Homemade Pistachio Pudding
Last week I had two cups of milk, two eggs, and twenty minutes. I took to Twitter to ask you what kind of pudding I should make with my perishables and time. You answered: Chocolate. You answered: Butterscotch. One of you mentioned: Pistachio. Sold.
Pistachio pudding is so much more than the pale green, instant box, powdery stuff. Truly.
This pale green Pistachio Pudding is made from homemade pistachio paste. This is totally good news, right!? Pistachio, sugar, and just a touch of water. Stir this paste into warmed milk and eggs, and call it pudding. It’s just about that easy.
Spring pudding. I made it and I want you to also.
Oh wait! I didn’t tell you what this pudding tastes like. Pistachios. … and sugar. Go figure.
Homemade Pistachio Pudding
makes 6 small ramekins
adapted from cooks.com
Pistachio Paste:
1/2 cup salted pistachio nuts
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons water
Pudding:
2 cups whole milk
2 large egg yolks
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup pistachio nuts, chopped
To make the Pistachio Paste: place pistachios in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until the nuts are in small bits. Add the sugar and water, and blend until relatively smooth. Easy!
To make the Pudding: Spoon Pistachio Paste into a medium saucepan. Add the milk and whisk over medium heat. Heat milk and pistachio until steamy and hot.
While milk is heating, whisk together granulated sugar, egg yolks, cornstarch and pinch of salt. Mixture will be thick. Keep whisking until it’s smooth. Pour about 1/2 cup of the steaming pistachio milk into the sugar and egg mixture. Whisk together. Add another half cup of hot milk and whisk to incorporate. Return the milky egg mixture into the saucepan over medium heat.
Heat pudding mixture over medium heat until thick and bubbly. Whisk almost constantly. You might also want to use a heat-proof spatula to stir the mixture, ensuring that the sides and corners of the pan aren’t burning. Boil for about 1 minute, or until thickened. Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla extract, until butter is melted. Pass cooked pudding through a fine mesh strainer set over a medium bowl. This will ensure that any cooked egg bits don’t make it into the finished pudding. Press the pudding through the strainer. Add a few of the pistachio nut bits that the strainer catches, back to the pudding if you’d like
Spoon into small ramekins, place plastic wrap over the individual puddings (so the plastic touches the top of the pudding), and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or overnight.
Top with lightly sweetened whipped cream and chipped pistachios.
Pudding will last, covered in the refrigerator, for up to 4 days.
135 Comments Add A Comment
Holy cow – I have an ongoing love affair with pistachios. It’s serious, and so this pudding is in my future.
Pistachios seem to be a theme for me this week. I am seriously considering making this recipe. I have never made homemade pudding before. I think I am up for the challenge!
Yowsa! that looks good!
love pistachio ice cream, this is a shoe in for dessert of the week!
Hi! I made this tonight, so easy and pretty and delicious. Just wanted to note that on its own, without any whipped cream, it is REALLY sweet, almost on the edge of too sweet, if there is such a thing :)
Anna,
I second that! Just tasted the almost-end product (still needs to cool in the fridge) and it’s really really sweet. The diabetic bf isn’t going to be too happy about this one, whoops! I suppose over a cup’s worth of sugar should have been the dead giveaway haha. Still delicious tho.
I’m curious about trying the recipe with cashews…
feel free to add less sugar to the milk mixture if you’d like! my apologies to your diabetic boyfriend!
also! i’ve changed the recipe from 1/2 cup of granulated sugar in the milk mixture to 1/3 cup. that should help people in the future. thanks for you feedback!
I have to make this! This may just be my new addiction. Thanks for making it a healthy one :)
Pistachio pudding is my husband’s favorite dessert, so when I saw this right after you posted, I immediately printed it to make for our 5-year wedding anniversary (which is tomorrow). He’s never had homemade, only boxed, and I think he will be very pleased. I just made it, and it is amazing. Paired with homemade sweetened whipped cream, it’s good enough to make you cry. Thank you!
OMG I loooove pistachio pudding, and I’ve been looking for something to make with the bags of pistachios in my pantries. This is incredible.
Definitely just bookedmark! Love pastachios and the idea of not using the yogurt maker!
I made this pudding yesterday as a celebration of the end of Lent (I had given up processed sugar). So tasty! Tasted a teeny bit too sweet to me, but that was probably just the sugar deprivation talking. Five bowls scraped totally clean are a pretty good testament to how fantastic it was, thanks for such a yummy recipe!
I also made this for Easter dessert. I wish I had made more. BOMB.
I have been craving some pudding and had bookmarked tons of recipes. When I saw this yesterday, I knew it was the one. Can’t wait to eat it tonight, once Passover has ended (cornstarch). YUM.
Just to let you know, I gave you up for Lent. It was pretty rough.
But I’m BACK now, and I am SO making this tomorrow after school :D
Thank you so much for posting this recipe. Have been a long time follower of your site, and this one made me stop and write a glowing review! After my first batch there has been a demand for this around the family, and I’ve been making it every night since.
There was only 1 thing I tweeked after making it with the recipe – it was still too sweet for my taste. For my second batch I ended up using only a 1/3c of sugar, total. The mild sweetness lets you really appreciate the richness and texture of the pudding. Also, I reserved a tiny bit of milk, and mixed the cornstarch in it before adding to the egg yolk. Much easier mixing with the yolk, and no chunks in the finished pudding.
Thank you again, and looking forward to more treasures!
your titles on the pics slay me. love!
Your photography is beautiful…Do you have a fabulous camera, or a great photo editing program?
I made this as a surprise for the hubby. I am not a fan of the fake, bright green “pistachio” pudding, but I am now in love with the homemade stuff. It was so good that I ate what didn’t make it through the strainer. Yum! I had a hard time not consuming it all before DH made it home. He sat on the couch with his ramekin of pudding and mmmmmmm’d until it was all gone. Thanks for making me look like a pudding genius!
My sister is crazy for pistachios…i enjoy them also, but mention pistachio gelati to her and you can basically see her eyes fill with stars. I’m definitely going to have to send this to her! Thanks!
Oh my pistachio goodness. Made this for Easter a few weekends ago and it was, in a word, astounding. The whole family loved it. I was tempted not to share it with them… but I did. Thank you, thank you, thank you for creating and sharing this recipe.
I was going to comment that my boyfriend, whose family is Italian, loves anything pistachio – he can spot pistachio gelato from four blocks away, I swear. But reading the comments, it seems like a lot of boyfriends/husbands are equally pistachio-obsessed! Maybe the phrase should be ‘the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, but pistachios are the express lane.’
Oh my goodness!!! I am definitely making this..thank you thank you thank you for sharing!
Made this. SO GOOD. Insanity.
Made this for my family after I fought with them…and it totally helped patch things up! Thank YOU :-D