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This no bake chocolate pudding dirt cups recipe combines layers of pudding and crushed Oreo cookies with gummy worms for a fun, delicious, and easy dirt and worms dessert.
This recipe is a great food prank for April Fool’s Day or icky treat for Halloween. Kids and adults both love it! Depending on how far you want to take it, you can make these look very realistic or super gross.
For April Fool’s Day, you can add serve these pudding cups in food-grade small flower pots. (Or simply line regular small-sized flower pots with plastic wrap.) Add a few edible flowers on top and you have a beautiful treat that can look fairly realistic.
Alternatively, you can go the Halloween route and make these dirt cups extra disgusting. The trick is to get gummy worms that look as life-like as possible. Amazon has more realistic gummy worm candy available.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- It’s quick and easy with just three ingredients. And this recipe is easy to cut in half or make a bigger batch of!
- You can use instant pudding or make your own; either way works fine, so use what you have on hand or what your schedule allows.
- Kids love making dirt and worms too, so this is a fun project to do together. It’s also great for classroom parties!
- Worms in dirt is surprisingly delicious!
Ingredients
Breaking It Down
Ingredients Explained
In this section I explain the ingredients and give substitution ideas where applicable. For the full recipe (including the ingredient amounts), see the recipe card below.
- Prepared chocolate pudding – Instant or homemade will work fine. (TIP: Make sure it’s chilled so it’s fully set before assembling your dirt cups.)
- Oreo cookies – I use regular Oreos here, but Double Stuf or Thins will also work well.
- Gummy worms candy – Our dirt pudding dessert cups need worms!
How to Make No Bake Chocolate Dirt Pudding With Gummy Worms
- Crush the Oreo cookies.
- Spoon some chocolate pudding into serving cups.
- Add a layer of crushed Oreos. Repeat the layering so you end up with 2 layers of pudding and 2 layers of cookie crumbles per cup (with a layer of crushed cookies on top).
- Decorate with gummy worm candy and enjoy!
Storage
Dirt pudding parfaits will stay good for up to 5 days stored covered in the fridge. Note that the cookie crumbs will get softer the longer this sits (which is my personal preference!). (TIP: If you want to make this in advance, for the best texture I recommend holding off on adding the gummy worm candy until right before serving.)
Tips For the Best Worms in Dirt Dessert
- Crush the Oreos finely. The more you crush the cookies, the more it will resemble dirt and the more realistic this dirt pudding dessert will look.
- To make it look more convincing, build the parfaits in small food-grade flower pots. Or line small-sized regular flower pots with plastic wrap.
- Have fun with the toppings. You can add edible flowers to make it pretty, or make it look completely disgusting with more realistic-looking candy worms like these ones on Amazon.
Frequently Asked Questions
I don’t recommend freezing these dessert cups because the texture of the crushed Oreos and pudding changes. The cookies have a tendency to get soggy after freezing and thawing, and the pudding can become watery.
Yes! You can use any type of pudding you like. You can make it from-scratch, use a boxed pudding mix (instant works well), or keep it really simple and use pre-made store-bought pudding.
To make this look as realistic possible, chocolate pudding and regular Oreo cookies work well. The chocolate pudding simulates “mud” and the crushed regular Oreo cookies replicate “dirt”. Hello, dirt pudding!
However, if keeping this looking realistic isn’t a concern, you can use any flavor of pudding and Oreos you want.
More Chocolate Treats
- Black Forest Hot Chocolate
- Brigadeiro (Fudgy Brazilian Chocolate Truffles)
- Mexican-Spiced Triple Chocolate Muffins
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Chocolate Pudding Dirt Cups Recipe (aka Worms in Dirt Dessert)
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Ingredients
- 4 cups prepared chocolate pudding instant or homemade (see Notes)
- 20 Oreo cookies crushed
- 16 gummy worms candy for garnish
Instructions
- Crush the Oreo cookies. Put the Oreos in a plastic gallon-sized zip-top bag. Crush them with a rolling pin. Alternatively, to get them very finely pulverized, you can use a food processor.
- Layer the parfaits. Spoon some chocolate pudding into the bottom of each of 8 individual-sized serving cups, and then add a layer of crushed Oreos.Repeat the layering so you end up with 2 layers of pudding and 2 layers of cookie crumbles per cup (with a layer of crushed cookies on top).
- Finishing touch. Decorate the tops with gummy worm candy and enjoy!
Notes
- Prepared Chocolate Pudding: Any prepared chocolate pudding will work here, just make sure it’s chilled and fully set before assembling these parfaits. Instant boxed pudding is my go-to; to get 4 cups of prepared pudding, you will need 2 (3.9 ounce) boxes of instant pudding mix and 4 cups of milk.
- Finely Crush the Oreos: The more you crush the cookies, the more it will resemble dirt and the more realistic this dessert will look.
- To Make it Look More Convincing: Build the parfaits in food-grade flower pots. Or line regular flower pots with plastic wrap.
- Toppings: You can add edible flowers to make it pretty, or make it look completely disgusting with more realistic-looking candy worms like these gummy worms on Amazon.
- Storage: Dirt pudding parfaits will stay good for up to 5 days stored covered in the fridge. Note that the cookie crumbs will get softer the longer this sits (which is my personal preference!). (TIP: If you want to make this in advance, for the best texture I recommend holding off on adding the gummy worm candy until right before serving.)
Nutrition
Nutritional information is automatically calculated and should be used as an approximate.
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This post was first published on An Edible Mosaic on April 1, 2010 and updated on March 30, 2026.
I’m the writer, recipe developer, photographer, and food stylist behind this blog. I love finding the human connection through something we all do every day: eat! Food is a common ground that we can all relate to, and our tables tell a story. It’s my goal to inspire you to get in the kitchen, try something new, and find a favorite you didn’t know you had.
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Your worms and dirt look so yummy! This would of been a great treat to make for my nephews who were visiting! I will have to keep it in mind for next time.
I love it! Made these a while back and the kids screamed with laughter and then gobbled it all up!
This looks fantastic! This will be a must-try!!! =)
Ah such a delicious summery dessert. I love this! Such a cool, creamy treat. And it’s just so adorable to look at too! I find things like this- trifles and such- to be such a great thing to bring to a party because it’s always a hit- love the worms too!
I had this once and thought it was the most fun dessert ever! I forgot all about it until today! Great idea for Easter!
OMG hahahaha I LOVE this! Used to be my absolute favorite dessert as a kid…so fun!
That looks so delicious…..I would love to be a worm to and be inside that cup :) Fantastic.
How cute!
wooo… this looks dirty, but awesome! I can imagine the mix of texture and intense chocolate! love it~
This was my absolute FAVORITE dessert as a kid. Whenever anyone’s mom brought this into the class for a birthday…I absolutely died and went to heaven. Thanks for bringing back some really good memories! And sharing the recipe!
I used to make this in school when I was little! Only without the whipped cream – that was too complicated for a young ‘un :) I used to eat a ton of those gummi worms. Wow, this recipe really brings me back. Yum!
Can’t wait to see the Easter recipes!
I think this is cute. Have you heard of the kitty litter cake? That’s the one I want to try! You crumble up a cake in a new & clean kitty litter box and melt tootsie rolls so you can bend and stretch them to look like kitty poop and you put them on top of the cake! People like to do it for Haloween but it would be good for April Fools too!
Ok, not very pretty but I bet it tastes great. When we were kids I used to put string in pancakes and thought it was HI-larious. Boy, your worms and dirt is a lot nicer way to get a chuckle on April fools.
Worms in dirt looks absolutely gorgeous! Brilliant April Fool’s and marvellously tasty :)
I use to make worms in dirt when my kids were small. In fact I’m sure they would still want to eat it.
Mimi
I haven’t had worms in dirt since I can’t even remember. Adorable and scrumptious! Perfect April Fools’ Day fare!
Very cute :) I really need to make this some time. Happy April Fool’s Day to you.
ah, definitely a fun one. i certainly wouldn’t mind being fooled if this were at the end of it. :)
*worms in dirt – sorry!
I think more delicious without the worms! YUM! My brother always used to request works in dirt for his birthday dessert. He was never for the traditional cake ;) I love this recipe, it sounds divine with the heavy whipping cream whipped to peaks….yummmm!
This is one Fear Factor dish I would happily chow down! I like it :-)
yum! i want worms in dirt-how delicious :)
My kids LOVE worms in dirt!
LOL you are so funny! I love it and it’s the perfect Halloween dessert! :D
YUCK! That’s so gross! But I’d happily eat this pile of ‘dirt’ :) Could be a wonderful Halloween treat as well!
Ha ha ha…..so cut……e …nottttttttttt…i’ll take ’em w/o the worms and they sure do look delicious……