Ok so…at first, I’m not gonna lie. I was super skeptical about this recipe because I haven’t experimented too much with any kind of sweet recipe with turmeric before. So clearly I’ve been living under a rock. But this Golden Milk Chia Pudding? Gold. pure gold. Meaning delicious, not the color. But there’s that too.
Anyway. I was browsing around the interwebs looking for recipes with turmeric and ginger, since they have very strong anti-inflammatory properties and I was looking for a more natural way to boost my healing process from this back injury I’ve been dealing with for more than a year. Long story. Well, actually…pretty short. But not even remotely interesting, I didn’t get attacked by a shark and punch it in the face and sprain my wrist doing that. Nope. Now that would be cool.
Nope, I think I must just be a total klutz or something. Or way over-stressed over the past year, between finishing up school, studying for my board exams, doing my clinical internship, swim coaching, running my business, much more swim coaching, and moving a few times…UGH. Too much on the body. And I’ve definitely found that when my body is more stressed out I’m much more prone to stupid injuries. There have been a few stretches in there where I’ve gotten randomly hurt by doing NOTHING. And by nothing I mean once I went for a (pretty long) walk with my mom in the park and ended up with severe knee pain for days. And then random wrist pains for no reason. Totally messed up my neck so bad I could barely turn it before going on ski vacation last winter (pretty sure I did this just by sleeping on it wrong), and somehow I hurt my back pretty badly doing something else stupid. So I get hurt doing NOTHING, but I don’t get hurt throwing heavy a** weights around doing crossfit. COOL. It figures.
Luckily the back injury is much, much better now. I can finally deadlift again (and walk around every day) without pain so that’s a HUGE win. But back to this turmeric. I’m using it more as a injury recovery / proactive injury prevention tool. I have a bunch of favorite savory recipes with it (like these) but I wanted to see what I could do on the semi-sweet side. I’ve seen people adding turmeric to their smoothies before, and everyone and their mom at this point knows about golden milk…but what about in a chia pudding form?
YES. One hundred percent yes.
This will make a thicc chia pudding. Yes, thick with two c’s. You get me. Fun fact about turmeric – it needs to be paired with some kind of fat so you can actually absorb it. So drinking down non-fat skim turmeric lattes is not going to do much for ya. The fat from the coconut milk will greatly boost absorption, for all those anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties from the curcumin, the active ingredient in turmeric. In savory dishes, adding fresh ground black pepper and heating the food will also help. So if you wanna sprinkle a little black pepper on here? I won’t judge.
- 1 can coconut milk
- ¼c chia seeds
- 2 Tbsp fresh squeezed orange juice
- 2 Tbsp maple syrup
- 1 ½ tsp ground turmeric
- 1 tsp minced fresh ginger
- 2 scoops of collagen
- Optional: almond milk, as needed, to thin out
- Zest from the orange
- chopped walnuts
- Combine all the ingredients except the almond milk, orange zest, and walnuts in a large bowl until well combined.
- Transfer to a sealable container and stick in the refrigerator for a few hours, or overnight. Thin out as needed with a little almond milk.
- Enjoy with orange zest and chopped walnuts on top!
You’ll love these anti-inflammatory recipes too!
Turmeric Roasted Cauliflower Rice
Moroccan Tagine Chicken Salad
Creamy Cauliflower Soup with Truffle Salt & Pancetta
Turmeric & Spice Chicken Drumsticks
What makes it green?
It’s got a yellow tint from the turmeric and orange!