How To Make Rich and Creamy Pudding From Scratch (2024)

FAQs

How to make instant pudding creamier? ›

Use Evaporated Milk

Replace the regular milk for a can of evaporated milk to make a creamier, more decadent pudding. Not only does it yield a luxurious texture, it dramatically improves the flavor of a pudding mix.

It typically contains milk or cream, although there are non-dairy puddings made with plant-based "milk." Pudding is similar to custard in that they both can contain eggs and milk, but pudding is usually thickened with a starch, whereas custard is thickened by the eggs.

In the United States, puddings are nearly always sweet desserts of milk or fruit juice variously flavoured and thickened with cornstarch, arrowroot, flour, tapioca, rice, bread, or eggs.

Milk: Whole milk is the base of the pudding. Feel free to swap up to ½ cup milk for half-and-half for a richer pudding. Sugar: Regular granulated sugar sweetens the pudding.

A key ingredient in instant pudding is gelatinized starch, a dried instant starch that readily absorbs liquids, which causes the pudding to gel when mixed with milk. Additional ingredients sometimes used as a thickener include gums that are soluble in cold water, such as carrageenans and alginates.

You can use all-purpose flour, potato starch, arrowroot powder, or tapioca starch instead of cornstarch in order to thicken pudding. By adding egg yolks, gelatin, or cornstarch, you can thicken banana pudding. Cornstarch is a fantastic option because it is less expensive and accessible than other types of food.

You get a great option when it comes to thickeners in the form of cornstarch which is easily added into any puddings from chocolate cake to any cream puddings. When making a thick pudding using cornstarch, the best way to do it is by dissolving corn starch into cold milk before adding any other ingredients.

While cornstarch is the key to making a nice, thick pudding, many old-fashioned pudding recipes actually used to call for flour. So, all-purpose flour is a good alternative to try.

The main way to thicken up pudding without adding additional thickeners is to make sure that you are aware of just how much you are mixing it up. If you mix it too vigorously, it can become too watery. If you mix it too little, the ingredients won't combine the way they should.

There are four major types and ways to prepare puddings: boiled, baked, steamed and chilled in the refrigerator until it gels.

What is the secret ingredient in instant pudding mix? ›

What I'm really after is the miracle ingredient that's mixed in with the sugar and flavoring: modified cornstarch.

I like to put the pudding mixture into the bowl first and then very slowly add the milk, stirring or beating well after each addition, until I have a smooth texture. Once the pudding mixture is smooth, I then add the rest of the milk and beat it with a whisk or electric mixer as usual.

Custard and Cream Pudding is a delicious Continental recipe made with sugar, milk, fresh cream and lots of cherries. You can also make this tempting pudding recipe for special occasions like birthdays and anniversaries.

The Christmas pudding coin

Adding silver coins into plum pudding is a fun Christmas tradition. The notion being that whoever finds the coin will have good luck. The tradition may date as far back as early as the 1300s when several small items like dried peas and chicken wishbones were added to the pudding mixture.

Pudding is a sweetened milk or cream-based mixture, thickened with a gelatinized starch (usually cornstarch or flour) that's cooked on the stove. Custards are milk or cream-based and are typically firmer than pudding.

But since the cups I'm using are slightly bigger than store-bought pudding cups, the price per ounce of homemade pudding is actually less expensive than purchased pudding cups! How about that? Making Real Food Pudding Cups saves us money and ensures that we're getting a wholesome, filling snack or dessert!

Dairy – I used half and half for this recipe but you can use heavy cream for an ultra rich pudding or whole milk. Thickener – Cornstarch is used as a thickening agent but you can easily substitute with flour, arrowroot powder or Tapioca flour.

Pour the pudding into a bowl and place in the fridge for 5 minutes. The pudding may seem thin, but will thicken as it cools. Once the 5 minutes are up, take a spoon and gingerly stick it into the pudding. If it hasn't set, leave the pudding in the fridge a while longer.

If you're using a boxed mix that calls for milk, you can make the mix taste more homemade by subbing in another ingredient like evaporated milk or canned coconut milk. These substitutions will make the pudding even creamier.

Set the bowl, uncovered, in the refrigerator. After 15 minutes, cover the pudding with a sheet of plastic wrap pressed against the surface and refrigerate until fully thickened, about 2 hours. To serve: Whip the thickened pudding with a hand or stand mixer for a full minute to restore its creamy texture.

Why did my pudding turned watery? ›

Saliva, temperature difference, and syneresis are the main reasons pudding gets watery in the fridge. Keeping the used spoon and the pudding in the container also disturbs it, making it runny. Adding starch is a simple tip to reverse the damage to the watery pudding.

Put the saucepan over medium-low heat and cook, whisking, until the pudding starts to bubble and thicken, about 1-2 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in butter and vanilla extract.

I used to make my banana pudding with homemade whipped cream because I do prefer to use from-scratch whole food ingredients. However, I found that when you use the cool whip it helps to stabilize the rest of the ingredients and results in a thicker pudding.

You can make the whipped pudding thicker or thinner depending on how much heavy whipping cream you add. If you are looking for a thicker consistency (to eat with a spoon, or use as a cake filling), add a little less heavy cream.

This pudding terminology is common in North America and some European countries such as the Netherlands, whilst in Britain, egg-thickened puddings are considered custards and starch-thickened puddings called blancmange. Table cream is a dessert, similar to blancmange.

While cornstarch thickens as it heats, it also sets as it cools, so it's particularly useful as a gelling agent for desserts that must hold their shape such as lemon pie filling.

Plants use starch for energy. In plants the long starch molecules are closely packed together in granules. When starch is heated, the granules absorb lots of water and the starch molecules are released creating a gel. The gel binds the other ingredients and creates the smooth, creamy texture of pudding.

13 ingredient puddings

It's said that Christmas pudding needs to be prepared with 13 ingredients to represent Jesus and his twelve disciples. Every family member stirs it in turn from east to west to honour their journey.

"Pudding" can refer generically to the sweet, final course of a meal, what Americans know as "dessert." (Because it's the UK, this has class implications.

If you are British and trying to explain the word to a non-Brit the answer is surprisingly difficult. In America, it is a simple answer: a dessert. We all use pudding to mean dessert or afters, but then there are types of dessert that are true puddings.

Why do we add eggs to pudding? ›

Any dairy product can be used, from skim milk to cream cheese, and the sweetener is completely dependent on personal taste. But the eggs and starch, which serve to thicken the pudding, are almost always added in direct proportion to each other.

Ingredient: Egg Yolks

They help act as a thickener (though we'll need additional thickening help from corn starch).

This simplicity — a combination of eggs, starch, sugar and milk cooked in a pot — is what makes pudding special. The perfect custard-style pudding begins with the right combination of eggs and starch to thicken the base, provide structure and add flavor and texture.

It is key that every member of the family gives the pudding mixture a stir and makes a wish at the same time. Traditionally, a silver sixpence was stirred in to bring whoever found the coin on Christmas Day wealth and good luck in the year to come.

The tinned pudding is believed to be one of the oldest in the world. A 120-year-old Christmas pudding given to Royal Navy sailors fighting in the Boer War has gone on display.

Religious significance

It is believed that a Christmas pudding must contain thirteen ingredients. These ingredients each represent Jesus and each of his twelve disciples. Traditionally, brandy is poured over the Christmas pudding and set aflame before serving. The flames are believed to represent Christ's passion.

What exactly are vanilla bean seeds or specks? They are just what they sound like, tiny black seeds that line the inside of a vanilla bean.

Dairy – I used half and half for this recipe but you can use heavy cream for an ultra rich pudding or whole milk. Thickener – Cornstarch is used as a thickening agent but you can easily substitute with flour, arrowroot powder or Tapioca flour.

The main way to thicken up pudding without adding additional thickeners is to make sure that you are aware of just how much you are mixing it up. If you mix it too vigorously, it can become too watery. If you mix it too little, the ingredients won't combine the way they should.