8 Secret Tricks Grandma NEVER Skipped When Making Pudding (2024)

FAQs

How to improve boxed instant pudding? ›

Swap out the milk for something creamier

If you're using a boxed mix that calls for milk, you can make the mix taste more homemade by subbing in another ingredient like evaporated milk or canned coconut milk. These substitutions will make the pudding even creamier.

Sprinkle in chopped nuts, chocolate chips or baking spices like cinnamon or freshly grated nutmeg. Don't be surprised if folks go back for seconds! And you can always top with sprinkles, too. They make everything more fun!

Reheat and Stir:Uneven cooking is another culprit behind lumpy pudding. Add some more liquid, like warm milk, to loosen the mixture and adjust the thickness. Stir using a whisk. You will have to do a taste test to balance the flavors.

Most recipes use a starch thickener -- typically flour or cornstarch in the United States -- to bring the pudding to a suitable consistency. There are a number of alternative ways to thicken your puddings, so if you'd prefer to avoid corn and wheat, or to shun starches altogether, you still have choices.

If your pudding is too thin, you may thicken it by adding cornstarch. To properly thicken instant pudding with almond milk, but you don't want to use cornstarch, you need to add a quarter cup more of the powdered pudding mix than in the original recipe.

The stuff that makes instant pudding thicken is gelatinized starch that readily absorbs water-based liquids without cooking. The water-swelled starch granules result in a thicker liquid. Ordinary starches, as in cooked puddings, work just the same, but heat is required to catalyze the absorption of the liquid.

A key ingredient in instant pudding is gelatinized starch, a dried instant starch that readily absorbs liquids, which causes the pudding to gel when mixed with milk. Additional ingredients sometimes used as a thickener include gums that are soluble in cold water, such as carrageenans and alginates.

Remove from heat and let sit untouched for at least 5 minutes. We found that if you mixed the pudding within that 5-minute window, it became lumpy, so it's important to let it sit for the full 5 minutes. Serve warm or chilled.

Tapioca lends a clear, glossy appearance, but can also skew stringy in water, McGee says, making it a better option for puddings. That tendency for stringiness is another reason tapioca is often sold in pearls that are already partially swollen with water, so that they quickly soften and finish thickening.

Thickening the Pudding

Using eggs: Eggs add richness to puddings, whether or not the recipe includes additional thickeners. To add eggs to a hot liquid, you need to "temper" them (see Tempering Eggs below) so they don't end up as scrambled eggs. Rice and tapioca also act as thickeners.

What to add to instant vanilla pudding? ›

You could stop at vanilla extract and be perfectly content, or you could add fun stir-ins like dulce de leche and pretzels. And if you ask us, the not-so-standard pudding combinations take the dessert from basic to amazing.

The alternative mix is simply 1 part cornstarch to 2 parts fine sugar, plus 1 part vanilla. I used 1 TBSP. of cornstarch and 2 TBSP. of sugar.

If you use water instead of milk in instant pudding, the pudding will still set and thicken, but it will have a different taste and texture. Milk adds creaminess and richness to the pudding, while water lacks these characteristics. The result will be a less creamy and less flavorful pudding.