Remember Chia Pets? As a kid, I always wanted one of those sprouting pottery animals. Who knew that the chia “fur” they were growing was actually nutritious? I checked out Amazon today and sure enough, found my new Chia Pet crush.
Chia pudding is made from those same chia seeds. When the chia seeds are soaked in liquid they swell into a gel consistency that’s perfect for making delicious and healthy chia pudding desserts. 
The process is beyond simple. Add a heaping tablespoon of chia seeds to one cup of a yummy liquid, in our case coconut milk, and refrigerate overnight. Like magic, the chia absorbs the liquid and you’ve got chia pudding! Or course, we’re going to make it even more delicious with some sweet ripened mango, local honey, and a liberal sprinkling of toasted coconut flakes. If you can’t find mangoes in your area, go ahead and subsitute peaches. It will be just as delicious!
- 1 T. plus 1t. chia seeds
- 1 c. coconut milk
- ½ c. chopped ripe mango
- 1-3 T. honey, to taste
- 3 T. dried, flaked coconut
- Combine chia seeds and coconut milk in an airtight container. Stir and refrigerate overnight.
- Chop mango into bite-sized pieces. Peel if desired. Stir into chilled chia pudding. Add honey to taste and spoon into serving dishes.
- Toast coconut in a dry skillet over medium heat. Be sure to jiggle the skillet or stir gently as coconut heats to keep it from burning. When it reaches a pale golden color, remove from skillet and set aside. Sprinkle on top of puddings. Dig in!
Now that you know how easy it is to make nutritious overnight coconut mango chia pudding, go crazy with it. Try all kinds of flavor combinations and different liquids. I’ve heard great things about almond milk chia puddings and can’t wait to try it with chocolate hazelnut milk. As long as you keep the liquid to chia proportions the same as in this recipe, you can’t go wrong.
For more tropical goodness, try these mango recipes. As for me, I’ll be watering my new Hello Kitty head.
ok, ¿que es la diference entre… sorry…I have been listening to Spanish all morning…what is the differece between chia and chan? and where do I get chia here?
Chan is so similar to chia that for the price here in Costa Rica, I’d HIGHLY recommend buying chan. I buy chia at the feria and it costs mil colones for about 6 Tbsp. compared to chan that’s about half the price. Nevertheless, it is fun to switch things up a little.
First of all, I LOVE that Hello Kitty Chia Head! Secondly, I never knew that you could eat chia seeds. This looks delicious and super easy–I’m definitely putting this on my list of things to try!
Isn’t the Hello Kitty the coolest thing ever? So funny! Chia was new to me until a few months ago too, Natalie. Here in Costa Rica there’s a similar seed called chan that does the same thing as chia, but since chia is gaining popularity in the US (where most of my readership comes from) I figured I’d jump on board and share more chia goodness. Hope you like it. It is really good for you!
I bought a whole batch of chia seeds and wasn’t sure what the heck to do with them besides throw them in my smoothies. Thanks for giving me another idea!
Happy to help, Nicole. A friend of mine told me that she adds them to homemade breads too. It boosts the nutrition value and probably lends a little crunch and texture too. Thank you for stopping by this weekend! Hope to see you around again real soon.
I had no idea chia seeds were edible. I will have to see if I can find a store here that carries them and try this recipe.
Go for it! I know you can probably find them in most health food stores and at Amazon they sell a 1lb. bag for $10. Hope you enjoy them as much as I do. It’s a lot of fun to watch them swell up into a delicious pudding consistency.
You have beautiful photos Jelli!
Thank you, Beth! Happy to see you came by to visit today. Hope you have a great week.
I love tapioca pudding, and this looks deliciously similar. Must give it a go!
It’s much faster than tapioca pudding, which means it gets made a whole lot more often at my house though I’m with you- love tapioca! Thank you for visiting today, Julia!
I can honestly say that I am willing to eat a lot of weird thing, but chia seeds was never one that interested me…until now. This looks seriously AMAZING! Pinning now, and thanks for sharing! ~Lisa
The chia seeds themselves really don’t have much, if any flavor, Lisa. They add a tiny bit of crunch and texture to the pudding but the real stars of the show are definitely the coconut and mango. Thank you so much for visiting today.
Thanks for sharing this with us at our Marvelous Monday Party! Pinning! I do remember chia pets….am I dating myself 🙂 Have a great week!
We only use chia for our smoothies, but I think I’ll try this…I didn’t know there were other options for them! Your pudding looks really yummy! Do the seeds have a bit of a ‘crunch’ in the pudding? Stopping by via the SITS challenge…looking forward to browsing the rest of your blog!
The chia seeds have the slightest crunch in the pudding. Since they’ve absorbed so much liquid it’s not exactly a popping crunch, but they do have a fun texture. Give it a try and let me know what you think! Thank you, Jessica, for stopping by today.
This looks amazing. Healthy yet sweet, so I could probably get my kids to try this for breakfast.
And I think I might have found my daughter’s next birthday gift. She is crazy for Hello Kitty!
The Chia head is such a goofy idea, but so much fun to watch grow. Are you planning a Hello Kitty party? Just curious. Thanks for visiting, Gabby.
I take birthdays one at a time, so I’m just now breathing after our last birthday party 2 weeks ago. Her next birthday is in 10 months, so we’ll see. But pretty much every day, she mentions that she wants a Hello Kitty cake when she turns 6, so we shall see. I may have to let her save up her money for this Chia head…we can call it a science experiment in school.
Sounds perfect! Hello Kitty growing strange green fur all for the love of science. You know, you can probably eat the sprouts too.
I love that chia seeds give you some fiber and protein, too! I add them to my smoothies. Great idea to make pudding!!!
You know, everyone tells me I should add them to smoothies. I’ll have to give it a try soon. Thanks for visiting, Janelle.
This looks very delicious! I’m always looking for chia pudding ideas, so I’m glad you shared this post!
Sounds delicious. I’ve been seeing chia seed recipes everywhere and yours I love especially since it’s got my favorite fruit – mango! If only I could get my hands on chia seeds in Malaysia where I’m currently renting an apartment : //
Hmmm. Vicky, do they sell Japanese chan seeds there? Here we have chan and chia, both of which puff up and absorb liquids to make yummy puddings like this. I’m guessing you could also try it with flax seed, though I’ve never done it. Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy your time in Malaysia!
I’ll have to see if they sell the Chan seeds here — never heard of those before, but thanks for letting me know about them : )
First off, Yummy!
I used silk almond/coconut blend and I don’t think it absorbed as much liquid as I was expecting. The chia seeds did swell but it was still very liquidy and not very pudding like, i basically drank it and chewed the fruit lol. Tonight i’ll try either more seeds or less milk. But still so good. I had both frozen mango and frozen pineapple in my freezer and decided to try the thawed pineapple this morning with it. Because of my blood sugar I have to limit my fruit so I only added about 1/4 of a cup. Just enough to get some good flavors going in there with it. So good!
Never would have thought of this on my own, thanks for a way to mix up my breakfast, I was getting tired of the same ol’ things!