Instant pudding brags that only five minutes will get you the "homemade" pudding you crave. Ignore the marketing and make real homemade pudding in nearly as short an amount of time.
This basic, old-fashioned pudding has the benefit of being entirely natural, with no artificial thickeners or flavorings, and you can make it as sweet or warm as you like. And you can even eat it with skin on top, if that's the way you like it! All you need is a little milk, cornstarch, and sugar.
We just use vanilla to flavor this. Use real vanilla, or steep a vanilla bean in the milk before making the pudding. We also love lemon pudding - add finely grated zest from one lemon into the pudding with the cornstarch.
D.I.Y. Pudding
about four cups
4 cups whole milk (or cream if you're feeling indulgent!)
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
Pinch of salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla (optional)
Whisk the sugar into the milk and warm over low heat, stirring constantly. When bubbles appear around the edges, ladle a cup of the milk into a bowl with the cornstarch and beat the whisk until smooth.
Add cornstarch mixture back into the saucepan of milk and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens.
Turn the heat to the lowest setting and cover the pot loosely. Let sit for about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat, uncover, and whisk in the butter and vanilla. Let cool slightly before eating.
Other flavoring options: Add another essential oil, like orange or lemon, or add lemon or orange zest.
More Pudding
&bull D.I.Y. Chocolate Pudding
&bull Laurie Colwin and Jane Grigson's Lemon Rice Pudding
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I agree. And I'm more likely to have these ingredients on hand than I am to have a box of pudding mix (instant or not). I like making chocolate pudding and adding extra cocoa.
view Joan A.'s profile
mmm... pudding. I'm on a kick to make one dessert per weekend. I think I'll have to make chocolate pudding next week.
How about a post devoted to things that are just about as easy to make from scratch as from a box mix?
view quercus's profile
My first reaction was to grumble about the impracticality of assembling all the ingredients necessary for homemade pudding, but look at that, I already have 'em all! And if memory serves, I DON'T have an instant pudding box!
view Jim of ChewOnThat's profile
I forgot to mention--because this is not instant, I don't do it all the time, which is really good. But it is easily doable, probably as quick as a trip to the store for some ice cream, in case I'm determined to have a treat.
view Joan A.'s profile
do you have to use whole milk? because I never have that just sitting around the house.
view Hanna's profile
Hanna - whole milk isn't necessary. When I make cream pies (which is really just basically pudding in a crust) I use 1 or 2%, whichever I happen to have.
view Jeremy In VA's profile
Wow so basically you are doing exactly the same thing as cook and serve jello---what a revelation. Both instant and cook and serve jello puddings are for the most part a big box of corn starch and sugar---yes there are added thickeners which improve product texture---carageenan, derived from seaweed, not artificial. Now the yellow no.5, well I'm not so picky but if it bothers you then yes make your own. Still, theres not all that much difference between your recipe and the jello box and frankly I think the seaweed really adds a nice consistency that you don't get with homemade. The link is the ingredients for vanilla jello pudding.
http://www.kraftfoods.com/main.aspx?s=product&m=product/Product_display&Site=1&Product=4300020692
view sally599's profile
Sally, even if the difference in ingredients is minimal, it's always good to cook outside of the Instant Box.
view Jim of ChewOnThat's profile
It fine to cook outside the box, what irritates me is the attitude that something must be inferior because it requires less work. The author didn't even bother to check the ingredients before disparaging them. To me this is just snobbery, my olive oil must come from where this year? Oh, Greece really, but what if I like the Italian stuff better?
view sally599's profile
Ooh, I just made tapioca pudding the other night myself. I, too, was surprised by how easy it was~ I think next time, I'll add almond extract too.
view elchan's profile
Sally, even if the difference in ingredients is minimal, it's always good to cook outside of the Instant Box.
If the ingredients are essentially the same, why is it preferable to take more time over the project?
I totally see the point of cooking from scratch to get a preferred flavor balance, to have control over ingredients where freshness or type makes a difference, or to adapt to dietary needs. But what puzzles me is the people who advocate cooking from scratch solely for the sake of taking longer over it, because then there's "love" in the mix. At 5 minutes including chilling time for instant pudding, vs. a minimum of 15 minutes of constant stirring for scratch pudding plus chilling time (more if you're making chocolate), you're tripling your time commitment in order to lose the benefit of professionally calibrated and predictable results.
In that same extra 15 minutes, you cook whip up a nice batch of muffins. Or walk your dog. Or hug your kids.
view wende in the twin cities's profile
tartrazrine (aka yellow food colouring) is a common allergen and not actually good for you. Plus, cooking from scratch is cheaper.
view angorian's profile
I, for one, greatly appreciate "diy" recipes to substitute for packaged foods. Not all of us live in locales selling instant foods! Thanks for posting exactly what I was looking for to fill my (preggo) craving for pudding, a comfort food I haven't had since leaving the U.S. almost two years ago. I especially love the suggestions for lemon pudding, an old favorite of mine!
And if anyone else finding this recipe lives in Asia like me, and can't find cornstarch, never fear: we've found that lotus root starch works as a perfect 1-to-1 substitution!
view simplyla's profile