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Have you ever wondered how to make chocolate pie at home? Let’s learn how to make an easy no-bake chocolate pie with chocolate Jell-o pudding to thicken.
Easy Chocolate Pie Recipe
Today we want to talk about classic chocolate pie. You can make chocolate pie at home totally from scratch (we’ll tackle that recipe soon enough), but today we’re starting out simple for all of our friends who want to make their first chocolate pie or who just want a quick and easy no-bake pie recipe.
For the base of this pie, I used my mom’s magic pie crust because it turns out perfectly flaky every time and it isn’t hard to work with. It’s especially great for beginner pie crust makers! The recipe I’ve linked to makes two pie crusts, so I recommend freezing the leftover pie dough wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and inside of a zip-top bag. When you take it out of the freezer, just let it rest in the fridge to become workable.
For the no-bake chocolate pie filling, we used instant Jell-O pudding. And to prevent this Jell-O pudding pie from tasting like straight up boxed pudding mix, we also added in some sweetened condensed milk and cream cheese. Both of these ingredients help to thicken the chocolate pie filling, so you don’t have to worry about something not setting up right in the fridge.
To top this easy chocolate pie, we made a stabilized whipped cream using unflavored gelatin. I like making stabilized whipped cream because I can decorate this Jell-O chocolate pudding pie a whole day ahead and it stays beautiful.
This Jell-O pudding pie really is such a cinch to make and it’s a beautiful pie that guests will never guess you took shortcuts with. We hope you love it!
No-Bake Chocolate Pie Ingredients
This Jell-O chocolate pudding pie requires a little extra time to assemble, but the ingredients list is simple. Here’s what you’ll need to make this homemade chocolate pie:
- Pie crust
- Whole milk
- Chocolate milk
- Cream cheese
- Sweetened condensed milk
- Cool Whip
- Chocolate bar
- Unflavored gelatin
- Cold water
- Heavy cream
- Powdered sugar
- Vanilla extract
How to Make Chocolate Pie
This easy chocolate pie recipe takes just over half an hour to prep. Here’s the basic rundown of how to make this delicious no-bake dessert:
- Roll out and blind bake the pie crust (see our lemon meringue pie post for details on blind baking). Once baked, set aside to cool.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the pudding and milk.
- In another bowl, beat together the cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk.
- Stir the pudding into the cream cheese mixture, then fold in the whipped cream.
- Spoon the filling into the cooled crust and chill for at least an hour before serving.
- Once the chocolate pie has fully set, make the stabilized whipped cream and pipe it onto the pie.
- Garnish the chocolate pudding pie with chocolate shavings, slice, and serve.
How to Store No-Bake Chocolate Pie
Freshly made chocolate pie will keep for about 3 to 4 days in the fridge. To store the pie, refrigerate it covered loosely with aluminum foil or plastic wrap. Note that chocolate pie left out at room temperature for more than 2 hours should be discarded.
Can I Prep This Pie in Advance?
Yes, because this easy chocolate pie recipe uses stabilized whipped cream you can prep and decorate the entire pie a day before you plan on serving it. Just be extra careful when covering the pie with plastic wrap as you don’t want to ruin your beautiful decorations!
Can You Freeze No-Bake Chocolate Pie?
Jell-O pudding pie does not freeze well, so you’ll want to enjoy it within 3 to 4 days of making it.
Tips for Making the Best Chocolate Pie
To make this an entirely no-bake pie recipe, you’re welcome to make a graham cracker crust instead of a regular pie crust (you can also buy pre-made graham cracker crusts at the store). Chocolate graham crackers or even vanilla wafers would make a great crust too!
Also note that you need to use instant pudding for this Jell-O pudding pie recipe. If you buy the type of pudding that needs to be cooked on the stove, your chocolate pie won’t set up right.
And finally, a few notes on the stabilized whipped cream. If you’ve been searching for how to make stabilized whipped cream using gelatin, you’ll find a lot of different recipes out there. Unfortunately, a lot of the stabilized whipped creams turn out lumpy, gross, or don’t stiffen up. There are many reasons for this, but the biggest is that the user let the gelatin sit for too long or let it warm up in the microwave for too long. Follow the directions in the recipe card below exactly as I’ve written them, and make sure you very slowly drizzle the gelatin in when it’s time.
More No-Bake Pie Recipes:
- No-Bake Oreo Pie with Chocolate Graham Cracker Crust
- No-Bake Pumpkin Pie with Gingersnap Crust
- No-Bake Lemon Cream Pie
- No-Bake Snickers Caramel Apple Pie
- No-Bake Banana Cream Pie
Easy No-Bake Chocolate Pie
Ingredients
- 1 [Pie Crust], blind baked (see note)
- 2 Package Chocolate Fudge Pudding, 3.4oz packages, instant
- 1 Cup Whole Milk
- 1 Cup Chocolate Milk
- 8 Ounces Cream Cheese, softened
- 14 Ounce Can Sweetened Condensed Milk
- 4½ Cups Cool Whip or Fresh Whipped Cream
- 1 Chocolate Bar, for garnish
For the stabilized whipped cream
- 4 teaspoons Cold Water
- 1 teaspoon Unflavored Gelatin, found by the jell-o
- 1 Cup Heavy Cream
- 3/4 Cup Powdered Sugar, less if you prefer it less sweet
- 1/4 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Instructions
For the pie crust:
- Prepare the crust as directed.1 [Pie Crust]
- Place one disc in plastic wrap and in a freezer bag and store in the freezer for another time.
- Roll out the second dough in the 9" pie plate, crimp the edges and dock, or in other words, poke with a fork all over the inside and bake for 15-20 minutes.
- Allow to cool while you prepare the filling.
For the filling:
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the pudding and milk.2 Package Chocolate Fudge Pudding, 1 Cup Whole Milk, 1 Cup Chocolate Milk
- Set aside to thicken.
- In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth.8 Ounces Cream Cheese
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the sweetened condensed milk.14 Ounce Can Sweetened Condensed Milk
- Beat until smooth and scrape down the sides of the bowl again.
- Stir the pudding into the cream cheese mixture and fold in half of the whipped cream and then the remaining whipped cream.4½ Cups Cool Whip or Fresh Whipped Cream
- Fill the pie crust.
- Place in the fridge to chill for 1 hour before serving.
- Pipe the whipped cream and using a peeler, shave chocolate all over the top.1 Chocolate Bar
For the whipped cream:
- Place cold water in small bowl and sprinkle the gelatin over it.4 teaspoons Cold Water, 1 teaspoon Unflavored Gelatin
- Let the gelatin sit for 5 minutes without stirring.
- Once the gelatin is set, place bowl in microwave and heat until gelatin turns to liquid, about 10 seconds.
- Meanwhile, quickly place heavy cream in the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment or in a mixing bowl and use a handheld mixer.1 Cup Heavy Cream
- Beat the cream until it starts to thicken, about 1 minute, add the powdered sugar and vanilla and then with the mixer on high, very slowly in a small steady stream, drizzle in the gelatin.3/4 Cup Powdered Sugar, 1/4 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- Continue beating the cream until stiff peaks form.
- Pipe the whipped cream around the edges.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I made the biggest mess with the chocolate pudding making this simple pie. I’m thinking maybe a typo and should have been only 1 box ( 3.4 oz) of pudding instead of 2. It was very thick and difficult to mix and I had too much to fit in the pie crust. Thoughts?
Hi Amber! It should be just about right to fill one standard (9 inch) pie crust. For the pudding, you just use the pudding powder, you don’t make the pudding first. I hope that makes sense! So you mix the two boxes of pudding powder with the milk in the first step for making the filling. Let me know if that doesn’t make sense or if you have any more questions.
We all loved this pie! Like some others, I also ended up with quite a bit extra filling. I used it to make a few little crustless pies and we’ll enjoy them tomorrow. Thank you for the quick and wonderful recipe. My young kids really helped with this recipe and were pleased that it looked so pretty.
Thank you Mickaela! It is a great recipe for having the kids help!
Hello I’m looking forward to trying your recipes.
Welcome Mildred! Thank you! Let us know what you think!
What brand of pudding did you use? I went to get some and it’s the night before thanksgiving and of course they were out of so many! So I just grabbed what they had but it wasn’t chocolate fudge. I am sure it will still taste good!