Quick Breakfast Chia Seed Pudding
This quick breakfast chia seed pudding is ready in minutes—no overnight soaking is required. It’s vegan, gluten-free, and yummy!
Most breakfast chia seed pudding recipes call for soaking the chia seeds overnight. They are plenty tasty but require forward thinking. They are also cold. I don’t particularly like cold first thing in the morning. I’m also not a good enough planner to prepare my breakfast the night before.
Why This Quick Breakfast Chia Seed Pudding is Great
I like this recipe for three reasons:
- It only takes about 5 minutes to prepare—so I can make it in the morning.
- If you eat it immediately, it has a nice warm and cozy consistency.
- Since a blender is involved, I can use dates as a sweetener. Dates offer more fiber and nutrients compared to most other sweeteners.
The sweet cinnamon vanilla flavor and yummy blueberries and walnuts are an added bonus. All in all, this quick breakfast chia seed pudding is an easy way to enjoy a healthy breakfast. But it’s also tasty enough for a dessert or snack!
About the Ingredients
You make the pudding itself is made with five simple ingredients:
- Plant milk – I often use rice milk because it’s one of the few kinds of plant milk that doesn’t have added thickeners. (I’m sensitive to thickeners like carrageenan.) Rice milk’s consistency is similar to skim milk, and it has a mild flavor. However, it’s low in protein compared to other kinds of plant milk. If you want to boost your protein intake, West Life Organic Soy Milk is also a good option. Water and soybeans are its only ingredients, and the milk is nice and creamy.
- Chia seeds – These little seeds are more readily available in grocery stores than they used to be. But if you have trouble finding them, you can always order some online.
- Dates – The recipe calls for two medjool dates, which are larger, softer, and sweeter than other kinds of dates. However, it’s easier for me to buy deglet nour dates where I live. Since they are a bit smaller and less sweet, I just double the amount. For this recipe, I would use four instead of two.
- Cinnamon – As this Healthline article explains, not all cinnamon is created equal. After trying Ceylon cinnamon, I can recognize the difference. I now buy it in bulk and use it in any recipe that calls for cinnamon.
- Vanilla Extract – If you spend any time reading through plant-based recipes, you may have noticed some call for alcohol-free vanilla extract. I personally don’t care if my vanilla has alcohol in it. But if you’re wondering what’s the difference and whether you should care, you might find this article by A Raw Story interesting.
What’s Needed
Other than the ingredients, all you need to make this recipe is a high-speed blender. A good blender is a bit of an investment, but totally worth it when you are following a plant-based diet. You can use it to make smoothies, dressings, sauces, spreads, and more. I’ve had my Vitamix for over a decade, and it’s been worth every penny. I use it several times a week.
Chia Seed Allergy?
Full disclosure: I discovered I’m allergic to chia seeds after I developed this recipe. It started gradually, but the more I ate, the more noticeable the symptoms became (itchy palms, facial rash, tingly lips). My allergy is uncommon, and most people can eat chia seeds without a problem. But I’m sharing this information as a reminder. Just because a food is considered healthy doesn’t mean it’s good for everyone. It’s important to listen to your body.
Quick Breakfast Chia Seed Pudding with blueberries & walnuts
Ingredients
- 1 cup rice milk
- ¼ cup chia seeds
- 2 medjool dates pitted
- 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp. pure vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup frozen wild blueberries
- 1 Tbsp. chopped walnuts
Instructions
- Place frozen blueberries in a small microwave safe cup and microwave on high for 30 seconds. Stir and microwave for another 30 seconds and set aside.
- Add rice milk, chia seeds, dates, cinnamon and vanilla to a high speed blender in the order they are listed.
- Begin blending on lowest setting and slowly turn up to highest setting.
- Blend on high for approximately 20 seconds.
- Turn off blender and scrape sides with a spatula.
- Reduce speed back down to lowest setting and begin blending again, slowly turning blender back up to highest setting and blend for approximately 20 seconds.
- Scrape pudding into one or two bowls. Top with thawed blueberries and chopped walnuts.
- Serve immediately or refrigerate and enjoy later as a snack.
Notes
Nutrition
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This looks delicious & I’m always on the lookout for quick & easy esp in the morning. Oh, & I don’t like “cold” for breakfast either! My question for you is regarding the rice milk. We prefer almond milk, will that work as well? Thanks for sharing this. I can hardly wait to try it!
Hi Marcia – I’m sure almond milk would work fine. I favor rice milk because it’s one of the few store-bought plant milks that does not have a thickener like carrageenan or gellan gum added. I’m sensitive to carrageenan.
Enjoy! 🙂
This looks so good! I hate preparing overnight chia pudding and can’t get the consistency correct. Thanks for this recipe!
Thanks Bre. Hope you like it! Feel free to adjust the quantity of liquid to achieve the consistency you prefer. 🙂
Hello! This might sound silly but would Greek yogurt be an acceptable substitute for rice milk? I know it would probably change the consistency but the additional protein would be nice!
The chia seeds need liquid to reach a pudding consistency, so I’m not sure how many chia seeds you would need if you used Greek yogurt instead of a plant milk. But I’m guessing you would use less chia seeds, so using Greek yogurt for added protein might be a wash because you’d lose some of the protein the chia seeds provide…
I understand your calorie counting issue, but sodium content might be nice.
I hear you. I’m reluctant to provide this kind of information because the apps I would use to determine sodium content, etc. provide ballpark estimates and could be misleading for people searching for this information for medical purposes. I understand a rough estimate is helpful for some, but others may need more precise information – so I leave it up to the individual.
How is this…WARM? ? My milk is kept in the refrigerator, and frozen berries in the freezer.
You’ll note the recipe instructions direct you to warm the frozen blueberries in a microwave and the act of blending warms up the other ingredients. The recipe makes a warm pudding – not a hot pudding. 🙂
It sounds yummy, but I have a problem with seeds getting under my false teeth and even the smallest seeds feel like rocks and I can’t chew until I clear them out from under the crevices’ in my plates. That’s a pain after every bite.
My question is does the milk make the chia seeds swell and get soft like tapioca in pudding or do they stay small and somewhat crunchy?
Also will coconut milk work instead of Almond. My husband has a peanut/almond nut allergy. (Coconut milk is ok for him.)
Hi Claudia – if you let the ingredients soak long enough, the milk makes the chia seeds soft, like tapioca or pudding. But this recipe uses a high-speed blender, so not only does the milk soften the seeds, but is also chops them up into nothing. I don’t think you will have a problem. And you can use any kind of plant milk – so coconut milk is fine. Enjoy!
Hi Claudia,
Would this recipe be all right to sit overnight anyway?
Hi Wayne – if you want to soak the chia seeds overnight instead of blending them in the morning, you will need to blend the milk, dates, cinnamon and vanilla and pour the liquid over the chia seeds.