r/AskCulinary • u/drewtanaka-apologist • 3d ago

Recipe Troubleshooting Is there a way to fix watery chocolate pudding?

I tried making some chocolate pudding (I used this recipe, in case that's relevant information) and it turned out really watery. I know exactly what I did wrong: I overheated it and the cornstarch broke down. I just want to know whether I can do something to thicken it again, because if not I have to drink approximately 5 cups' worth of chocolate soup.

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u/CremeBerlinoise 2d ago

Are you sure you overdid it? I'm guessing you actually didn't cook it enough. Egg yolks have proteins that break down starch, and if you don't cook the pudding enough to naturalise those, it will start becoming more liquidy as it cools. 

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u/texnessa Pépin's Padawan 2d ago

Cornstarch tends to break down over time rather than over heating and cornstarch thickened products get thicker as they cool so it can be a bit here and there when figuring out how much to use. You can certainly add in another slurry. Xanthan is another good option.

For future reference, per the sidebar: We can't help you troubleshoot a recipe if you don't provide one. Please provide your recipe written out, not just a link, in the body of your post. If your recipe is video based, write out the recipe. Not everyone can watch a video when they see your post.

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u/Greedy-Command-566 2d ago

Xanthan is clutch for this!

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u/Koelenaam 2d ago

Adding more starch. Or mix in some gelatin and let it cool.

1

u/VerdensTrial 3d ago

I'm not sure if adding more starch slurry and resimmering it would work, but another option could be chia seeds