Whole30 Carrot Cake Chia Pudding

I get that carrot cake chia pudding might sound way too healthy for human consumption, but stay with me for a bit. This recipe is coming straight from the mind of a certified dessert-a-holic. I ate cake with baby spoons as a child to make it last longer. The only thing that got me through salads in high school was the promise of chocolate chip chewy granola bars in the pantry at the end. If I could only have one food group for the rest of my life, it would definitely be cake. So trust me, I wouldn’t healthify carrot cake to the point of being anything less than creamy, gently spiced and delicious. Plus its Whole30 compliant for those morning when eggs for breakfast for the 18th day in a row is completely unfathomable.

Chad and I have been on Whole30 for a week now and let me tell ya… its wearing on us. Every night after dinner we talk about what we wish we could eat for dessert. My answer is pretty much always cake. A different kind every day. Yesterday, it was coconut cake with strawberry frosting. Today it was carrot coconut cake. Chad on the other hand is very consistent. When I ask what he wishes he could have he looks at me like I should know better. I should. His answer is always the same: cinnamon rolls.

It’s a wonder we’re still playing this game, knowing full well we have 21 more days of not coming anywhere near cake or cinnamon rolls. Right after we finished this sad game of voluntary self-torture, a Reese’s commercial came on asking “Do you wish you could have a Reese’s right now?” We both yelled a passionate “yes!” at the TV at the same time. As someone who writes commercials for a living, I never imagined myself as someone who would actually respond to a TV. So, yeah, you I could call that a low point in this Whole30. We sat in silence after that and the game kind of ended.

The Inspiration for Whole30 Carrot Cake Chia Pudding

I figured if we can’t have real carrot cake I’ll have to make the next best thing: creamy, coconut-milky, perfectly spiced chia seed pudding full of fresh carrots, pockets of sweetness from raisins and the nutty warmth and crunch of toasted pecans. It’s carrot cake’s healthy cousin. Its really the perfect thing for breakfast or a quick work-from-home snack. It’s already prepped when you need it, so all there is to do is top it with fun toppings like toasted coconut chips, banana, honey, almond yogurt or really whatever. You do you. Let’s make some Whole30 carrot cake chia pudding.

Prepping the Carrots

The best thing about chia pudding is that its creamy, so we’ve gotta turn the crunchiest veggie in existence, (ok, that was an exaggeration but only a little bit) into something completely not crunchy. I softened these carrots up by brushing them with a little olive oil and roasting them until fork-tender. The roasting brings out the natural sweetness. Added sugar isn’t allowed on Whole30. That means it’s important to get as much natural sugar out of produce as you can.

I also find that carrots pick up a nutty flavor when roasted, versus a bland potato-ey flavor when boiled. But! If you’re low on time and/or not avoiding processed sugar, you could chop the carrots and boil them for faster cooking. You would then add some agave, honey or maple syrup for extra sweetness at the end.

Once you’ve decided on the best way to cook your carrots, you’ll cook them and mash them with a fork. Get all the way into it because mashing carrots with a fork is so satisfying. If you’ve got some stress to relieve you could even smash them with a meat tenderizer. Not that I did that or anything. Just saying. No matter how you smash you carrots, you want to get them to almost the consistency of baby food. But not quite as mushy. We’re adults and can handle a little chunk or two of carrots here and there. Once you mash them to your liking, its on to the chia pudding.

Making the Chia Pudding

I like doing the most while also doing the least. If you haven’t been around the blog very long, then you’re going to quickly learn that. I dunno, it’s the Taurus in me. And right now is Taurus season so it’s to be expected I suppose. The best thing about this chia pudding besides the carrot cake flavor is that all is really takes is stirring. Stirring lots of delicious, healthy things. The worst thing about this recipe is that you have to wait a couple of hours for it to be done. But more on that later. Let’s keep focusing on the bright side.

The first thing you’ll want to do to assemble this is to whisk your chia seeds together with the coconut milk and almond milk. I generally like to blend coconut milk and almond milk together in recipes versus just using one. It gives you the best of both worlds: creaminess and decadence from the coconut milk and low on fat and calories from the almond milk.

After you get all the clumps of chia seeds broken up by whisking the seeds with the milks, you’ll add in your spices, raisins, coconut, pecans and finally the carrots once they’re cooled. Don’t worry if it looks like a soup and not like a pudding. Chia seeds have a magical way of absorbing liquid over time, going from more of a dry seed to a gel consistency in a couple hours, which brings me to the final part: the waiting time.

Chilling the Pudding

You’ll want to refrigerate the chia seeds for about three hours, up to overnight. I know, it’s hard when you just want to enjoy the fruits veggies of your labor right then and there but I promise, the waiting game is worth it and not without a small reward along the way. After the pudding has chilled for about an hour, you’ll need to remove it from the fridge and whisk it for a few seconds to ensure that all of the chia seeds don’t collect at the bottom of the bowl. You can even do a small taste test to make sure you don’t need to add additional spices. (See, this is that reward I mentioned). Then, continue to refrigerate for an additional two hours or overnight to allow the chia seeds to fully absorb the liquid.

Serving ‘gram-worthy Chia Seed Pudding

Ahh this is so the best part and totally unnecessary, but it’s the little things, right? To serve this chia seed beautifully for entertaining (or lets be honest here, for putting in on your IG stories and getting all the hearts), grab a mason jar and layer the pudding in-between layers of almond milk yogurt, caramelized bananas, blueberries, coconut, or really any fruit, nut or yogurt option you’ve got! Drizzle with some cashew butter or if you’re not on Whole30, agave. Add some hemp seeds, more coconut on blueberries on top and you’ve got it made. These store perfectly in mason jars if you need a healthy breakfast or snack on the go.

Looking for more healthy and quick breakfasts? Check out my Thai Coconut Lime Green Smoothie or my Sweet Potato Protein pancakes.