Instant Pot Gooey Chocolate Pudding

We were talking about Pot-in-Pot (PIP) Cooking the other day in this post here and I mentioned that the perfect example of pot-in-pot cooking is a pudding of course. I’ve cooked this Instant Pot Gooey Chocolate Pudding a few times and it’s really good! And so easy that even the little Tapita (6 years old) can help. 

I recommend getting a pudding basin with a lid like my Masterclass 1 litre Pudding Steamer or this KitchenCraft Paul Hollywood Pudding Basin, they are both perfect for pressure cooking puddings in your Instant Pot and you will find lots of other pot-in-pot uses for it, like this Instant Pot Lemony Mince in Oyster Sauce with Pot-in-Pot (PIP) Rice. 

I found the inspiration for this recipe in a book called Making the most of your Pressure Cooker by Carolyn Humphries. I didn’t quite follow the recipe though… and then I changed it some more. No surprises there. I’ve now made this Instant Pot Gooey Chocolate Pudding more than once, didn’t follow the same method any of the times and the last time it came out even better so I think this is the way to go. The little Tapita seems to agree! She was in charge of helping, hand modelling, holding spoons and bowls up for photos and taste testing the last time we made it, during February half term (last week).

Don’t forget you’ll find all my Instant Pot recipes here.

Ready for the recipe?

Instant Pot Gooey Chocolate Pudding

Chocolate Sauce

– 75 g Nutella or chocolate spread (it’s ok to pinch the children’s), it’s also ok to add more. In one of my attempts I used Aldi’s own chocolate spread, Nutoka I think it’s called and it worked well (much cheaper)

– 2 tablespoons very hot water

Pudding mixture

– 100 g unsalted butter, room temperature + a bit extra for greasing

– 75 g golden caster sugar

– 75 g self-raising flour

– 25 g cocoa powder

– 2 large eggs

– 2 tablespoons whole milk

Equipment

– Instant Pot

– Pudding basin with or without lid, the one I have is now unavailable on Amazon but a lot of people are buying this Kitchencraft Paul Hollywood Pudding Basin

– Parchment paper if your pudding basin doesn’t have a lid

– Wooden skewer

– 1 litre boiling water

Method

1. Grease a 1 litre pudding basin with the butter. Set aside. I actually skipped this step on the second attempt and the pudding still slipped right out.

2. In a small bowl, mix the chocolate spread with the hot water and stir well until all dissolved. Pour into the base of the pudding basin.

3. Mix the rest of the pudding mixture ingredients with a hand or stand mixer. This Morphy Richards hand mixer is powerful but does the job (use a huge bowl). In the Thermomix: 20 seconds, speed 4 (measuring cup off so increase the speed slowly, scrape down the walls and do 5 more seconds on speed 4. It doesn’t matter if the mix isn’t totally smooth, surprisingly it still works.

4. Add the mixture to the pudding basin, it’s ok if it sinks into the chocolate spread as that’s going to make it gooey. Get a wooden skewer or something pointy but careful if your pudding basin is non-stick and draw a few swirls making sure you work in the Nutella from the bottom. Cover with the pudding basin’s lid or with baking parchment with a pleat (just in case the pudding needs room to grow). 

5. Add one litre boiling water to the inner pot, place the trivet in place and the pudding basin on top. Lock the Instant Pot lid in and leave the steam release handle pointing to Venting (yes, Venting). Press Steam followed by the Pressure button to set to Low Pressure (Less). When the steam starts coming out, time 15 minutes, the Instant Pot will not count down as it will not reach pressure and the steam will keep coming out so you’re in charge of timing this time. This cycle is important for the raising agents to work.

6. As soon as the Steam cycle ends, move the steam release handle to Sealing, press Keep Warm/Cancel immediately followed by Manual and then Pressure to set to Low Pressure, programme 25 minutes and do a natural release at the end (mine took 16 minutes). 

7. Remove the lid. Place a plate on the pudding basin (if your pudding basin has handles make sure it’s a small enough plate to fit in there) and turn the pudding over. Mine slipped straight onto the plate. 

Enjoy warm on its own, with custard, with cream, with ice cream, with extra chocolate sauce. It’s also lovely the next day if you don’t store it in the fridge.