Chia Pudding For Kids (Vanilla)

This is how to make a basic, no frills, regular ol' vanilla chia pudding for kids. We have tried countless recipes all in the name of Clean Eating and 'My mommy is a food blogger and she's testing a recipe - again' kind of way. Some are great, others a little meh and then there's the scrub your tongue to get the taste away recipe too (I'll come back to this one later one).

Chia Pudding For Kids

The thing that makes a recipe a keeper is when you find yourself making the same thing on repeat. This is the chia seed recipe we keep coming back to. And when I say we - I mean the whole family agrees on it.

It's mild, slightly sweet and has a thick, creamy jelly consistency that is like a dessert rather than a slimy milkshake. Play with the consistency a bit to see what suits your family but in my opinion, it's better to go heavy on the chia seeds rather than too little.

I make mine up in a large jar which fits two servings. The kids spoon it out into a cup and either eat it as it is or sprinkle their favorite (or whatever we have in the kitchen) toppings on to.

This is a personal opinion so feel free to ignore this warning but making the basic vanilla chia seed pudding using coconut milk is not recommended.

I ended up throwing out a whole jar of ingredients (and I don't like to waste) because it tasted yucky! I know a lot of recipes say it's OK to use but the coconut is way too rich and totally overwhelms the mild vanilla taste. Stick with almond, oat or regular milk.

Feel free to disagree. In fact, let me know in the comments. I would love to know if you are happy with the coconut milk taste.

Can Children Eat Chia Seed Pudding?

I know lots of people are unsure if younger kids can eat chia seeds as they're not a typical food we see in recipes for little ones very often. While I didn't feed these to my kids when they were really tiny, as long as they've been soaked and allowed to expand then they're fine for kids to eat.

I'm not sure who'd eat these dry anyway to be honest but for those that might...don't, due to the risk of choking. This is particularly important for kids, but every time I've used chia seeds for a recipe, they're well soaked and expanded to their full size.

Soaking Chia Seeds

Because chia seeds can expand to up to 10 times their seed size, they make a great ingredient for recipes where you want something to 'set'. While chia seeds won't ever set solid, they're awesome in pudding recipes because they take on the flavor of whatever they're soaking in and allow you to create a dessert from pretty much any flavored liquid you like.

I usually leave anything with chia seeds in it to set overnight, but you can leave them for less time. The very least amount of time I'd recommend leaving them to soak is 3 hours, and even then make sure they're expanded before serving to kids.

Kids Chia Pudding Toppings Ideas

• Mango or fruit Puree
• Sliced Fruit: Kiwi, Banana, Peaches
• Berries: Blueberries, Strawberries, raspberry
• Granola / Muesli
• Banana, Maple Syrup & Cinnamon
• Candied Walnuts (½ Cup walnuts and 1 tablespoon honey heated to boiling in a non stick pan)
• Toasted Nuts

More Chia Seed Recipes

• Chia breakfast pots
• Choc chia breakfast smoothie
• Chia banana boost smoothie
• Coconut water chia pudding
• Clean eating chia jam for kids

How To Make Chia Pudding For Kids

Ingredients

• ½ Cup Chia seeds
• 1 ½ Cups Almond milk or full cream milk
• 2 tbsp Maple syrup 100% pure
• ½ tsp Vanilla extract or paste

Instructions

• Mix all ingredients together in a 2 cup capacity jar and leave overnight in the fridge
• Serve as it is or add some toppings. See the post for some ideas to out on top!

Chia Pudding For Kids Recipe