PS — if you love the sound of a recipe, don’t pick it and quit it, deal? That list of saved recipes you never make isn’t helping anybody. Remember homemade meals are your own to make and may take a few takes to tweak. Please don’t hesitate to comment below or contact us with questions!

While we’re big fans of eating red meat, we also think chia seeds are the most underestimated complete protein. Plus they’re full of the fats, magnesium, copper, quercetin & phosphorus we need which make them a pretty damn well-rounded option.

The best part: chia pudding is ridiculously easy to make if you’re looking for a quick, balanced alternative to eggs for breakfast, a higher protein snack, or dessert. Toppings can get as complicated as you want them to, but you definitely don’t need fancy sauces or extra steps to get the nutrients you need.

The type of coconut milk you choose matters:

The type of coconut milk you choose matters if you want that dreamy, creamy “pudding” consistency. If you’ve tried chia pudding and hated it, I would bet 9x out of 10 that’s because it was way too runny or way too thick. It may be worth another shot if you’re looking to add more protein or fats into your everyday life!

Our secret is ½ cup chia seeds per 1 can of full fat coconut milk — BUT if you prefer or only have a carton of coconut milk in the fridge, then you’ll want to make sure you do ½ cup chia seeds per 1 cup of cartoned coconut milk to keep the ratio right! A carton of coconut milk is basically canned coconut milk blended with a bunch of water, so it’s much more diluted/runny than canned coconut milk and you’ll need more chia seeds to absorb that water. A can of coconut milk also measures out to be more than 1 cup, and since we don’t like keeping the leftover can in the fridge, we just use the whole can.

1 can full fat coconut milk = ¼ cup hia seeds
1 cup coconut milk carton = ½ cup chia seeds

We always tell clients to consider using canned instead of cartoned (if/when you can) because a traditional carton of coconut milk is almost guaranteed to have riskier ingredients added in (examples: natural flavors, emulsifying gums, carrageenan) that may be irritating your gut, overstimulating your tastebuds, increasing your appetite, encouraging inflammation, and have been linked to cancer and diabetes (download our label reading cheatsheet to learn more).


A NOTE ON IMPERFECTION:

If you’re not concerned about specific ingredients because you rarely eat them or maybe because you need to buy what is more convenient, then we are so happy you found what works for you. That said, we all deserve to know these ingredients may be contributing to symptoms a lot of struggle with like heartburn, bloating, belching, constipation, or diarrhea. You may be surprised at how often you’re asking your body to detox these ingredients if and only when you know what to look for and where they’re hiding.