Dairy-Free Tapioca Pudding Recipe (Grand Prize Recipe Contest Winner!)

This recipe for dairy-free tapioca pudding was the grand prize winner in the “video” category of our March Recipe Madness Contest back in 2014. It was created and submitted by Doug, Anna, and Jordan Melven. We’ve since updated this post with more options.

Dairy-Free Tapioca Pudding that was a Grand Prize Winner

In this adorable video, Jordan shows us how she makes her dad’s favorite dessert, cinnamon coconut tapioca pudding (recipe below).

Dairy-Free Tapioca Pudding Tips & Substitutions

We have made one slight ingredient modification to the Melven’s recipe, and also have a couple ingredient and instruction notes.

Milk Beverage – We love their choice of coconut milk beverage for this recipe. It is a richer, whole milk style alternative that performs very well on the stovetop. Keep in mind that other milk beverages can perform differently. If you have any trouble with the thickening of this dairy-free tapioca pudding (it breaks, thickens oddly, or is too thin), the culprit is your milk beverage. In general, richer milk beverages with minimal additives will perform best.
Egg – No, you do not need to temper the egg! Tempering is only needed when you have to add the egg after the fact. In this case, you can whisk it right in at the start. This helps to ensure a seamless result, too. If you confuse eggs with dairy, you’re not alone! See this post: Are Eggs Dairy?
Salt – We did prefer this recipe with a pinch of salt added. It helps to round out the flavor and heighten the cinnamon.

Special Diet Notes: Dairy-Free Tapioca Pudding

By ingredients, this recipe is dairy-free / non-dairy, gluten-free, nut-free, peanut-free, soy-free, and vegetarian.

5.0 from 1 reviews

Dairy-Free Tapioca Pudding

Prep time

5 mins

Cook time

1 min

Total time

6 mins

This delicious family dessert has the warm traditional flavors of cinnamon and vanilla.

Author: Doug, Anna, and Jordan Melven

Recipe type: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Serves: 2 servings

Ingredients

1½ cups vanilla dairy-free coconut milk beverage
¼ cup sugar
1 egg, well beaten
1½ tablespoons quick tapioca pearls
Pinch salt
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Instructions

In a medium saucepan, whisk together the milk beverage, sugar, egg, tapioca, and salt. Let the mixture sit for 5 minutes.
Place the saucepan over medium heat, and cook while whisking until the mixture comes to a full boil.
Remove the pan from the heat, and stir in the cinnamon.
Let the pudding cool or 20 minutes. Stir, and serve the pudding warm or refrigerate it and serve chilled.

Nutrition Information

Serving size: ½ batch Calories: 209 Fat: 5.6g Saturated fat: 3.7g Carbohydrates: 40.6g Sugar: 31.5g Sodium: 42mg Fiber: 1.1g Protein: 2.8g