Last Updated on May 4, 2026 by Deliciously Organic Editor
When I was a kid, each Sunday after church my family would hop into the station wagon and make our way to Highland Park Cafeteria in Dallas for lunch. I loved that place. The people were friendly and I could pick whatever I wanted from the cafeteria line (a dream for any kid!). Each week I’d race to the top of the stairs so I could take a long look at the rotating pie cabinet filled with dozens of pies. I would stand wide-eyed staring at the pies floating by and trying to decide which flavor to pick that week. Even with dozens of choices, I’d usually choose the chocolate pudding pie. A simple buttery crust, thick chocolate pudding and a mound of sweetened whipped cream.
Chocolate pudding pie is a classic dessert that is always a crowd-pleaser. It’s a great dessert to round-out a dinner party or b-b-que in the summertime.
In this recipe, I use a grain-free crust and a homemade chocolate pudding that is super thick and creamy. And if you don’t want to turn on your oven, you can skip the crust and make parfaits with the thick, chocolate pudding, homemade whipped cream and a few berries.
Chocolate Pudding Pie (Gluten-Free)
Adapted from Gourmet.
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 22 minutes
- Total Time: 5 hours 17 minutes
- Yield: Serves 8
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Gluten Free
Ingredients
For the Crust:
- 2 cups almond flour
- 2 tablespoons coconut flour
- 1/2 teaspoon Celtic sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon unflavored, grass-fed gelatin
- 2 tablespoons coconut sugar
- 1 large egg yolk
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter or 6 tablespoons frozen palm shortening, cut into tablespoons
For the Pudding:
- 1/4 cup arrowroot flour
- 1/3 cup coconut sugar
- 3 tablespoons cacao or cocoa powder
- 1/4 teaspoon Celtic sea salt
- 3 cups whole milk or full-fat, canned coconut milk
- 4 ounces dark chocolate or chocolate chips, chopped
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the Whipped Cream:
- 1 cup heavy cream or coconut cream (use this method to whip the coconut cream)
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup or raw honey
Instructions
- Place almond flour, coconut flour, salt, gelatin and sugar in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse 2-3 times to combine. Add egg yolk and butter and pulse 10 times until mixture begins to clump. Continue to process until mixture forms a dough. Place dough on a large piece of plastic wrap. Form the dough into a 9-inch disk, wrap and place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350ºF and adjust rack to the middle position. Remove the dough from the plastic wrap and place in a buttered 9-inch glass pie dish. Press dough into the pie plate, making sure to come up the sides of the plate. Place a piece of unbleached parchment paper on top of the crust and cover with some beans or pie weights. Bake for 11 minutes then move the parchment paper and pie weights. Bake for an additional 11 minutes until the crust is just golden brown. Cool.
- Whisk arrowroot, sugar, cocoa powder and sea salt in a medium saucepan. Whisk in milk. Bring mixture to a boil over medium heat, while whisking constantly, about 5 minutes. When mixture comes to a boil, continue to whisk and cook for 2 minutes until the mixture becomes a thick pudding. Remove from the heat and pour in the chocolate and vanilla. Stir until the chocolate is completely melted. Pour the pudding into the baked pie crust and top with a piece of unbleached parchment paper (this prevents the pudding from forming a skin). Refrigerate for 4 hours.
- Pour cream and maple syrup in the bowl of a standing mixer. Whisk on medium-high until soft peaks form, about 2 minutes. Spoon whipped cream on top of the chocolate pudding. Serve cold.
Photo Credit: Becky Winkler
Wow, I’m glad you put in the bit about Memorial Day weekend being this coming weekend, Monday is my husbands bday and I was thinking I had another week, YIKES!
This looks divine, how about a key lime pie? any recipe? :o)
Key Lime Pie is in the next cookbook. 🙂 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0062308157?ie=UTF8&creativeASIN=0062308157&tag=deliciorgan03-20
OMG I love chocolate pie! I prefer it with a chocolate crust though. Do you think it’s possible to modify your crust?
Here’s my recipe for Dark Chocolate Cream Tart (with a chocolate crust!): https://deliciouslyorganic.net/dark-chocolate-cream-tart-recipe/
Perfect! Thanks!
I can’t use arrowroot flour. Any substitute?
I haven’t tested it, but tapioca flour might be a good substitute.
I’ve always used cornstarch to thicken. Makes great pudding.
This looks incredible! I need to try a grain-free crust one of these days.
This looks amazing.
How can I make the crust without the egg…I’m allergic to them. Thanks
Here’s my recipe for grain-free crust w/o the egg. I would use about 2 tablespoons cold coconut oil in place of 2 tablespoons of the butter. This way when the crust chills, the coconut oil will help it solidify and hold together very nicely (like this crust does). https://deliciouslyorganic.net/pecan-pie-without-corn-syrup-grain-free-paleo/
I’m not seeing it…this pie crust also calls for 1 egg yolk. Is it in the comments? As for subbing the coconut oil, will it come out if I use all coconut oil? I’m allergic to dairy too…I’m actually allergic to almonds as well…I know I’m a mess…Well, I was going to use Trader Joe’s cashew flour instead of the almond. Having a hard time these days finding anything to satisfy that need for something…well…good. Thank you. 🙂
Sorry! I linked to the wrong recipe – https://deliciouslyorganic.net/apple-pie-grain-free-paleo-gluten-free/
I’d try pecans or hazelnuts – cashews might be a bit too soft for this crust recipe. I would try 6 tablespoons coconut oil in the recipe and it should come out just fine. I hope that helps!
Thank you so so much. I can’t wait to try this!
Thank you! That was my question—if coconut oil can be used in lieu of palm shortening.
Can’t wait to try this!
I haven’t tested it, but I think it would work well as a substitution in this recipe.
Carrie – Thank you for the Amazon link to your new cookbook. Yea, I LOVE the cover, you look gorgeous! I just placed a pre-order for three; one for me, my sister and my niece. I can’t wait!!!! Well, I have to since the release date is Nov. 18th, I’ve waited this long, haha. :o)
So, back to the key lime pie, can I make the lemon meringue filling and use key limes and then use the graham cracker crust recipe? Key lime is my husbands favorite, I have a recipe from the Nordstrom Cook book which is REALLY good, but I would really like to be able to have a slice :o)
Blessings for much success on your new book. Hugs, Karen
Thank you! More info about the book should be posted on Amazon soon. I can’t wait to share my full story and all that I’ve learned about overcoming disease with food!
For the key lime pie – That’s a great idea! And I’d use 2 tablespoons coconut oil in place of 2 tablespoons butter in the crust recipe. When it’s chilled the crust will be nice and firm.
Thanks for the recipe, Carrie! I am wondering if you can substitute rice flour for almond flour. Actually, I’m wondering what your thoughts are on subbing rice flour for almond flour on a regular basis. We live in a country where almond flour is not popular, and if you can find it, it is cost prohibitive (as is shipping from USA). I searched your site, but didn’t find a lot about rice flour. Your thoughts?
Thanks so much for all you do in helping us in the kitchen to improve our health.
Rice flour can be very gritty, so it’s best to combine it with other flours. I for 1 cup almond flour I would try 1/2 cup rice flour and 1/2 cup tapioca flour. I haven’t tested this, but that is my best guess.
Hi Carrie!
I’ve been on a blogging break for health reasons for a few months. Am now back and visiting my favorite blogs again. I’m also mostly paleo these days, so I’m excited to check out more about your recipes as I move forward. (And of course, this looks insanely good.)
Oh my!! This looks delicious! I made the mistake of letting Laney look at it w/me so guess what we are about to do? Yep, go make it so that we can enjoy it for dessert tonight. Can’t wait to taste it…just a little 🙂
My daughter and I just made this. Is the pudding supposed to have an elastic-like texture? It taste good but, the filling does not look like the one in your picture. Trying to figure out what I did wrong. Thanks!
It should be very creamy, not sticky. What brand of arrowroot flour did you use? Did you make any substitutions? Sorry for all of the questions, but the details can help me understand what went wrong.
Hi Carrie,
My pudding turned out rather sticky/elastic like…did I cook it too long? I haven’t tried it chilled in the crust yet so it may be setting up just fine however I thought I would go ahead and ask you what I might have done wrong?? Or if that is just the way arrowroot flour is in pudding? This is the first time I’ve used it in baking. Can’t wait to try it!
It should be very creamy, not sticky. What brand of arrowroot flour did you use? Did you make any substitutions? Sorry for all of the questions, but the details can help me understand what went wrong.
This looks like an amazing recipe! Can’t wait to try it out tonight
How do you give your recipe the “paleo” stamp when you say ‘whole-milk’ and ‘heavy cream’?
In most of my recipes, I give the reader a choice to use dairy or non-dairy ingredients. This recipe calls for whole milk or coconut milk. The reader can choose based on their dietary restrictions.
Hi Carrie!
Just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate that you put alternatives in your recipes so they can be adapted to many eating styles.
I’ve been off all grains, sugars and some types of dairy for over two year now great improvement in my overall health. 🙂
I’m planning on trying this pie soon! Hopefully this weekend, or week if I cannot wait that long. The only thing I will need to alter is instead of using coconut sugar I will use xylitol and I will use ChocoPerfection brand chocolate for the chocolate – or maybe make my own chocolate with a recipe I found that is pretty darn good and inexpensive to make too.
Again – thank you!
If by “palm shortening” you mean palm oil, PLEASE don’t use this product. It is contributing to rainforest devastation.
http://www.wwf.org.au/our_work/saving_the_natural_world/forests/palm_oil/
While some companies contribute to rainforest devastation, companies like Tropical Traditions and Wilderness Family Naturals only purchase from a sustainable farms.
How long does this keep? I would like to make it today but serve it on Father’s Day. Think it will be good still or should I make it saturday or sunday? Would I keep it in the fridge? Thank you!
If you want to make it ahead of time, I think it’s best to make it the day before, as the crust will start to turn soggy after several days.
Would leaf gelitin work if I melted it down. I live in Costa Rica and I can’t find the gelitin your talking about.
I haven’t tested it, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. To add to the crust, I would grind the leaf gelatin in a spice mill to make it into a more fine powder.
This looks so yummy! I am wondering what I can substitute for the coconut flour? Also the coconut sugar? And coconut milk?
I am excited to make this! I just can’t use the coconut. 🙁
Thank so much!!
elisa,,,,,I was going to ask the same question.. allergic to coconut and would have to use lactaid….maybe almond flour but not coconut flour. When I begin having substituting so many things I get discouraged and end up not trying it. Dh is diabetic so I won’t make anything he can eat either. He’s ususally good about anything low carb. Really watches his intake.
I just want to add my two cents to this. I made it the other day, and it was amazing–everyone loved it. I’d read all the comments, and so was prepared for the extra-elastic-y tendency of the pudding. I noticed that as soon as it started thickening, it thickened fast. Instead of stirring it for two minutes, like the instructions say, I took it off the heat almost right away. Then, because it seemed a little two elastic-y still, I added some more coconut milk, and kept adding it until it was the creamy texture I wanted. Maybe I had the heat on too high, I dunno–but that is how I had to do it, and it worked like a charm! Thought this might help others who want to try this recipe.
I love pie! I love chocolate pudding and it will taste amazing with whipped cream
I can not eat chocolate…Boo! Wondering if I can turn this into vanilla pudding by subbing chocolate chips for vanilla. My question is can I just leave out the cacao powder or what would be a substitute for that ingredient? Thanks.
Hi Carrie – any vegetarian subs for the gelatin in the crust? Thanks!
I haven’t tested it, but I’ve heard agar-agar is a good substitute.
Thanks! Wondering what purpose it’s fulfilling here so I can digure out if any other subs.
Hey Carrie, just wondering if there are any less expensive unflavored, grass fed gelatins that will work? We are really tight on cash right now and I do so want to make this! Thanks! Love your blog!
I don’t know of any grass-fed gelatins other than Great Lakes or Bernard Jensens, but you can use gelatin a commercial gelatin such as Knox and it will turn out great. I wish Great Lakes would sell their gelatin in smaller packages like Knox! That would be nice! 🙂
Could I use honey instead of the coconut sugar in the pudding or would that mess with the texture?
Thanks!
I haven’t tested it, but I don’t see why it would cause an issue.
I made this over the weekend and it was fabulous!!! I had to hide when I ate it because my kiddos would come and eat my whole piece. 🙂 thanks for another great recipe!
🙂 So glad you enjoyed it!
Hey there! I was wondering if you knew how many carbs per serving there are?
It would be really nice if only the people that have actually made the pie posted! This is not FaceBook. I would like to see what people thought of it now how excited people are to make it. Thanks.
Highland Park Cafeteria – memories!
I seem to be sensitive to coconut. I will have GI issues when I eat it. What can I
substitute for coconut milk, coconut sugar, etc?
Thank you,
Jeanne L. Cilibraise