Chia seeds are odd little seeds that pack a wallop of soluble fiber and minerals (check out the RDA info below). The soluble fiber, when exposed to liquids, turns into a jelly-like substance that has impressive thickening ability. Additionally, this soluble fiber is great for stabilizing blood sugar. Many even report lower blood sugar numbers for the whole next day after they consume a tablespoon of chia seeds. Most of the carbs in chia seeds are fiber, which makes them a fun little ingredient to play with in keto and low carb recipes.

While this recipe is quite tasty, I recommend avoiding dessert recipes during your first month or more on keto. Initially, I find it easiest to reduce cravings by avoiding dessert type foods all together. After you have been on keto and your cravings seem mostly a thing of the past, then I would recommend trying a recipe like this, occasionally. If you experience increased cravings in the days following this recipe, I recommend going back to no desserts for a while longer.

Keto Chocolate Chia Pudding with Whipped Cream

Ingredients

2 cups unsweetened almond milk

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 cup Swerve, confectioners style

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

4 tablespoons chia seeds

1/4 cup heavy whipping cream (optional)

Directions

1. Place the almond milk, cocoa powder, Swerve, and sea salt into a blender and blend on high until smooth.
2. Pour pudding into storage bowl with a lid. Stir in chia seeds. Wait 10 minutes and stir again. (This helps distribute the chia seeds evenly, so that they don’t clump at the bottom.)
3. Cover and refrigerate pudding overnight.
4. Stir pudding well and divide among 4 serving dishes. In a medium bowl, beat the heavy cream on high with an electric blender until stiff peaks form, about 5 minutes. Top pudding with whipped cream.

Yield: 4 – 1 cup servings

Nutrition info: 180 calories, 8.7 g carbs, 5.7 g fiber, (3 g net carbs), 16 g fat, 4 g protein

RDA info: vitamin A 14%, vitamin D 15%, vitamin E 12%, vitamin K 90%, calcium 31%, copper 16%, iron 14%, magnesium 19%, manganese 24%, zinc 11%