Easy Homemade Chocolate Pudding Recipe (Rich & Silky!) #2
Indulge in this decadent, creamy chocolate pudding made from scratch with cocoa powder, milk, and a touch of butter. No preservatives—just pure chocolate bliss! Perfect for dessert lovers and kids alike.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
A Rich, Silky, and No-Fuss Dessert
This simple chocolate pudding is creamy, decadent, and way better than store-bought. Follow these easy steps for a perfect dessert every time—no fancy skills required!
Ingredients
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½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
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⅓ cup (33g) cocoa powder (Dutch-processed or natural)
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2 cups (480ml) whole milk, divided
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2 large egg yolks
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2 tbsp cornstarch
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2 tbsp butter, cubed
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2 tsp vanilla extract
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(Optional: 1 tsp espresso powder for deeper chocolate flavor)
Step 1: Heat the Cocoa Mixture
(I’m gonna pop this over medium heat, stirring frequently. I want it to get nice and steam, but not come to a boil. Now, in another large bowl, I’m separating out two egg yolks. The whites I don’t need today. Just that creamy, amazing yolk. I used to love chocolate pudding from those cups. This is so much better, and it’s really easy to make as well. So you can have fresh chocolate flavor, no preservatives or nonsense, just something delicious and amazing. And it’s really mostly milk. Yes, there’s sugar, but there’s also chocolate too. It’s the best of both worlds.)
Step 2: Prepare the Egg & Cornstarch Mixture
(To my egg yolks, I’m adding two tablespoons of corn starch. One and two. These are gonna work together to give us a nice, silky consistency. I’m also gonna add in the remaining quarter cup of whole milk. There we go. Don’t forget to come back and stir every once in a while. Grab a whisk. Whisk this together. You know, cornstarch is really handy, but it’s really annoying sometimes too. It was stuck on the bottom and my whisk caught it. Okay, that’s whisked together. I also wanna just have two tablespoons of butter cubed up and ready. Butter can be cold or room temperature, it doesn’t really matter.)
Step 3: Temper the Eggs & Thicken the Pudding
(Now I’m back on stirring duty just until I see a nice, steamy situation happening. Just gonna whisk this up a little bit. I see some clumps of cocoa powder that are bothering me. This is nice and steamy. I’m taking this off-heat right now. And I need to temper this mixture. If you’ve ever made a custard, you know you have to slowly whisk some in. So grab a trivet. Don’t damage your countertops. We need to get about a cup of this mixture. And drizzle it in while I whisk vigorously. So. Whisk, whisk, whisk. So I’m heating the egg mixture up while whisking it, and it’s raising the temperature nice and gradually so it doesn’t scramble the yolks. This is gonna give you a silky custard. If you just dumped the hot mixture in, you might have like a kind of scrambled egg texture. And that’s not what you want chocolate pudding to be like. Okay, now that this is tempered, I’m gonna whisk in the remaining hot cocoa mixture. Here we go. And now this can go right back into the pot. This has been warmed up and it’s ready to be cooked.)
Step 4: Cook to Perfect Pudding Consistency
(So the point now is to take this over heat and get it to just the right temperature so it sets, and has that wonderful, silky texture. Right now you’re looking for the consistency to change. So you’re gonna whisk, whisk, whisk. It’ll look the same until it changes in an instant. And you’ll see trails being drug through by the whisk. It’ll have a pudding-like consistency, basically. Once that happens, immediately take it off heat.)
Step 5: Add Butter & Vanilla for Extra Richness
(Okay, that’s good. I have my two tablespoons of cubed butter ready. So I’m just gonna plop those in. This, of course, is gonna give us an added bit of richness, and silkiness, and also helps set things up. I would be remiss if we didn’t add two teaspoons of vanilla. It gives you a little bit of extra depth of flavor. And if you wanted to have a more chocolatey flavor, the secret would be adding a little bit of espresso powder. So at the beginning when you’re adding in the cocoa powder, or really at any point on the stove, maybe one teaspoon of espresso powder will give you an extra chocolatey boost. But if you’re making this for kids, and you don’t wanna risk any caffeine, skip it. Whisk in the butter. Oh my gosh, the smell is so wild. Whisk until melted. And right away, you’ll notice it becomes even silkier. It’s so much more glossy with just those two tablespoons of butter.)
Step 6: Chill & Serve
(If you want some hot, steamy pudding, this is delicious as is. But most of us want this to set. It’s time to transfer your pudding to a clean bowl. And if you don’t want this to develop a skin, press either plastic or parchment paper right onto the surface, so it’s in contact. That way, it’ll be pure delicious pudding. Otherwise, you’ll just have to peel the skin off and eat that as your special treat. Once chilled, remove the covering. And it’s time to scoop this out. Fill your cups, top with whipped cream and shaved chocolate, if desired, and now it’s ready to enjoy. That is a chocolate lover’s dream. Pure silky chocolate amazingness. I hope you get a chance to make this recipe.)
Final Thoughts & Serving Suggestions
This homemade chocolate pudding is luxuriously smooth and perfect for any occasion. Serve it:
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Warm (for a cozy dessert)
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Chilled (classic pudding texture)
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With toppings (whipped cream, berries, or chocolate shavings)
Enjoy every spoonful!
