Lemon Cream Blueberry Chia Pudding 

This Lemon Cream Blueberry Chia Pudding takes this incredibly easy and healthy breakfast or snack loaded with protein, fiber, and healthy fats to a whole other level of indulgence with a bright tart lemony cashew cream layer complimented with fruity blueberry seedy chia pudding layer. 

Chia pudding has been a popular craze for years now for a good reason, the health benefits alone from the wonderful source of good fiber, a great plant-based protein option, abundant amounts of antioxidants, as well as potassium, iron, magnesium, and omega-3 just to share a few makes it quite the superfood.

Amongst the hundreds of ways to prepare and enjoy chia seeds, I always suggest that if you’re consuming a significant amount you want to make sure they have been well-soaked! Due to the fabulous amount of fiber found in chia seeds, they can actually be rather hard on the stomach to digest causing not-so-lovely stomach issues…soaking chia seeds helps tremendously with digestion therefore chia pudding is the perfect way to enjoy chia seeds and all their glory. 

The texture of soaked chia pudding is quite interesting, it’s much like tapioca pudding where the seeds create an almost creamy gel that helps them stick together but the seeds remain offering a variation in texture with a bit of seedy crunch.

The variations of chia pudding are truly endless with the different types of flavors you could create, thus I took the beloved combo of lemon and blueberry! Regardless of the flavor you choose, there’s no doubt that chia pudding is an amazing snack or meal option with all the well-balanced properties to keep you feeling satiated and full of energy! 

 Ingredients & Variations

Lemon Cream

• Soaked Cashews – This is crucial and CANNOT be substituted unfortunately, due to the cashew’s neutral taste and texture after being soaked it creates a perfect vegan style creaminess texture that’s very needed in this recipe. Make sure the cashews are raw to control the flavors, so neither roasted nor salted. 

• Cashew Milk – The milk of choice is entirely up to you! I chose cashew milk because I wanted to keep this whole recipe dairy-free and cashew milk happens to be one of the most creamy dairy-free kinds. Others that could work are oat, almond, or even regular milk depending on your preferences. 

• Coconut Yogurt – Again, completely up to you which type of yogurt but I always prefer a very thick style of yogurt and I’ve found that coconut yogurt is one of the most neutral-tasting dairy-free yogurt options as well great texture.

• Lemons – We’ll be using the zest so make sure to wash them well! For this recipe, I did have Meyer lemons which are just a sweet softer skin variety of lemons but regular ones will work just fine! 

• Honey  – I think the honey flavor compliments the lemon so well in this recipe but if you prefer maple syrup or agave that would work as well

Blueberry Pudding 

• Yogurt – Since you already used yogurt in the lemon cream why not in the chia pudding as well? I also believe in general that you should always add some yogurt to any kind of chia pudding because it helps with a more REAL pudding feel and texture, and helps make it extra creamy as opposed to just using milk.

• Honey – as always I love honey because I believe the flavor is a great compliment to a blueberry but maple or agave syrup works well too 

• Frozen Wild Blueberries – You could use regular frozen blueberries or even fresh if you’d like but when I get the opportunity I love to get wild blueberries because of their smaller size they are more compact with blueberry flavor and color and less water content than regular blueberries 

• Salt –  The magical ingredient that makes everything 100x more flavorful 

• Vanilla Extract  – Adding a nice touch of vanilla helps the pudding feel more dessert-like and compliment all the flavors really well 

• Milk – same story here, use whatever milk of choice you prefer! 

• Chia Seeds – hard to substitute the star of the show so I don’t suggest it! 

Tips for Making the Best Lemon Cream Chia Pudding

• Soaking the Cashews – make sure to soak the cashews in room temperature water for 24 hours, no more than that. If you forget to soak the cashews a day in advance then take boiling water and cover the cashews and wait 4-5 hours for them to soften. Also, make sure to drain the cashews and rinse them before using them in the recipe 

• Stir the Pudding a 2nd Time – The first time you stir all the chia seed ingredients together the seeds will want to fall to the bottom and stick together until fully incorporated with the liquid mixture so it’s crucial that after about 10 minutes of chia seed passing being made to go back and re-stir before leaving in the fridge to set fully into chia pudding, only takes a few hours 

• Have Fun with the Toppings – fruit is always a great option as well as some chopped or slivered nuts, a dollop of nut or seed butter, or whatever you’re feeling! 

• Storing – I recommend portioning out the pudding into single-serve jars that if not enjoyed in 3-4 days can be stored in the freezer for up to 2 months, pulling the pudding out from the freezer into the fridge the night before to be enjoyed the next day! 

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