You know what’s bad about feeding my family beans? (Well, besides that.) It’s that I almost always forget to soak the beans ahead of time. This does not work, even a little bit, unfortunately. Crunchy beans do not make good chili.
As you can imagine, then, when it comes to making Tapioca Pudding, I am never prepared. Every recipe I’ve found calls for soaking the tapioca pearls overnight or longer. Then, most of them tell me to cook the tapioca pudding for a bazillion minutes in a double boiler.
See, I’m just not into recipes that require all kinds of thought and effort. Plus, I don’t even own a double boiler. My rebellious “yeah, I don’t want to go to the trouble to do it that way” recipe reading self sometimes gets into trouble. Usually though, I find that I can take short-cuts and still turn out a good product.
Real food recipes become easy, time consuming tasks become effortless, and recipes with twenty-seven steps become no-brainers. This is how this Tapioca Pudding recipe came to be. I suddenly got hungry for the comfort food Tapioca Pudding…and I wanted some right now. “Soak the tapioca pearls in milk then cook it in a double-boiler until Christmas morning 2019” just wasn’t going to cut it. What if? I thought. What if I just pour the tapioca into the milk along with my other delicious ingredients, and start cooking it in a plain ol’ saucepan?
But then the Follow All Instructions Exactly Police showed up at my door, so I’m actually writing this post from prison.
At least we can now all benefit from knowing this is super easy and delicious way to make Tapioca Pudding. Here’s how I did it:
Homemade {Easy} Tapioca Pudding
- 1 cup tapioca pearls (unsoaked, booyah!)
- 4 cups whole milk
- 4 egg yolks (save the whites for something else)
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ cup real maple syrup (more if you like)
- 1 teaspoon real vanilla extract
- Measure tapioca pearls, milk, egg yolks, sea salt, and maple syrup into a medium sauce pan.
- Use a whisk to cook and stir constantly over medium-low heat for about 15 minutes or until tapioca pearls have "popped" and pudding is thick.
- Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
- Serve right away, or refrigerate.
- This tastes great hot or cold.
I have yet to convince my boys that Tapioca Pudding is the bomb-diggity of comfort foods. You’d think me calling cooked tapioca pearls “eye-balls” would have at least intrigued them a little bit, but nope. They think those tapioca things are weird. My youngest actually suggested that perhaps Tapioca Pudding might taste good “without those tapioca things.” Oh well, more for me.
Do take heed of the “stir constantly” instructions in this recipe. While I’m obviously always eager to break rules and go about cooking my own way without following recipes word-for-word, walking away from your cooking tapioca pudding would be a very, very bad idea. Scorched milk, crunchy uncooked tapioca pearls, and black floaties in your pudding really will cause the I Told You So Police to show up at your door. Ask me how I know.
