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Ah, homemade vanilla pudding …. truly, one of the ultimate comfort foods especially when the weather turns cool.
Kids especially love pudding and a homemade pudding cup makes a wonderful healthy addition to the lunchbox if you make it yourself with wholesome ingredients.
Whatever you do, skip those pudding boxes from the supermarket. They are nothing but white sugar, GMO corn starch, artificial colors, and flavors plus preservatives.
Even if boxed pudding is made with good quality whole milk, the end result is not be something that would be of overall benefit. Kind of like raw milk served with a bowl of Fruit Loops, wouldn’t you agree? What’s the point in that?
Homemade Vanilla Pudding
It’s time to ditch the pudding boxes and processed pudding snack cups and learn how to make homemade vanilla pudding the old fashioned way with nothing but wholesome ingredients.
The stovetop recipe for vanilla pudding below uses only six ingredients. Even the organic pudding boxes, while a much better choice, don’t compare nutritionally! The vanilla is not real vanilla extract, for example. It is cheap vanilla flavoring. And, only milk is necessary to make it with no eggs or butter. These are important ingredients in this homemade recipe to make the pudding very filling so you don’t overeat!
How to Make Vanilla Pudding [VIDEO]
In this video, I show you how my Grandma used to make vanilla pudding on the stovetop. She called it blancmange although she never bothered to set it in a mould as is sometimes done. It serves up wonderful and warm straight from the pot with no need to refrigerate first unless you prefer your pudding served cold.
Homemade Vanilla Pudding Recipe
Easy homemade vanilla pudding recipe, the ultimate comfort food, using only whole ingredients just like Grandma used to make.
Ingredients
- 3 cups whole milk
- 2 eggs extra large, preferably free range
- 1/3 cup flour wheat based or gluten free
- 1/2 cup evaporated cane sugar
- 1 Tbl butter
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 dash sea salt
Instructions
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Mix the flour and about a half cup of the milk in a small bowl and whisk until very smooth with no lumps.
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In a large saucepan, combine the flour/milk mixture, sugar and the rest of the milk. Cook and stir with a whisk over medium heat until the mixture starts to slightly bubble. Cook for 2 minutes more and remove saucepan from the heat.
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In a small glass bowl, beat eggs and then gradually stir in about 1-2 cups of the cooked mixture all the while whisking vigorously. Pour egg mixture into the saucepan and return to medium heat. Cook/stir until nearly bubbly but not a boil. Reduce heat and cook/stir for 2 more minutes.
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Remove pan of homemade vanilla pudding from heat. Stir in butter and vanilla.
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Let vanilla pudding cool for 5 minutes and serve warm.
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Refrigerate uneaten portion and use for homemade vanilla pudding cups for your children's lunches or for quick at home snacks.
Recipe Notes
You may substitute whole coconut milk (where to find) for a dairy free homemade vanilla pudding version.
Organic cornstarch may be substituted for the flour. I don't recommend arrowroot powder as the cooking of the pudding tends to reduce its thickening properties.
Love pudding? Try these other recipes!
Egg Custard Pudding
Bread and Butter Pudding
Jello Pudding
Macademia Nut Pudding
Thai Custard Pudding
Homemade Chocolate Pudding
Russian Custard
Coconut Milk Pudding
YUM!!!! We make this a lot at home but not now since we are on GAPS so we miss it! The guys esp really like it (what is it that they say about nursery desserts?). We almost always make ours with all yolks though and it is extra tasty. Love that you are teaching folks to make this!
Meant to say: thanks for the tip to use the pyrex bowl! Happy to have one less pot to clean! 😀
Looks great! Can’t wait to try this! Do you have a recipe for chocolate pudding too?? That is our favorite! 🙂
I made a chocolate honey pudding today with my boys, we had it for desert, drizzled a little cream on it too! yum!
I have a question about the sugar. Is Raw Sugar ok to use? In my area we have severely limited options when it comes to certain products and was wondering if raw sugar was a decent substitute or not.
Thanks for such a wonderful and informative blog. 😀
I also just made it! SO good! I had given-up on pudding… until now 🙂
This recipe looks so wonderful but I have a question I’m afraid to ask. Here goes:
I am just starting my journey to healthier eating. I don’t have most of the organic/coconut/arrowroot type of ingredients just yet in my pantry and can’t afford to at the moment. However, this first step in my journey has me trying to cook with real foods at home and escaping more and more from the store-bought, fast food world we live in. My goal is to get more comfortable cooking recipes such as this one and then, when we are able to afford better, more healthy ingredients, make the switch with those ingredients.
After all of that, will I still be able to make this recipe and others like it if I’m not using the exact same ingredients? If I’m using white sugar instead of sucanat or (in other recipes) white flour instead of coconut flour or vegetable oil instead of coconut oil or whatever? I’d like to be able to have success when I first start off on this venture so it spurs me on to even better, healthy living.
Thanks!
Melissa,
I hope I’m not stepping on Sarah’s toes here.
You are headed in the right direction girl! I started out very similar to what you’re describing – the desire to change, learning, wanting to try things but not having the resources to change out my pantry in one shopping trip (or two or three or….).
At minimum if you make it with white flour, white sugar and GMO cornstarch you are stepping away from the “unpronouceables” as Sarah put it. And you’re learning the technique of making the product. (better to waste white sugar than expensive sucanat!)
Give yourself some grace when your starting out. Sarah, IMHO, is somewhat of an expert and has probaby been eating healthy for a long time so her pantry is full of the best quality ingredients. Someday we too may be able to reach that level but we are all at different stages. I have raw milk and arrowroot but but I cannot source raw butter and I don’t have time to make it. My vanilla is store bought (from Aldi no less). Is my pudding the “best” it could possibly be? Probably not. Is it better than a box mix. You bet!
You’ll also find there are so many “levels” of real food. Raw milk. Raw milk from only pastured cows, raw milk from pastured Jersey cows. You can drive yourself crazy and give up if you wait until every ingredient is perfect quality before you begin.
Blessings on our real food journey.
Danielle
Danielle,
Have to say that was such an excellent response. As someone who teaches healthy living classes…I have found that the best advice is like what you said. Don’t stress over too many changes at once. Take it slow. Baby steps. Enjoy the journey!
Great words here. Love it.
Blessings to both of you,
Joy~
Do you use Sprouted flour? Or soak and then dry the flour?
6:17 pm – watched your video
6:35 pm – started making the pudding
6:52 pm – pudding done
8 pm – I will be eating pudding and packing pudding for my lunch tomorrow
Thank you for sharing!
What a wonderful schedule you have, LOL! 😀
How do you make butterscotch? This sounds yum!
if its half a pound of butter and half a bottle of 12 year single malt, im game..
-jason and lisa-
Might need to do a video on that too, huh? 🙂
I just love love love butterscotch !!
This is different than egg custard which is baked. I have a recipe for this as well if you click on the recipes above in the header or do a search in the search box.