This Dairy Free & Paleo Vanilla Pudding is creamy, luscious, and perfectly sweetened. It can be eaten plain or used in any recipe that calls for the boxed variety.
Creamy Paleo Vanilla Pudding
If you saw my chocolate pudding recipe, you know that we used to love the Snack Pack pudding cups before going gluten and dairy free. While we have been enjoying my chocolate pudding for some time, I have been unable to re-create the luscious and creamy vanilla Snack Pack pudding cups that we all loved. Until now! While it might seem like a basic recipe, for some reason I’ve had lots of trouble with it. It’s taken me over a year to perfect it! But I finally got the flavors and texture down just right, so I am really excited to share it today!!!
We usually eat this pudding plain or with bananas or berries. But it can also be used in any recipe that calls for the boxed variety – such as banana cream pies, tarts, parfaits, and so much more! And if all of that wasn’t enough, this recipe is AIP (Auto-Immune Protocol) friendly which means it’s free of nuts, eggs, grains, soy, refined sugar, and dairy! Plus, it’s thickened with gelatin which is great for digestion & leaky gut. It’s a win-win recipe – Enjoy 🙂
Tips For Perfect Vanilla Pudding
- I highly recommend using a 13 oz can of full-fat canned coconut milk and 1 cup of boxed non-dairy milk. If you use all plain, non-dairy milk the pudding won’t be as creamy and luscious. And if you use all canned coconut milk it may turn out too thick. This combination is the Goldilocks ratio – just right, lol!
- If you can’t find AIP compliant non-dairy milk, you can use 1/2 cup canned coconut milk and 1/2 cup water.
- I recommend using a combination of maple syrup and honey instead of just one or the other. The flavors compliment each other well and give it the right taste.
- I’m sure agar could be substituted for the gelatin, but the amount may vary so I can’t guarantee the results if you replace the gelatin with agar. If you’re adventurous and decide to try it though, please let me know how it turns out!!!
- For an extra creamy vanilla pudding, beat with a hand-held mixer just prior to serving.
*I am just learning about the AIP diet, so if you follow this diet please double check every ingredient!
Looking for more Recipes? Check out my Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake, Easy Peasy Dairy Free Sour Cream, and Whole New Mom’s roundup of 21 Easy AIP Desserts!
Paleo Vanilla Pudding {Dairy Free, Paleo, AIP}
Ingredients
- 13.33 oz. Full-Fat Coconut Milk (one can)
- 1 Cup Non-Dairy Milk Of Choice
- 1 Tbsp. + 1 1/2 tsp. Gelatin
- 1/2 C Maple Syrup
- 2 Tbsp. Honey
- Pinch or Two of Sea Salt
- 1/2 tsp. Fresh Lemon Juice optional but brightens up the flavor
- 1 Tbsp. Pure Vanilla use vanilla powder for AIP
Instructions
- Whisk together the coconut milk, non-dairy milk, maple syrup, honey, vanilla, salt, and lemon juice in a medium-sized pot. Place the mixture over medium-heat.
- While it's warming up, evenly sprinkle the gelatin over the milk mixture so it can "bloom" - or get wet and soften.
- Once the gelatin has softened, whisk constantly until the gelatin is completely dissolved and steam is rising and it looks like there's a thin layer of white foam on top of the mixture. Do not bring to boil. Continue whisking until you are sure the gelatin is completely dissolved, about 5 minutes (otherwise you will have small clumps of gelatin in your pudding, which is no good!).
- Pour pudding into 4 small glass serving dishes or a medium-sized mixing bowl - do not stir after this point. Cool 10 minutes, then refrigerate 2 to 4 hours or until set. For an extra silky pudding, chill in a mixing bowl and beat with a hand-held mixer just prior to serving.
- Enjoy!
Nutritional information is approximate and may vary.
Pin AIP Pudding For Later
I’m allergic to coconut. Is there anything else that I might substitute for the coconut milk? I miss vanilla pudding as much as I miss dairy and eggs. I’d be so grateful. Thanks!
Hi Agi Salzer! I use canned coconut milk to make it extra rich and creamy. You can replace it with any non-dairy milk, you just might lose some of the creaminess and it may be a tad thinner.
You may be able to use cashew cream if it was really, really well blended (just water and cashews blended) but without trying it myself I can’t give you any details or know for sure how it would turn out.
If you try either of those options please come back and let me how it turned out!!
-Cassidy
Hi, haven’t tried this yet but looking forward to a trial run as I’d like to have it with my gluten and dairy free mince pies on Christmas Day in place of egg and dairy custard.
Question though: Can this pudding be reheated?
One tip I can provide to make it vegan (as well as removing the honey) is to use agar instead of gelatin. It doesn’t behave quite the same way when prepping and you don’t use as much, but the end result will be just as good 🙂
Hi Vanessa! The pudding can be reheated but it will thin out when heated then thicken again when cooled. Hope this helps!!!
-Cassidy
Many thanks, happy holidays!
I just finished making this recipe and put it in the fridge to cool. I haven’t tasted the finished product but I did lick the spoon and OMGoodness! It is so yummy! I even reduced the maple syrup to 1/4 c. and divided it into 6 cups instead of 4 in order to keep each serving to just a couple teaspoons per doctor’s orders for my daughter’s elimination diet.
Oh YAY Laura, I’m so glad you liked it!!!
Love this recipe! I was wondering if you’ve ever used it as a base for peanut butter pudding? I chose to add a few Tbsps. of arrowroot powder (which may change the type of diet requirements it meets) and reduce the gelatin a bit (like 2.5 tsps). Prepare as instructed stirring arrowroot in prior to gelatin. I allow to cool, place in my blender adding nut butter as desired – blend for 30 seconds and pour into dishes OR place on top of nut crust – cool and sprinkle with chocolate chips, nuts, coconut flakes. I just tried adding a few Tbsps of cocoa powder to this recipe (added some additional sweetener/stevia) – it’s great! Thanks for posting!
This was so good…great taste plus benefits of gelatin (great lakes brand). I served with caramelized peaches.
Hi!
I actually broke my aip diet and ate a store bought Snack Pack. And this recipe was actually much more flavorful!
I used 2 cups coconut milk to keep it aip and it turned out more like jello than pudding. Flavor was amazing though.
I’ll make it again with less gelatin and see how it goes!
Thank you!
Yum. Just tried this after making it earlier today. This was my first AIP treat since starting the diet 4 days ago. I used vanilla powder and homemade coconut milk to make it AIP compliant. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
That you for sharing! It is so hard to find good recipes that actually work and taste good for my little one! These are quick and easy which is even better.
How much is a can of coconut milk equal to in millilitres or cups?
Hi Cindy, it’s 13.6 oz, so just barely under 2 Cups 🙂 Hope this helps!!!
-Cassidy
Delicious!!! Thank u!
Thank you Georgianna! I’m glad you liked it 🙂 🙂
May I ask what non dairy milk substitute you recommend to make it AIP compliant? Can you just use two cans of coconut milk? Also, vanilla powder is the substitute for vanilla to make this AIP compliant. Vanilla extract is not recommended due to the alcohol. You can get it on Amazon.
Thanks for the info about the vanilla Cheryl! And yes, an additional cup of coconut milk should work fine 🙂 Let me know what you think!!!!
I love vanilla pudding!! I’ve cut out gluten awhile back and have recently started to cut back on dairy and sugar too, but realllllllly missing vanilla pudding so I’m very happy to find your recipe. THANK YOU!! There are so many great chocolate pudding recipes that are Paleo/AIP/Dairy free etc, but not many vanilla ones out there.
I didn’t have much maple syrup left so I added 1/3 cup coconut sugar. It was absolutely delicious and I loved the gelatin to thicken it up instead of the usual cornstarch in puddings. SO much better for you!!! I couldn’t wait the 2+ hours to try it so I put them in the freezer for a bit and then dug into it after about 1/2 hour…deeeelicious! Not sure if its ok to freeze gelatin but it seemed alright consistency-wise. Added some toasted coconut on top which was a great complement to the coconut flavour from the milk. THANKS again! 🙂
AWESOME Dana, I’m so happy you liked it!!!! Toasted coconut sounds good 🙂
XO,
Cassidy
This was delicious, and it was one of the main components in my Sherry English Trifle that I made for Easter Dinner. http://peacefulfoodie.com/recipe/paleo-sherried-english-trifle/. Don’t worry I gave you credit.
Thank you Renee! I’m so happy you liked it – and your Sherry English Trifle looks amazing!!!
-Cassidy
Kids would love this! Thanks for linking up at our Gluten Free Fridays Party! I have tweeted and pinned your entry to our Gluten Free Fridays board on Pinterest! 🙂 I can’t wait to see what you share next time!
-Cindy
I still really need to try GELATIN!
Yeah, I just started using gelatin and it’s awesome!!!
-Cassidy
This is definitely one I want to try! Love how healthy it is!!
Thanks Julia! If you get a chance to make it I would love your feedback 🙂
-Cassidy
Yummy! Thanks for working on and perfecting a recipe for vanilla! I don’t love chocolate so I’m thrilled to see this.
Me too! Best comfort food.
What kind of gelatin do you buy/like?
thanks!
Hi Jackie! I usually just buy the Knox gelatin that’s found at most grocery stores but I’m going to start using the Great Lakes gelatin because I think it’s more cost effective 🙂
Hope you like it!
-Cassidy
I love pud pudding, and this one looks great! Pinned!
Thanks Tessa, I hope you get the chance to make it and you like it as much as we do 🙂