How To Make Perfect Chocolate Pudding from Scratch

What would the world be without chocolate pudding? Chocolate and cream, licked off a spoon, is one of the greatest desserts I know, ranked with fresh strawberry shortcake and warm chocolate chip cookies. But pudding has become a lost art as baking books proliferate; it only shows up in Snack Packs or on restaurant dessert plates.

This is a secret opportunity for you as a cook, because pudding is special and unusual, and yet a snap to make. Pudding is simply milk and cream, sweetened and thickened by a brief bout of cooking on the stovetop or in the oven. Knowing how to make pudding from scratch is like having the golden key to winning dessert.

I am biased, I confess — I wrote a whole book about pudding, custard, and no-bake desserts so I’ve spent some time with these sweets. And yet I love them more and more. Come on into my kitchen and let me show you how to make rich and creamy chocolate pudding. It’s a forgotten classic that every sweet-lover should know by heart.

Pudding’s glamour can’t be overstated. At first look it’s homey and old-fashioned, but dress it up right and it’s a dessert that drives everyone wild. Homemade pudding, whipped and ever so slightly warm, makes people’s eyes go wide. It’s love in a bowl.

The other little pudding secret, of course, is that it’s naturally gluten-free. Like ice cream, as long as pudding is made with gluten-free ingredients, it’s a welcome treat for celiacs and gluten-intolerant folks. Come to think of it, pudding is basically ice cream for the refrigerator — rich, creamy, infinitely adaptable to your whims, a scoop to please anyone. (But it won’t melt on the dessert buffet.)

I could go on and on — but all these points are academic until you dip into a bowl of homemade chocolate pudding. So let’s get started!

The process of making any pudding is easy. It is simply milk and cream, sweetened and thickened by a brief bout of cooking on the stovetop or in the oven.

Unbaked puddings, like this one, get their richness and thickness from a mixture of cornstarch and egg yolks. Chocolate pudding gets an extra boost from the chocolate itself, so you need less when you’re finishing the pudding with a handful of chocolate.

I also use both cocoa and chocolate for a richer flavor. This isn’t a super-rich chocolate mousse, eaten by the thimbleful, but it’s still rich enough for grown-ups, and not too sweet. You can mellow it out by omitting the cocoa, if you like, or by using semisweet chocolate instead of bittersweet. You can stir in instant espresso powder to go mocha, or dash in a slug of bourbon. As I said — infinitely adaptable.

I know I’m a pushy pudding evangelist, but really — I just want everyone to have the sweet experience of setting homemade pudding on the table. It’s pure delight, and isn’t that part of what cooking is all about?

Want more puddings like this one? I’d love to share my book Bakeless Sweetswith you. It’s chock-full of homemade puddings, panna cotta, grain puddings, fruit jellies, trifles, and no-bake cookies and icebox cakes. Beyond chocolate and vanilla there’s butterscotch pudding, Nutella pudding, even maple bourbon pudding!