Chocolate Pudding Pie Recipe – HOMEMADE!
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A homemade silky smooth chocolate pudding becomes the filling for the most delicious chocolate pie. Forget pudding from a box! Once you’ve made your own chocolate pudding pie, no other will compare!
NOTE TO READERS: Some of you have tried this recipe which was written by a contributing blogger and had varying results. We want to make sure that our recipes are perfect so, as of February 2020, we have since retested and completely rewritten the recipe. We apologize for any frustration you may have experienced with the original recipe.
We’re sure you’ll be pleased with this homestyle chocolate pudding pie! It’s absolutely delightful.
Creamy, homestyle chocolate pudding pie! Crisp buttery crust, smooth chocolate pudding, with mounds of fluffy whipped cream, and sprinkled with chocolate shavings. Such delight in every bite!
This pie is nothing like the chocolate cream pie you see in dessert cases in restaurants, or frozen pies that you thaw and eat. No comparison! Making pudding from scratch makes all the difference in this pie. If you’ve never tried homemade chocolate pudding pie, you are in a for a real treat.
About this chocolate pie
Homemade chocolate pudding is the centerpiece of this pie. Many of us default to using canned pudding or instant pudding mixes, which are fine in a pinch, especially if you’re in a hurry. I totally get that. Convenience sometimes trumps everything else.
But let me tell you, canned pudding or boxed mixes can’t hold a candle to homemade. There’s just no comparison! Once you’ve tried homemade, I can almost guarantee you won’t look back.
Is it difficult to make pudding? Not at all. The ingredients are simple and wholesome: milk, eggs, sugar, cocoa, flour, butter, vanilla. No artificial anything and most likely, every ingredient can already be found in your kitchen.
I would have to say that the hardest part of making pudding is the stirring. To make creamy smooth pudding, plan on spending 15 to 20 minutes standing by the stove stirring. Stirring isn’t difficult, we’ve all mastered that, but it does take time for the pudding to heat and thicken. So be patient, put on some good music, stir, stir, stir, and anticipate the delight of chocolate pudding pie.
How about the crust? You can make your own pie shell or use a frozen pie crust. A graham cracker or Oreo cookie crust would be sensational, as well.
You’ll want to top your pie with lots of homemade whipped cream. Fancy up your pie with chocolate shavings. Use your vegetable peeler and a chocolate bar to make perfect curlicues of chocolate. Mini chocolate chips would be great, too.
Craving more pie recipes? Try:
- Cherry Lime Galette (a galette is an informal kind of pie)
- Coconut Custard Pie
- Rustic Four Berry Pie
- Fresh Blueberry Pie (you’ll love this one and it’s so easy!)
- Yogurt Tart with Oat Crust (top with fresh fruit for a sensational summer dessert)
- Hot Fudge Ice Cream Pie (gotta love ice cream pies)
- German Chocolate Pecan Pie from Melanie Makes
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me @rachelcooksblog on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest!
Ingredients
- 1 frozen deep dish pie crust
- ¾ cup sugar
- ½ cup cocoa
- 3 tablespoons flour
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 3 cups milk
- 1½ tablespoons butter
- 1½ teaspoons vanilla
- Whipped cream and chocolate shavings, for garnish
Instructions
- Prepare the frozen pie crust according to package instructions. Allow to cool completely.
- In a medium sized saucepan, mix sugar, cocoa, flour, salt, and egg until well blended. Stir in milk slowly until ingredients are blended.
- Over medium heat, stirring constantly, bring to boil. Continue to cook, stirring constantly, three to five minutes, or until pudding thickens slightly.
- Remove from heat; stir in butter and vanilla.
- Pour into baked pie shell. If desired, cover with plastic wrap directly on surface of pudding to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate 4 hours, or up to 24 hours.
- Top with whipped cream, and chocolate shavings, if desired, and serve.
Nutrition Information
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
Nadine says
Used a frozen pie crust and baked it to the package directions. Then made this chocolate pie filling and followed instructions for cooling. Excellent result! The pudding was rich and not too sweet.
Rachel Gurk says
Glad you enjoyed it!
Darlene Griffith says
Have you ever substituted evaporated milk instead of whole milk. This was popular in the 1960’s. It makes it much richer.
Rachel Gurk says
I have not but I’m intrigued!
Jeannine says
I do not like chocolate of any kind OK YOU WILL SAY I AM NUTS BUT TO MAKE IT WORST I DO NOT LIKE RED ROSES. OK that said I made the beautiful pudding for my loving husband and he had is share of something special he loved every bite. Thank you for making him happy and said for me to make it again.
You are Special in my book an THANK you.
Rachel Gurk says
Hahaha your comment made me smile. Red roses are definitely overrated. So glad your husband enjoyed the recipe; thank you for taking the time to leave a review!
Terri says
I was skeptical about flour instead of cornstarch but so happy about being able to use everyday, in your cupboard ingredients. The pudding was amazing!! We used a chocolate cookie crust…oh and some chopped peanut butter cups on the bottom. So good!
Rachel Gurk says
So glad you liked it! The chocolate crust and chopped peanut butter cups are genius!!
Deanna Foxley says
Made this following directions carefully. The flavor is delicious BUT the pudding didn’t set firmly. It isn’t liquidy but it really is more like pudding so when cut doesn’t hold its shape very well. Suggestions?
Rachel Gurk says
Did you use whole milk? You want it to be pretty thick before you pour it into the pie crust, it could be that you didn’t cook it long enough on the stove?
Catzia Zenn says
I just made this pie because I had exactly 3 cups of milk about to expire. It was easy and so far tastes great! (I just put it in the fridge to cool) The texture of mine came out smooth. I mixed the dry ingreadiants with the eggs very diligently and used a whisk while it was heating up alert adding milk. I added a few dark chocolate chips I had left over to the butler which i warmed up to melt the chocolate and then added it to the pudding after the boiling process. I used a Store bought chocolate crumb crust that I had laying around. Now comes the card part…waiting for it to cool so I can eat it!!
Rachel Gurk says
So glad you like the pudding! It’s definitely important to do a lot of whisking…glad it worked out for you! Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment!
Erika says
WOW!! I’ve never made homemade pudding but I will from now on! I love that it has no cornstarch and it was so easy! I used a regular depth pie crust because that’s what I had in the freezer. I put about 1/3 of the pudding in and cooled off the rest of the pudding. I then folded in homemade whipped cream into a 1/3 of the leftover pudding to make an airy layer on the pie. Topped it with more whipped cream. It is DELICIOUS! I still have about 1/3 of the pudding left so if you’re making a regular depth pie, you will have leftover pudding.
Rachel Gurk says
So glad to hear it! You might have had extra pudding since you added whipped cream to it. Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment!
aaron best says
Why didn’t mine solidify?
Rachel Gurk says
Hmm…not sure! Did you cook it until it thickens? Sometimes it seems like it takes forever…but just keep stirring!
Kimberly J Nolan says
Made with 3 cups of milk and this pudding was yummy! I don’t know how it ever worked with 6 cups of milk! But it seems the right amount now and set up nicely. It’s not as smooth as boxed store-bought pudding mix but the flavor is a rich deep chocolate. Devine. Thanks for the recipe
Kimberly J Nolan says
I waited till it was cold and although it formed up nicely the texture was off a little. Not as smooth as other recipes I’ve tried so I was a little disappointed. I’d change it to 3 stars probably if I could
Rachel Gurk says
Sorry to hear that Kimberly. It’s definitely a homestyle pudding.
Rachel Gurk says
Yes, this recipe definitely needed a little adjusting. I’m glad you like it!
Amy says
Just made this (March 1, 2020). Not sure what the objections were in previous comments – the recipe says 3 cups of milk. This was delicious. I ate part of it and put part of it into a cookie crumb crust to make an old-style pie. The last time I made homemade pudding was in the 1970s. I don’t think I’ll be able to buy packaged pudding anymore after making this – it’s outstanding!
For those who never made homemade pudding before, it takes a reeeeeeeeally long time stirring (recipe notes 15ish minutes, it took me almost 25) before it boils. Also, it doesn’t set up instantly like the packaged stuff, but once it boils it sets right up. The process reminded me of why instant packaged pudding became so popular – stirring for 15-25 minutes seemed like a lot of work. But it’s so worth it. Thank you!
Rachel Gurk says
Hi Amy! Thanks for the comment, and I’m so glad you liked the pie! We actually recently retested (again) and completely overhauled this recipe, which is why it now has three cups of milk vs. the original 6. I still need to update the body of the post to reflect the changes, but we wanted to get that recipe up ASAP, and I’m so glad you were able to use it!
beyonce says
Such a nice post, keep providing good resources.
Violet says
Made it. Good. Next time I will make my own crust though. Add a smidgin of salt. Good pie.
Rachel Gurk says
Thank you for your helpful comment! Glad you liked the pie.
Camilla says
I used to live in Georgetown, TX…home to the Monument Diner and their infamous chocolate pie. This is a dead ringer–can’t wait to try!