Last Updated on May 20, 2024

This light and fruity vegan Strawberry Hibiscus Chia Seed Pudding takes on a floral upgrade to strawberry chia pudding 🍓🌺. Chia seeds are soaked in a plant-based milk infused with strawberry hibiscus tea then served into glasses, topped with dairy-free yogurt and garnished with fresh strawberries and toasted coconut chips for an easy, nutritious breakfast.

So apparently hibiscus recipes are trending right now so I thought a simple strawberry hibiscus chia seed pudding would be a fantastic recipe to add to the Healthy Little Vittles blog. Not only is this recipe easy to make and doesn’t require a lot of ingredients, but this pretty light pink chia pudding is nourishing, naturally sweetened, and vegan!

What Is Hibiscus? 🌺

Hibiscus is a beautiful flowering plant that grow the most colorful, gorgeous, big flowers! There are hundreds of kinds of hibiscus and most commonly are found in more tropical regions.

What Does Hibiscus Taste Like?

Hibiscus flowers have a long history of being used not only for ornamental and decorative purposes, but also used to make herbal teas.

Hibiscus has a similar, slightly tart flavor profile to a cranberry. Hibiscus tea is often known as “sour tea”.

Hibiscus Nutrients

Hibiscus is rich in magnesium, potassium, vitamin C, and B vitamins. Hibiscus flowers also contain anthocyanins, a potent antioxidant that also gives the flowers their vibrant, rich color. Source: Healthline.com.

Chia Seed Nutrition

If you’ve read some of my other blog posts you’ll know I am a huge fan of these tiny-but-mighty seeds! They’re just amazing in so many ways.

Chia seeds are loaded with fiber, which makes sense why the trendy “internal shower” drink became so popular, haha. Chia seeds are high in omega-3 fatty acids (ALA), and plant-based protein, and also contain calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc, B1, and B3. Chia seeds are loaded with antioxidants too. What a superfood! 🤗. Sources: Mayo Health Clinic& Healthline.

Wait, But How Do Chia Seeds Turn Into Pudding?!

When chia seeds are soaked in a liquid, most commonly cow’s milk or plant-based milk, the chia seeds absorb the liquid and obtain a gel-like consistency that makes a pudding-like texture.

Chia seeds can absorb 12 times their weight in liquid, which is why a gel forms around the seed giving them their unique texture similar to a pudding.

There are a few different methods that I myself have used to making chia seed pudding. The bowl method, the jar method, or the blender method. You can read more about these different methods in my Cosmic Brownie Chia Seed Pudding post.

The Ingredients

Chia seeds. I used white chia seeds to better show the color of the strawberry hibiscus milk, but you can also use back chia seeds.

Plant milk. You may use any plant milk you’d like, I used flax milk.

Strawberry hibiscus tea. There are many tea brands that make strawberry hibiscus tea, both in tea bags and loose leaf tea. I used a tea bag when making this strawberry hibiscus chia seed pudding, but you may also use loose leaf tea.

Maple syrup. To keep this healthy breakfast naturally sweetened, I used pure maple syrup (NOT maple flavored syrup).

Strawberries. You will need 3 small to medium sized strawberries to blend with the strawberry hibiscus tea milk, more if desired, and extra for topping.

Chia Pudding Toppings

Yogurt. I used dairy-free vanilla yogurt, but strawberry yogurt would also be delish! You can use soy yogurt, coconut yogurt, oat milk yogurt, cashew yogurt, or almond milk yogurt on top of this strawberry hibiscus chia pudding.

Strawberries. Add some fresh, sliced strawberries to add on top of the yogurt layer in this chia pudding.

Toasted coconut chips. Totally optional, but sprinkling toasted coconut chips on top adds a nice little crunch and some healthy fats.

How To Make Strawberry Hibiscus Chia Seed Pudding

To start, always wash the strawberries. I found this adorable little ceramic berry strainer at Hobby Lobby and was so excited to use it for this recipe 😍.

Pour the plant milk into a small saucepan and add the tea bag and maple syrup. Heat over high heat until it boils, then reduce the heat to low, and let the tea bag steep for 5 minutes.

Add the strawberries to a blender along with the strawberry hibiscus infused milk and blend until all the strawberries are blended.

Next, add the chia seeds to a medium bowl. Pour the strawberry hibiscus milk over the chia seeds.

Whisk or stir the mixture until well combined.

Let it rest on your counter for a couple of minutes and then re-whisk.

Continue this process until the chia seeds have absorbed all of the milk and you have a pudding texture.

Spoon the chia seed pudding into glasses or bowls.

Top the chia pudding with dairy free yogurt, fresh strawberries and toasted coconut chips. If desired, add a dusting of freeze dried strawberries! (I had the best sifting helper with the cutest little fingers!!! 🥰).

Save any leftover chia pudding in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.

What If I Can’t Find Strawberry Hibiscus Tea?

I believe that strawberry hibiscus tea is fairly common and easy to find in stores or online, but if by some chance you can’t find it, you can use just strawberry tea or just hibiscus tea and add more strawberries to the blended plant milk.

I know I have also seen dried hibiscus flowers to steep and I have also seen hibiscus powder that you could try as well. I don’t know the exact measurements for those, as I have only made this strawberry hibiscus chia seed pudding with strawberry hibiscus tea.

Other Chia Seed Pudding Recipes To Try

Let me know what you think about this light and fresh, Strawberry Hibiscus Chia Pudding recipe down below in the comments section, as well as giving it a five rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ so that others can discover a simple and yummy breakfast! Tag me on Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest if you make it!