My easy healthy vegan chocolate maple pudding is sweet and velvety-smooth, takes just 10 minutes to make, and is legitimately good for you too!
And it has a secret ingredient.
It's not chickpeas.
Nor is it aquafaba.
Nor even avocado.
Honest.
No, really, it’s sweet potatoes!
Sweet potatoes in a pudding, I hear you ask? Why, yes! Why not?
Until I went to live in Thailand, despite their name, I’d always considered sweet potatoes to be a savoury food; however, that all changed the first time I went to a my first lunchtime buffet at Khun Churn (where they made great vegan yum som-o).
On the puddings table were several different desserts to choose from, ranging from a large selection of chopped fruits, to pandan jelly (omnomnom!).
Thai pandan jelly with fresh coconut - just look at that glorious green!
I have to tell you that I became an instant convert. Who knew you could have these things for pudding?
Thai pumpkin, poached in coconut milk
Even though, ummmm… technically it’s a fruit.
So anyway, once I realised that sweet potato could be used in sweet dishes, I have to admit that I actively sought them out, looking for new (to me) puddings and other sweet stuff.
And then decided to take it one step further, and make a chocolate pudding with sweet potatoes.
OK, that may be stretching it a bit.
Nevertheless, this is still a pudding that’s legitimately pretty good for you. How about that!
Go and make this chocolate pudding now. You can thank me later.
Vegan Chocolate Maple Pudding
Is...
- deliciously smooth and velvety
- chocolatey
- low in fat
- soy-free
- nut-free
- gluten-free
- free from refined sugars
- full of goodness (one portion gives: Vitamin A 935%, Vitamin C 13%, Calcium 7%, Iron 8% of the daily RI of an average adult's needs)
I have to tell you that this pudding is a dream. A sweet, chocolatey, almost-moussey kind of dream. Enjoy!
Do you ever use sweet potato in desserts?
📖 Recipe
Vegan Chocolate Maple Pudding
Ingredients
- 100 g 60% dark chocolate melted
- 475 g cooked cold sweet potato (about 3 medium potatoes)
- 100 g pitted dates soaked for 30 mins
- 3 tablespoon cocoa powder
- 6 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- Pinch sea salt
Instructions
- Break the chocolate into pieces, and either melt for 1-2 minutes in the microwave (time depends on your model), or for 10 minutes in a bowl over a pan of hot (not boiling) water.
- Remove the skins from the sweet potatoes, and place the flesh into the bowl of a food processor.
- Add the melted chocolate and all of the other ingredients.
- Blitz for a couple of minutes, until you have a smooth pudding.
- Transfer to serving bowls, and enjoy straightaway, or place in an airtight container, and keep in the ‘fridge for up to a week.
Notes
- Prep time does not include soaking time for the dates, nor cooking the sweet potatoes.
- If you:
- Refrigerate the pudding overnight, the flavour and texture of the pudding is even better.
- Like a hint of coconut flavour (I do!), use virgin coconut oil, otherwise, use refined.
- Want to omit the oil altogether, you’ll still have all the taste but the pudding won’t be as rich, and will have a less velvety mouthfeel.
- Wish to, you can use raw agave instead of maple syrup.
- Bake the sweet potatoes in the oven, then refrigerate overnight, the skin will loosen, and come away really easily.
- Use fresh (pitted) dates, as opposed to dried or semi-dried ones, you’ll need around 150g, and should recalculate the nutritional data accordingly (if you care about such things!).
- 1 cup = US cup = 240 ml
- 1 tablespoon = US/UK = 15 ml
- 1 fl oz = US = 30 ml
(This post was originally published in 2015 but has now been updated.)
Chloe
Oooh interesting... I have sweet potatoes on the shopping list, I'll have to buy extra and give this a try!
Nico
Oh, do, Chloe - it's an epic pudding... so much so that one of my friends refuses to make it any more because he eats the whole lot in one go because he can't resist it! xx
Sharon @ Bit of the Good Stuff
Ingenious! I can't wait to try this out on the family... I won't tell the family about the secret ingredient though. I'll see if they can guess 😉
I'm all for putting vegetables/beans into sweets and desserts. I was once tried some amazing Japanese sweets made of aduki beans, I think. Would love to try my hand at making some at home xx
Nico
Oh yes, aduki beans are great in desserts - we used to find them all the time when we lived in SE Asia. In fact, I still have vivid memories of going to a Chinese supermarket in Colchester, about 14 years ago, and buying some vegetarian bao. Got them home, made noodles and stir-fry veg, and tucked into the bao... only to discover it was full of sweet aduki bean paste! Ha ha ha! (And no, I still haven't learned to read Cantonese - so it's probably going to happen again one day!)
The first time I made this choco pud, I didn't tell K that it contained sweet potatoes, and he honestly had no idea. We're going to be visiting my son and his fam in a couple of weeks, I may make it for them too, especially as my granddaughter is almost 8 months, so she will be fine with it too.
Now then, I need to check out your Biscoff Cookie Butter Cups - just the name of them has me salivating. And you've just reminded me to put Biscoff on my list of things to bring back from Blighty (along with Marmite and After Eights)! x
Natalie Tamara
I'm willing to consider this one of my five-a-day! It sounds amazing! I love sweet potatoes in brownies so I can full imagine them tasting good in a pudding - pinning this for next time I have leftover cooked sweet potatoes 🙂
Nicole
Chocolate pudding is definitely one of your five-a-day, Natalie... after all, we know that chocolate is a vegetable, right? Ergo, really, with the addition of sweet potatoes, it could even be two of your five-a-day. Best to have two portions though... just to be on the safe side. 😉