Sized for meal prep, this made-ahead breakfast is easy to put together for a sweet, nutrient packed breakfast.
What is Chia Pudding?
The name may be misleading, as chia pudding consists of gelled chia seeds that expand about 2-3x their normal size after absorbing liquids. The seeds remain whole but do soften. They also have a particularly fascinating ability to attract one another and tend to bead together on the back of a spoon, say, a bit like water droplets. You’ll see what I mean when you make this.
No dairy is involved in this pudding. Of course, unless you chose to add it. If you replace the non-dairy milk with dairy milk, I’d recommend omitting to leave the pudding on the counter for an hour to set. Give it a good whisk and stick it straight in the fridge. During the first hour of setting time, pull it out intermittently, stirring to discourage clumping and adding more milk if the liquid is needed, about a tablespoon or two at a time.
Breakfast sans Sugar Rush
Store-bought granola typically contains high amounts of sugar — be it high fructose corn syrup, pure cane, or molasses. Being sensitive to processed sugar (it’s a migraine trigger for me hooray) I’ve begun to pay particularly close attention to what I eat first thing in the morning. This may be personal, but I believe what I eat for breakfast stays with me all day. It can affect my mood, energy levels and how I feel physically.
That being said, this granola gains its sweetness from small amounts of honey, fruit jam, and dried berries (such as cranberry or raisin). Customization is always encouraged, but for the cleanest breakfast, I’d recommend following the recipe as written. Together with some fresh fruit, this Chia Pudding & Granola Parfait becomes an enjoyably sweet breakfast without inviting a massive carb-loaded sugar crash mid-morning.
As always, feel free to add your own twist and enjoy!
Ingredients
Chia Pudding
- 1 cup full fat coconut milk
- 4 cups non-dairy milk
- 1¼ cup chia seeds
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 TB agave or jam
Easy Granola
- 3 cups rolled oats
- 2 TB coconut oil melted
- ½ cup crushed nuts pecans, almonds, walnuts or peanuts
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 2 TB agave or brown sugar
- 2 TB jam of choice
- ¼ cup dried berries cranberry, raisin or blueberry
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Whisk coconut milk, non-dairy milk, ginger, vanilla and sweetener of choice in a large bowl. Once smooth, add in chia seeds and mix well.
- Let chia pudding sit on counter for about an hour, whisking intermittently and adding liquid as needed. This helps the chia seeds to expand without clumping together. While chia pudding sets, prepare the granola.
- Mix all granola ingredients in a large bowl. Cover a sheet pan with parchment paper and press granola into pan.
- Bake granola for 20 minutes, until crisp.
- Let granola cool on the counter. Once cool, store in an airtight jar on the counter.
- Store chia pudding in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
- To serve, spoon chia pudding into a bowl. Add chopped fruit, peanut butter or preserves and top with granola. Enjoy!
Have you ever tried chia pudding? Made this recipe? Let me know in the comments below!
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