Rainbow Pudding Cups are cool and creamy treats that will brighten up any birthday, St. Patrick’s Day celebration, or rainbow-themed party.
Rainbow Pudding
Our no cook Rainbow Pudding Cups take only 10 minutes to prepare using a packet of instant cheesecake pudding combined with Cool Whip and then dressing up the mixture with drops of food coloring.
This rainbow recipe is the easiest and prettiest way to layer multi-colored pudding in plastic cups, then pile it high with whipped cream, rainbow sprinkles, and a cherry on top.
Kids love creating food crafts at home and have fun helping adults in the kitchen; let them mix, layer, and add their favorite toppings to make a tasty treat that delivers lots of laughter and some serious smiles.
Why We Love This Layered Pudding Recipe
- Quick and easy to make in 10 minutes.
- Uses a handful of simple ingredients.
- Rainbow food is fun and kid-friendly.
- Pudding cup recipes are a cute craft idea for holidays and themed parties.
- Perfect for rainbow parties, Pride celebrations, after-school snacks, or just to make your day more colorful.
Rainbow Pudding Cups Ingredients
- Cheesecake Jello instant pudding
- Milk
- Frozen whipping topping
- Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple gel food coloring
- Canned whipped topping
- Rainbow sprinkles
- Stemmed maraschino cherries
Substitutions and Additions
- Pick Your Pudding: Cheesecake flavor pudding works best for this recipe since the coloring of the pudding is more “white” than “off-white”. You can also try using vanilla pudding or white chocolate pudding for a different flavored dessert.
- Tasty Toppings: I love topping my pudding parfaits with a dollop of whipped topping, sprinkles, and a cherry. Feel free to sprinkle some of your favorites on top, like chocolate chips, nuts, crushed cookies, M&Ms, or candy pieces.
Recommended Tools
- Mixing bowls
- Whisk or electric hand mixer
- Rubber spatula
- Clear plastic cups
How to Make Rainbow Pudding Cups
- Prepare The Pudding: Mix together the pudding and milk and chill in the fridge for 5-10 minutes to stiffen up. Add in the whipped topping and mix until fully combined.
- Create The Colors: Separate the mixture into 6 bowls. Add different food coloring gel to each bowl.
- Assemble: Add purple pudding mix into the bottom of each plastic cup. Top with each of the remaining colors, following the order of the rainbow and finishing with red.
- Decorate Your Dessert: Top with whipped topping, sprinkles, and a cherry.
- Serve: Chill for 30 minutes before serving. Enjoy!
Tips For Making Rainbow Pudding Cups
- If and when transporting these cups, place them onto a large baking sheet then transport them.
- For this recipe, I use a traditional package of gel food coloring and a neon-colored package of gel food coloring to obtain all 6 colors of the rainbow.
- Be sure to purchase instant pudding and not cook and serve pudding. Otherwise the mixture will not reach the consistency in which you need it to in order to set.
How to Store Rainbow Pudding Cups
- To Store: Store any leftovers tightly covered with plastic wrap in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
More Easy Rainbow Recipes
Other Easy Pudding Recipes
- Walking Banana Pudding
- Pudding Cake
- Chocolate Pudding Cookies
- Pudding Fruit Salad
- Banana Split Pudding Cups
Rainbow Pudding Cups
Serves — 6
Rainbow Pudding Cups are an easy treat that's perfectly sweet for a Rainbow party, Pride celebration, or Unicorn themed sleep over.
Prep Time 10 minutes
Chill Time 40 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Ingredients
- 3.4 ounces cheesecake Jello instant pudding
- 2 cups cold milk
- 8 ounce tub of frozen whipping topping thawed at room temperature
- Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple gel food coloring
- Canned whipped topping for garnishing
- Rainbow sprinkles for garnishing
- Stemmed maraschino cherries for garnishing
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, mix together pudding and milk with a whisk or electric hand mixer. Mix until well combined.
- Place the bowl inside the refrigerator for about 5-10 minutes for the pudding to stiffen up.
- Remove from the refrigerator and add in whipped topping. Mix using a rubber spatula until fully combined.
- Separate mixture equally into 6 small mixing bowls.
- Add food coloring gel to each of the bowls until you’ve reached your desired shade of colors.
- Begin to assemble your cups. Add about 2-3 tablespoons of purple pudding mix into the bottom of a 9 oz clear plastic cup. Top with 3 oz of each of the remaining coloring, following the order of the rainbow (purple > blue > green > yellow > orange > red). You will finish by topping the cups with red.
- Top with whipped topping, sprinkles, and a cherry.
- Chill for 30 minutes before serving.
Jenn’s Notes
Storage:
- To Store: Store any leftovers tightly covered with plastic wrap in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
- If and when transporting these cups, place them onto a large baking sheet then transport them.
- For this recipe I use a traditional package of gel food coloring and a neon-colored package of gel food coloring to obtain all 6 colors of the rainbow.
- Be sure to purchase instant pudding and not cook and serve pudding. Otherwise the mixture will not reach the consistency in which you need it to in order to set.
Nutrition Info
Calories: 195kcal | Carbohydrates: 27g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 11mg | Sodium: 281mg | Potassium: 160mg | Sugar: 25g | Vitamin A: 160IU | Calcium: 127mg | Iron: 0.04mg
