The Native Indian pudding is a combination of cornmeal and molasses and is often mixed with fruits like apples and raisins before being baked. For added flavor, cooks add either molasses or maple syrup. Other ingredients they added include cinnamon, ground ginger, butter, eggs and nuts.

National Indian Pudding Day is a day to enjoy pudding on November 13th each year.

In the seventeenth century, English colonists brought hasty pudding to North America and transformed it. The colonists first made the pudding with wheat, but due to a shortage of grain, they eventually used cornmeal. Since the colonists had learned from the indigenous peoples how to cultivate maize (corn) from corn kernels, cornmeal was readily available. The pudding was made with milk, sugar, butter, and flour. As time went on, more ingredients were added to the dish such as eggs and fruit. It was popular at Thanksgiving meals in the late 19th century, but now only retains its popularity in the New England region.