Pumpkin Chia Pudding (Easy, Vegan, and Low Carb)
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This easy Pumpkin Chia Pudding is creamy, warmly spiced, and packed with pumpkin flavor. Made with pumpkin puree, chia seeds, coconut milk, and pumpkin pie spice, it’s a simple no-cook breakfast, snack, or dessert.
You can blend this pumpkin chia seed pudding until completely smooth or leave some of the chia seeds whole for more of a tapioca-like texture. It’s naturally gluten-free and vegan and can easily be made low carb or paleo depending on the sweetener you use.
This healthy pumpkin chia pudding works for almost any special diet and can be made into an extra special treat when topped with regular or coconut whipped cream.
If you’re like me, finding healthy breakfast or healthy dessert recipes can be a bit tough. When I was younger, I would have dried cereal or cinnamon toast, for breakfast, but alas, those days are over now that we’re eating whole foods that are gluten-free.
Of course, in my opinion, pumpkin should by no means be relegated to fall. First of all, pumpkin is just the perfect flavor for so many dishes, but sweet and savory, but it’s also incredibly healthy.
Pumpkin and Chia Nutrition
Pumpkin and chia seeds both bring plenty of nutrition to this pudding. Pumpkin provides beta-carotene, which the body can convert to vitamin A, along with potassium and fiber. Chia seeds are particularly rich in fiber and also provide plant-based ALA omega-3 fats, protein, calcium, phosphorus, and other minerals.
Chia seeds are also what give this pudding its thick texture: when combined with liquid, they absorb moisture and form a gel. Two tablespoons of chia seeds provide about 11 grams of fiber, according to Harvard’s Nutrition Source.
So here’s a pudding you can feel very good about serving to your family for breakfast, dessert, or really any meal.
And besides that, really, we’ve had this recipe in our repertoire for a long time. We’ve made it a lot, and enjoyed it and I just hadn’t gotten around to putting it on the blog until now. So excited to share this with you and so hope you enjoy it as much as we do!
Ingredients
- Coconut milk – Or use another dairy-free or regular milk of choice. Homemade Coconut Milk works too.
- Pumpkin puree – Make sure to use plain pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling.
- Chia seeds – They can be left partly whole or blended smooth.
- Pumpkin pie spice – Homemade Pumpkin Pie Spice works beautifully here.
- Sweetener – Use the sweetener of your choice and adjust to taste. Sweeteners vary considerably in sweetness, so substitutions aren’t always one for one.
- Vanilla and salt – Both round out and enhance the pumpkin-spice flavor.
Directions
- Place all ingredients in a blender
- Blend to desired smoothness.
- Place in serving containers, topping with desired toppings, or alternating toppings with pudding for a parfait.
- Store any remaining chia pumpkin pudding (if you have any left!) in the refrigerator.
Serving Suggestions
As in the photos, topping this pumpkin chia pudding with regular or dairy-free whipped cream makes a delicious parfait. You can sprinkle some Pumpkin Pie Spice or Cinnamon Sugar on top as well.
These Pumpkin Snickerdoodles, Soft Pumpkin Cookies, Pumpkin Pecan Spice Cookies or these Gluten-free Ginger Cookies would all taste great crumbled on top!
More Chia Pudding Recipes
If you love chia, you might want to try out these other fabulous chia pudding recipes:
- Chocolate Chia Pudding
- Mixed Berry Chia Pudding
- Blueberry Chia Pudding
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Chia Pudding
- Coconut Chia Pudding
- Keto Strawberry Chia Pudding
Pumpkin Chia Pudding – paleo, vegan, low carb
Ingredients
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 1 cup canned pumpkin
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup chia seeds
- 1 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 3/16 teaspoon stevia extract (or 6 scoops)
- 6 tablespoons low carb sweetener
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Place all ingredients in a blender (a high speed blender like Vitamix works very well for this recipe.)
- Blend all until as smooth as you like. Less for a more textured pudding: more for a smoother pudding.
- Place in serving containers, topping with desired toppings (like whipped cream, crushed nuts, or cookies), or alternating toppings with pudding for a parfait.
- Store any remaining chia pumpkin pudding (if you have any left!) in the refrigerator.
Notes
- Texture: Blend just until combined for a more tapioca-like chia texture, or blend longer until the chia seeds are finely broken down for a smooth pudding.
- Sweetener: Sweeteners vary significantly in sweetness. If substituting another sweetener for the stevia and/or low-carb sweetener, start with less and add more to taste.
- The pudding will continue to thicken as it sits in the refrigerator.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. It may vary depending on ingredient brands, substitutions, and preparation methods. Optional ingredients are not included. Net carbs are typically calculated by subtracting fiber and sugar alcohols (such as erythritol) from total carbohydrates. This information should not be relied upon for medical or nutritional purposes.
I’d love to hear what you think about this pumpkin chia pudding once you’ve tried it!
Nice recipe! I don’t do stevia drops as I really can’t stand the super super sweetness, even when it’s just a drop or 2…how much sweetener would you say instead (I use a homemade blend of allulose, bocha sweet and xylitol)
Also, are the nutritional values for the entire recipe? If not, an amount per serving is necessary to calculate the actual values per serving. If interested, my blend is 20 parts allulose, 10 parts bocha sweet and 6 parts xylitol.
Hi Carol!
Thanks! And that sounds like a nice sweetener blend.
What ratio of sweeteners are you using in your blend? I just addressed the nutrition card for you. I did have # of servings listed as 4 but I did just put a volume estimate in the card for you. Hope that helps!
Adrienne, I use the ‘parts’ system: 20 parts allulose 10 parts bocha sweet (since it is expensive) and 6 parts xylitol (since it is good for tooth and mouth health but can cause gastric upset). I use a large ceramic spoon that is probably close to 1 Tbsp, heaping, for all the measurements. Mostly because the container I have fits about that amount. I may start using a 1/2 cup measure if I can find a “perfect fit” jar. Then it would be 10 cups allulose, 5 cups bocha sweet, 3 cups xylitol.
You can do any amount of each, leave one out, or add erythritol..and use any measuring device: teaspoon, Tbsp, cup…whatever. I also make my own liquid sweetener from this blend. It’s just a simple syrup recipe although I will use double the blend next time as I usually put a lot in whatever I use it for as it is a bit ‘thinned out’ tasting.
I really like having control of my ingredients, especially since diabetes is pretty strict. My blood sugar numbers are much better since I found a blogger who has a baking background decided to make keto recipes when she got gestational diabetes which stuck around. I use her recipes almost exclusively because they rarely fail IF you follow her recipes faithfully. She does like erythritol, and I’m ok with SOME…I don’t use it unless she says it has to be erythritol or the baked goods will burn or be uncooked. I really do prefer allulose. She knows a lot about baking and has perfected so many wonderful desserts and other recipes.
I am at a point where I can often see a regular recipe and figure out how to remake it keto. But it takes a lot more thinking. It’s just easier to find one of Carolyns and make so I don’t have to think. She has several cookbooks (7 or 8, I think) and I have all of the printed ones, and about 6 of her eBooks. Plus her blog.
I guess I have just gotten used to her nutritional info which has an amount the recipe makes, a serving size, carbs, fiber, protein, fat, calories (which I pay no attention to). I can figure out net carbs by subtracting fiber from carbs. All (most) keto sweeteners don’t have any effect on blood sugar, so are not counted. Although I have recently heard that xylitol does have some carbs…need to look into that I guess.
Now, aren’t you sorry you asked?!?!?! LOL.
Thanks for explaining your blend — and no, not sorry at all! That’s helpful. Based on your 20:10:6 ratio, your blend is a little less sweet than a 1:1 sugar substitute because more than half of it is allulose. Mathematically, replacing both the low-carb sweetener and stevia in this recipe would come out to roughly 1⅓ cups of your blend. That seems like quite a lot for this pudding, though, so I’d probably start with about 1 cup, taste, and add more if needed. Since this isn’t a baked recipe, adjusting the sweetness to taste should work well.
As for the serving size – I addressed that for you. I don’t have the man (or woman) power to get all the recipes done like that right now so just let me know if you need one and I can address it for you!
AND I hear you on erythritol. I’m trying to mix things up myself here and not lean on any one sweetener too much.
Here are a few points about xylitol:
Xylitol provides about 2.4 calories per gram, versus 4 for sugar.
It has a low glycemic index and generally produces a much smaller glucose/insulin response than sugar.
But its effect is not literally zero, so saying that xylitol “doesn’t count” for blood sugar is an oversimplification.
Keto “net carb” calculations vary. Some people subtract all sugar alcohols; others count some portion of xylitol because it is partially absorbed/metabolized.
So it’s confusing but a lot of people on a candida diet use it b/c it works well in a lot of recipes and tastes good and doesn’t feed candida.
I love pumpkin pie. I’m dairy & wheat sensitive. I’ve been searching for 3-4 years now some recipe that would satisfy my pumpkin pie fix. OMG This recipe is it. It’s so easy to make. I add in a tablespoon or two of crushed walnuts & pecans. Soooo good!
I’m sooo glad! I have a vegan pumpkin pie recipe coming. The photos had a problem–will hopefully get it up soon!
Thank you for the great recipe! This is a great after dinner treat ?
So glad to hear it!!! Yay – you made my day!