I don't know about you, but I'm so busy creating healthy meals most days, I seem to run out of time in the kitchen to focus on desserts. That said, who doesn't enjoy a treat once in awhile? Especially when it's as healthy as this Skinny Matcha Pudding--made with good-for-you matcha tea, fresh mint and chia powder.
If you like matcha tea or matcha lattes, I think you're gonna enjoy this pudding. It's got that distinct matcha flavor, and it's naturally sweetened with dates. One caveat--it's fine to increase the dates for a sweeter pudding, but too many will turn the color from a pretty pale green to a pea soup green-brown. I'd recommend maple syrup or another light-colored natural sweetener if color is important to you.
Why I Love Skinny Matcha Pudding
This Skinny Matcha Pudding is a variation of my Skinny Chocolate Mint Chia Powder Pudding and Skinny Pumpkin Spice Pudding recipes. I'm partial to these chia powder puddings because research shows that chia powder can help us lose weight (or maintain a healthy weight), even more than whole chia seeds.
As an added benefit, chia seeds ground into a powder produce a smoother, creamier texture than you get with typical chia seed puddings. I personally don't mind the seedy, gel-ly texture of chia seeds, but Hemant doesn't care for them. I imagine plenty of kids don't either.
So chia powder not only helps us feel satisfied, it's a great way to get the nutritional benefits of chia. And no one will know a chia powder recipe like this Skinny Matcha Pudding is cock-full of healthy stuff.
I mentioned matcha is a considered a healthy food, but did you know that a lot of tea contains lead? I like to buy Japanese organic matcha tea leaf powder, as teas from China have been shown to have higher lead concentrations. (See this video for a comparison of lead content in types of tea and by country of origin.)
If you love matcha, and you're looking for yet another way to enjoy it--or you just feel like making an easy, pretty, pale green dessert--whip up a batch of this delightful skinny matcha pudding.
If you like this whole food, plant-base recipe, you might also like:
- Skinny Chocolate Mint Chia Powder Pudding
- Skinny Pumpkin Spice Chia Pudding
- Hot Pink Smoothie
- Healthy Brownies with Peppermint Frosting
- No-Bake Carrot Cake Bites
📖 Recipe
Skinny Matcha Pudding
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups plain non-dairy milk (use sweetened/vanilla for a sweeter pudding)
- 5 Medjool dates pitted and chopped (use 1-2 more dates for a sweeter pudding-see notes)
- ¼ cup fresh mint leaves chopped, loosely packed
- ⅓ cup chia powder (ground chia seeds-see notes)
- 1 tablespoon matcha tea powder (Japanese-see notes)
- ⅛ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Optional Topping
- 1 dollop sweetened almond ricotta
- 1-2 sprigs fresh mint
Instructions
- Add non-dairy milk, dates, mint leaves, chia powder, matcha powder and salt to a Vitamix or other high speed blender, and process until smooth (when you can no longer see pieces of mint leaves or dates).
- Pour the pudding into a container (or divide into 4 serving dishes), and refrigerate overnight or for at least 5 hours.
Notes
- 6-7 dates will give you a sweeter pudding, but will start to turn the color green-brown. Sub ¼ cup (or more) of maple syrup or another light-colored sweetener if you want to keep the pale green color.
- You can buy pre-ground chia seeds, or grind up whole seeds right in the blender.
- Japanese tea has a lower lead content than Chinese tea. See this video for more details.
- I like storing my pudding in little mason jars like the ones shown in these pics that I bought at Target.
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