This week I’m sharing a super simple healthy dessert recipe for low fat chocolate pudding! It’s only 4 ingredients, sweetened naturally with dates, and uses sweet potatoes as the base.
Wait… did I just say sweet potatoes? Yep, the base of this low fat chocolate pudding is sweet potatoes. I’ve made desserts out of vegetables before with success, so I thought I’d give it another try. Sweet potatoes have a natural sweetness to them (duh, it’s in the name!), and when steamed/blended can make for a pretty smooth consistency. When I invented this concoction up I really didn’t know how it was going to turn out, so I was surprised by how much I liked it!
Sweet potatoes (and beans) are often used in Asian desserts, which is where part of the inspiration for this came from. I’m also always trying to think up new ways I can use fruits, nuts, and vegetables to satisfy my sweet-tooth in a healthy way. I think this low fat chocolate pudding turned out great in the end, and so I’m excited to share it today!
It’s also very easy to make – just two steps really. So let’s begin this easy recipe for low fat chocolate pudding.
Step 1: Prepare Your Sweet Potatoes
First begin by removing the skin from your sweet potatoes. Usually when I cook with fruits and vegetables I like to keep the skin on, it’s where all of the best nutrients are. Since this was my very first time trying a dessert with sweet potatoes though, I wanted to make sure the final outcome was as smooth as possible. After all, one of the main characteristics of pudding is its texture.
So for my low fat chocolate pudding recipe I decided to remove the skin first. Next, you’ll want to steam it somehow until it’s cooked. You can do this by boiling it, steaming in a pan, or by using the microwave.
I can be pretty lazy, so I just nuked it in the microwave. If you do it this way just make sure to poke it with a knife on all sides first or it may explode in the microwave – the steam needs a place to escape while it cooks! Depending on the size of your sweet potatoes, anywhere from 6-9 minutes in the microwave should do.
Pro Tip #1: Microwaving in stages is helpful when doing it this way too. So for example, microwaving it first for 6 minutes, then for another 2-3 minutes afterwards.
Whatever method you choose, once you’re done cut your sweet potatoes into large chunks. Now, it’s time to blend.
Blend All Your Ingredients
The final step is to blend all the low fat chocolate pudding ingredients together. Which are:
- Sweet Potatoes
- Dates
- Non-Dairy Milk
- Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
Those 4 simple ingredients make this low fat chocolate pudding come together! See below for exact measurements.
Pro Tip #2: Blending the ingredients in 2 batches makes for a much smoother overall consistency. The first time I made this, when I was still experimenting with the recipe, I blended everything all at once and there were still some sweet potato chunks mixed in with the pudding. So I had to empty out my blender bucket, and blend the batch again in stages. This pudding ends up being pretty thick – and even though we have a Vitamix blender (a pretty powerful blender model) I still had to blend in stages. The second time I made this I did it half-and-half, and it came out smooth just like how I wanted.
Sorry for the slight potato-quality photo above (ha!). I wanted to show what everything looked like in the blender before blending, and after though.
The photo on the right is actually what the low fat pudding mixture looked like when I tried to do it all at once, one batch. Like I said above though, I recommend doing it in stages, half the ingredient amounts, then the other half.
Low Fat Chocolate Pudding
And that’s it! Remove skin from sweet potatoes, steam/boil sweet potatoes, chop sweet potatoes, throw everything in a blender, blend, done.
Transfer all of the mixture out of your blender bucket and into a container, then refrigerate for 1-2 hours. You can eat it straight after blending, but the pudding may be slightly warm from the sweet potatoes being cooked just minutes before. If warm pudding is your thing then eat it right away! I actually like this recipe warm or cold. But if you like your pudding cold, then you’ll want to refrigerate it for a few hours before eating.
I jazzed my low fat chocolate pudding up by pudding fresh raspberries on top and chopped cocoa nibs. Fun fact: When I set out to make this recipe I actually wanted to create a vegan whipped cream recipe to go along with it. Well, my low fat chocolate pudding creation/concoction turned out great! But my experimentation with homemade whipped cream was a…failure, lol. I need to work on it some more, I wasn’t happy with the outcome on my first go around with it. I plan to keep experimenting with it though, so hopefully I’ll release a dessert recipe in the near future that includes it!
Other topping ideas are:
- Other fresh berries/fruit
- Shredded coconut
- Chopped nuts
- Peanut butter
- Anything else you love
Well, I hope you liked this post about my recipe for low fat chocolate pudding. I think this just about wraps it up! If you’re skeptical about using sweet potatoes for a dessert, I just say give it a try! I was surprised by how great it turned out, and I look forward to incorporating sweet potatoes in more recipes in the future. It’s healthy, naturally sweet, low calorie, and full of good nutrients (sweet potatoes are very high in Vitamin A, C, and antioxidants)
Besides being healthy, I think my actual favorite thing about this recipe is that it takes less than 10 minutes to make. My lazy self loves quick and easy recipes – I hope you like this recipe and if you do try it please leave a comment below! I’d love to know what you think, especially if this is your first time trying sweet potatoes in a dessert recipe too!
Low Fat Chocolate Pudding
Ingredients
- 2 medium/large sweet potatoes
- 1 cup dates
- 3 cups unsweetened non-dairy milk
- 2/3 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
Instructions
-
Remove the skin from the sweet potatoes, then steam/boil them until they are cooked. Once cooked, chop the sweet potatoes into large cubes.
-
Add half of all the ingredient amounts above to a blender/food processor and blend until smooth. Transfer to a bowl, then blend the rest of the ingredients until smooth.*
-
(Optional) Store in a container and refrigerate for 1-2 hours to cool. Serve with your favorite toppings.
Notes
