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The Flavor Bender Recipes All Dessert Recipes Puddings & Custards Dalgona Coffee Pudding

Dalgona Coffee Pudding

25 mins
Easy
Puddings & Custards
Jump to Recipe Print Recipe
333 shares

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Author: Dini K.
Posted: 4/22/2020
Updated: 5/21/2020

Dalgona coffee pudding may seem like an extra step for having a simple coffee pudding… and yes, it is. But that extra step makes for a gorgeous presentation and a delicious cappuccino-like coffee pudding with swirls of coffee and vanilla!

Creamy, frothy and sweet Dalgona Coffee Pudding!

Dalgona topped vanilla pudding served in a glass

It’s very likely that you’ve come across this new viral craze on your social media, right? Dalgona coffee? Well, here’s my little twist and contribution to it. Dalgona coffee pudding! Gorgeous, golden, sweet dalgona coffee served on top of creamy vanilla pudding!

What is Dalgona?

Dalgona is a south Korean sweet that’s very popular with kids. Sugar is caramelized to a golden brown and then baking soda is added to make it frothy and foamy. This is poured over a sprinkling of sugar, and then flattened using a stamp. Once flattened, a cutter is used to stamp one or more shapes onto it.

The original dalgona is golden, sweet, and foamy. Since this whipped coffee version resembles dalgona, it was named after that popular Korean sweet.

A close up of the frothy dalgona coffee topping and the vanilla pudding with vanilla bean specks.

I grew up eating something similar in New Zealand, but we called it honeycomb toffee. It’s the same golden colored, foamy candy, but we broke it into piece instead of flattening it.

How is dalgona coffee made?

It’s really easy. In this recipe, the dalgona coffee is made separate from the pudding.

For the dalgone coffee, all you need is instant coffee, sugar and hot water. Plus, a whisk and a strong arm, OR a hand mixer. Mix coffee, sugar and hot water in a 1:1:1 ratio and mix to dissolve. Using a whisk or hand mixer, whisk the coffee until it becomes frothy, pale in color and thick.

It will go from a frothy coffee to a pale golden, meringue-like (whisked egg whites) texture. At this point, the dalgona coffee ready to be used. So go ahead and use that dalgona coffee to top your glass of milk, or a delicious, homemade vanilla pudding!

Dalgona coffee topping - Instant coffee and sugar in a glass bowl
Coffee and sugar in a bowl
Coffee and sugar dissolving in hot water
Dissolving the coffee and sugar with hot water
Whisking the coffee mixture in a glass bowl, with the coffee becoming frothy
Start whisking…
The coffee mixture is being whisked and it's lighter in color and is very foamy and thick
…until it turns pale in color and is thickened and foamy

For classic dalgona coffee, fill a glass with ice cubes and milk (for iced coffee) and top off with the whipped dalgona coffee. You can do the same with hot milk as well for a hot coffee.

My husband has been enjoying this quite often these days while being stuck at home, and he’s loving it!

Thickened coffee mixture in the glass bowl, thickened and golden in color and ready to use.

What’s different about this recipe?

What’s unique about this recipe is how the classic dalgona coffee is served!

Instead of milk, this recipe serves the dalgona coffee with smooth, creamy, homemade vanilla pudding!

I recently shared my easy vanilla pudding recipe with you guys, and I figured that would be a fantastic base to pair with dalgona coffee for a uniquely delicious experience!

The dalgona coffee being spooned into the glasses with vanilla pudding

Regular coffee pudding vs dalgona coffee pudding

You can add 3 tbsp of instant coffee + 3 tbsp of sugar directly into the pudding base to make classic coffee pudding.

But I find that the air whipped into dalgona coffee gives the vanilla pudding a fantastic light and airy texture. Plus, when you swirl the dalgona coffee in, you end up with ribbons of coffee and vanilla pudding which is also really freaking delicious!

You can easily make this with store-bought vanilla pudding for convenience, if you like. But I do prefer my homemade vanilla pudding because it just tastes miles better!

Dalgona coffee Pudding in a small glass with creamy vanilla pudding topped with whipped coffee on top.

How much dalgona coffee to make

This is tricky, because it really depends. If you’re serving 1/2 cup portions (6 servings), then you may need about 4 1/2 – 5 tbsp of coffee per serving.

If you want a stronger coffee flavor, then you can add more. So how much dalgona coffee you’d like to make to top your vanilla pudding is entirely up to you. This recipe is just how we like it.

Dalgona coffee swirled vanilla pudding in a glass, showing swirls of coffee being mixed in with the vanilla pudding.
The result is..

A creamy, sweet pudding with light, airy coffee swirls in every bite. The pudding also becomes lighter thanks to the whipped coffee mixed into the pudding base.

It’s an amazing upgrade to regular coffee pudding, both in flavor and texture. And as a bonus, it looks fancy AF as well! 😀

The dalgona coffee mixed in completely with the vanilla pudding.

 

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5 from 2 votes

Dalgona Coffee Pudding

Author: Dini K.
Yield: about 3 cups of pudding
Cuisine: American, Korean, Macau, North American
Creamy vanilla pudding topped with dalgona coffee! Upgrade your homemade vanilla pudding to a delicious, cappuccino-like pudding with light, airy swirls of coffee and vanilla.
EASY - This recipe is simple with impressive results!
Prep: 10 minutes minutes
Chilling time: 5 hours hours
Cook: 10 minutes minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Servings: 6 servings
Print Rate

Ingredients:

Vanilla pudding

  • 2 cups milk
  • 2 tbsp dry milk powder optional
  • ½ cup sugar
  • ¼ tsp sea salt
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 3 tbsp cornstarch
  • 2 tsp good quality vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
  • 2 tbsp unsalted butter

Dalgona coffee topping

  • 5 tbsp instant coffee
  • 5 tbsp white sugar
  • 5 tbsp boiling water
US Customary - Metric

Instructions:

Vanilla pudding

  • In a large bowl, place the egg yolks, cornstarch and about ¼ cup of the milk. Whisk to form a smooth paste. Set aside.
  • In a medium saucepan, place the rest of the milk, milk powder (if using), sugar and salt. Heat over medium heat and whisk to dissolve the sugar and salt. Heat until the milk starts to steam.
  • Remove the milk from the heat.
  • Place the bowl with the egg yolk mixture on a non-slip surface (e.g. on a cloth napkin or non-slip mat).
  • Take about ½ cup of the hot milk and slowly pour it into the egg yolk mixture, while whisking the egg yolk mixture constantly. Here you're only adding enough milk to warm the egg yolk mixture.
  • Add the warmed egg yolk mixture back into the saucepan with the hot milk.
  • Heat the pudding mixture while whisking constantly until it starts to thicken. Make sure you reach the edges and the bottom of the saucepan as well while whisking. Otherwise the pudding will catch at the bottom of the pan and become lumpy and burnt.
  • Whisk and heat the pudding mixture until a few bubbles break the surface.
  • Remove the pudding from the heat and add the vanilla extract and softened butter. Whisk until the butter completely melts and mixes in with the pudding, along with the vanilla.
  • Transfer the pudding into a large bowl and cover with plastic wrap, making sure the plastic wrap touches the whole surface of the pudding (this is to prevent a skin from forming on the surface).
  • Let it chill in the fridge for at least a few hours, or until the pudding is completely chilled.

Dalgona coffee topping

  • Place the instant coffee and sugar in a large bowl. I prefer to use a tall container to avoid splashing.
  • Add the hot water and stir to dissolve the coffee and sugar.
  • Using a hand mixer (with a whisk attachment), start whipping the coffee mixture.
  • First, you will start seeing bubbles on top, and then it will slowly become paler in color, and thicker in consistency. This can take a few minutes.
  • Whisk until the coffee has a soft, meringue-like (whisked egg whites) consistency that has mid peaks. It's now ready to be spooned over vanilla pudding.

Dalgona coffee pudding

  • Remove the plastic wrap from the chilled vanilla pudding, and whisk the set vanilla pudding using a balloon whisk until smooth and creamy. This can then be spooned into individual bowls for serving.
  • Top each of the vanilla pudding servings with dalgona coffee topping, and serve immediately.

Nutrition Information:

Calories: 204kcal (10%)Carbohydrates: 29g (10%)Protein: 4g (8%)Fat: 8g (12%)Saturated Fat: 5g (31%)Cholesterol: 83mg (28%)Sodium: 137mg (6%)Potassium: 232mg (7%)Sugar: 23g (26%)Vitamin A: 337IU (7%)Calcium: 104mg (10%)Iron: 1mg (6%)

“This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.”

Course:Brunch, Desserts, Tea / coffee break
Cuisine:American, Korean, Macau, North American
Keyword:Coffee, Dessert Recipes, Easy Desserts, Puddings
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  1. Claudia Wood says

    February 24, 2022 at 05:02

    5 stars
    Love all your recipes. You are an inspiration. Thank you

    Reply
  2. Helga Diggelmann says

    November 17, 2020 at 13:10

    Planning this for a coffee dessert loving son on Thanksgiving. Instructions say to add milk powder if using, but that is not listed in the ingredients. Can you clarify?

    Reply
    • Dini says

      November 25, 2020 at 09:31

      Hi Helga
      Thank you for pointing that out! The milk powder has been added into the ingredient list. It is an optional ingredient, so you can leave it out if you don’t have it.
      I hope that helps!

      Reply
  3. Kalaiselvi says

    August 8, 2020 at 05:02

    Yummy! Tried it for my birthday

    Reply

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