I'm going to be totally up front. I actually really hate the term "Chunky Monkey". I don't understand at all why the terms "chunky" and "monkey" apply to food...it doesn't sound appealing at all. But, to be fair, it is an easily recognizable way to describe a food that has banana and peanut butter and possibly chocolate. And can you imagine how long the title of this post would be if I had to type all that out? So, this delicious breakfast/snack/treat is Chunky Monkey Chia Pudding.
Browsing on Pinterest, I saw an awesome-looking banana chia pudding and immediately knew I could make it better by adding some sunflower seed butter (which really does taste a lot like peanut butter) and chocolate. These decadent-looking chia pudding cups are the result!
As usual, this recipe is surprisingly simple but amazingly flavorful. I mean, let's be honest, there's only 8 ingredients, and two of them are toppings. That's pretty dang simple if you ask me...of course, since it's a chia pudding, you'll have to prepare it in advance, so keep that in mind.
Do you see those beautiful chocolate chunks sprinkled on top? It's Pure7 Chocolate. Chocolate that's totally paleo. Yes, totally paleo. Most of us that eat paleo aren't 100% strict all the time unless on a Whole30, 21DSD, or treating an autoimmune condition. So, many in the paleo community tend to still buy and eat dark chocolate, opting for high-quality ingredients and as few preservatives as possible...but pretty much every chocolate bar out there still has cane sugar.
Pure7 chocolate is sweetened with honey.
Yup. That makes it 100% paleo!
The texture is admittedly not exactly the same as your typical chocolate bar, but it's velvety and still has the snap of good chocolate. And the flavor is phenomenal. The brilliant ladies behind Pure7 sent me a couple bars to try, including their Pure7 Dark chocolate and Raspberry. I have to say, I wasn't thrilled about fruit in my chocolate at first. But after the first bite, I'm a believer, and I'm hooked. It may just be my favorite! That Raspberry bar is something else! I even went ahead and bought 6 bars as a Valentine's Day gift to myself - I just had to try out the espresso, peppermint and goldenberry!
Naturally, I used half of that Pure7 Dark bar to top these chunky monkey chia puddings, and it is absolutely the perfect addition.
The rest was promptly devoured.
Print📖 Recipe
Chunky Monkey Chia Pudding
- Prep Time: 7 minutes
- Total Time: 7 minutes
- Yield: 2 servings 1x
Ingredients
- 1 can coconut milk
- ¼ c + 1 Tb chia seeds
- 1 banana
- 1 tsp vanilla
- ½ tsp cinnamon
Toppings
- 1 banana, sliced
- ¼ sunflower seed butter
- ¼ c chopped dark chocolate (I used half a Pure7 Dark Chocolate bar)
Instructions
- Combine coconut milk, vanilla, cinnamon and banana in a blender (or a mason jar if using an immersion blender). Blend until smooth. Transfer to a medium-sized bowl and add chia seeds, stirring to incorporate. Let set in the fridge overnight (or for at least 4 hours).
- In the morning, spoon chia pudding into individual serving cups, if desired. Top with sunflower seed butter and sprinkle with chopped dark chocolate. Feel free to mix it all together when digging in!
Disclaimer: Pure7 Chocolate sent me samples of their chocolate to try out in exchange for posting what I thought about their chocolate. This post does contain affiliate links. Any money made goes right back to the blog. All opinions are my own; I only link to products I enjoy!
