This homemade chocolate pudding is silky smooth and luscious with an intense chocolate flavor. Made without eggs, it can also be a dairy-free pudding using a milk substitute. It's easy enough for a weeknight dessert, and much better than a box mix!
dark chocolate shavings or cocoa powder, for garnish
Instructions
In a 3-quart heavy saucepan, whisk together the sugar, cornstarch, cocoa powder, and salt. Sifting the cocoa powder first helps eliminate lumps for the next step.
Slowly stream the milk and heavy cream into the sugar mixture, whisking to prevent lumps. Heat the saucepan on medium high, whisking continuously, until the chocolate milk mixture just starts to steam.
Add in the dark chocolate wafers or chopped chocolate and continue stirring until it has melted and the pudding has bubbled and thickened.
Remove the pudding from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract.
Pour the warm pudding into 6 6-ounce ramekins. Place plastic wrap directly onto the pudding if you want to prevent a skin from forming.
Refrigerate until the pudding is completely chilled, about 2 to 3 hours.
When you're ready to serve, use a vegetable peeler to make small chocolate shavings for the garnish.
Top each pudding with whipped cream and the dark chocolate shavings or sifted cocoa powder. Serve and enjoy!
Storage instructions: Pudding will keep in the refrigerator, covered with plastic wrap, for 3 to 5 days.
Yield Notes: The recipe as written makes about 2½ cups (24 ounces), and is easily halved or doubled. The number of servings will depend on the size of your ramekins. Use six 6-ounce ramekins filled a little over ½ full (about 4 ounces of pudding), or use 4-ounce ramekins for more servings.
Recipe Notes
You'll use chocolate in two forms: dark chocolate (60 to 72% cocoa, either chocolate wafers or a solid chocolate bar), and dark chocolate cocoa powder. You can reduce the intensity of the chocolate pudding recipe by using regular cocoa powder and semisweet chocolate. Whatever type of chocolate you choose, use the best quality you can find.You can use any combination of milk, half & half, and/or heavy cream for this pudding. If you prefer a dairy-free chocolate pudding, you can choose any dairy-free milk products you prefer. Plus, using a dairy-free milk product yields a vegan chocolate pudding because there are no eggs. The richness of the final product depends on the richness of the dairy (or non-dairy) product(s) you use, so you can make a homemade pudding to fit your dietary needs.Skin or no skin? That’s up to you. If you don’t like a skin forming on the top of the pudding, place plastic wrap directly on the top of the pudding after you pour it into the ramekins. Personally, I kind of like having a thick layer to spoon through in order to get to the creamy center.