Chia pudding with rhubarb, made the night before

The rhubarb at the fruit shop on Beaumont Street has been ridiculous the last few weeks, thick red stalks for not much money, and I’ve had a pot of it stewing on the stove most Sunday nights since. Chia pudding with stewed rhubarb has become our default breakfast on training mornings, which in our house means most mornings, because Saturday is netball and the rest of the week is just getting everyone out the door in one piece.

This isn’t a fussy recipe. It’s four ingredients in a jar the night before and a small saucepan of fruit that takes ten minutes and mostly looks after itself. If you’ve read why fibre matters more than most of us think, you’ll know chia is one of the easiest wins going, and rhubarb pulls its own weight too without tasting like it’s trying.

Why chia pudding earns its spot on a Tuesday night

I mean the night before a Tuesday, obviously. The whole point of chia pudding is that the work happens while you’re asleep. You whisk it up after dinner, shove it in the fridge, and by morning it’s set into something halfway between rice pudding and custard, no cooking required. On a morning when I’m also finding a missing shin pad and signing a permission slip, that matters more than any nutrition panel.

Chia seeds are mostly fibre and they swell to roughly ten times their volume in liquid, which is why a small amount goes a long way and why this recipe won’t need a second batch mid-week. According to the Australian Dietary Guidelines, most of us fall well short of daily fibre targets, and breakfast is usually where that gap opens up first. A jar of this at 7am closes it without anyone noticing they’ve eaten something good for them.

The rhubarb bit, and why I don’t do it raw

I’ll say this and I don’t care that it’s not fashionable: raw rhubarb blitzed through a pudding is a mistake. It’s sharp in a way that fights the chia rather than sitting with it, and my youngest won’t touch anything that tastes remotely sour. Stewing it gently with orange juice and a cinnamon stick softens the whole thing into something closer to a jam, sweet enough to work but still recognisably fruit, not a lolly.

Ten minutes on the stove is genuinely all it takes. You want the stalks to collapse but not turn to mush, so keep an eye on it after the eight-minute mark. It holds in the fridge for four or five days, which means one batch covers most of the school week.

Ingredients

Serves 4

For the chia pudding

• 100g chia seeds
• 600ml milk of your choice (oat, almond or full-cream dairy all work)
• 2 tablespoons honey or maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the stewed rhubarb

• 500g rhubarb, trimmed and cut into 3cm lengths
• Zest and juice of 1 orange
• 2 tablespoons caster sugar or maple syrup
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 tablespoons water

To serve

• Natural yoghurt
• Toasted flaked almonds or pepitas
• Extra rhubarb syrup from the pan

Method

1. Put the rhubarb, orange zest, orange juice, sugar and cinnamon stick into a small saucepan with the water. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium-low heat and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the rhubarb has softened but still holds its shape. Remove the cinnamon stick and set aside to cool.
2. In a large jug or bowl, whisk together the milk, honey and vanilla. Add the chia seeds and whisk well to break up any clumps.
3. Let the mixture sit for 5 minutes, then whisk again. This second whisk matters, it’s the difference between a smooth pudding and one with sad little clumps of dry chia through it.
4. Pour into four jars or a single lidded container, cover, and refrigerate overnight, or for at least 4 hours.
5. In the morning, layer the set chia pudding with spoonfuls of the cooled stewed rhubarb. Top with yoghurt, toasted nuts or seeds, and a drizzle of the leftover rhubarb syrup.

A serving idea for actual weekday mornings

I make this in four small jars on a Sunday afternoon while the rhubarb is stewing anyway, so by the time swimming lessons or netball training roll around, breakfast is just grabbing a jar and a spoon on the way to the car. If you’ve got a thermos-loving kid, it also travels well cold for a mid-morning tea break, though I’d keep the yoghurt topping separate and add it on site so things don’t go soggy.

For anyone building out a proper make-ahead breakfast rotation, this sits nicely alongside coconut and blueberry baked oats and our best gluten-free granola recipe. Three options in the fridge means nobody’s bored by Thursday, which in my experience is when the whole family breakfast plan usually falls apart.

A variation worth trying

Swap the orange for a vanilla bean and use frozen mixed berries instead of rhubarb when it’s out of season, which around Newcastle is most of the year outside late winter and spring. The method doesn’t change, just simmer the berries a little less, maybe five minutes, since they break down faster. My eldest actually prefers the berry version, though I still think rhubarb has more character.

Storage, and why it doubles well for lunchboxes

Keep the chia pudding and stewed rhubarb in separate containers in the fridge and they’ll both hold for four to five days. Assembled and layered, I’d eat it within two or three days for the best texture. It doubles well for lunchboxes too, just pack the yoghurt topping in a tiny separate container so the pudding doesn’t turn watery by lunchtime.

If mornings around your place are anything like ours, half organised chaos with a bag of oranges somewhere near the fruit bowl, this is one of the few breakfasts that survives contact with reality. For general reading on fibre and how it fits into a balanced day, Healthdirect has a solid, plain-English rundown worth a look. And if you’re after more ideas for building a morning that doesn’t fall apart by 7:15, have a read of building a morning routine that actually sticks.

— Nicole Barnes, Golden Door Living kitchen