Last Updated on September 22, 2026 by The Allergy Chef
It’s a great day to make a delicious vegan chocolate pudding recipe together. Not only is this a delicious vegan recipe, but it’s also refined sugar free, gluten free, and a whole lot more.
Now, I’m going to give you full disclosure. This is a better-for-you vegan chocolate pudding recipe. If you’re looking for something closer to boxed chocolate pudding, I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to send you on your way.
If you’re staying for healthy chocolate pudding, grab your blender and let’s get to work.
Vegan Chocolate Pudding Recipe Video
If you like watching cooking videos, here’s a short one and you can see this awesome top 9 free pudding come together. Also, this homemade chocolate pudding recipe is a great make-ahead dessert if you plan on having people over and need to do a bunch of other stuff in your kitchen and don’t want to think about dessert.
Allergy Status
Free From: Wheat/Gluten, Dairy, Egg, Soy, Tree Nuts, Peanut, Fish, Shellfish, Sesame, Top 9 Allergens, Top 14 Allergens, Alliums, Apple, Beans & Lentils, Berries, Buckwheat, Cane/Refined Sugar, Carrot, Celery, Cinnamon, Citrus, Coconut, Cruciferous, Garlic, Legume, Lupin, Mushroom, Mustard, Nightshade, Oat, Onion, Pea & Pea Protein, Potato (Nightshade Variety), Poultry, Red Meat, Rice, Seeds, Squash & Gourd, Stone Fruits, Strawberry, Sweet Potato & Yam, Tapioca/Cassava/Yuca/Manioc, Tomato, Yeast
Friendly To: EOE, Grain Free, Paleo, Vegan
Tools Needed to Make This Dairy Free Chocolate Pudding Recipe
- Kitchen Scale
- Blender
- Blender Spatula (these are extra long and thin so you can get around the blade)
- Storage Containers (glass jars, ramekins, disposable containers, etc.)
Vegan Chocolate Pudding Ingredients
Note: This recipe is intended for batch cooking. You can always cut it in half, or even smaller to meet your needs. The video shows you how big of a batch this is.
- 700g Organic Avocado Flesh (25 ounces, I used 6 hass avocado)
- 335mL Milk of Choice (12 ounces)
- 225g Organic Banana (8 ounces, on the ripe side, but not banana bread ripe)
- 195mL Organic Maple Syrup (7 ounces)
- 50g Organic Cacao Powder (not the same thing as cocoa powder)
- 1 tsp Sea Salt
- 1 tsp Organic Vanilla Extract
Ingredient Notes
Milk of Choice: You can use just about any plant-based milk when making this awesome vegan chocolate pudding, including almond milk, soy milk, rice milk, coconut milk, oat milk, and so on. The only milk you can’t use will be full fat canned coconut milk from the can, as it will throw off the ratios since we also have avocado in this tasty recipe.
Maple Syrup: This is a liquid sweetener and should only be swapped for other liquid sweeteners including agave. A granulated sugar like coconut sugar or organic maple sugar won’t work in this play on a classic pudding.
Vegan Chocolate Pudding Directions
Note: For best results, you need to serve this pudding chilled. Whilst it comes together relatively quickly, you’ll want chill time for your dessert before serving.
Alright, roll up your sleeves because these instructions are going to require so much from you 🙂
Place your empty blender container on your kitchen scale. Tare to zero, then add all of the ingredients. Don’t forget to tare between weighted ingredients.
Once they’re all in, blend on high speed until very, very smooth. You don’t want to have any pockets of flavor or chunks/lumps of avocado or banana anywhere.
Serve chilled. We’re talking CHILLED. Overnight refrigeration produces the absolute best results. If you don’t have time for that, start with a couple of hours in the fridge (or even in the freezer for a little bit) and eat it as soon as it’s cold enough for your liking.
For a Thicker Pudding
If you want THICK pudding, you can use less milk, or add a thickening ingredient such as cashew, or even a little coconut oil. Only use coconut oil if you love it and want to marry it.
Chocolate Pudding Storage
You can store your finished chocolate pudding in the fridge in an airtight container. Alternatively, you can freeze your vegan chocolate pudding. The best way to do this is to freeze it individual portions/serving containers (bonus points if it’s cute mini jars).
To thaw your pudding, leave it in the fridge overnight, or on the counter top until it’s ready to eat.
Big Tip
If you plan to store your vegan chocolate pudding in the refrigerator, and you don’t want it to get “weird” on top, or risk drying out, use plastic wrap. Yes, you can store it in an airtight container, but there will be a little air, and that’s the issue.
When you use the plastic wrap, place it on top of the pudding and gently rub it so it’s sticking to the pudding, then tuck in the sides as best as you can. This ensures your pudding is COMPLETELY covered, which means, no drying out.
Delicious Tweaks to Make to This Vegan Recipe
- Add organic food grade peppermint oil for a peppermint chocolate vegan pudding.
- Add organic food grade orange oil, along with orange segments on top, for a chocolate orange vegan pudding experience.
- Swap half the bananas with plantains.
Fun Ways to Serve Your Vegan Chocolate Pudding
Alright, let’s take a quick look at how you can easily bring a new element to your dairy-free chocolate pudding.
- Place your dairy free chocolate pudding into individual ramekins, and add crushed candy cane on top. Serve that up at a holiday shin dig and everyone will be like WOW.
- Dirt!! Serve your chocolate pudding in a cute little pot, then top with cookie crumbles and gummy worms.
- Make it elegant! Serve your chocolate pudding in a really pretty or elegant glass (or even a champagne flute), and top with edible roses and organic chocolate shavings.
- Bake pie crust in individual sized jars. Once the crust cools, top with your pudding for a refined sugar-free chocolate pie experience. You’ll still need to chill it first, FYI.
- Make a pumpkin pudding (or vanilla pudding) as well and layer the two in a glass jar so it looks really cool.
- Top your chocolate pudding with a layer of peanut butter, nut butter or seed butter and sliced bananas or sliced strawberries. This gives breakfast parfait vibes for sure.
- Once you have the pudding portioned, top with caramelized or candied crushed nuts.
- Sprinkle dairy free white chocolate chips or these awesome vegan salted caramel chocolate chips on top of your pudding before serving. (Enjoy Life sells mini white dairy-free chocolate chips in case you don’t want the full sized ones)
- Place your pudding in a large serving bowl, drizzle melted white chocolate chips all over, then top with all sorts of fresh berries. People can then spoon out the part they want. You can also add chocolate shavings, or even something crispy like a homemade granola.
Why These Ingredients WORK
Usually, for a dairy free vegan chocolate pudding, you’ll use ingredients like arrowroot starch, dairy-free milk, vegan butter, and of course chocolate. It’s usually cooked on the stove top, and you might mix it with an immersion blender (or use some elbow grease and use a whisk).
The reason this delicious chocolate pudding recipe works: the avocado and bananas. They bring SO much body to your vegan chocolate pudding, and so we don’t need the arrowroot to thicken the mix.
Since we use a regular blender, we can skip the immersion blender, and of course, these particular simple ingredients don’t need to be cooked before you can eat them. Also, arrowroot powder requires heat to properly activate and thicken, but since we don’t have that in our mixture, again, heat isn’t needed.
I hope you look over these tasty ingredients, understand the ratios, then have FUN. Make different pudding recipes that will make your taste buds sing.
More Vegan Dessert Recipes
Looking for more easy desserts that are not only vegan, but also gluten free and allergy friendly? Welp, I’ve got you covered. If you need more vegan desserts, be sure to check out my cookbooks.
- Vegan Gluten Free Churros Recipe (seriously an amazing dessert)
- Gluten Free Vegan Snickerdoodle Cookies (my award winning bakery’s take on a classic recipe)
- Vegan Apple Cake Recipe (I’m told this may be one of the best cake recipes I’ve ever developed)
- Gluten Free Fudgy Brownies Recipe
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Answering Your Vegan Chocolate Pudding Questions
Can I Use A Different Liquid Sweetener?
You can use an alternative liquid sweetener when you make this gluten-free pudding recipe. Depending on your choice, you may need more or less than what I call for. Start with 112mL (4 ounces), taste, and continue to add until you’re pleased. It’s important that your chocolate pudding not be so sweet that it’s sickly, or that your sweetener throws off the thickness of the pudding.
Could I swap the banana for tofu?
Yes, you can make this swap since blended tofu won’t disrupt the texture of your chocolate pudding. However, this isn’t a swap I’ve personally tested, and I couldn’t tell you how much to use.
If it were me, I’d start with 100g of firm tofu, blend, taste, and adjust. Be sure to take good notes if you make this swap so it’s easier to do in the future. Also, if you need soy-free tofu, that’s a thing as well these days.
Can I use coconut cream instead of the milk?
Maybe. This vegan pudding recipe already has fantastic fat content from the avocado. Additionally, chocolate can mask the avocado taste. It won’t be able to mask as much of the coconut taste. So, if you don’t love, LOVE, love the taste of coconut, don’t do it.
Since I have taste testers allergic to coconut, I don’t work with coconut cream. However, this is how I would try to use it: swap half the milk for coconut cream and leave out the other half of the milk to start. Get everything blended, then taste. Adjust for texture and taste, then be happy with the end results.
Will this really taste good without eggs?
Yup. This homemade version of chocolate pudding tastes great without eggs, so long as you’re used to eating better-for-you foods. If you go from the Standard American Diet (SAD) and jump into this pudding recipe, you might think I’ve lost my mind a little bit.
However, if you already eat pretty clean, or do the 80/20 lifestyle etc., I think you’ll really enjoy this vegan chocolate pudding.
Is this a good snack for lunch boxes?
Unfortunately, this creamy vegan chocolate pudding will probably be best served at home. Even with an ice pack, I don’t know that your pudding will be CHILLED when you eat it at lunch time, and if it’s not really cold, it’s just not nearly as good.
You could always test it out and see what you think, but if you do, only take a small amount as a test in your lunch box so you don’t waste any of this easy vegan chocolate pudding.
Can I make this vegan pudding in my food processor?
I don’t recommend it. I also don’t recommend using a large bowl and mixing by hand. You really need the blender for this easy chocolate pudding recipe because it’s going to ensure you have a super duper ultra hyper smooth pudding in the end.
In a pinch, you can use an immersion blender, but for best results, you’ll need to blend in small batches.
What can I replace the bananas with?
The best substitute for the bananas in this mixture will be cashew. Start with 100g of cashews, then see how the texture and taste are. You may need to add more cashew to build up the body, and you may need to add a little more sweetener since you’ve lost the natural sweetness from the bananas.
If cashews aren’t an option, check out this article on banana substitutes for more ideas.
Will this remind me of the chocolate pudding I ate as a kid?
If you and I had a similar childhood, we grew up with boxed Jello pudding (not pudding from scratch). Can’t lie, I wasn’t really a fan, but hindsight being 50/50, I know I’m allergic to a lot, pudding included. However, if you have fond memories of a chilled family dessert served in fun glasses, no. No, this chocolate pudding will not remind you of what you ate as a kid, but for good reason.
NONE of the ingredients are the same. There’s no cornstarch, there’s no weird 2% or less than, and this recipe uses organic cacao powder which delivers a more intense chocolate flavor.
When you make this recipe, you’re making something different, that’s whole food based, and the kind of thing that you can have for breakfast without feeling like you’re going to crash in 20 minutes. It’s something you can share with your kids if they need to eat a diet with less refined sugars.
It’s also something you can eat with a smile because you know there are healthy fats, fiber, vitamins, minerals, and more. So yeah, definitely not what we ate as kids.
How does this Paleo recipe compare to traditional chocolate pudding?
Absolutely not the same. Traditional chocolate pudding will contain corn starch, egg yolks, and usually unsweetened cocoa powder. Well, cane sugar as well (and in large amounts).
This pudding mixture is vegan, gluten free, top 9 free, and a lot more. So, no eggs, and since I’m deathly allergy to corn, no corn starch either. I’m also big into organic and all natural, so this paleo chocolate pudding recipe uses organic cacao which is minimally processed.
Overall, you’ll still have a rich chocolate flavour, a creamy pudding with a fantastic mouthfeel, and the chilling will absolutely take you to pudding land (let’s be honest, warm pudding is no fun).
So, traditional? Nope. Delicious, awesome, and perfect for when you need a creamy treat or have a chocolate craving? Yes, yes, and yes some more.
Is raw cacao powder the same thing as organic cacao powder?
They used to be the same, but then food laws changed. These days, in the United States at least, it’s incredibly difficult to source truly raw cacao powder, so organic cacao powder is the next best thing.
Can I use cacao nibs in place of the cacao powder?
Honestly, I’m not sure. I’ve never blended them up before, and wouldn’t know the ratio for the swap either. If you love cacao nibs, I suggest making cute little chocolate pudding cups, then sprinkling cacao nibs on top. This creates vegan dark chocolate pudding experience I think you’ll enjoy.
Is non-dairy milk the same thing as dairy free milk?
Non-dairy (also written as nondairy) used to imply that there could be a very small amount of cow’s milk dairy in a product. Dairy free on the other hand means zero dairy. Period.
Whilst the regulation has changed over the years, the US FDA generally has the viewpoint that “non dairy” could contain up to 0.5% of dairy milk derivatives such as caseinate. Dairy-free always meant zero milk or milk derivatives.
At the time of publishing in 2026, what I can tell you is this: many brands are using the terms as if they’re interchangeable. This can be confusing to a lot of people because you’re not sure what they’re referring to.
When in doubt, anyone with a milk allergy should always contact a company to better understand their ingredients and manufacturing process.
