A frosty vanilla milkshake that is both sweet and salty, and flecked with mood-boosting chocolate and fresh nutty granola. This creamy drink is easy to make with ingredients you have on hand, and is refined-sugar-free, dairy-free and vegan.
Salted Granola Vanilla Milkshake
This vanilla milkshake reminds of milkshake days gone by, only this one is healthy and light!
The milkshakes in my life have always meant sweet creamy decadence that is not necessarily nutritional, and very high in calories and sugar. As a child, I remember loving a vanilla dairy shake from a local ice cream shop near my home.
But now in my cleaner eating stage in life, I wanted one that would make me feel great, not loggy and sugar-saturated.
So I set about making this one, adding in my favorite ingredients to build a healthy vanilla milkshake.
This milkshake is both salty and sweet, buttery and cookies-and-cream-ish..is that a word? WordPress spell-check doesn’t think so, haha.
I love this creamy dreamy drink and it is nutritious enough for an energy-boosting breakfast as well, of course, as a wonderful snack at any time of day.
The shake is also fairly light, as well as refined-sugar-free, dairy-free and vegan.
How Healthy is This Vanilla Milkshake?
The nutrition comes from every ingredient, including the milk, nut butter, cauliflower, dark chocolate chips and granola.
The milk and nut butter provide the creaminess as well as protein.
Cauliflower is an important ingredient in this recipe because it adds creaminess as well as incredible nutrition.
The vanilla in this milkshake supports the flavor. I used vanilla paste because it is much stronger in flavor than vanilla extract, but if you must use vanilla extract, just double it.
Vanilla is one of the key flavoring ingredients in this shake. It is much closer to a fresh vanilla flavor and has speckles that spell “vanilla”” to my eyes.
The chocolate chips are dark chocolate mini chips. Or you can use cacao nibs, little crunchy bits of cacao. Cacao is the form of chocolate that is considered a super food. It contributes mood-boosting magnesium, immune-boosting antioxidants, and energy-boosting caffeine.
Cacao nibs are bitter chocolate and provide a delicious juxtaposition with the sweet nut butter and milk. But dairy-free mini chips like the ones linked are healthy too!
Finally, the salty comes from maple sea salt granola by Bob’s Red Mill., a lovely sweet-and-salty mix that really injects a very unusual flavor to this vanilla milkshake, as well as an interesting crunch.
How to Make this Vanilla Milkshake
Start by freezing your favorite milk or yogurt. I used cashew milk but you can use your favorite. And I didn’t freeze the milk solid, but poured it into ice cube trays and froze it for a few hours.
This allows you to make the shake frothy without added fat.
I also steamed the cauliflower to ensure a creamy texture, but you can keep it raw if you don’t mind a bit of texture to the drink. If you do steam it, let it cool completely before blending in this recipe. In fact, refrigerating it to chill it is even better.
Add the ice cubes to a blender, along with the nut butter, steamed but cooled cauliflower, vanilla, cacao nibs and granola.
Blend until creamy, foamy and speckly.
Drink right away!
Tips to Make This Milkshake Delicious
The milk is best frozen in ice cubes to a slushy texture, but highly chilled is fine as well.
The cauliflower is important for substance, but you can also used the same amount of peeled zucchini, not steamed.
Be sure to cool the cauliflower if you steam it. I steam it the night before and refrigerate it overnight.
Use a quality vanilla. I recommend paste but powder or a fresh vanilla bean is perfect as well.
The cacao nibs add incredible super food chocolate nutrition, however, you can of course use chocolate chips instead.
The best granola is a sweet-salty one like Bob’s Red Mill’s maple sea salt flavor, but you can also use your own favorite brand.
Drink this shake right away, it does not store well, with textures separating.
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Salted Granola Vanilla Milkshake
A frosty vanilla milkshake that is both sweet and salty, and flecked with mood-boosting chocolate and fresh nutty granola. This creamy drink is easy to make with ingredients you have on hand, and is refined-sugar-free, dairy-free and vegan.
Ingredients
Milkshake
- 2 cups cashew milk
- 1 cup cauliflower florets (steamed and cooled. Or use pre-made cauliflower rice, again steamed and cooled)
- 3 tbsp cashew butter
- 2 tbsp mini chocolate chips
- 1 tbsp vanilla paste (Vanilla extract is fine)
- 1/4 cup maple sea salt granola (Bob's red mill brand)
Useful equipment
Instructions
Prep
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Freeze the milk in the ice cube trays about four hours. If you use the trays I linked above, 12 cubes equal one cup.
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Steam cauliflower, and refrigerate until cool. I normally steam florets for 4 minutes in a micro-wave safe bowl.
Blend the Milkshake
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Blend up the cubes until slushy. Not too long; you don't want them fully melted.
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Add in the rest of the ingredients. Again, pulse, but do not pulverize thoroughly the chocolate chips and granola. You want it creamy but speckly for bursts of flavor from the chocolate chips and granola.
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Enjoy within the day!
Thank you Bob’s Red Mill for sponsoring this post. The recipe, ideas, content and opinions expressed here are all my own. I do recommend you try Bob’s Red Mill products, you will be so inspired by all their healthy unique products!
Dee Dine is the recipe developer and writer behind Green Smoothie Gourmet. She shares her super healthy wholesome recipes on her blog and her Instagram that she feeds her family and friends. She gravitates toward recipes that are fast to create, plant-based, nutritious, easy, and use familiar ingredients. And chocolate is always a good idea! More about Dee.
Ela
This milkshake looks super creamy and delicious! Love that you added salted granola, it must taste heavenly. 🙂
Dee Dine
Thank you so much Ela! Dee xx