| Level: | Intermediate |
| Total: | 16 hr 25 min |
| Prep: | 10 min |
| Inactive: | 14 hr |
| Cook: | 2 hr 15 min |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 ounces large pearl tapioca, approximately 1/2 cup
- 2 cups cold water
- 2 1/2 cups whole milk
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 egg yolk
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 lemon, zested
- Pinch salt
Instructions
- Place tapioca in a medium mixing bowl along with the water, cover, and let stand overnight.
- Drain water from tapioca. Place the tapioca into a slow cooker along with the milk, heavy cream, and salt. Cook on high for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the egg yolk and sugar. Temper small amounts of the tapioca into the egg mixture until you have added at least 1 cup. Then add this back into the remaining tapioca in the slow cooker. Add the lemon zest and stir to combine. Cook for an additional 15 minutes, stirring at least once. Transfer the pudding to a bowl and cover the surface with plastic wrap. Allow to cool at room temperature for 1 hour and then place in the refrigerator until thoroughly chilled.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 4 servings |
| Calories | 364 |
| Total Fat | 17 g |
| Saturated Fat | 10 g |
| Carbohydrates | 48 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Sugar | 26 g |
| Protein | 6 g |
| Cholesterol | 93 mg |
| Sodium | 121 mg |
Reviews
I soaked my large pearl tapioca overnight (8 hours) and it was total mush. Never even got to make the pudding. SO disappointing.
While I trust Alton almost implicitly, this is unlike any other recipe for tapioca pudding I have ever seen or made. The large pearl is unusual, as is the slow cooker and lemon zest, along with the lack of vanilla (almost unique in American tapioca pudding).
That doesn’t mean I don’t love it. For those who have a problem with the pudding not thickening, make sure you have fully drained the tapioca. Even a little excess water can ruin things.
As a note from my favorite ever tapioca pudding from childhood, a local restaurant which sadly no longer exists, separate and whip the egg whites as you would for meringue and fold them in just after adding the lemon zest (or vanilla) and just before chilling. It adds a fantastic additional texture that I personally adore.
Tapioca soup 🙁 Followed the recipe exact (no substitutions). 1 hour room temp. – 2 hours in the fridge. Still soup. Only way I was able to thicken was put it back on the stove and add some minute tapioca.
I’m revising my review to say that an oval crockpot works great. Round not so much.
I followed recipe except for lemon zest. Mine also was soupy even chilled. I brought it to hard simmer on stove and it thickened right up. I used a one quart, round crockpot the pudding never really simmered. Next time I’ll try it in 3 quart oval. That should do the trick. The pudding is wonderful.
This came out wonderful! All you have to do is follow the recipe and don’t substitute ingredients (much). I didn’t have enough whole milk so I used extra heavy cream. I used good quality double-strength vanilla extract instead of lemon. Make sure you soak the tapioca and drain with a colander. If you use 2% or 1% milk, or sub half and half for the cream, you won’t have enough fat and protein to get the proper texture. That’s on you, not the recipe.
Tapioca soup. I made the mistake of trying to make it twice, because the first time I doubled the recipe, and assumed that was the problem. So I tried again. Same soup. Stay away from this. I should have had a clue when I saw lemon was suggested. Crap recipe.
Did just what he said to do and it came out prefect, Alton is the “Man” all you people must be first Grader Cooks.
So simple and delicious!!
Flavor is great but this method proced a gooey, gluey, sticky kind of glop rather than the custard-with-tapioca beads that I prefer. I think soaking the tapioca overnight is a mistake; much less time would do the trick for me.