Blender chocolate protein soft serve
5 min · 22 g protein · 134 cals / serving
Thick, spoonable chocolate soft serve from a blender, with no ice-cream machine and no waiting: chocolate protein powder, cottage cheese and cocoa blitzed with ice until it holds a spoon upright. It tastes like the drive-through chocolate frozen dessert, and it fills two big bowls.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk (refrigerated), or skim milk
- 2/3 cup cottage cheese (1%)
- 1 scoop whey protein, chocolate
- 1 tbsp cocoa powder
- 1 tbsp sugar-free syrup, sugar-free chocolate syrup, or a sweetener to taste
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp xanthan gum
- 2 cups water, frozen, as ice cubes
Steps
- Put the almond milk, cottage cheese, protein powder, cocoa, chocolate syrup, vanilla and xanthan gum in a high-speed blender and blend until completely smooth, about 30 seconds. No curds of cottage cheese should be left. Taste it: it should be a little sweeter than you want the finished dessert, because cold and ice both mute sweetness.
- Add the ice and blend on high, using the tamper or stopping to push it down, until thick, pale and swirling like soft serve, 45–60 seconds. If the blades spin without catching, add milk a tablespoon at a time; add too much and you have a milkshake.
- Spoon it into two chilled bowls, or one very big one, and eat right away. For a firmer scoop, put the bowls in the freezer for 10–15 minutes first; much longer and it freezes hard.
Good to know
Why the xanthan gum?
A quarter teaspoon holds the ice and air together, so it stays thick for minutes instead of separating into slush and shake. A tablespoon of instant sugar-free chocolate pudding mix does the same job and adds more chocolate flavor.
Can I add banana?
Half a frozen banana in place of the syrup makes it creamier and naturally sweet, with a banana note under the chocolate. It adds some sugar, so the score dips to about 89 instead of 93.
Will a regular blender manage?
Yes, in stages: blend the base first, then add the ice in two batches and pulse, scraping down between. Crushed ice is much easier on a weaker motor.
Alternative
Per
- Calories
- 45
- Protein
- (66%)
- 7 g
- Fat
- (17%)
- 1 g
- Carbohydrates
- (18%)
- 2 g
- of which sugar
- 1 g
- Fiber
- 1 g
- Sodium
- 127 mg
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Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. General guidance, not medical advice. Talk to your prescriber. How
As written, 267 kcal goes into the pot and 601 g of ingredients comes out as about 600 g of food: 45 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.