You only need 3 ingredients for this easy and creamy Coconut Chia Pudding recipe. It takes just a minute to stir together, and can be used to meal prep your breakfast for the week. You can layer it on top of smoothies, stir in fruit compotes, and top with granola for even more ways to enjoy it.
This coconut cream chia pudding breakfast meal prep is one that I’m really excited about. It is sooooo easy to make and can double as a light sweet treat. You can customize it to your heart’s content! In this recipe, I made my coconut milk chia pudding with mixed berry compote for additional sweetness and this macadamia coconut granola for extra texture and crunch.
You can easily change up with flavor by using my lemon blueberry compote or my orange strawberry compote instead. I’ve also been adding this chia pudding on top of smoothies and serving it acai-bowl-style. This pina colada smoothie and this tropical mango peach smoothie would be perfect for it.
Table of Contents
Ingredients and substitutions
As always, you’ll find the complete list of ingredients and quantities in the recipe card at the end of this post. Below are some notes and substitution tips:
- Coconut milk or cream – I used canned coconut milk to make my coconut chia seed pudding super creamy and coconut-y, but it does add more calories since canned coconut milk or cream has higher fat content, closer to that of half and half. You can also use regular coconut milk (from the carton), but since this coconut milk is thinner you’ll need to add more chia seeds to get the same pudding consistency.
- Sugar – I used coconut sugar here to sweeten the pudding. You can use what you have: granulated sugar, brown sugar, honey or maple syrup.
- Chia seeds – you only need 6 tablespoons if using the thicker coconut milk from the can and 8 tablespoons if using coconut milk from the carton.
How to make coconut chia pudding cups
To make the pudding, all you need to do is stir together the sugar, chia seeds, coconut milk and wait until the pudding is set, about 1 – 2 hours.
You can refrigerate the pudding while you wait for it to completely set. Or just refrigerate it overnight and assemble the your breakfast cups in the morning.
Tip: If your pudding is not as thick as you’d like when you come back to it the next morning, you can stir in an extra tablespoon or two of chia seeds, refrigerate again for an hour or two and it will thicken up pretty quickly. On the other hand, if your pudding is too thick, add a splash of milk to thin it out.
I assemble my coconut chia pudding breakfast cups using empty Bonne Maman jars, which is the perfect size for a light breakfast or a quick snack. First, add your fruit compote to the bottom of the jars, then layer on top the chia pudding.
Now here comes a neat little trick, cut up 4 pieces of square plastic wrap and line them on top of the pudding. Press down on the plastic wrap to make a bowl shape, and add granola or any dry toppings you want to use on top. This will keep the granola crunchy throughout the week. When you’re ready to eat, just pull out the plastic wrap and stir everything together.
More baker’s tips
- A can of coconut milk or coconut cream is only 13.5 oz or just over 1 ½ cup of liquid, you can add a little bit of regular coconut milk or regular cow milk to make exactly 2 cups of liquid for the recipe so you don’t have to open a second can of coconut milk.
- I only lightly sweetened the pudding with 2 tablespoons of coconut sugar, as the fruit compote and granola will add a little more sweetness to it. Feel free to add less or more sugar to taste so you can enjoy this chia pudding the way you like it. You can always drizzle a bit of honey or maple syrup on top if the final breakfast cup is not sweet enough for you.
- Make sure to stir your chia pudding after it has been refrigerated to break up any clumps that might have formed to distribute the chia seeds more evenly.
- If you don’t like to make your chia pudding with coconut milk, you can use a different type of milk like almond milk, oatmilk or regular cow milk. Remember that these types of milk are thinner so you’ll need to use a bit more chia seeds to get the same consistency.
Storage
You can store your coconut chia pudding in airtight containers in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. You can also freeze it for several weeks. Just thaw completely before serving.
I’ve been making smoothie bowls with chia pudding for breakfast and I freeze the smoothie in separate containers for individual serving. While you can freeze chia pudding and the smoothie together, they don’t defrost at the same rate, the chia pudding stays frozen well after the smoothie has already defrosted and becomes liquid. So I recommend freezing the smoothie and keep the chia pudding refrigerated. Add the chia pudding on top of the smoothie after you take it out of the freezer.
📖 Recipe card
Coconut Cream Chia Pudding (only 3 ingredients)
Ingredients
Chia seed pudding
- 2 cup coconut milk (canned coconut milk or coconut cream, 473 ml)
- 2 tablespoon coconut sugar (or another type of sugar, 25 g)
- 6 tablespoon chia seeds (84 g)
Toppings (see notes)
- 1 cup Fruit compote
- 1 cup Granola
Instructions
- Stir sugar and chia seeds into coconut milk and let rest in the refrigerator for 1 hour. The pudding should start to thicken at this point, stir to break up any lumps and continue to refrigerate for 1 more hour or overnight.
- To meal prep chia pudding, add ¼ cup of fruit compote to a jar, layer ½ cup of chia pudding on top. Cover the top of the chia pudding with plastic wrap, then add ¼ of granola on top of the plastic. This will keep the granola from getting soggy. Refrigerate until ready to eat.
Notes
- A can of coconut milk or coconut cream is only 13.5 oz or just over 1 ½ cup of liquid, you can add a little bit of regular coconut milk or regular cow milk to make exactly 2 cups of liquid for the recipe so you don’t have to open a second can of coconut milk.
- I only lightly sweetened the pudding with 2 tablespoons of coconut sugar, as the fruit compote and granola will add a little more sweetness to it. Feel free to add less or more sugar to taste so you can enjoy this chia pudding the way you like it. You can always drizzle a bit of honey or maple syrup on top if the final breakfast cup is not sweet enough for you.
- Make sure to stir your chia pudding after it has been refrigerated to break up any clumps that might have formed to distribute the chia seeds more evenly.
- If you don’t like to make your chia pudding with coconut milk, you can use a different type of milk like almond milk, oatmilk or regular cow milk. Remember that these types of milk are thinner so you’ll need to use a bit more chia seeds to get the same consistency.
- If the pudding is not thick enough to your liking, simply stir in more chia seeds and refrigerate again to let it thicken up. If it is too thick, simply add more liquid to thin it out.
- Feel free to use other toppings like fresh fruits and smoothies for your breakfast cups.
- Calories listed are for the chia pudding only.
Nutrition
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Sorry should of read the whole recipe ☺
No worries, would love to hear your thoughts after you make it 🙂
Is it canned Coconut milk or the Carton ☺
Do you happen to have the nutrition info for this recipe? I’m doing keto and would love to try it (modifying the fruit compote). Thank you!
Hi Stephanie, sorry I don’t have a nutrition calculator. But I found this by just doing a search on google. I don’t know how accurate it is, but you can give it a try. Hope that helps!
I’ve still never tried chia pudding but I want to. This one looks great but I have to say that trick with using the plastic wrap to separate the granola is absolute genius. I’ll be using this trick often from now on.