What to do when you don’t like chia pudding

What should you do when you don’t like chia pudding?

As versatile as it is, not everyone is going to like the texture of chia pudding. This popular snack/dessert/breakfast is made when chia seeds are hydrated with various flavored liquids and stored in the refrigerator. Due to the seed’s super high soluble fiber content, they can absorb 9 times their weight in liquid and hold it on the outside of the seed shell in a drop of gel. Gather enough of this gel and you will have a thick pudding. It can be flavored with just about anything, from your favorite fruits to chocolate, peanut butter, coconut, cashew and much more. Of course, many of the pudding types are cool to look at in food photography, so you’ll see them all over the web and also on blogs and pin sites.

But what if the texture is not for you?

Of course, since chia is a seed, the pudding, when made normally, will have a ‘pebbly’ texture. Not everyone is going to like that. So soluble fiber can have a “jelly” feel, since it’s always moist and a bit slippery. So if you try the pudding and just can’t get past the texture because it’s too reminiscent of tapioca dots, can you still enjoy the health benefits of chia seeds?

Of course!

Many photo blogs will have you thinking that pudding is the only way to combine chia, but once you see what else it can do, you’ll never need to see that texture again. There are several basic applications for chia that are not pudding, each of which you can get a brief overview of in this article.

First: Replacing butter or oil in baked recipes

In many baked recipes like cookies, cakes, flatbreads (e.g., banana bread), bars, brownies, and more, you can replace about half of the butter or oil with chia gel and the recipe will bake just the same They will look the same and taste the same, but they have half the fat. Because the seeds are evenly distributed throughout the baked goods, you won’t notice they’re there.

Second: Replace an egg in some baked recipes

Does your recipe need 1 egg? You can usually replace an egg in baked recipes (that don’t rely on whipped egg whites or the like) with an equal amount of chia seed gel. Because an egg is generally a binding ingredient, and chia gel is a fiber product, it can also bind. It’s a good way to make some vegan/vegetarian recipes and tends to work better than a “flax egg” since chia produces more gel than flax. (Again, you won’t notice the seeds)

Third: Flavor Mixer / Dressing Helper

When chia produces gel, it can mix flavors, sometimes concentrating them. This is a great solution for making healthier homemade dressings. Make salad inviting, fun, and preservative-free when you mix in a myriad of your own chia dressing flavors. Citrus and spices with some fruit among the vegetables or honey and lime for a picnic fruit salad. Most dressings mix up in minutes in a simple measuring cup, so you won’t miss a thing by skipping the store-bought bottle.

Fourth: Milkshake Helper

Smoothies are great because, unlike juices, they keep all the fiber in the fruit where it belongs: in the drink. However, they can be a caloric catastrophe if you don’t replace a meal, but add it, or just mix in fruit.

When you put chia seeds in a smoothie, you’ll feel full longer because the fiber helps slow down the conversion of carbohydrates into sugars. Insoluble fiber also takes up space in your digestive system (while helping to move food smoothly through it), which also helps you feel full. The other benefit here is that the healthy omega-3 oils in chia unlock several vitamins in fruits and vegetables (fat-soluble vitamins) that are commonly found in smoothie ingredients. Again, because you’re drinking a thick, smooth drink, there’s no seed texture either.

Fifth: Burger Folder

Bored of plain old burgers? You can add a variety of great toppings and seasonings to meat when you combine it with some dried chia. Chia absorbs moisture and helps the burgers stick together while you customize the flavor. It also adds fiber where there normally wouldn’t be. Because there isn’t a lot of seeds mixed in, you won’t know they’re there.

Are these all the things you can do with chia that don’t involve pudding?

Certainly not! There are many more ways to use it and many more benefits that it has for you. There are many more ideas and recipes than can fit in one article. Eggs are a good protein in the morning; but they are a fiber-free food. How to get protein and fiber at the same time? A sprinkle of chia in the scramble or tortilla will work quite well. Let your taste be your guide as you search for recipes that involve chia. The internet is an endless resource of creative non-pudding examples to try for free, and they’re usually just a search away. There’s no reason to let the pudding proliferation put you off these super seeds when you know all the fun, healthy and easy alternative uses.