Raw Vegan Chocolate Avocado Pudding. Delicious, Rich, and Good For You, Too!
November 6, 2009 by Sheri
Filed under Feature, Feeding Vegan Kids, In A Vegan House, Recipes, What Do We Feed All These Vegan Kids?, featured post
It’s Friday! TGIF! And since it’s Friday, we had chocolate for breakfast. Just because. There is nothing quite like chocolate for breakfast, especially when you’re a kid.
I’m not talking about your run-of-the-mill chocolate, I’m talking the good stuff: antioxidant-rich raw organic cacao, from whole organic cacao beans. Healthful and indulgent! And just perfect for breakfast on a Friday.
This is a fairly common recipe that can be found in raw recipe books and websites. It goes by many different names but the basics remain the same in most of the recipes — use avocadoes as a base, add chocolate and a sweetener, maybe a splash of vanilla or other add-ins if you please, and then blend well.
The result? The most decadent chocolate avocado pudding — raw, vegan, gluten free, and so sinfully rich you’d swear it can’t possibly be good for you. But is IS! Loaded with antioxidants and healthy fats, this pudding is very good for you.
And that’s what I tell myself when I have thirds seconds.
We’ve been enjoying this pudding recipe for years, making each batch a little different than the last. It’s quick and easy to whip up, and it satisfies a sweet tooth quite well. And it’s scrumptious every time.
First, you’ll need some avocadoes:
No, you won’t need THAT many! I buy my avocadoes 30 or so at a time and I prefer to ripen them in a bowl on the kitchen counter. I check them often as they ripen (a very gentle squeeze will do), and I remove the ripe ones and place them in the avocado drawer in the fridge. After a few days in a bowl on the counter, most of them are perfectly soft and ready to use.
Here is my wee assistant transferring them to the fridge:
They’ll keep in the fridge for several more days:
We go through a lot of avocadoes in the Green & Crunchy house. We eat them plain, top salads with them, add them to smoothies, make guacamole, and add them to various recipes. They are a great healthy fat source for my lean kids. I have an Avocado Addiction — especially during my pregnancies! I ate 1-2 avocadoes per day with my 4th pregnancy and that vegan babe was born on his due date at a whopping 10 pounds, 6 ounces! Avocadoes were one of my favorite foods during my 100% vegan pregnancy, and I grew a delicious chubba chubba baby. And now he’s a delicious 5 year old who loves avocadoes almost as much as his mama.
Anyways, back to the pudding…for our breakfast, we used one large avocado per person, which made a pretty big batch. The final outcome is quite rich and filling, so that portion is just right for us.
*chocolate avocado pudding, topped with organic raspberries, organic hempseeds, and organic maple syrup*
Raw Vegan Chocolate Avocado Pudding:
- one avocado, ripe and pitted (I use one large avocado per child)
- 2-4 tablespoons raw organic cacao powder — adjust this amount according to how chocolatey you like it! (I use Navitas Naturals Raw Organic Cacao Powder, but carob powder or regular cocoa powder would work great too)
- approximately 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- sweeten according to your tastes: a splash of agave, or approx. half a dozen soaked dates work well. We usually taste-test until it is sweet enough for our liking.
- add-ins: variations include ch-ch-ch-chia! seeds, freshly ground flax meal, a drizzle of hemp oil, a tablespoon of nut butter, a sprinkle of hempseeds in the mixture or on top of it (or both!), a drizzle of organic maple syrup on top (this ups the WOW factor and we did so in the photo above), sliced bananas on top, fresh berries on top…lots of options here so have fun with it!
~ We assemble all ingredients in the food processor and turn it on. Once it reaches a smooth and creamy consistency, it’s ready! You may need to add a splash of water to the mixture during blending, though we usually don’t because we like it very thick.
Served with a mug of organic rooibos tea, two of my little boys dug right in to their chocolatey breakfast:
My baby dug in too, smearing a good amount all over herself in the process:
**we usually put one of her brother’s old tshirts on her at mealtimes because it offers more coverage than a little bib — she’s a messy eater!**
This one’s blurry but it still captures the Chocolatey-Love between my girls:
That was one messy smooch.
My chocolate-covered baby didn’t finish her bowl of pudding, so I had to help her finish it.
In fact, she insisted I finish her pudding.
Oh, the things I do for my kids. Sometimes it’s hard being the mom.
Happy Friday, everyone! Hope you have a wonderful, chocolatey day!
Sheri
mmm tasty. where do you buy that many avacados at a decent price? organic avacados are like 1.50ea at the cheapest here!! I love reading about your babe and seeing you lovely raw vegan homschoolin kiddakins
Hi Kaisha!
Oh, those are not organic. Organic ones are sometimes $2 each here. We got through 40 avocadoes per week, approximately. If I bought organic, that would be $80/week or $320/month…on avocadoes
I buy them at Costco. I don’t have my receipt handy, but I think there are about 6-7 in a bag for about 5 bucks. The # of avocadoes in the bag and their price varies sometimes, but that’s approximately what I pay. If I find the receipt, I’ll come back to clarify the price I paid this week. And it’s Costco, so, like everything else there, these avocadoes are BIG!
While I do stick to organic produce for almost everything, I feel pretty comfy not buying my avocadoes organic. If you check the Environmental Working Group’s Shopper’s Guide To Pesticides (they put out the Dirty Dozen list you may have heard of), avocadoes are the 2nd lowest in pesticides, out of all produce. Only onions are lower in pesticides than avocadoes. Avocadoes are #2 on their Clean 15 list. So I’m okay with conventional.
Here’s the link if you want too look at the Shopper’s Guide To Pesticides.
By the way, love that word “kiddakins”. Perfect name for a cloth diaper company!
LOL thanks. I just shut down the site till after the new year. And Kiddakin is what my DH has called our newborn babes till about 6m when they earn a nickname of their own. Thanks for the link. Its good to know about avocados now i can go avocado crazy
we live in Dutch Harbor Alaska so fresh produce in general is expensive and to go organic is outrageous!!! Avacados are like $3.69 a peice and there isn’t anywhere to buy bulk…..:(
Oh, that looks delicious. I miss avocados!! They’re not easy to find here, and the Haas ones are available at all. We occasionally have the smoother variety ( I can’t remember the exact name, although I’m sure it’s something simple) but they’re very expensive (about 6 Turkish Lira each!) and rock hard. Boo! I have avocado envy!
Oh, i am sorry about your avocado envy! 6 Turkish lira is too much for one little avo!
Thanks for the comment!
Sheri
Great minds thinking alike again….
http://www.loveveggiesandyoga.com/2009/10/raw-vegan-chocolate-mousse.html
I called it choc mousse, you call it pudding. Same diff
Great to have you back posting! I know it was only 6 days, but it felt longer
Missed ya!
Yep…mousse, pudding, chocolate-guacamole, chocolate lava…it’s all the same…and it’s all so good!
I just visited the link to your choc mousse post…oh my goodness! Yours is so intensely CHOCOLATEY looking! I need to kick up the chocolate a few notches in my recipe next time, I think. Love your idea to do a layered parfait with strawberries…I might try that! What a good idea, Chocolate Dessert Queen!
Thanks for saying you missed me…not sure how you blog daily (and such awesome posts every single day!), I never have enough hours in the day!
oh boy i’ve just been thinking about how to get more avocados into my diet after the post on kristen’s raw. so glad i ran across your page today!
Oh, I’d better scoot over to the lovely Kristen’s and read her avocado post!
and thanks for reading!
Enjoy your pudding
Sheri
Oh, just read her post (a fabulous post as always) and now I must have one of those nifty avocado scoopers. Cool little gadget
First off, may I just say that you are so blinkin’ awesome. You are. You really, really are.
Secondly, your refrigerator is just beautiful. All that scrumptious fruit just waiting to be devoured. Wow. You are seriously a vegan pioneer, what with raising all your beauties 100% vegan and all. If I could meet you, I would firmly shake your hand for you are such an inspiration. Thank you.
P.S. I mean this from the bottom of my heart, no hyperbole here.
Hi Sundance Kid,
You are makin’ me blush with those kind words
Nicest comment ever…thank you! You totally made my night.
Sheri
it freezes SO well! and my two year old LOVES it. Steph turned me onto it, and I haven’t eaten regular pudding SINCE! and I’m not even vegan! It’s a GREAT treat for everyone. It looks sooooo good with berries and syrup on top!
Thanks Sheri
Meagan, hi! I was just thinking today after I wrote this post that this pudding would make AWESOME popsicles! Avocado fudgesicles!
So cool that your little M loves the pudding. It’s a hit with my kids too
Sheri
I tried making this pudding months ago when I started wanting to experiment with raw foods, and now I know why I didn’t like it… it was probably not sweet enough for me. It also did not have vanilla in it either, which would give it a nice flavour. Basically, I’m thinking it was all wrong for me. You just convinced me to try it again, but this time, i’ll make sure I sweeten it to my liking. And to top it off with maple syrup and fresh fruit, you can’t go wrong with that!
By the way, I love all the variety of produce in your fridge! Not that I would expect anything different comming from the fabulous Green and Crunchy house! You are such an inspiration
Hi Steph,
Sweeten it and throw some fruit on there and I bet you will LOVE it! And the maple syrup was a delicious addition but it tastes just great without it. Maybe you can get those 2 little cuties of yours to have a bowl too
My fridge…I’m sure that it must look like we eat nothing but fruit! That’s the fruit side of the fridge — the other half was messy so…no photo
Have a great night!
Sheri
My daughter saw the pictures and wanted some NOW! lol. I have some avocadoes ripening right now, so I know what I’m making with some of them in a few days, for sure! Would be great if I can get the kids eating some too!
yummy! i made my first choc avo pudding last week and it was yummy, but yours looks much purtier.
i would love to live in a house where 40 avocadoes a week live!
I’m having avocado envy as well (along with the Turkish poster)! I never thought about hemp seeds on top – I’ll have to try that for sure! Thanks for the tip!
Jennifer
How adorable can your fam get?
Love this post and that pudding! Mmm..sounds like a wonderful breakfast to me!
Have a lovely weekend!!
Ah, avocados. My favorite food in the whole world. And I am so lucky to live in So. Cal. But I don’t have a tree (a few friends do). You’d think I’d eat more than I do. (one or two per week) I’ve been meaning to hit the farmer’s market more often for avos – my friend Tessa is working a farm and has the butteriest/creamiest ones ever. Maybe when I cut back on my running on Sat mornings.
Your fridge looks divine!
Hello again! I am so envious of your picture taking skills! We like this recipe too but will try it with the addition of the hemp seed/or maybe the oil and DEFINATLY the raspberries! Thanks for such good inspiration Sheri.
Amanda
What a beautiful post!!!! I adore you and your family. I plan on taking many notes over the years and following in your footsteps.
I picked up a box of frozen avocado halves at Trader Joe’s a few weeks ago on a whim, and hadn’t yet figured out what to do with them — when you thaw them, they’re mushier than fresh avocado and the avocado flavor isn’t as strong as I like for stuff like guacamole. I just tried making this with them, and it is perfect.
Oh, that’s a good way to use up the milder-tasting frozen avocadoes…hope it was good and creamy!
Thanks for the comment, Larisa.
Sheri
Thank You Thank you! Just made the Avo-Pudding and it was a big hit in our house..
Thank you for coming back to tell me this! I’m so glad to hear you and your Vegman liked it
Sheri
MMMM….yours looks scrumptious!!! I actually just made this today for an “at home” demo party for my new business!!! It is in my recipe manual that I printed up….I call it Chocacado Pudding (chocolate/avocado)!!!! My version is slightly different, like you said everyone puts their own twist to it!! Looks great with raspberries!!!!
Oh, I like your name for it! Cute.
Such a quick and easy recipe, huh? Love that stuff!
Good luck with your new business!
Sheri
Hi Sheri,
even though we are not raw or even vegan, I love your blog and do get inspired to bring more raw into our diet. I really wanted to try this recipe and did some research on raw chocolate. I found this, saying there is no such thing as raw or even good for you chocolate or cacao. http://www.raw-food-health.net/RawChocolate.html I was wondering what your take is on this, since I am sure you did your own research on this as well.
Thanks for any thought,
Angela
Hi Angela,
Thanks for this link — I’m going to read it thoroughly and do some digging into all of it, including the sources. Everything I have read about pure organic cacao suggests that in moderation it is actually quite healthful. While we do not eat it daily, it is part of our diet so I would like to find out more about what you’ve shared.
I really do NOT want to find out that yummy pure organic cacao is not good for us!
Have a great day, and thanks for sharing this info…
Sheri
What a great post! I really love this idea, I can’t wait to make chocolate pudding with avocados for my son. I’m a BIG fan of avocados, I put them in my smoothie and salad, YUM! But my son doesn’t care for avocados at all. Now I found a way to make him eat avocados, YAY! Thanks for sharing!
Love the avocado recipe! Looks great. I want to try it – i’ve been trying different avocado recipes to find one the boys eat well. So those extra ingredients (cacao, vanilla, etc) are those per avocado or w/all your avocados? Hope my question makes sense – right now I can’t think of another way to word it. LoL.
on a side note – I read recently that having a cup of warm/hot chai tea every morning helps w/fighting/preventing flu. My son is allergic to green & black tea, which is commonly the base in chai tea. I discovered just this morning that Numi makes roobois chai tea!! I’m excited so I wanted to tell someone … who would share the excitement
I made this for breakfast yesterday morning and the kiddos ATE IT UP!!! What a fun breakfast idea! Thank you!
I have a question about your refrigerator… we have recently joined an organic buying club and will be buying lots of produce that we’ll need an extra refrigerator. Do you just keep the whole temperature down on yours since it is exclusively for produce?
Thanks again!! I just love your blog!
Hi Becky!
Very cool that you joined a produce buying club! I am such a fan of buying clubs and really depend on mine for our groceries.
We have two fridges, both crammed full of produce. We keep the temperatures of both fridges right in the middle, at medium. This seems to work well for us.
I should mention that in addition to produce we do have organic beer for hubby tucked in there
Sheri
LOL! At least it’s organic.
Also, if you don’t mind answering another question.
You said in a previous comment that you use tons of avocados during the week. Our buying club has them for $0.70 each (organic!) this week. I’d love some other suggestions on where to sneak these in! I have one boy that will eat them anytime, but others that don’t like the green factor. LOL!
Do you just throw them in smoothies or do you have other chocolate delights?
Oops! Nevermind… just saw your search bar! That will be the best for me to research your archives.
Granted, if you want to post more about avocados, I’d be happy to read.
Thanks again!!
Hi Bridgett!
Yes, your question makes perfect sense
The proportions I listed in the recipe above were for 1 avocado. We make it with 7 or so avocadoes to feed my whole family, so we broke the recipe down to a one-person serving. One avocado per person is generally how I roll. It’s a rich and really filling recipe so a little fills you right up, especially when you’re adding berries or nuts and seeds on it.
Re: the Numi Rooibos Chai tea…that’s EXACTLY what is in those teacups you see my sons drinking! We drink it every day. I buy it by the case in bulk to save $$. It is called Numi Organic Ruby Chai~Organic Spiced Rooibos, the ingredients are all organic and are: rooibos, cloves, allspice, ginger, cardamom, nutmeg, and cinnamon. I have a REALLY big thermal stainless steel carafe which I fill with tea each morning — two organic gren teabags and two organic Numi rooibos ruby chai teabags, top with hot water, and we have tea for the whole day ready to serve. The tea smells amazing! That is our favorite kind. I hope your son loves it — my kids do, and it’s a warm and fragrant ritual to our mornings.
I personally LOVE your excitement over a good cup of tea
Thanks for the comment!
Sheri
Thanks for the help w/the recipe. I have everything and it’ll be tomorrow’s breakfast.
Also thanks for the *Tea Tip* and shared excitement.
Your very kind to share w/everyone and answer our questions.
Did I say Thanks?
Bridgett
I love seeing all of your breakfasts – but I really REALLy enjoyed seeing the shots of your fridge. I often wonder how you store all of the fabulous fresh produce, so it’s nice to see it actually does all fit!
Also, I wonder if you would be able to post some more dinners. I am always looking for new dinner ideas!
Shots of my fridge…okay, I’ll clean the fridges up a bit and then take a pic. Too messy right now!
Yes, I should post some dinner, I agree. I’ve been asked a lot about dinner…I think it appears that we only eat breakfast, smoothies, and desserts ’round here!
Thanks for the comment!
i have some serious fridge envy. all those delicious fruit and veggies, yum.
this is going to be my dinner tonight. i can’t wait. except i have no food processor. i’m sure it’ll be great anyway.
and your kiddos are adorable
I was so interested to read what you said about avocadoes being low down on the pesticides list! We LOVE them, but organic ones here are quite expensive, not always available and often rock solid. It would be great to feel OK about buying non-organic ones. I wish I’d read your comment before I went shopping today! Your pudding-breakfast looks delicious! I’ll be trying it as soon as I’ve been shopping again!
Oh, here you are! When you moved your blog I somehow didn’t transfer you on my blog roll. I’ve been wondering where you were! I’m so happy to have caught up on your fabulous vegan family and look forward to seeing you regularly. I’ve been looking for glass straws so am so happy that you mentioned glass dharma! yeah! green and crunchy makes me happy!
wow, this is amazing. i just made an avocado pudding for dinner; avocado, raw cacao, 1/2 banana, agave, water and tons of topping; blueberries, dried sour cherries, hazelnuts, cocoa nibs, hempseed and shredded coconut. super yummy dinner. thanks for the idea, and for your lovely blog. it’s one of the few blogs i’ve read every single posts on! it’s very inspiring.
How adorable is your family?! PS- I have been looking for a recipe just like this. I have it bookmarked and on my holiday “baking” list!
Lovely photos! I’ve only made this once, but I thought it was pretty good. Thanks for reminding me of the recipe!
Thanks for this post. What a great recipe! I served it up to my daughter and she squealed with delight, saying, “This is like having a sundae for breakfast!” We topped ours with the maple syrup (how could we resist), hemp seeds, coconut flakes, banana slices and blueberries.
Your kids are so cute. What a great mom they have!
Sheri, you are a genius! I just tried this and it’s AWESOME! I have a four-month-old that will start eating “big kid food” soon – this will be perfect! I added some coconut oil to help with my preferred consistency! Thanks again for yet another kid-friendly recipe!
I have to try this! I will try it without telling my kids the ingredients and see if they like it. I just know that if they are aware there are avocados in it, they will decide they dont like it before they even see it. Lol.
i’ve got it.
chocamole.
Yum!! We finally got to try the recipe out tonight. Sooooo yummy! The kids goobled it up and begged for more…will definitely have to buy more avocados.
I just made this yesterday and my whole family loves it. My 22 month old daughter loves it and finished all of it. I am so happy because I also put in lots of good stuff seeds, nuts, goji…) for her. It’s so tasty and healthy. I will do this often in the future. Thanks so much for the recipe. We are very happy about it.
Katherine
Yum yum, this was a great idea! I know someone who used avocadoes to frost her wedding cake, but I’d never tried avocadoes with chocolate before. I used organic cocoa, a splash of almond extract and agave nectar, and a dash of pumpkin pie spices and it was delish. Thanks for sharing! ^-^
Hi Sheri!
Thank you for sharing such amazing ideas!! I love your blog.
I’ve kept this recipe in the back of head for over a month now and just got around to giving it a whirl. Fantabulous
Emily
Have you ever thought about looking for the wholesale supplier for your produce? I’m up in Cleveland and actually started working for one of 6 that supplies to the northeastern region of the state. It’s been an interesting experience and it’s nice because you can get entire cases of produce for a much more reasonable price than in the grocery.
I get excited when we get organics in (my work deals more with conventional and imports), though I think a couple of the other 5 deal with organics.
I’ve been lurking/following your blog for awhile and thought I’d throw it out there.
This pudding sounds great and no wheat at all. Avocados actually grow here in Sydney but they are often rather small.
i will be making this tomorrow! my baby #4 is sooo tiny and i’d like to fatten him up a bit, so this looks so yummy for him (and me, haha!).
thx!