What’s A Banana Chia Seed Pudding?
A chia seed pudding is a 3-ingredient healthy vegan breakfast made of chia seeds, plant-based milk, and sweetener. It’s a healthy alternative to oatmeal, flaxseed pudding, or overnight oats recipes for breakfast. Also, chia puddings are paleo, grain-free, and low in carbs. This banana chia seed pudding is a flavored version of the classic chia pudding, adding fresh banana pieces and a few spices to flavor it.
Expert Tips To Make The Best Chia Pudding With Bananas
Tip #1: The key to making a delicious banana pudding is choosing a fresh yellow banana. Don’t use ripe bananas in chia pudding, or the pudding will turn grey and dark in color, and the banana flavor will be too strong. Tip #2: Add an acid ingredient like lemon juice or lime juice to prevent the bananas from darkening too much in the pudding. Tip #3: Use white chia seeds if you can find them. They make the pudding color lighter. Tip #4: Blend everything together to remove the lumpy texture of the seeds. It’s a technique I used in my chocolate peanut butter chia seed pudding. Tip #5: If you didn’t blend the pudding, place the filled pudding jars in the fridge and refrigerate for 20 minutes. After that time, open the jar and give a good stir to avoid the seeds from clumping together or gravitating to the bottom of your jar.
Ingredients and Substitutions
Below, I will give you all my tips and tricks to make the best banana chia pudding. If you want to see the recipe measurements, jump to the recipe below! The ingredients you need to make this healthy chia banana pudding are simple:
Large Yellow Banana – Yellow with no or very few black spots on the skin to avoid a dark pudding. Chia Seeds – White or black chia seeds work well. I prefer the white chia seeds to keep the color of this banana chia pudding recipe light. Unsweetened Coconut Milk – Any plant-based milk will work here, but I found the flavor of coconut milk delicious with banana. You can also try oat milk or almond milk. Maple Syrup – This is optional, but if you have a sweet tooth, adding a touch of maple syrup brings out the sweeteners of the banana, and you will love the light maple flavor it also adds to the recipe. Vanilla Extract – It’s optional, but any pudding is better with a hint of vanilla! Lemon Juice to slow down the oxidation of the bananas.
Making The Pudding
Banana Chia Pudding Flavors
Chia puddings are perfect for meal prepping a week of healthy vegan breakfast. They are also very versatile, meaning that you can add only 1 or 2 ingredients to this recipe to create amazing new flavors!
Peanut Butter Banana Chia Pudding – Stir in 2 tablespoons of peanut butter in the jar along with the banana, maple syrup, and vanilla. Then, add almond milk and chia seeds. Banana Chocolate Chia Pudding – Stir in 1 1/2 tablespoons of cocoa powder to the jar, just before adding the chia seeds. Banana Coconut Pudding – Use canned coconut milk, and add 2 tablespoons of unsweetened shredded coconut to the jar.
Serving Banana Chia Pudding
A chia seed pudding is even better served with lots of toppings. Always add the toppings just before serving, not the day before. Below I listed my favorite vegan toppings that go very well with this banana chia seed pudding recipe.
Nut Butter – Add a drizzle of your favorite nut butter on top of the pudding. Almond butter, cashew butter, or my favorite combo: peanut butter, banana, and chia! Fruits – Sliced bananas, fresh or frozen raspberries, blueberries, or strawberries. All these fruits go well with this chia banana pudding with almond milk. Nuts – Sprinkle roasted peanuts, sliced almonds, crushed pecans, or walnuts. Seeds – Add plant-based proteins to your pudding by adding some hemp seeds, sunflower seeds, or sesame seeds. Coconut – Toasted coconut flakes or shredded coconut marry very well with bananas. Chocolate – A drizzle of melted dark chocolate or chunks of 85% cocoa chocolate.
More Healthy Vegan Breakfasts
I love starting the day with a healthy breakfast high in plant-based protein and fiber to feel full and stabilize my blood sugar level. Below I listed my favorite easy vegan breakfast to try:
