Dirt cups are simple and easy-to-make Halloween treats. It’s a layered dessert that has a chocolate pudding layer topped with OREO crumbs and gummy creatures on top.
Halloween dirt pudding cups are a great last-minute treat for a spooky night!
Jump to:
Dirt pudding cups
- Halloween treats to me have to be “creepy” and “cute”. These dirt pudding cups topped with gummy creatures are perfect if you are after not-too-spooky (read gross) treats. And these are great options for last-minute Halloween party treats.
- Everyone kids and adults alike will love these layered dessert cups. Chocolate pudding layers and OREO crumb on top! It’s so much fun! And did I mention how easy it is to make these treats?!
- If you are looking for creative and fun treats, not just for Halloween but any party you’ll want to save this dirt cup recipe.
- It’s easy to customize and create your treats according to the party theme. If your kid wants to have a dinosaur-themed birthday party, make these dirt dessert cups and top them with dinosaur creatures.
- Looking for easy and creative football or Super bowl themed treats? Layer pudding cups with Oreo crumbs, and pudding mix, and top it with green-colored whipping cream with football-themed cookies on top.
Dirt cups ingredients
The best part about the chocolate pudding dirt cup is it only needs 5 ingredients. You can whip up dozens of these dessert cups in less than 10 minutes with your kids.
You’ll need-
- Chocolate pudding mix
- Chilled milk
- Cool whip
- OREO cookies
- And gummy creatures!
All the ingredients’ exact measurements are mentioned in the recipe card below.
Variations and substitutions for dirt cup recipe
You can use vanilla wafers, vanilla pudding or even cream cheese pudding in place of chocolate pudding.
Adding golden OREO sand (or crumb) is another option to make brownish dirt cake cups.
Gummy candies can be replaces with chocolate (theme colored chocolate melts) cookies like Milano. You can use pretzels sticks too.
To make an adult version of a dirt cup, add in alcohol to the chocolate pudding mix and stir in alcohol. The best options would be baileys, Kahlua, Amaretto, or even Grand Marnier.
How to make Halloween dirt cups
Mix chocolate pudding mix with chilled milk. Stir in cool whip. Crumble OREO cookies. And start layering!
The creative options are endless. Use your creativity. You can keep it adorable with gummy worms or make it a scary graveyard with scary Halloween candies. The choice is yours!
To make it easy, use store-bought pudding mix(JELLO-O mix is great) and Cool Whip. If you have time, feel free to make your chocolate pudding mix and use homemade whipping cream instead of cool whipped.
Beat heavy whipping cream and powdered sugar in a hand blender until stiff peaks form will hardly take 5 minutes.
Thaw frozen cool whip in refrigerator previous night.
STEP 1: Beat pudding mix with chilled milk until combined.
STEP 2: Fold cool whip into pudding. You can also use whipped cream instead of Cool Whip.
STEP 3: Crumble OREO cookies in a food processor. You can also place cookies in zip-lock bags and run a rolling pin over them to crumble them.
Step 4: Start assembling the dessert cups. Into pudding cups, add chocolate pudding.
STEP 5: Top it with OREO crumbs. You can make one layer of each or make multiple layers of pudding and cookie crumbs, up to you.
Step 6: Finally, top it with gummy candies.
These pudding cups are best served chilled.
Topping variations
Gummy candy – All and any gummy candies can be used. Gummy bears, gummy worms, crocodile-shaped gummies, Swedish fish.
Cookies – Milano cookies dipped in the black chocolate melt to resemble graveyard stones.
Animal shaped crackers.
Peanuts butter cups crumbled.
Toffees and candy confetti.
You can get as creative as you want.
Useful tips and tricks
- Crush OREO cookies in a food processor if you want to find a dirt pudding layer. You can also crush OREO in the zip-lock bag using a rolling pin.
- If you plan to make chocolate pudding cups ahead of time, be sure to add the cookie crumb just before serving. Once assembled cookie crumbs will soften and leaving them in the refrigerator for a longer time (days) will tend to make the crumb soggy and gummies will harden.
Common questions
The pudding cups are great for making ahead desserts.
But be sure to add the cookie crumb just before serving. Once assembled cookie crumbs will soften. Don’t add cookie crumbs until ready to serve. Keep your cookie crumbs in zip lock bags at room temperature.
When ready to serve, sprinkle cookie crumbs on top of the chilled pudding, top with Halloween candies, and serve.
Using a rolling pin or pestle of mortar smack OREO in the packet. You can also transfer OREO cookies in the zip-lock bag and crush them using a rolling pin.
Yes, you can.
MORE LAST MINUTE HALLOWEEN RECIPES –
Don’t forget to Subscribe to CurryTrail Recipes below to get our newest recipes delivered straight to your inbox.
LOVE THIS RECIPE? KEEP IN TOUCH AND DON’T MISS OUT ON ANY OF CURRYTRAIL RECIPES! FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM, PINTEREST AND FACEBOOK.
HAVE YOU TRIED ONE OF MY RECIPES? I’D LOVE TO SEE WHAT YOU’VE MADE! TAKE A PICTURE AND USE THE HASHTAG #CURRYTRAIL ON INSTAGRAM SO I CAN SEE! I’LL DO A HAPPY DANCE IF YOU TRY MY RECIPE AND SHARE IT WITH US!
Dirt Cups
Ingredients
- 1 pack 3.9oz Jello-O Chocolate Pudding Mix
- 2 cups cold milk measure milk as per packet instructions
- ½ cup cool whip
- 15 OREO cookies crushed (about 1 ½ cups to be divided)
- 12 Gummy worms
Instructions
- Thaw frozen cool whip in refrigerator previous night(if frozen).
- Beat pudding mix with chilled milk until combined.
- Fold in cool whip into pudding.
- Crumble OREO cookies in food processor. Alternatively you can also place cookies in zip lock bags and run rolling pin over it to crumble.
- Now start assembling the dessert cups.
- Into pudding cups, add chocolate pudding.
- Then layer it with OREO crumbs.
- You can make one layer of each or make multiple layers of pudding and cookie crumb, up to you.
- Finally top it with gummy candies.
- These pudding cups are best served chilled.
Video
Notes
- Use store-bought pudding mix(JELLO-O mix is great) and store-bought Cool Whip to make it quick. To make it from scratch feel free to make your chocolate pudding mix and use whipped cream instead of Cool Whip.
- Crush OREO cookies in a food processor if you want to find a dirt pudding layer. You can also crush OREO in the zip-lock bag using a rolling pin.
- If you plan to make chocolate pudding cups ahead of time, be sure to add the cookie crumb just before serving. Once assembled cookie crumbs will soften and leaving them in the refrigerator for a longer time (days) will tend to make the crumbs soggy and gummies will harden.
Nutrition
Created by Jyothi Rajesh
Thank you for stopping by.
Jyothi Rajesh is the founder of the food blog, Curry Trail. She lives in Bangalore, India and is the mom of two beautiful kids. Her passion is creating and sharing delicious and easy recipes for the home cook. She’s been blogging since 2007 and many of her recipes have appeared in both online and print publications over the years. Learn more about Jyothi Rajesh.
Comments & Reviews
Natalie says
What a lovely and fun idea. My kids will love this one. Maybe they can help me make these. What a fun indeed.
jyothirajesh says
Thank you
Amy says
What a fun treat! My kids are going g to love this! I love how creamy the pudding looks too. Thanks for the recipe I’m going to make it this Halloween!
jyothirajesh says
thank you Amy
Sara says
I am absolutely crazy about these! It’s so easy to make, it’s so perfect and reminds me of my favorite treat as a kid! There’s something about the chocolate pudding mix and whipped topping that makes a delicious, light texture that goes down way too easily. Thank you for such a great recipe!
jyothirajesh says
You are right Sara, pudding cups are absolute delight to eat.
Kate says
Wow this really brings me back, I remember having something like this when I was a kid. But I’ve never actually made this recipe myself! Now that I have kids of my own I’m going to have to make this recipe for them, I know they will love it!
jyothirajesh says
Thank you Kate
Leanne says
I make a version of these for Easter/Spring gatherings that use bunny shaped marshmallow peeps and gummy carrots. I really need to make these for Halloween later this week. My nephews would love them with those gummy worms!
jyothirajesh says
Thank you
Paula Montenegro says
They look delicious in spite of the worms, haha! Easy and everyday ingredients make this recipe a perfect one for this Halloween. And having individual servings is super convenient.
jyothirajesh says
Thank you Paula
Shelley says
These really are adorable, and dirt cups are always such a hit! But what I especially loved were your ideas on how to customize these so you can enjoy them any time of year – not just at Halloween! Dinosaur birthday parties and football parties – those are such great ideas!
jyothirajesh says
Thank you
Candice says
These are adorable! Made them for my friends kiddos, and they thought they were the cutest, too. Such a great idea. Will be making them all month!
jyothirajesh says
Glad you liked it Candice
Marisa F. Stewart says
What an adorable idea. My youngest grandson would love these dirt cups. This is the first Halloween I’ll be with him and I’m making these cups as a surprise. I’m going to have to go out and find a gummy worm.
jyothirajesh says
Glad you liked it Marisa
Patti says
This is one of my family’s traditional Halloween desserts which we serve after we come home from Trick or Treating. We usually throw it into a 9X13 pan and decorate it with cookies to make a graveyard, but I really like the idea of having it in cups instead. Cups create some portion control, and it makes it so much easier to serve because each person can just grab their own. Great idea.
jyothirajesh says
Thank you Patti