Red, White, & Blue Chia Pudding
Since it's America's birthday month, we're keeping the celebration going with some red, white, & blue chia pudding. I’ve decided to make this a delicious layered treat, having a different flavor for each layer.
Chia Seed Pudding
If you’ve never made pudding with chia seeds, you are seriously missing out! Most people are introduced to it in a chocolate chia pudding, which is delicious and can be made smooth like a classic pudding or the seeds can be left whole for a little texture. Both ways are excellent and a great way to get in some extra fiber and nutrients.
Blue Layer
This one is a little tricky, but we’re using blueberries. You might think blueberries = blue color, but they actually are more purple when pureed. To offset this, we’ll be adding some almond milk to this layer to help tone down the color.
Red Layer
First up is our red layer, which we’ll be coloring with strawberries. We’ll puree some fresh strawberries and mix them with our sweetener of choice and, of course, chia seeds.
White Layer
This one gets chocolate! We’ll use white chocolate and some almond milk to create a sweet and delicious chia layer.
What Milk Should You Use?
I use almond milk. After trying my sister’s favorite, vanilla unsweetened, it quickly became my new favorite. I love using almond milk because it’s really smooth, and has a lot fewer calories compared to cow’s milk. 1 cup of whole milk is around 150 calories, and even skim milk is around 90 calories. Meanwhile almond milk (unsweetened) is only 30 calories. This makes a big difference in recipes like this! It makes what should be a dessert into a healthy sweet treat.
To Sweeten or Not?
I like to keep my desserts fairly milk, as far as sweetness is concerned. I like to have the flavors really shine. For this recipe, the fruit brings some sweetness, as does the white chocolate. I still chose to add 1 Tablespoon of a sweetener to both my blue and red layers, which isn’t a lot divided between 4 servings. Do feel free to add more if you’d like!
If we’re being honest, I did use white sugar for this batch in the photos. I would normally use honey or whatever alternative sweetener I have on hand for this. You can also skip this if you’re using already sweetened milk.
Blender
I have 2 single serving cups for my blender. These worked perfectly for my berries for this recipe! I was able to blend my blueberries and strawberries separately without mixing the colors. If you aren’t as fortunate, you can blend your first berry and rinse it out in between.
Make sure you don’t add the chia seeds until after you’ve pureed your fruit–it’ll muddy your bright colors.
Red, White, & Blue Chia Pudding
This red, white, and blue chia dessert is packed full of berries, chocolate, fiber, and omega-3s
4 servings
Ingredients
Blue Layer
¼ cup chia seeds
½ cup blueberries
1 cup almond milk
1 Tbsp sweetener (more to taste)
White Layer
¼ cup chia seeds
½ cup white chocolate
1 cup almond milk
Red Layer
¼ cup chia seeds
1 cup strawberries
1 Tbsp sweetener (more to taste)
Method
Add white chocolate and 1 cup of almond milk to a microwave safe bowl (cereal bowl size is fine). Microwave for 30 seconds at a time, until melted, stirring between each interval. Mix in ¼ cup chia seeds. Set aside to cool.
Add strawberries to a blender. Blitz until it’s a puree and no chunks remain. Pour into a bowl (or leave in the cup if you have separate blender cups). Stir in chia seeds and sweetener. Set aside.
Add blueberries and 1 cup almond milk to a blender. Blitz until smooth. Pour into a bowl and mix in sweetener and chia seeds. Set aside.
Let all of the chia puddings sit for 10 minutes or until the pudding is thick enough to layer.
Begin adding the chia pudding to your 8oz single serving jars; you’ll need 4. You’ll need roughly ¼ cup of each color in each jar. Layer them blue, white, red.
Layering tip: use a spoon to add the next layer around the outside edges first so the new color can be seen better on the outside.
