Grandma's Old Fashioned Tapioca Pudding Recipe (Not The Instant Kind!) (2024)

Old fashioned tapioca pudding from pearls is not the minute tapioca at the grocery store. Soaked and slowly cooked, it makes a creamy and delicious dessert straight out of Grandmas recipe book!

Not in the mood for Grandma’s Tapioca Pudding? You might like Creamy Instant Rice Pudding, Old Fashioned Bread Pudding with Vanilla Sauce, or Old Fashioned Banana Cream Pie.

Ingredients and Substitutions

This classic dessert is creamy and delicious, and can be served warm or cold. While it does take a bit of work and attention, it’s worth every bit! Most of the ingredients are going to be easy to find.

Small Pearl Tapioca is made from cassava flour. In this recipe, we’re using the big round pearls. They are not always available at grocery stores and you may have to order online. These are NOT instant Minute Tapioca (which is an excellent pie thickener). Whether you call it cassava, tapioca, manioca, or yuca, this starchy root is naturally gluten free.

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I made this with the last of my tapioca pearls. I’d like to make it again for process pictures and possibly a video but can’t source affordable small pearls! If you’d like me to use boba pearls, drop a note in the comments.

Milk can be almost any that you like. I prefer using whole milk in this, but you could also use your favourite non-dairy milk alternative.

Egg is used to thicken the custard and make it thick. Large eggs are fine. If you are using farm fresh eggs from free range chickens, the pudding will be a richer yellow, and that’s good, too.

Sugar or honey are both excellent in this, but of course they have different flavors. Since the pudding comes to a boil and cooks, the health benefits in raw honey won’t still be there.

Vanilla extract is easy to make at home (which lets you make up a custom blend of spirits) or you can buy it. Either way, real is always going to be better than artificial.

My Comfort Food – Is It Yours?

Some people don’t like tapioca pudding!

I know! It shocked me, too. Clearly I’m not one of those people.

On Monday, I sent a dish of homemade tapioca to work with EJ. He came home and said, “The pudding was … well, did you taste it before you put it in my lunch? I mean … are there supposed to be those little …. um … balls in it?”

The kids and I gobbled up the rest of it, and I have another potful cooking right now. I guess it’s an acquired taste? This is good stuff, my friends!

This is my comfort food.

There are a few tips to making Grandma’s Tapioca Pudding … from scratch … using those old-fashioned pearls. That doesn’t mean it’s difficult, though. This is the recipe I was given from an Old Order Mennonite lady in southern Ontario and now you can make it, too!

Is Grandma’s Tapioca Pudding recipe made the old fashioned way?

Not The Instant Kind

First and foremost, this is NOT the tapioca pudding recipe that most people make today – you know the kind, made in 15 minutes with about two minutes of stirring?

It’s not that. If you want that one, it’s on the back of the box and it IS pretty good for something quick and almost instant. Those tiny white bits are excellent for thickening pie filling, by the way.

It’s not made with quick tapioca, and it’s not made with instant custard powder, either. There’s nothing quick about it, in fact.

Grandma’s tapioca pudding recipe uses tapioca pearls, the kind that have to soak for at least an hour before cooking. They’re usually called “small pearl tapioca” since large pearls are used for boba tea.

When to Eat Tapioca Pudding

After that, a long, slow simmer – perfectly suited for the back of a wood cook stove – and plenty of stirring, gives a delicious, healthy dessert.

Or breakfast.

Or snack.

I admit it – I love old fashioned tapioca pudding. A lot. So do my children. And if you have only ever had the ‘minute’ type (or worse, store bought!) you should try this tapioca recipe.

This is Eve, the youngest of my children. Eve LOVES homemade old fashioned tapioca with large pearls and lots of creamy pudding. She really is just so stinking cute! It’s been a few years and she’s now a saucy girl counting down the days “It’s fifty-nine days now!” until her 9th birthday. My baby is growing up too fast!

Variations on the Ingredients

It has only a small amount of sugar (or honey) in it, and plenty of eggs and milk.

Not egg whites and skim milk because this is NOT diet food, but whole eggs and plenty of creamy whole milk. You need the cream and you need the egg yolks to make this so rich and filling and delicious.

To make this, you need small pearl tapioca.

If you don’t have access to a bulk store that sells it, Bob’s Red Mill (nope, that’s not an affiliate link) Small Pearl Tapioca can be ordered online.

If you accidentally buy large pearl tapioca, don’t panic. Large tapioca pearls are about the size of blueberries, and they do take longer to cook than small tapioca. They’re usually used in bubble tea. They CAN be used to make this recipe, but it will look different. You’ll need to soak the large pearls overnight to soften them, and then cook it longer. Otherwise, the recipe is the same.

This is the kind of tapioca pudding I remember from childhood, and the kind that the Old Order Mennonites still make regularly.

If you usually use an alternative milk, feel free to use that, since you’ll be familiar with the flavour. I’ve made it with Veggiemo and I’ve been told that coconut milk works well.

Making good tapioca pudding takes patience and attention. It cooks for a VERY long time – longer than if you were just mixing up some minute tapioca. Long, slow cooking and patient attention is what it takes. Don’t try to make this while you’re also cleaning the kitchen or chasing the children around.

Let someone else chase the children.

You’re making tapioca. If anyone asks, tell them that – “I’m making tapioca. Someone else must do the dreary chores.”

Priorities.

Are you ready to learn how to make Grandma’s tapioca pudding? This is the pudding recipe that my Old Order Mennonite friend Leona gave me, and it’s the one I make whenever the children want pudding.

You’re going to love this.

I’ll give you Leona’s words: “It’s easy to make. All you need is a bit of time and patience. And maybe an extra person to stir for a while.”

How to Make Tapioca Pudding

Put the small pearl tapioca in a bowl and cover with milk. Leave them in the fridge for at least one hour or overnight. Do not drain.

Longer soaking means less cooking, which is a good thing.

Especially if your tapioca pearls have been sitting in storage for a while, long soaking ensures that they will soften before the custard thickens.

In a big pot, crack the eggs and whisk them with a fork. Add salt, milk and sugar or honey and mix well. Stir in the soaked tapioca pearls.

Use the thickest-bottom medium saucepan that you have, although this can be done in a regular stainless steel pot if you’re prepared to whisk. Constant whisking.

Put the pot on the stove over low heat. This means setting the dial between 1 and 4 if it goes from 1 to 10. Stir the mixture with a wooden spoon or a whisk all the time.

If you’re trying to cook on medium heat, turn it down. You don’t want to burn this.

Do not – I repeat, do not – BOIL it. No boil, no bubbles other than tiny ones appearing at the edge. Don’t try to rush it. When it REACHES the point of tiny bubbles, turn that heat down.

Do not let it boil or bubble. You will see tiny bubbles around the edge of the pot when it is hot enough.

Then turn the heat down even more, to 1 or 2.

Keep stirring the mixture slowly as it cooks. It should be hot but not burning. If you see brown bits on the bottom of the pot, it means it is scorching and you need to lower the heat or take it off the stove for a while.

The pudding is ready when the tapioca pearls look clear and soft, and the mixture is thick and creamy. This can take a long time, depending on how long you soaked the pearls before. Be patient and keep stirring.

When the pudding is done, take it off the heat and add vanilla extract. Stir it in and then pour the pudding into bowls or cups.

You can eat it warm or cold, as you like.

If you want to make chocolate pudding, you can add some chopped chocolate and some cocoa powder before you add the vanilla extract. Stir until the chocolate melts and then follow the same steps.

Or not. It can be served either warm or chilled. I love warm tapioca pudding!

If you’re wondering how to make your own amazing homemade vanilla extract, you can do that, but it takes some advance planning.

Not enough delicious, decadent goodness for you? Take a moment and check out my mother-in-law’s French Canadian sugar pie – serve that in small slices!

How to Keep the Eggs from Curdling

Ooops – did you end up with milky scrambled eggs?

The answer is really simple – lower the heat.

As mentioned above, the pudding should never boil – it should be brought up to the boiling point, JUST to show tiny bubbles around the edge, and then the heat immediately reduced.

How do I Make Gluten-free Tapioca Pudding?

a) Buy small tapioca pearls, b) soak the pearls in milk, c) gently cook the pudding to desired consistency.

Tapioca – cassava root – is naturally gluten-free.

Can I Make It with Almond Milk/Coconut Milk/Soy Milk …?

The simple answer is yes. Use your milk alternative of choice if you want a dairy-free dessert.

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