Calling all chocolate lovers! This decadent Italian Budino al Cioccolato is the perfect chocolate pudding to serve on special occasions, holidays, or whenever you need to satisfy that chocolate craving!
The pudding is rich and creamy, thickened with egg yolks and can be enjoyed warm or chilled with optional toppings of whipped cream, fresh berries, chopped nuts, and chocolate shavings.
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❤️ Why you'll love this recipe
- Since this Budino uses eggs as a thickening agent, it’s a completely gluten-free dessert!
- This Italian pudding tastes like fudgy chocolate cake batter with a decadent silky texture thanks to the use of egg yolks instead of other types of thickening agents.
- This rich and creamy pudding isn’t overly sweet, making it appeal to a variety of preferences.
This stovetop Budino al Cioccolato beats store-bought chocolate pudding without question and is so easy to prepare. You’ll only need 30 minutes to make it from start to finish!
🛒 Ingredients
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Note: The full list of this recipe ingredients with their amounts and options are listed in the recipe card below.
- heavy cream
- whole milk
- eggs
- granulated sugar
- dark chocolate
- unsalted butter
- kosher salt
- pure vanilla extract
🗒 Instructions
Note: This is an overview of the instructions. The full instructions are in the recipe card below.
- Add milk and cream to a large saucepan over medium heat and simmer. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Add sugar to a medium bowl and egg yolks to a smaller bowl.
- Add the egg yolks to the bowl of sugar.
- Whisk the egg yolks and sugar well until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is pale.
- Temper the egg-sugar mixture by slowly stirring in ⅓ of the warmed cream and milk.
- Whisk in another ⅓ and finally the last ⅓ mixing well between the additions.
- Return the mixture back to the large saucepan and place over medium heat. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly. The mixture should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
- Place the chopped chocolate in a large mixing bowl.
- Pour the custard over the chopped chocolate and set it aside for 5 minutes so that the chocolate can melt.
- Whisk the mixture until the ingredients are well combined.
- Add in the butter, salt, and vanilla.
- Whisk until combined well.
- Pour into serving dishes and enjoy warm or chill first in the refrigerator for an hour before serving.
🔪 Equipment
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You’ll need the following items to make this recipe successfully.
- mixing bowls
- large saucepan
- whisk
- dry measuring cups
- liquid measuring cup
- measuring spoon
- ramekins on glass bowls for budino
🤔 FAQs
These are the questions we are most frequently asked about making Classic Italian Chocolate Pudding.
“Pudding” is an American term for a dessert that combines sugar, milk, and some kind of thickening agent, often corn starch, but sometimes gelatin, rice, or even tapioca.
“Budino” is an Italian dessert that uses eggs as a thickening agent.
The Italian word “Budino” literally means “custard” or “pudding”. This dessert is often referred to in full as Budino al Cioccolato.
Although many use the terms “cioccolato” and “cioccolata” interchangeably, “cioccolato” actually refers to chocolate in its solid state while “cioccolata” refers to chocolate in liquid form which is why you are likely to hear the latter term when describing beverages.
The pudding should be stored in the refrigerator, covered with plastic wrap, for up to 3 days. Only add the whipped cream topping just before serving.
Chocolate panna cotta uses very similar ingredients that are used in making budino except that powdered gelatin is added in panna cotta as the thickening agent and it doesn’t use eggs.
The ingredients typically found in a chocolate panna cotta recipe include: heavy cream, half and half, powdered gelatin, sugar, vanilla extract, and dark chocolate.
Budino is pronounced “boo-DEE-noh”.
👩🏻🍳 Tips
- Serve your budino in small jars, parfait glasses, or dessert glass bowls to show off that rich and creamy pudding!
- Use quality chocolate and vanilla extract for this pudding - it makes a huge impact on the flavor of the dessert.
- I don’t recommend freezing this dessert due to the cream-based ingredients used.
- You can enjoy this budino al cioccolato warm or allow it to chill in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes for a cold dessert. When serving warm, make sure that you at least allow the hot pudding to cool slightly, especially if you plan to top it with whipped cream.
📚 Variations
- Make a butterscotch budino by omitting the chocolate and topping the pudding with store-bought or homemade salted caramel. I would also suggest using brown sugar instead of granulated as the combination of the brown sugar with the butter will offer the rich butterscotch flavor.
- Add a crushed cracker crust using Graham crackers and butter to line the bottom of each parfait glass, jar, or glass bowl. This will provide a delicious contrasting texture to the dessert.
- Add some coffee, Cognac, or amaretto to this budino al cioccolato for a fun twist.
- Create a layered pudding by dividing the pudding and adding dark chocolate to one half, and white chocolate to the other half. Layer the dessert in the glass jars or bowls, allowing the first layer to cool enough before adding the second contrasting layer. Repeat as many layers as you wish.
🥫 Storage
Budino al cioccolato can be stored in single serving jars or bowls, covered tightly with plastic wrap, in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Leave off any toppings such as whipped cream until you are about to serve your individual puddings.
📗 Related Recipes
If you love desserts with a silky smooth, creamy consistency, then be sure to bookmark my Panna Cotta with Strawberry Sauce, Lemon Tart With Almond Biscotti Crust, or this No Churn Nutella Hazelnut Chocolate Chip Ice Cream!
🍽 Serve with
Keep your chocolate puddings plain or top them with a dollop of whipped cream, fine chocolate shavings, fresh berries, chopped nuts, or a sprinkle of sea salt.
📞 Chiacchierata (chat)
This rich velvet-like chocolate pudding takes me straight back to my childhood. I can still clearly picture scraping any remaining chocolate pudding from the large bowl my mom used and licking the spoon completely clean.
This decadent chocolate dessert is so good that you won’t be leaving any behind!
Tutti a tavolo, è pronto!
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📝 Recipe Card
Budino al Cioccolato is a rich and creamy chocolate pudding made with pantry staple ingredients that can be enjoyed warm or chilled. The custard-like dessert is thickened with egg yolks and flavored with melted dark chocolate and pure vanilla extract.
If you love this recipe please give it 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.
📖 Recipe
Classic Italian Chocolate Pudding (Budino Al Cioccolato)
Ingredients
- 1 cup Heavy cream
- 1 cup Whole milk
- 6 Egg yolks large
- ⅓ cup Granulated sugar
- 5 ounces Dark chocolate 70-85% dark, coarsely chopped
- 1 Tablespoon Butter unsalted
- ¾ teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon Pure Vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a large saucepan over medium heat, bring milk and cream to a simmer. Remove from heat and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together egg yolks and sugar until sugar has dissolved and mixture is pale.
- Temper the egg-sugar mixture by slowly stirring in ⅓ of the warmed cream and milk. Whisk in another ⅓ and finally the last ⅓ mixing well between additions.
- Add the mixture back to the large saucepan and place over medium heat.
- Cook, stirring constantly for about 5 minutes, until the mixture has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon.
- Place the chopped chocolate in a large mixing bowl. Pour the custard over the chocolate and set aside for 5 minutes so that the chocolate can melt.
- Work quickly, whisking until the everything is smooth and the ingredients are well combined.
- Whisk in the butter, salt, and vanilla until well combined.
- Pour into serving dishes.
- You can enjoy the pudding warm, or cover with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 60 minutes to serve cold.
- The pudding will keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Notes
- Serve your budino in small jars, parfait glasses, or dessert glass bowls to show off that rich and creamy pudding!
- Use quality chocolate and vanilla extract for this pudding - it makes a huge impact on the flavor of the dessert.
- I don’t recommend freezing this dessert due to the cream-based ingredients used.
- You can enjoy this budino al cioccolato warm or allow it to chill in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes for a cold dessert. When serving warm, make sure that you at least allow the hot pudding to cool slightly, especially if you plan to top it with whipped cream.
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