Rachel's Real Food Kitchen

Think a recipe for homemade vanilla pudding without cornstarch must be hard to make? Think again! This recipe is easy and quick to put together, making a delicious, satisfying pudding that’s delicious warm or chilled.

Homemade Vanilla Pudding without Cornstarch Recipe

Ingredients:

• 3 cups milk
• 2 whole eggs, beaten
• 3/4 cup sugar (sucanat works fine; you can also cut this sugar amount if desired)
• 1/3 cup white flour
• 1 Tablespoon butter
• 1 to 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract (homemade is fine)

Instructions

In a thick-bodied saucepan, stir together milk, beaten eggs, sugar, and flour. Whisk well. (There may still be lumps of flour in the mixture.)

Heat over medium-high heat, whisking constantly, until mixture is slightly thickened. Make sure to scrape the bottom of the pan, including the corners, as you stir, so it doesn’t burn or clump. Do NOT boil or it will curdle! (It will keep cooking a little after being removed from the heat, so be a little conservative here.)

Once thickened, immediately remove pan from heat and keep stirring. Whisk in butter and vanilla. Serve immediately or chill for later.

What Milk is Best for Making Homemade Pudding without Cornstarch?

You can make this pudding with basically any type of milk (whole, skim, raw…). While the original recipe uses cow’s milk, you can also use goat’s milk. Goat’s milk works perfectly when I make this. (I’ve actually used powdered goat milk to make pudding in the past, though not exactly this recipe. It might be worth a try in a pinch!)

I suppose you could try using an alternative milk like almond milk or rice milk, and it might work instead. I haven’t experimented with these as much, and I honestly don’t know what the mixture would do once heated. I’m afraid it could split under the heat, but you could always try a smaller batch and see what happens.

While it won’t make as high-quality of a final product, you can use frozen milk for making pudding as well. (Frozen milk does have a grainy texture, so keep that in mind.)

Homemade Vanilla Pudding without Cornstarch FAQs

Why isn’t My Homemade Pudding Getting Thick?

Providing you’ve followed the recipe, that probably just means it hasn’t cooked enough yet. Especially if you’re heating milk that’s been chilled in the fridge, it will take a little while to warm up the mixture and get it thickened. Cook and stir a little longer to see what happens.

How Do You Know When Homemade Vanilla Pudding is Done?

When pudding is done, the mixture will become thick and its texture will change from a milk-like liquid to a thicker, almost gravy-like consistency. It will stick to the surface of a spoon instead of just running off.

What Ingredient Makes Pudding Thicken?

In this recipe, the flour makes the pudding thicken. (Most recipes use cornstarch, which does give a smoother result. But white flour works well as a substitute.)

How Long Will Homemade Pudding without Cornstarch Keep?

Keep the pudding in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. If you have extra after that time, you could always freeze it and eat it like frozen custard later!

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