Here’s an easy way to stir together a basic homemade pudding mix that can be customized into different flavors. Each cup of this mixture equals one box of store bought pudding. It’s the cook and serve style of pudding, but it takes five minutes at the most to cook so it still goes together pretty fast.
You can keep the entire mix in a container and just scoop out a cup when you need it, or you can package each cup of mix in an individual baggie or other jar so that you have the equivalent of a box of store bought mix all ready to go. The mixture can be stored at room temperature.
I had my mix in little baggies, but didn’t get around to doing any labeling which earned me the helpful comment from Hungry Son of “Nice little bags of cocaine Mom”.
So . . *ahem* . . please label your mixture to avoid any confusion.
BASIC PUDDING MIX
Ingredients:
- 3 cups nonfat dry milk powder
- 1-3/4 cups white sugar
- 1 cup cornstarch
- 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon salt
Stir together all ingredients until well blended. Store in a covered container or in individual one cup packages.
To make pudding:
Place one cup of the mix in a small saucepan. Slowly add 2 cups of boiling water, stirring as you add the water. Cook over medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thickened.
For vanilla pudding:
Stir in 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and 1 tablespoon of butter to the mixture at the end of the cooking time once the mixture has thickened.
For chocolate pudding:
Add 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder to the cup of dry mixture before cooking. Stir in 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla and 1 tablespoon of butter at the end of the cooking time once the mixture has thickened.
After cooking, let the mixture cool a little bit and then pour into small individual containers to make homemade pudding cups, or into another container of your choice, and keep refrigerated.
A Few More Notes:
– I adapted this recipe from an old cookbook that’s out of print which included the following additional flavor suggestions which I haven’t tried yet:
Lemon – Add 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 1 tablespoon butter, and 1 teaspoon lemon zest
Banana – Add one or two sliced mashed bananas to the cooled pudding
Butterscotch – use brown sugar in place of the white sugar in the basic mix.
– I’ve forgotten the salt in this recipe and it doesn’t seem to make much of a difference. I suppose it’s there to tone down the sweetness a little bit, however I think the salt could be an optional ingredient.
– I haven’t tried this as a pie filling yet, but it looks like it makes enough pudding to nicely fill a pie shell.
Connie says
March 2, 2019 at 10:45 amCould you use this in a cake recipe that calls for pudding mix? I retired to Mexico and it’s hard to find pudding mixes here. Several cakes that I like to make call for pudding mix (usually instant pudding). Thanks.
Beverly says
March 3, 2019 at 7:54 pmYes, I think you could substitute this homemade version in a recipe. The tricky part might be knowing how much of this mix to substitute in as I think most of the store bought mixes are a little smaller than the 1 cup portions used for a batch in this homemade version. Maybe start with a 1/2 cup and see how that works.
Jennifer says
January 13, 2019 at 12:09 amThank you so much for adding the different flavor options! I have been looking everywhere for a recipe as versatile as this one. I make all of my baked goods from scratch. This is a blessing!
MG says
May 18, 2018 at 4:30 pmHow much from the recipe is equivalent to 1 cook & serve package?
Beverly says
May 25, 2018 at 10:15 amOne cup of the mix is about equal to one package of cook & serve.
SummerRain says
February 2, 2017 at 12:12 pmLove love love making as much as possible from scratch so I know what’s going into my children’s bodies and cutting out preservatives! Can’t wait to try this recipe!!!
Beverly says
February 5, 2017 at 9:10 amI agree! I also like finding ways to easily make things from scratch 🙂 I hope you enjoy the recipe!
Debi says
January 30, 2016 at 2:36 amHave you tried substituting Splenda for the sugar? Would it make any difference in how it thickens?
Beverly says
January 31, 2016 at 9:08 pmI have not tried Splenda in this mixture but I think it would substitute in OK and that the cornstarch should still take care of the thickening.
Angelica Olivares says
January 21, 2016 at 2:22 amHi! I really like the homemade pudding ideas. I really would like a cinnamon pudding. Do I add gr. cinnamon, or red hot candies? How much? Thank you!
Beverly says
January 22, 2016 at 7:24 pmI have not tried a cinnamon flavor, but I would think ground cinnamon would be the best option. I would start with 1 tablespoon of ground cinnamon in the dry mixture. You could adjust future batches with more or less cinnamon until you find the amount you like best.
Cindy Guerrieri says
July 31, 2015 at 1:08 pmI made the chocolate version and put it in a baked pie shell and topped it with cool whip !! This received raves from my family; the only thing I would change is to prepare 2 batches of the chocolate pudding to make my 9″, deep dish, pie pan fuller.
Thanks so much for the recipe ! My husband is allergic to soy and it’s tough to find items he can eat.
Beverly says
August 18, 2015 at 9:18 amHomemade versions can definitely come to the rescue if you need to avoid things in the boxed mixes like soy. Glad to hear the pie got rave reviews!
Deborah says
June 10, 2013 at 2:54 amWow I am so glad I found your page, so many interesting things to learn, everything is helpful, frist thing i’ll try is that Goo Gone, your a life saver. Thank you.
Frenz says
June 1, 2013 at 3:15 pmI found this site via a DIY board on Pinterest. Loving the site! and no,I’m not a spammer. LOL!
I started off with this post and can’t seem to stop. I wish you were on Twitter! But I will connect with you on Google.
Beverly says
June 1, 2013 at 9:28 pmSo glad you are liking the blog! And you’re right . . . I have to get back to Tweeting more again. Will renew my efforts!
Bev says
April 26, 2012 at 4:52 pmI think this might work with the coconut milk powder because it's the cornstarch that thickens the mixture. So I think you could still get a pudding consistency even with a different type of milk powder.
Rene' says
April 24, 2012 at 1:32 amThat comment by your son cracked me up! It reminds me of something my son would say.BTW Great idea!! I'll have to give this a try!Thanks Bev!Rene'@ Bargainhoot xo
Zombiemommy says
April 23, 2012 at 5:48 pmOh this looks AWESOME! I have been craving pudding but not the chemicals.
The Bowers! says
April 23, 2012 at 4:28 pmDoes anyone know if this can be made using coconut milk powder instead of dairy milk powder (for folks with dairy allergies)?
Anonymous says
April 23, 2012 at 12:20 pmThanks for sharing this with us. I am sharing it with Sharing Tips page on Facebook.
Heather Bea says
April 23, 2012 at 10:56 amReally cool! I'm going to share this with my Fake-It Frugal Facebook group! https://www.facebook.com/FakeItFrugal
Ellie Rae says
April 22, 2012 at 8:53 pmThis is great, thanis!