Protein Pudding

Method

1. 1

   Whisk the base smooth. Pour the oat milk into a bowl and add the potato protein isolate, cocoa, maple syrup, vanilla, and salt. Whisk hard for about 30 seconds until no dry streaks remain. Add the protein isolate to the liquid rather than the reverse — dropping liquid onto a mound of powder traps dry clumps. Potato protein isolate is finer than cocoa and hydrates quickly, so a vigorous whisk, or a quick blender pulse, gives you a uniform base before the chia goes in.

2. 2

   Stir in the chia and wait. Add the chia seeds and stir for a full minute, then stir again after five minutes. Chia seeds clump as their outer coating turns to gel, and that second stir breaks up the rafts that always form on the surface. This is what sets the pudding without gelatin or cooked cornstarch: each seed absorbs roughly ten times its weight in liquid, building a soft gel network around the dissolved protein. Skipping the second stir is the most common reason a chia pudding sets unevenly.

3. 3

   Cold-set in the fridge. Divide between two jars or cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, ideally overnight. The pudding firms as the chia finishes hydrating and the protein-thickened milk cools; it disappears into the spoonable, mousse-like texture you want. If it sets firmer than you like, the fix is liquid: whisk in a tablespoon of milk at a time. If it is too loose after two hours, it simply needs more time, not more chia.

4. 4

   Top, portion, and vary it. Stir once before serving and spoon into bowls. Top with berries, cacao nibs, or a spoon of yogurt. For a vanilla version, leave out the cocoa, keep the vanilla at one teaspoon, and add a second tablespoon of maple syrup. For matcha, swap the cocoa for two teaspoons of culinary matcha and use vanilla oat milk. To keep it both nut-free and dairy-free, oat milk is the safest base — avoid almond and other tree-nut milks entirely. Stored covered, the pudding keeps 3 to 4 days in the fridge.