Chocolate Banana Kefir Chia Pudding

This chocolate banana kefir chia pudding is a no-sugar-added, delicious breakfast or snack loaded with prebiotics and probiotics to keep your gut healthy. Chocolate banana kefir is fruit-sweetened and contains just a few ingredients – so easy the kids can make it (and will love to eat it, too).

Gut health is super trendy right now, as more awareness is being brought to the fact that so much of our total health and wellness is connected to the health of our gut, or our microbiome. Afterall, 70% of your immune system is in your gut!

With all this talk about gut health though, I wanted to talk about two important aspeccts: probiotics and prebiotics. Now, while they sound similar and they both operate to support our microbiome, they individually function a little differently.

• Probiotics contain live bacteria that’s good for your gut. When you eat probiotic-rich foods or a probiotic supplement, it’s essentially an infusion of ready-to-go healthy bacteria right into your gut.
• Prebiotics feed the gut-friendly bacteria. When you eat prebiotic-rich foods or a prebiotic supplement, it provides nourishment to feed the friendly bacteria in your gut so they (and you) thrive.

This is definitely an incredibly simplified explanation, but this basic understanding can be a great building block (that many people aren’t even aware of!).

Both probiotics and prebiotics can be found in capsule and powder form, but they both can also be found in my favorite source – your diet!

Foods that are naturally rich in probiotics include yogurt, kefir (fermented milk), kombucha (a fermented drink), sauerkraut, kimchi (Korean fermented cabbage), and all kinds of pickled vegetables, including pickles themselves.

Foods naturally rich in prebiotics include asparagus, carrots, garlic, okra, onions, radishes, banana, artichoke, tomatoes, turmeric, cinnamon, dark chocolate or cocoa, and many more.

This Chocolate Banana Kefir Chia Pudding provides the best of both gut-healthy worlds, with plain kefir (probiotic!) flavored with banana and cocoa powder (both prebiotics!). These three ingredients are blended into a mixture that has a great flavor (the sweetness from the banana really mellows out the tartness of the kefir, FYI – my husband was nervous about it after tasting the kefir plain, but really enjoyed the finished product!). Then this blended liquid is combined with chia seeds, which is also gut healthy because of its high fiber content which can also help feed gut-friendly bacteria and keep things moving regularly in your GI tract.

Once you allow the chia seeds to absorb the liquid from the chocolate banana kefir mixture, the result is a Chocolate Banana Kefir Chia Pudding that is thick and luscious (I’m not a fan of soupy chia puddings!!), slightly naturally sweet, and delicious!

Oh, and did I mention it takes less than five minutes of hands-on prep time?! Winner, winner!

Now, of course not all things are created equal. While this Chocolate Banana Kefir Chia Pudding is packed with all sorts of gut-healthy goodness, it’s on a very generalized plane. As we know, nutrition has to be individualized to make a lasting difference. If you have a disorder like Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), all the prebiotics here may actually make your symptoms worse. If that’s you and you’re concerned about what to do for you individually, please reach out! I have the resources to help you, just schedule a complimentary clarity call at your convenience.

If you’re ready to give this Chocolate Banana Kefir Chia Pudding a go, let me know what you think! Please share your thoughts in the comments, or take a pic of your finished product and share with me on social media (NTF Facebook, NTF Insta #nutritiontofit). May you (and your gut) be healthy and well!

Chocolate Banana Kefir Chia Pudding

Course: Breakfast, Snack

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Set Time: 4 hours

Total Time: 4 hours 5 minutes

Servings: 2

Calories: 206 kcal

Author: Lindsey Janeiro, RDN, CLT

This chocolate banana kefir chia pudding is a no-sugar-added, delicious breakfast or snack loaded with prebiotics and probiotics to keep your gut healthy. Chocolate banana kefir is fruit-sweetened and contains just a few ingredients - so easy the kids can make it (and will love to eat it, too).

free from: gluten, soy, egg, tree nuts, peanuts, shellfish, fish

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Ingredients

• 1 medium banana ripe
• 3/4 cup plain, lowfat kefir
• 1 Tbsp cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup chia seeds
• optional garnish: cacao nibs, banana slices

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

1. Combine banana, kefir, and cocoa in a blender. Blend on high 30-60 seconds, or until smoothly pureed.
2. Stir chia seeds into banana kefir mixture.
3. Pour mixture into a resealable container and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight.

Recipe Notes

Nutrition information may vary based on exact ingredients used and if any additional toppings/ garnishes are added (recipe does not include garnish).

Nutrition Facts

Chocolate Banana Kefir Chia Pudding

Amount Per Serving (0 g)

Calories 206 Calories from Fat 72

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 8g 12%

Saturated Fat 1g 5%

Trans Fat 0g

Polyunsaturated Fat 0g

Monounsaturated Fat 0g

Cholesterol 3mg 1%

Sodium 51mg 2%

Potassium 479mg 14%

Total Carbohydrates 28g 9%

Dietary Fiber 9g 36%

Sugars 11g

Protein 8g 16%

Vitamin A 4.5%

Vitamin C 6.2%

Calcium 159.7%

Iron 12%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.