amount of strong coffee. I’d first try with no more than two tablespoons. I have yet to try this for myself, but I think it would taste great!

For the sweetener, I used Swerve sweetener to sweeten up the pudding. In addition, I used 10 drops of Sweetleaf Stevia Chocolate drops. The stevia drops help bump up the sweetness, and also the chocolate flavor.

If you have the powdered stevia, then you could try adding that instead. But I’d start by adding a very small amount. The liquid stevia isn’t as sweet as the powdered stevia kind.

Most of the time, I’ve made this only as a chocolate pudding recipe. I’m just not a big fan of any other flavors. However, I would like to experiment more with a vanilla pudding or a pumpkin pudding. The vanilla would be a challenge just because I wouldn’t have anything to thicken the batter.

And adding a thicker element, like pumpkin, would mean experimenting with the gelatin once again. But I like the idea of finding ways to sneak in extra vitamins in my desserts. Especially since I’m such a picky eater, to begin with.