Put 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 cup corn starch, and 1/8 tsp salt into a saucepan. (Plus cocoa powder and additional sugar if making chocolate flavored pudding.)
Slowly stir in the 2 3/4 cup of cold plant-based milk to avoid clumps.
Turn on heat to medium and stir frequently until it begins to boil. (Don't turn on the heat until all of the clumps are stirred out.)
Stir constantly for 1 minute then remove from heat.
Add 2 tablespoons vegan butter and 1 tsp vanilla and stir again until the butter has melted and is incorporated.
Serve either warm or cold.
To serve, you can layer different flavors of pudding in a glass jar and top with vegan whipped cream.
Video
Notes
Sift the corn starch and cocoa powder through a flour sifter or wire mesh strainer if yours seems clumpy. This will help give you a smoother pudding in the end.
Add the cold plant-based milk slowly and stir well while you are adding it. This will stir out any remaining clumps.
If you don't want a layer of pudding skin on the top, allow it to cool with a lid on top. Take the lid off about every 5 minutes and give it a stir while it's cooling.
Flavor Variations:
Chocolate Pudding
Add 1/3 cup of cocoa powder plus 2 additional tbsp of sugar along with the dry ingredients in step 1. Follow the remainder of the steps the same.
Peanut Butter Pudding
Add 1/3 cup of creamy peanut butter to the other ingredients in step one and stir very well with a whisk. (It will be a little clumpy until it warms up, then it will dissolve completely. Follow the remainder of the steps the same. Tip - brown sugar taste great in the peanut butter pudding!
Butterscotch Pudding
Make my vegan butterscotch sauce recipe and then let it cool in the pan to room temperature. Once cooled mix 2 3/4 cups of cold plant-based milk with 1/4 cup of corn starch and slowly add it to the butterscotch stirring well with a whisk. Turn on the heat to medium and continue to stir until it boils for 1 minute. (No need to add more butter or vanilla at the end since it's already in it.)If you want a healthy vegan pudding, check out my easy chia seed pudding recipe!