Amish Pearl Tapioca Pudding Recipe - Amish Heritage (2024)

Tapioca pearls on their own are relatively tasteless. (Funny enough, my brother used to call them fish eggs 🙂 .) But the pearls will absorb the flavor of whatever they are cooked in.

In recent years, adding tapioca pearls to tea has become commonly known as bubble tea. I'm not that fond of bubble tea, but I sure do love a bowl full of creamy pearl tapioca pudding. (Edited to add, that I now also enjoy bubble tea. 🙂 My daughters got me hooked. lol)

Tapioca Pudding with Large Pearls

You can use large pearls to make Amish tapioca pudding, although I usually use medium or mini pearls.

When using large pearls, you will have to adjust the cooking time, and I suggest that you soak large pearls in water for several hours before cooking them in the milk. Soaking the pearls will help to soften them. Of course, you want to drain all the water off when they are finished soaking.

You can usually find pearl tapioca at Amish or Mennonite bulk food stores. And feel free to use any size of tapioca pearls that you desire. However, this recipe has been made using mini pearls because that is what my local bulk food store carries.

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Tapioca Pearls Recipe Made in a Double Boiler

I usually use my double boiler to make this old-fashioned tapioca pudding. You don't have to use a double boiler. But it is easier to make tapioca pudding in a double boiler because you don't constantly have to stir it to keep it from burning.

In case you don't know what a double boiler is, it is two pans that fit together. Water goes into the bottom pan, so you are basically steam-cooking your pudding.

I was fortunate enough to get my Amish mom's double boiler, and it also has a steamer pan which I love using to steam vegetables.

How to Make Tapioca Pudding with Pearls

If you don't have a double boiler, you will have to cook your tapioca pudding over lower heat and stir it quite frequently to avoid burning the pudding. You could also partially heat the milk before adding the tapioca pearls.

Pour the milk into your double boiler pan, add the tapioca pearls, stir, and cook over medium heat until the pearls are clear. For the baby tapioca, this takes about 40 - 45 minutes. It may take longer for larger pearls. Stir occasionally to keep the pearls from sticking together.

While your tapioca pearls are cooking, whisk the eggs, sugar, salt, and vanilla in a small bowl. When the pearls are clear, add a bit of the hot milk to the egg mixture to temper the eggs and avoid curdling.

Slowly pour the egg mixture into the milk, stirring constantly. Continue cooking for several minutes until the mixture starts to thicken. Do not let the pudding come to a boil. Remove from the heat and cool.

Amish Pudding

Amish tapioca pudding is another one of those foods that we ate quite frequently in our home. Growing up on a dairy farm, we always had plenty of milk to use. Pudding is an easy dessert to make, and it's great served with cake, chocolate chip bars, pies, etc.

Many Amish cooks typically serve more than one dish for dessert. Most of their meals include a lot of different dishes that complement each other. And the same is true for dessert.

They usually have several Amish desserts that go well together. So we often had cake (such as chocolate cake or oatmeal cake) and homemade pudding, along with canned peaches or fruit salad for dessert.

And, of course, tapioca pudding is also a great snack for any time of the day.

Here is my Amish Cornstarch Pudding Recipe, another easy-to-make pudding that we ate with many meals.

I hope you enjoy this Amish Pearl Tapioca Pudding Recipe. If you try it, I'd love to hear from you in the comments below.

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