After trying every variation of homemade chocolate pudding out there, I finally discovered the secret to rich chocolate flavor and silky smooth texture!

It wasn’t long after you all tried my Creamy Homemade Vanilla Pudding recipe that you started asking if I had a recipe for chocolate pudding that was just as delicious. And until now, sadly, I had to say no. When I wanted a chocolate pudding I made something called Bittersweet Chocolate Creams from The French Slowcooker. They are amazing! But, not really chocolate pudding.

So when our Jersey cow freshened last month my first mission before diving into cheesemaking was to perfect a chocolate pudding.

But that was actually a lot harder than I expected! With “hard” being relative because let’s face it, the fact I didn’t hit upon a good recipe meant I had to keep trying. Which meant I had to keep making and sampling chocolate pudding.

Which is really not that hard at all. Even with a “bad” recipe.

I found the recipes for a classic pudding to be weak in flavor and almost watery in texture. The cocoa powder left an unpleasant grit on the roof of my mouth. I just wasn’t satisfied and knew there had to be a better way.

Unlike with vanilla pudding, adding butter to the chocolate pudding made an incredible difference in the smoothness and flavor. We all liked it so much better! After that, it wasn’t about whether to add butter, but how much?

I also knew right away that my pudding recipe was going to be a “double chocolate” pudding. I needed the chocolate flavor but it couldn’t come with cocoa powder because of the grittiness. In the end, I like the ratio of 1 Tablespoon of cocoa powder per 1 cup of milk. Anything more and I noticed the chalky grit.

I think this recipe has the perfect balance of sweetness but I did use 60% bittersweet chocolate chips so if you use anything lighter than that you may need to back off the sugar a touch.

After my experiments with different thickeners in vanilla pudding, I didn’t even bother to test the others in chocolate pudding and assumed that the best texture would come from cornstarch. You could use flour in a pinch, but it might not make the finest pudding possible.

I’m looking forward to using my yellow cake recipe from Cake Stand to make a pudding cake! Or even turning this pudding into a Farmstead Pie if I don’t have the time to make Chocolate Silk Pie.

Silky Smooth Chocolate Pudding Recipe

Silky Smooth Chocolate Pudding Recipe

After trying every variation of homemade chocolate pudding out there, I finally discovered the secret to rich chocolate flavor and silky smooth texture.

Ingredients

3 cups whole milk
4 egg yolks
⅔ cup sugar (I use evaporated cane juice)
3 Tablespoons cocoa powder
¼ cup cornstarch
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup chocolate chips, (I use these bittersweet chips and buy them in bulk, they're so good!)
4 Tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons vanilla

Instructions

Whisk the sugar, cocoa powder, salt, and cornstarch together in a medium saucepan.
Separate the yolks in a bowl and whisk them until they're smooth.
Whisk in 1 cup of the milk into the egg yolks and whisk until the mixture is uniform in color with no bits of brighter yolk.
Add the egg/milk mixture along with the rest of the milk to the saucepan and whisk it until the dry ingredients are thoroughly incorporated.
Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium heat while gently whisking.
Once the pudding begins to simmer and thicken, turn the heat down to low and continue to whisk for another 30-60 seconds until you like the look of the thickness.
Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the chocolate chips and butte until they are melted.
Stir in the vanilla.
Add the pudding to a bowl or ramekins and cover with plastic wrap to prevent it from skinning over.
Refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight until chilled before serving.