Superfoods Advisor

Dark Chocolate Chia Pudding

with raw cacao and flaky salt

By Superfoods Advisor Editors·July 4, 2026

Dark Chocolate Chia Pudding — finished dish
Prep
5 min
Total
4 hr 5 min
Difficulty
easy
Calories
300 kcal

Allergens Oats

Ingredients

From your pantry

  • 1 tspPure maple syrup, or more to taste
  • ¼ tspPure vanilla extract
  • 1 pinchFlaky salt, for topping

Utensils Jar with lid · Whisk

Instructions

  1. a whisk in a bowl — watercolour illustration

    Whisk cacao powder into the oat milk until fully dissolved. Cacao powder clumps if added last; put it in first.

  2. a spoon stirring a bowl — watercolour illustration

    Add maple syrup, vanilla, and chia seeds, then whisk vigorously for 30 seconds.

  3. a covered bowl standing — watercolour illustration

    Wait 10 minutes, then whisk again.

  4. a covered jar chilling — watercolour illustration

    Refrigerate at least 4 hours.

  5. a filled bowl with a spoon — watercolour illustration

    Top with cacao nibs and a pinch of flaky salt.

Shopping list

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Tools

Why it works

Cocoa products rank among the richest dietary sources of polyphenols (Pérez-Jiménez et al., 2010), dominated by flavan-3-ols (epicatechin and catechin). "Raw" cacao is still fermented, which removes much of them, so the label matters less than avoiding Dutch-processed cocoa, which loses far more (cacao); in one survey, flavanols fell steadily as alkalization increased (Miller et al., 2008). A 2012 meta-analysis in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (Hooper et al.) found that chocolate or cocoa modestly lowered diastolic blood pressure (by about 1.6 mmHg) and improved flow-mediated dilation across 42 short-term trials (PubMed:22301923). The pinch of salt sharpens the perceived chocolate flavor, so a single teaspoon of maple syrup is enough.

This recipe is part of Chia Pudding Recipe: 1:4 Base + 5 Variations with Macros, which covers the underlying nutrition science and the shared base method.

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