Having grown up on a dairy farm, we made homemade Amish vanilla cornstarch pudding all the time. It is a rich, creamy, and basic vanilla pudding that is great on its own and pairs perfectly with cake, pies, etc.
Whether it was a noon meal at a friend's house after Sunday School, supper with the youth group, a family holiday meal, or a wedding dinner, homemade vanilla cornstarch pudding was a regular dessert dish.
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Ingredients
- Milk - This is the main liquid that makes the dessert smooth and creamy. Whole milk gives the richest flavor, but you can use 2% for a lighter version. Dairy-free milks work too, but they'll change the flavor a little.
- Sugar - Sweetens the dessert. You can add more or less depending on how sweet you like it. Other sweeteners like honey or maple syrup can work too.
- Salt - Just a pinch brings out the flavors and keeps it from tasting flat.
- Whole Eggs - Add richness and help everything thicken up as it cooks.
- Tip: To keep the eggs from scrambling, slowly whisk in a little of the hot milk before adding them to the pot.
- Cornstarch - The main thickener. It gives a smooth, silky texture when cooked with the milk and eggs.
- Unflavored Gelatin & Cold Water - Helps the dessert set up nice and firm.
- Tip: Always dissolve unflavored gelatin in cold water first so it blends in smoothly.
- Vanilla Extract - Adds warm, sweet flavor. Stir it in at the very end so it tastes fresh.
- Butter - Makes the texture extra smooth and adds a rich, buttery flavor.
- Cool Whip or Whipped Cream (optional) - Makes it lighter and creamier if you fold it in, and use it as a topping for an extra treat.
Each ingredient in this recipe serves a specific purpose, from thickening and flavoring to adding texture and richness, resulting in a delicious and satisfying homemade cornstarch pudding.
How to Make Easy Cornstarch Pudding
This homemade pudding recipe uses whole eggs, so there is no need to separate the whites. And it is seriously so easy to make.
Pour one gallon of milk into a large pot, and sprinkle sugar and salt on top. Do not stir!
Place on the stovetop over medium-low heat until it comes to a boil. This may take about twenty to twenty-five minutes. But DO NOT stir the milk until it's at the boiling point. (It won't burn if you sprinkle the sugar on top and don't stir.)
Meanwhile, whisk your eggs and cornstarch, add 1 cup of warm milk, and whisk until creamy.
Mix the gelatin with cold water and set it aside.
When your milk starts getting hot, you want to keep your eye on it. Boiling milk will rise and run over, making a huge mess. You want to catch your milk when it is just starting to rise, so you know it is at the boiling point.
When your milk begins to rise, turn off the burner and slowly pour in the cornstarch/egg mixture, whisking as you are pouring.
Then take your pot off of the burner and add the gelatin mixture, butter, and vanilla, whisking until the gelatin is melted and your pudding is creamy-looking. Set the pudding aside to cool.
Skin on Top of the Pudding
As pudding cools, it develops a skin on the top.
Pudding skin is simply milk protein that's dried out due to evaporation. It forms a thin, rubbery layer on top of your dessert. If it happens, just scrape it off with the edge of a spoon and eat it before stirring again (shh.. don't tell anyone that I like to do this 🙂 because it's so yummy! lol).
To avoid having a skin form on the top of the pudding, you can cover your hot pudding with plastic wrap. Let the wrap sit against the top of the pudding as it cools, and it shouldn't develop skin.
Once your pudding is chilled, feel free to add Cool Whip or homemade whipped cream to make it lusciously creamy. You can serve it with extra whipped cream on the top to make the best homemade pudding.
Creamy Homemade Pudding for Sunday Dinner
Our church had Sunday School every other Sunday. On our church Sunday everyone stayed for lunch, and we always had the same type of meal.
But after Sunday School the hosts usually invited the youth group and only a few close friends to stay for lunch. And we had a big cooked meal of meat and potatoes, etc.
Friends that were invited to stay often offered to bring a cake or some other dessert along for the meal. And a lot of times we had cake (such as chocolate cake or oatmeal cake), old-fashioned cornstarch pudding, and fruit salad for dessert.
Why Did We Eat So Much Homemade Pudding?
In our Amish group, we mostly served cake and cornstarch pudding instead of cake and ice cream.
I think the reason we had homemade pudding all the time is that most of the people in our church were dairy farmers. We had a giant bulk tank full of farm-fresh milk at our disposal every day.
The milk was considered free to use, and this cornstarch pudding recipe is extremely easy to make.
We always had plenty of cream too, so we could have made ice cream as well. But ice cream takes longer to make, and it is best served as soon as it is finished churning.
We did make homemade ice cream frequently too, but more often it was for a delicious family treat after a long day of work.
Amish homemade vanilla pudding, however, can be made a day or two in advance. And when serving guests, it is a great addition to your dessert table.
Use Homemade Pudding in Other Recipes
You can also make this vanilla pudding from scratch to use in other recipes. A lot of delicious desserts ask for instant pudding, which is so quick and easy to make.
But what if you wanted to make something and you didn't have instant pudding in your pantry? You can make your own pudding to use.
This vintage cornstarch pudding also tastes so much better than instant pudding which is a good reason to use homemade pudding rather than instant pudding.
Our youth group ate a lot of meals together, and sometimes one person would plan the meal and ask everyone to bring a dish. One dessert we had a lot was homemade éclair cake. It has several layers of pudding with graham crackers.
Sometimes we had several dishes of the same dessert made by different people. And one family always used homemade pudding for their éclair instead of instant pudding. Guess which dish always got empty first? You guessed it, everyone liked the one with the homemade pudding the best.
Old-fashioned cornstarch pudding is delicious served with chocolate cake, pie, cookies, graham crackers, etc., or used in recipes.
This recipe makes a big pot of Amish vanilla cornstarch pudding. However, you can halve the recipe if you don't want a big batch.
If you get to try this easy pudding recipe, I'd love it if you left a comment and star rating below. Thank you!
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📖 Recipe Card
Amish Vanilla Cornstarch Pudding
Ingredients
- 4 qt. milk
- 1 ¾ - 2 c. sugar
- 1 ½ tsp. salt
- 4 whole eggs
- 1 ⅓ c. cornstarch
- 1 c. milk
- 3 packets unflavored gelatin (1 pkt. is a scant Tbsp.)
- ⅓ c. cold water
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 Tbs. butter
- 2 - 3 c. cool whip or whipped cream
Instructions
- Pour 4 quart of milk into a large pot. Place on the stovetop over medium-low heat. Sprinkle sugar and salt over the top. Do not stir. Heat to boiling.4 qt. milk, 1 ¾ - 2 c. sugar, 1 ½ tsp. salt
- Whisk together the eggs and cornstarch. Add 1 c. of milk and whisk until smooth and creamy.4 whole eggs, 1 ⅓ c. cornstarch, 1 c. milk
- In a cup or small bowl, mix gelatin and cold water. Set aside.3 packets unflavored gelatin (1 pkt. is a scant Tbsp.), ⅓ c. cold water
- Once your milk is getting hot, you will want to keep your eye on it, because when it comes to the boiling point it will begin to rise. When the milk begins to rise, turn off the burner and slowly pour in your egg/cornstarch mixture, whisking as you are pouring.
- Remove from the burner and add the gelatin mixture, butter, and vanilla. Whisk until the gelatin is dissolved and the pudding is creamy-looking.2 tsp. vanilla extract, 1 Tbs. butter
- Cool. To avoid having a skin form on the top, place a piece of plastic wrap on top of the pudding.
- Cool completely and add cool whip or whipped cream, if desired. It makes it more creamy.2 - 3 c. cool whip or whipped cream
Anna
Yummy!
Kathryn
I'm curious what the purpose of the gelatin is. Does it help thicken the pudding? I make homemade pudding fairly often (vanilla to serve over waffles, or chocolate to serve warm over vanilla ice cream--YUM!). It is thickened only with cornstarch.
Anna
Yes, it does help make it thicker with a beautiful smooth consistency. If you prefer thinner pudding, you could leave it out.
Walt van lieu
Tried the tapioca with small/med pearls.
Tasted fine but pearls were a little chewy. Did I overcook or undercook?
Anna
I'm guessing they were undercooked. You want to cook them until they are clear.