Chia, Raspberry & Almond Parfait

Layers of maple-sweetened chia pudding, raspberry compote and crunchy almonds make up this vegan Chia, Raspberry & Almond Parfait. It tastes like dessert, but you could eat it for breakfast. It’s dairy-free, grain-free and delicious.

I’ve never been a big lover of chia pudding when it’s served by itself. There’s something about the texture that I don’t always enjoy.

However, when it’s layered with a quick raspberry compote and chopped almonds, the contrast in textures makes all the difference.

I make the chia pudding with unsweetened almond milk and add some maple syrup to sweeten it myself. To cut down on sugar, you can also leave out the maple syrup and just rely on the raspberries for sweetness.

I use quite a few chia seeds in relation to the milk to ensure the chia pudding is thick enough to layer with the raspberry compote. Otherwise the raspberry mixture just sinks into the chia pudding and you lose the beautiful layers.

The recipe makes two small parfaits or one large one. For a snack or dessert, the small size works well. If I’m making the parfait for breakfast, I just make the recipe into one large parfait.

Ingredients for Chia, Raspberry & Almond Parfait

Chia seeds: I use a mix of black and white chia seeds, but any chia seeds will work.

Unsweetened almond milk: You can substitute another milk if you prefer, whatever you have at home. Just make sure you like the taste of the milk that you use, since you will be able to taste it! If using a sweetened milk, you can leave out the maple syrup.

Frozen raspberries: Frozen raspberries work perfectly in this recipe since we reduce them down into a thick sauce, so you’d never know they were frozen. Fresh raspberries will also work.

Maple syrup: Used to sweeten if your milk is unsweetened and if the raspberries if are on the sour side. You could use any other liquid sweetener if you prefer, like honey or rice malt syrup.

Almonds: To chop up and sprinkle on top of the parfait for crunch. Any other nuts, pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds would also work if you prefer.

The frozen raspberries I’ve been using lately are quite sour, so I use the full amount of maple syrup specified to get a sweet tasting parfait.

However, if your raspberries are sweeter, you can reduce the amount of maple syrup used.

For another recipe using frozen raspberries, check out my Chocolate, Raspberry & Chia Slice. It’s a triple layer slice that I first made back in 2015, and continue to make. The slice is no-bake and easy to assemble, but looks like you’ve put in a lot of effort!